Most business owners and managers I speak to are quick to recognise the benefits and huge potential that a 'social media marketing' and 'business blogging' strategy can offer. But occasionally, I'll meet someone who whilst 'getting' the theory, simply cannot imagine what on earth they'd write about. Certainly, some businesses might have an easier time of it than others, but I truly believe that there's a solution for everyone. Proof, it it were needed, might be this business blog from UK wide skip hire business TopSkips.com which I discovered yesterday.
The Skip Hire Blog is maintained by TopSkips' MD Mark Attwood and is a great business blog example. The content is fun, relevant and useful. The tone is, as it should be, light and conversational. The varied use of media - audio, video and text - all adds to the visitor experience. But perhaps most importantly, Mark clearly understands the power of key words. Many of us struggle to identify the best keywords for our business - not so here; Mark is wisely keeping it simple with just the one term - 'skip hire' - which he then uses in the post title, in the post body and in the tags - lovely.
What else could Mark be doing to drive traffic and Google ranking?
How about including a few more external links within the posts? Eg. Mark could recycle the 'skip tip' about Ebay (from the main site) as a post on the blog.
He could also join a couple of social networks/directories - MyBlogLog (MBL) with its Recent Reader widget would be a good start. This could really enhance the 'community' feel he's already beginning to create and put his business in front of some fresh eyes. (Here are a few more MBL benefits.)
If you're thinking of starting a business blog, but are worried about what you'd write, why not share your reservations here (click on the Comments link at the foot of this post) and let's see what ideas the Business Blog Angel community and team can come up with for you.
Incidentally, MBL has made a lot of changes recently - including a verification process. I'm Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification right now. (Update: having problems with this... hence the addition of the random link to MBL in the first part of this post! 2nd update: still not working, so I've deleted aforementioned link... going to try a backdated post instead - third time lucky perhaps.)
Check out our MBL Business Blog Angel community here.
