Has Small Business Blogging Declined? Here’s What You Should Do

According to Heidi Cohen's piece on 2016 social media trends, only 37% of the Inc 500 have 'active' blogs. That's a staggering low figure considering the number of small businesses coming up in the US alone.

Blogging has emerged as one of the best mediums to communicate your business's voice in front of our customers and prospects. While Vlogs and infographics are exciting and visually more appealing, we'd still reckon text blogs to rule the roost to establish your business's thought leadership.

As a small business owner, the stakes are all with you when it comes to establishing your brand in the market. But with just 37% of small businesses blogging, you have a fairly good chance to ramp up your content marketing efforts and start writing great content about your industry and trends way before others anticipate newer trends and developments in your industry.

So how can you best leverage blogs for your business?

Here are a few of our suggestions.

• Go for quality instead of quantity. You don't have to blog every day (well if you can then that's simply awesome), but even if you blog once a week and stay consistent with that schedule, your rankings will definitely improve. Go for the 80:20 pareto principle of writing epic stuff and promoting it in an even more epic way. Your blog needs consistent promotion and should be linked with your sales and customer service divisions. Go for a holistic blog strategy that helps you convert your blog conversations into business conversions.

• Have a strong business purpose. Your blog is an extension of your business's mission. The way you project it has a lot to do with your purpose. Your purpose should be strongly tied with your people who desire to make a change in the world.  Don't go for just writing about your product's specialty; write with an intent of helping your customers via your product's purpose. In short: write for your customers and not [always] about your company.

• Highlight your collective intelligence. While individual minds can do wonders, but by showcasing your company's collective intelligence (aka your company's teamwork personality and work ethic), your blog would have a unique place in the mind of your customers.

• Have a 'contributing' blogging culture. Let your team members chime in and write a post showcasing your company's culture or sharing insights that shed a light on a different perspective. For example, you could write on a case study highlighting your product's success or perhaps write about an event where your company would be participating.

• Be creative. You don't always have to write about your industry. You can touch lighter topics that connects with your customer. For example: 5 business (and life) mantras your company lives by. Or you could showcase your company's vision via a small video followed by a blog post. Use interesting concoctions – and see the results!

How are you using blogs to grow your business?

Let's talk!

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