Creating a blog for your business website is a great marketing strategy, if you give your readers what they want.
Let me share an experience with you which shows you how simple this is.
A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a birthday present for my cousin.
I remembered that she'd just bought an Apple iPad, and that she likes to listen to audio books.
I visited a self-help site which was familiar to me, and bought a couple of audio books.
While checking out, I noticed that the site had a blog, so I read the blog while my purchases downloaded.
Over the next few days, I visited the blog several times.
There was a lot of content, and there were podcasts too: interviews with audio book authors.
Inevitably, I ended up buying several more audio books.
I've now bookmarked the blog.
But why did the site's blog encourage me to make additional purchases? Three reasons.
1.
I Came to Know and Respect the Company I was already familiar with the self-help site, and since I purchased from them before, the blog didn't affect my initial purchase decision.
However, as I read the blog, I learned more about the company, and the company's founder and its staff.
Their goals and aspirations resonated with me, and I found myself liking and respecting them.
This liking and respect encouraged me to buy more.
Think about that: your blogging is a social activity.
It helps you to make friends.
2.
I Grew to Trust the Business The more I read on the blog, the more my trust developed.
These were real people, running a real business.
Previously I'd looked on the company as just a company, but now I considered the people who made up that company.
I trusted their advice.
Remember that your site's visitors want to trust you.
However, you need to give them reasons for giving you their trust.
Blogging develops trust in you, and your products and services.
3.
I Remembered the Blog, and Revisited the Site The blog mentioned topics of upcoming blog posts, and promoted new titles and authors.
I made a note in my calendar to revisit the blog once a week.
Christmas is coming up, and I have a huge gift gift list, so I'll be spending a lot of money on the site over the next few months.
When you're writing a blog, you're creating a conversation.
Talk about what you'll be doing in the future, and about upcoming product launches.
This gives your readers a reason to bookmark your site, or subscribe to your RSS feed, or to make a note to revisit your site sometime in the future.
Blogging directly impacts your bottom line, when you give your blog's visitors what they want.
You can do it.