A guide to successful blogging for your business

Your leads don’t like to be sold to. They like to go about their own business, thinking that if they really want you they’ll find you themselves. We all know that if you’re not selling to them, someone else will be – and that someone else might actually land the deal. So when someone mentions “selling without selling” you sigh and think, “well wouldn’t that be great”. Ever heard of content marketing?

Content marketing works to “sell without selling” because it does exactly that. Whilst your leads are enjoying the quality blogs, guides and whitepapers that you’re handing out, they are slowly being won round to your industry leadership and knowledge. The more highly they value you and your content, the more likely they are to choose your product over anyone else’s.

One of the best forms of this marketing, as already mentioned, is blogging. You can write short, sweet, informative content that is easily consumed but has a lasting effect on prospects. So how can you be successful?

1. Get more traffic to your website

If your website is all about your product, pricing and contact with nothing else to offer, it’s not going to gauge much interest. Leads might come to your website if they’re hot from the get-go, for example if they’ve been told good things about your product from someone else. You won’t get much general traffic, though, so your contact list is going to end up pretty bare.

Create a blog tab on your website, so that new posts can be easily seen and manoeuvred by your prospects for the best website journey. Update this part of your site with regular, fresh content reflecting new ideas and trends in your industry. Be interesting, be up to date and be consistent!

2. Make the most of SEO

Search Engine Optimization is really your best friend when producing a blog. Use your keywords frequently in each post you create – maybe even consider getting the help of SEO technology – and you’ll be grateful for it later.

Not only will this help you get your content seen by more people, it’ll also help get your website seen by more people. When individuals are searching for anything to do with your industry, they’ll probably be searching using specific terminology. By utilising SEO, you can make sure that it’s your content they see when they do.

3. Don’t sell – inform

Let’s round this all up by returning to the opening of this blog. Sell without selling. Adding a blog to your website will get more interest from potential customers, but not if every post looks like your “Contact Us Now!” page. There needs to be a buyer journey involved, because if not, your prospects won’t stick around.

Have content that’s actually content. Tips on how to do X Y Z, or how to be the best X. Something your leads will really want to read, that will actually help them rather than just helping you. At the end of the day, letting your leads make their own choice about whether they want to buy your product or learn more about it – selling without selling – is the most likely way to seal the deal. After all, nobody likes to be pressured into a purchase.