B2B Business Blogging Tips: How to Generate More Leads and Sales Opportunities

Originally published on PureB2B.com on May 18, 2016 By Johanna Rivard

In the age of content marketing, blogging has fast become one of the most effective ways to market your brand. It’s simple, cost-efficient, and a nicer way to drive traffic to your website than traditional interruptive marketing tactics like email blasting. Some B2B companies still haven’t adopted blogging as a business function despite its obvious benefits. Opting out of the blogging phenomenon makes a business seem like they don’t want to build a relationship with their customer, and in this day and age, that’s just shortsighted.
Why You Should Blog for Your Business
Blogging can help you generate leads. The content that you publish on your site can bring in new visitors (and potential customers) as they search for information relevant to the products and services that your company has to offer. It can also build a community and foster engagement, especially when you publish fresh and relevant content on a regular basis.
What’s more, blogging can help you position yourself as an industry expert. When you consistently publish articles about the latest industry trends, visitors will begin to perceive your site as a great source of insight. Sharing valuable information is a great way to get customers to trust your brand, and blogging is the perfect platform for you to do exactly that.
Business Blogging Tips
Whether you’re just about to start your first B2B blog post, or you already have a blog up and running on your website, here are some B2B blogging best practices and tips to help you build a strong online presence:
Know Your Goal
Before you start drafting a new article for your blog, determine what your goal is for this particular post. Is it to attract new visitors? Is it to generate business leads? Or is it to subtly inform your readers about the updates to your products and services? Having a goal to start with will give your posts more direction, making it easier to determine the steps you need to take to reach your goal.
Know Your Audience
Determine, who your audience is, and why you are writing for them. Keep in mind that visitors may read your blog for a variety of reasons. It may be to research a topic they barely know about, or it may be due to their need to address an immediate problem or concern. The more you know about your audience, the more personal and relevant your content will be.
Think Before You Post
Remember that your blog serves as an extension of your company’s values and morals. Thus, your content should reflect your company’s values. If your business values education and professionalism, make your posts more polished and formal. On the other hand, if your brand values entertainment, make your posts amusing and fun to read.
Be Consistent
For your blog to be a success, you must publish content on a regular basis. A little bit of downtime can cause you to lose readers you’ve worked so hard to gain. You definitely don’t want to see a sharp drop in your blog’s analytics.
Optimize, Optimize, Optimize
Make your blog more searchable by keeping it SEO-friendly. Optimize keywords that are likely to be used by visitors when they’re searching for information related to your offerings. Integrate your blog with a writing platform like WordPress. Unless you’re a keen developer, these platforms will make your articles much more easy for search engines to find and index.
Make Subscribing Worthwhile
Your blog subscribers are potentially probably going to be your best source for generating highly targeted leads. Blog subscribers already love your content, so provide them with exclusive bits of content to help guide them further down your sales funnel.
Key Learnings
Be aware of any blogging mistakes that you might commit (or are currently committing). Your blog may exist to help you increase sales, but having a strictly sales-oriented content can put readers off instead of attracting and enticing them. Remember, people read articles because they want to be informed and educated, not necessarily because they want to make a direct purchase.
Don’t forget to promote your blog too. Social media, article directories, and online publishing platforms are your friends when it comes to reaching out to targeted communities.
Maintaining a successful business blog is never easy, but with these tips in mind, it’ll be smooth sailing.

 
Johanna Rivard
Executive Vice President