Blog
Companies use blogs to listen to customers
One of the best uses of a corporate blog is to listen to your customers and then make it clear to them that your firm is taking their suggestions and thoughts into consideration when developing new products or services. The big difference between a website and a blog is that the purpose of a site is to talk to customers about the company’s goals, history and services. A blog, however, talks with the customer and this continual online dialogue is what makes it such an effective 21st century marketing tool.
Blogs attract younger tech-savvy generations
According to an article in the New York Times, industries throughout the western world are being reshaped by the growing popularity of blogs and by the increasing influence of young, tech-savvy bloggers. For example, “Dirrty Glam” has become a hugely successful online fashion magazine and blog and has taken the biggest media names in the fashion world by surprise. But what’s most surprising is that this trendy sartorial publication’s writers and bloggers are all just 19 to 22 years of age, and thanks to their use of blogging technology, they seem perfectly capable of giving the much older, established names in fashion media a good run for their money.
Business blogs offer clients a more personal take on company
The businesses with the most successful online presence have learned that mainline company websites and blogs serve very different functions, but both are equally important in attracting and maintaining loyal customers. While a firm’s website should aim to present a professional and formal presence for the given company, a blog serves as an opportunity to be more personal and casual in the diffusion of useful, quality information. A recent blogging podcast published on The Independent’s website noted that a website is a company’s main online presence, and just as one would dress in a suit in the business world in order to make a good impression on clients, a website plays the parallel role in cyberspace, when it comes to the all-important introduction of a given company. But while you might dress in a suit and tie for a business meeting, a neat golf shirt and khakis might be the more casual appearance you would go for when it comes to outdoors marketing events for your company. It is best to think of your business blog in the same way.
Blog experts see longevity and discipline as key to success
The world’s most experienced bloggers may not agree on much when it comes to the politics, business and cultural news that they write about, but one thing that there is a consensus on is that the secret to blogging success is longevity and discipline. Some of the world’s first bloggers were simply technologically-savvy people who needed an outlet for their thoughts on computers and the then still fledgling world of the internet. But what many of these pioneer bloggers soon realized is that a good blog has to be updated at regular intervals, otherwise it stands the risk of losing its group of readers very quickly.
Clarity and purpose central to good content writing
The two most important elements of effective content writing are clarity and purpose, as the goal is to ensure that the reader understands what direction a given article is going in starting from the first sentence and can then follow a clear train of thought for the remainder of the piece. Web-based content writing is not the place to write long-winded introductions or to go off on numerous tangents. Instead, the content writer should always ask him/herself what the main purpose is behind an article—what he/she wishes to achieve and what message must be conveyed—and then ensure that the piece is tightly focused around these themes.
