A good corporate blog can quickly increase the traffic for your entire site. If you’re only offering a catalog of products and services, you’re unlikely to draw customers who aren’t looking for those specific things. With a blog, however, you can draw customers who are interested in your industry in general, and then turn them into customers once they’ve spotted your products and services. Use these tips to create a powerful and successful corporate blog.

Make it Interesting

Your content must be interesting and offer value to the reader. If you’re simply hyping your own products and services in every post, your readers won’t stick around let alone come back for more.

Branch out and offer information on many different aspects of your industry. If you sell lawn care products, offer how-to information on gardening, landscaping, and residential lawn care. Help your readers identify weeds, choose the best type of grass, and prevent common lawn care problems.

When your readers are getting valuable information instead of just ad copy, they’re going to stick around and keep reading. You can recommend your own products for lawn treatments while still offering content that’s interesting with or without a direct sale.

Format Your Content for the Web

Writing for a blog is very different from writing for a magazine or newspaper. You won’t be successful with lengthy pieces and a lot of copy. It’s important to understand what your readers are after. Blog content should follow these guidelines:

• Keep it short and to the point. Write in brief paragraphs separated by spaces.
• Include subheadings that are easy to scan.
• Use lists and bullet points whenever possible to make content easier to digest.
• Include at least one image for every post.

Look at other successful blogs in your industry to get a feel for what works. Make a note of the features of unsuccessful pages, as well. If you’re compelled to click away immediately, ask yourself why so you don’t fall into the same trap.

Actively Improve SEO

There are several things that you can do to improve your SEO with a corporate blog, and not all of them are about keywords. While using the right keywords is important, this should not be your only focus. Allow the keywords to work their way in naturally. They should never feel forced or read awkwardly.

Your SEO is also improved by links that are provided back to your site. When you offer interesting information, you increase the chances of a user linking back to your page to share your content. You can also increase your links by offering your articles for syndication on other sites provided that they include a link to the original source.

With these smart strategies, you can turn an ordinary corporate blog into something great. With solid content, the right format, and good SEO, your readers will find your blog in any good online search and stick around to really see what you have to offer.