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Earlier, I mentioned about the importance of why a business website should have a blog. There is no doubt that a blog is one of the most powerful tools to use in establishing your business get found online, increasing traffic and generating leads.
Although there are a lot of different blogging platforms and tools available, which many of them are meant for personal blogging, it is very important to know what essential elements that your business blog should have.
1. Domain name
For identity and maximum search engine optimization benefits, use your business domain name instead of using a hosted blog platforms domain.
Example:
- http://blog.libelcom.com
- https://www.libelcom.com/blog
instead of
- https://www.libelcom.com/currents
- https://www.libelcom.com/updated
- https://www.libelcom.com/[other creative words]
Using words like currents, updated or other creative words instead of blog, sounds probably very creative and “one of a kind” in your head. However, don’t make your readers think unnecessary and look for your blog posts anywhere else when you can direct them to your blog immediately.
instead of
- http://blog.hostedblogplatform.com
Hosted blog platforms such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com are great for personal bloggings but they do not necessarily offer professional look, feel and need for your business blog.
2. CMS
CMS enables you to create, edit, publish and collaborate your blog posts simple and easy. Some of the best CMS are:
- WordPress.org
- MoveableType
- ExpressionEngine
- Joomla
- Drupal
3. RSS and Social Links
Allow your readers to subscribe to your blog by enabling subscriptions via RSS-feed and E-mail. With enabling the two type of subscriptions your reader can choose their preferred method to be kept informed of new blog posts. In addition, you can also add your social links that allow your reader to connect with you on social media websites.
4. Social Media buttons
Adding social media share buttons onto each blog post makes it very simple and easy for your readers to share your content in social media so you can achieve maximum reach.
5. SEO plugin
Each and every blog post is an SEO opportunity and push it to the max by installing one of the best SEO plugins that are available out there.
6. Comment or reply
Add a comment or reply section on the end of each blog post, which enables your readers to engage in a dialogue and give their comments or replies on each blog post.
7. Analytic tools
Using analytic tools like Google Analytics allows you to discover trends in your blog posts and monitor different metrics such as number of inbound links, comments, visitors and views. Analytic tools also help you in making future decisions about what types of blog posts perform better than others.
Conclusion:
A business blog is a powerful tool to communicate directly with your target audience and to build a community around your website but it is not a magical tool. It means that you will have work it to have it works for you. Having said that, you should make enough time for blogging regularly.
Reading recommendations on UX and usability:
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