Your customers are online, so it is just natural that you go online too. Build your presence online and provide them with what they need. Soon, you’ll realize how your business will benefit from blogging.

In case you’re still not convinced that blogging is good for your business, here are some more proofs on why you need to start blogging.

The post Why Blogging Is Good For Your Business? appeared first on Ben Francia.

Most people forget that blogging is an avenue to share knowledge and information when they see it more of a task. When bloggers start seeing it as a task or work, they may feel uninspired to blog. Also, some bloggers may feel blogging burnout trying to come up with topics to discuss.

In order to avoid blogging burnout, here are a few tips you can consider:

1. Keep The Topic Broad – Remember to have a broad blog topic you can play around with for a long time. Your passion, context, and interest may change overtime. So it is good to have a broader topic to let you move fluidly between topics. If the focus is too narrow, the blog may eventually die out.

2. Keep It Long term – The same with the topic, you want a blog name that will stand the test of time, or relevant. You can’t simply pick a name base on fad. Avoid names related to a current product or buzzword.

3. Keep A List Of Topics – You can have a notebook to keep all your blog ideas when it hits you. You can also use voice memos or use applications such as Evernote. Follow bloggers you admire and aspire to be. Find inspirations from by reading other blogs or magazines.

4. Have Fun – The best way to eliminate burnout is by having fun. Don’t let out the fun go out. Share posts or topics that you find amusing and interesting. Better yet, create a series that would introduce humor. This will surely benefit you and your readers.

5. You Can’t Please Everyone – Yes, we are writing for our readers and target followers. But truth is, not everyone may agree with you. Don’t think too hard on how you can keep your readers happy by avoiding provoking thoughts. Instead, learn on how to engage with them. Don’t please them. Share information that will benefit.

6. Don’t Think About The Metrics Too Much – There really is no need to think about numbers. It puts away the fun in blogging and would often times pressure you. Focus on the content. Create relevant content that your audience will love.

When you start feeling the blogging burnout, go through these tips and keep the blogging fire alive.

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Here are the top 5 tips to grow your company’s blog.

1. Write blog posts for your readers not for Google – Remember, you are writing for human readers and not for the search engines. So don’t just flood your company’s blog with content packed with keywords. Produce great content that your readers will love and they will naturally share it, giving you a search engine optimization benefit. Think of your target readers first.
2. Publish content designed to create actions – Create great content that your readers will love to read and ask them to take action. For example, ask them to subscribe to a mailing list, so they can be updated each time you post new content. In order to have a successful company blog, you also need high conversion rate. Build in an actionable request into your content to ensure conversion.
3. Make your blog easy to read – The design and layout of your website will help readers decide if they want to stick around your blog and read the rest of your post. If it’s hard to navigate, they won’t spend time on it. You need to make sure your blog’s layout is clean, responsive, and easy to navigate.
4. Expand your audience through syndication and social media – The only way to gain new readers is by introducing more people to your blog. You need to find people who will be interested in your blog. The first place to look at is in social media. You need to establish presence in several social media channels. Share all your blog posts on social media to drive in more people to your blog. Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are all good social media outlets to start sharing your content on. Another way is by syndicating your content across larger sites that are in the same industry.
5. Make your content easy to share – Make sure your readers can easy share your content with social sharing options. People like to share content that is useful.

Use these tips to grow your company blog’s readership as well as provide your target readers with great content and experience. Publish your blog with your target audience in mind and they will continue to come back for more and share your content.

The post Top 5 Tips To Grow Your Company’s Blog appeared first on Ben Francia.

But this isn’t as easy as you think. You need to get approved before your guest post gets published. To do this, you will need to do some work.

1. Know your targets – Take time to know what are the popular blogs in your chosen industry.  You can either target the large blogs with broader focus or reach out to the smaller blogs with a narrow focus.
2. Do your research – In any business, you need to do some research before taking actions. Once you have defined your targets, you need to research the kind of posts they publish and how they publish them. Are they into reviews, “how-to’”, or industry updates? Then, take note of how they publish their content. Do they prefer short and concise content or do they go for long and research-heavy posts?
3. Reach out – When you have done your research, it’s time to reach out and do some leg work. Don’t just send emails to “contact@…” or “info@…”, find the actual email of the editor. One way to do this is by using the tool, Rapportive.
4. Write something post-worthy – Simply put; write something really good the blogger would want to post it. So take note that the post needs to fit the overall voice of the blog. If the blogs send you rules and best practices for guest posting, it’s best to stick to these rules.
5. Follow up – It’s better to connect and create good relationships with these bloggers. Also, why stop in guest posting once when you can become a regular contributor? The best practice is to follow up and thank them for letting you be a guest blogger. In the future, you may also want to offer your services specially if your post gained popularity.

Do you have other guest blogging practices you want to share? Let me know on the comments section below. Happy guest blogging!

The post 5 Guest Posting Strategies appeared first on Ben Francia.

• Think Visual – It only takes five seconds to inspire your audience to stay and read through your blog. Your color schemes and layout won’t matter in your blog is cluttered and unsightly. You don’t need to be a graphic designer to attract readers and future followers. All you need to do is make sure the color scheme reflects your blogging goals and target audience and easy to read. If you are not sure about the aesthetics, you can follow a blog that inspires you and use it as your peg.
• Reader relevance – You must only publish quality content. Avoid posting copies about everything and anything. Choose which articles you will publish. It’s best to choose copies that are relevant to your readers and will engage them.
• Know your audience – You are writing for your audience, always remember that. So it is best to know whom your audiences are and what they want to ensure you successfully reach them. Valuable and relatable content is what will separate your blog from others. Moreover, you will gain more followers.

There is no exact science in blogging. You would still go through some trial and error. But having a successful blog is very much possible. Assess your blog’s content and see if you have committed any of these blogging sins.

The post Common Blogging Sins To Avoid appeared first on Ben Francia.

1. Boost visibility with your keywords – Include keywords in your headlines, even proper names. This may mean using passive voice at times, but this could really boost blog traffic.
2. More after the jump – How much text should there be in RSS feeds? There a number of opinions on the matter but you may want to follow this: Offer anything that you can read in the front page of your blog without clicking the “more” link in your feed.
3. Cite your sources, always – This really is a no-brainer. Just out of respect, let your readers know if the idea is inspired by a previous blogger or if you don’t own the photo you’re posting. Also, there is also blog karma.
4. Post early and often – Content is always good. This lets your readers tune in to what information you will be sharing next. So just get unto the habit of posting as often as you can.
5. Draw them in with visuals – Images and photos draw in readers. It sparks their interest, plain and simple. So always include some visual aspects.
6. More, more, more – Aside from photos, why not share videos. You can easily embed a YouTube video. Don’t just rely on texts, liven things up with photos and videos.
7. Ask questions – It opens up discussions among followers as well as prompts engagement.
8. Tags foster browsing – Always include tags on your posts. This lets users search within your site and will help in increasing traffic.
9. Flaunt your opinions – “Columns expressing strong opinions are a great way to develop voice and authority for your blog while generating feedback.”

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