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How to Blog Effectively for
Business
Inbound Marketing University (Zhu, Jia Li Lily)
http://inboundmarketing.com
June, 2010
How to Blog Effectively for Business by Jia Li Lily Zhu at HubSpot is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
How to Blog Effectively for Business
Blogging is becoming an increasingly common business practice for both large and small
businesses in the United States. According to data analyses by HubSpot, small businesses that
blog get 55% more website visitors1, 102% more Twitter followers2, and 126% higher lead
growth3 than non-blogging businesses. Why are blogs so effective at driving business growth?
A short story may illustrate the power of blogging. Cindy Gordon, VP of New Media
Partnerships at Universal Orlando Resort, received the task of promoting “The Wizarding World
of Harry Potter.” Instead of spending her budget on TV commercials and billboard
advertisements, Gordon called up the seven most popular bloggers in the world. She invited them
to a webinar in which she asked the set designer of “Harry Potter” to explain how the movie was
made. She then asked the seven bloggers to write about their impression of the movie. Once they
published their blog articles, hundreds of thousands of blog readers left comments on their blogs
and Facebook about “Harry Potter” and spread information about the movie. Within 24 hours,
1
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Website-‐Visitors.aspx 2
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5459/Small-‐Businesses-‐That-‐Blog-‐Have-‐102-‐More-‐Twitter-‐
Followers.aspx 3
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5519/Blogging-‐Businesses-‐Experience-‐126-‐Higher-‐Lead-‐Growth-‐
Than-‐Non-‐Blogging-‐Businesses.aspx Inbound Marketing University
http://inboundmarketing.com 2 the Universal Orlando Resort website received over 1.5 million visits. Mainstream media
followed the blogs and competed to report the latest updates, people started talking about the
movie in real life, tweets went wild, and Gordon didn’t spend a penny to make any of the
phenomena happen.
Why is Blogging Effective?
So what makes blogging so effective for businesses? One reason lies in its ability to drive
search engine traffic from its fresh content. Search engines favor fresh over old content. Old
content might no longer be accurate or relevant to the searches. Fresh content, in contrast, signals
to search engines that the information is up-to-date and more relevant to searchers’ needs. As a
result, blogs, a generator of fresh content, help with search engine optimization, which in turn
drives site traffic and promotes a business.
Interaction with blog readers also makes blogs effective for businesses. The fact that
readers can leave comments allows blog writers to receive quick feedback on the usefulness of
their articles, which then gives writers a sense of what topics better attract site visitors. Some
businesses effectively use blogging to communicate with customers during crises to clarify their
positions, which helps alleviate negative feelings and convey the trustworthiness of these
businesses.
What Should an Effective Blog Contain?
A clean, easily navigable blog page contributes to its effectiveness. A blog page consists
of sidebars and a wider column for the blog articles. Depending on the amount of information
available on the page, a business may need only one sidebar or one on each side. Sidebars are
designed to make a page more navigable by categorizing content for refined search. Without a
sidebar, a page can be disorganized and it may take a long time for first-time visitors to locate
what they are looking for. On the other hand, too many sidebars will fill the page with more
directions than content and confuse site visitors.
An effective business blog article is defined as one that attracts and converts visitors into
leads. Therefore, it should contain informative and business-relevant content. Informative
content drives site traffic with useful information, while business-related content ensures that a
business is attracting viewers potentially interested in its products or services. For instance, a
company that targets mothers can write an article on hosting birthday parties for children, which
may have little to do with its products but draws the right kinds of readers to their sites. Of
course, a business can integrate company products into a blog article as long as product
introductions constitute useful content. Explicit and pure business promotion, however, should
be avoided in blogging—blog articles might not be widely read when they appear self-serving.
For blogs to attract the best potential customers possible, targeting the right prospects is
key. The goal, then, is not to write broadly to reach as many readers as possible but to focus on
topics that prospects may find interesting and useful. Once a business has determined the kinds
Inbound Marketing University
http://inboundmarketing.com 3 of people who might become customers and the keywords and topics they are most interested in,
it is more equipped to write something that readers perceive as relevant and valuable.
Readers’ comments also constitute blog content. Comments allow readers to interact and
engage with a business. What should a business do, however, when comments are negative? If
the negative comments reflect only malignancy or are irrelevant, it is probably appropriate to
delete them. If these comments reflect customers' frustration or contain genuine constructive
criticisms, then it is best to respond openly and address customers' concerns. Open and sincere
responses positively influence blog readers’ perception of a business and help it earn respect.
How to Can a Marketer Maximize the Effectiveness of a Business Blog?
Hiring the right blogger may increase the effectiveness of a blog. Most companies have
two options: in-house employees or outside experts, both of which have advantages and
shortcomings. Since employees are with the company, they probably understand the company’s
needs more deeply than outside experts and are more sustainable bloggers. On the other hand,
outside experts tend to be talented writers. It's important to note that a company cannot rely on
outside help indefinitely; it will have spent a lot of money without acquiring the ability to blog
effectively. If a company needs to hire outside experts to quickly launch its blog, it should
consider having employees observe how to write effective blog articles so that they can replace
outside agencies for blogging in the long run.
Frequent blogging is another way of maximize the impact of a blog. If a business wants
to maintain site traffic, it is important to offer new information by posting frequently to build
readership. Yet how frequently should a business blog? According to the State of Inbound
Marketing Report by HubSpot, businesses that blog multiple times a day have on average 100%
of customer acquisition, 42% higher than those that blog only once a week. The number of daily
posts may vary by industry, but the more frequently a company blogs, the more site traffic it can
draw and the higher the likelihood of signing up qualified leads. As long as businesses provide
non-redundant, valuable information in each article, the chance of overfeeding their fish is small.
Inbound Marketing University
http://inboundmarketing.com 4 Promoting blog articles elsewhere is essential to maximizing the impact of blogging on
generating site traffic. In other words, a company needs to make its blog easier to find on the
web. Therefore, it should research how people find its site and brainstorm ways to promote its
blog on those referral sites. It should also optimize content to rank high on search engines. The
higher its content rank, the more likely searchers will find a company’s website. (Note: search
engine optimization will be discussed in subsequent sections—just keep in mind for now that
creating, promoting, and optimizing content are equally important.)
There are many ways of measuring the effectiveness of blogging. Common metrics
include page views, inbound links (which are links to a blog from third-party websites), website
traffic, number and sentiment of comments, and conversion rate. Both quantitative and
qualitative data inform a business of its blog’s ability to attract qualified leads.
Blogging earns the attention of the best potential customers by providing them with
helpful content. Regardless of the size of a business, it can target potential customers on the web
with the right kinds of topics, keywords, and promotion strategies. In other words, blogging is
about frequently distributing relevant content via the right channels, to boost credibility and
findability.4 4 Todd Defren, SHIFT Communications, Inbound Marketing University (GF402) Inbound Marketing University
http://inboundmarketing.com 5 Review 1. Why should businesses blog?
• Blogging creates useful content that attracts potential customers.
• Blogs that receive high-quality inbound links rank higher on search engines.
• Blogging helps shape a company’s online reputation.
2. What does an effective blog article do?
• It provides fresh, informative, and relevant content that drives site traffic. It
accommodates customer interaction.
3. What does a clear page layout consist of?
• A column for blog articles and an appropriate number of sidebars depending on the
amount of information on the page.
4. How should a business select bloggers?
• Hire outside experts to meet pressing needs and gradually train in-house employees to
blog effectively in the long run.
5. How does a business drive site traffic with blogging?
• Blog frequently and research what topics and keywords prospects might be interested in.
• Creating, promoting, and optimizing content are equally important to driving site traffic.
6. What should a business measure to understand the impact of its business blog?
• Infer the relevancy and strength of blog articles from sentiment of comments, page views,
inbound links, and more.
Discussion Questions
1. How should a company manage comments? More specifically, is it good practice to delete
negative comments? Should businesses allow organic discussions that deviate from blog topic?
2. What are the pros and cons of having employees versus outside experts to blog for a
company? What are things a business should watch out for when adopting either approach?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of hosting a business blog on the company website
or a separate domain?
4. How frequently should a company blog?
5. How does a business know when its company blog is producing results or not?
6. How could a business maximize their blog’s visibility and reach?
Inbound Marketing University
http://inboundmarketing.com 6 Additional Resources
Blogging Hub
http://www.hubspot.com/business-blog-marketing-hub
Inbound Marketing University Class on Business Blogging
http://inboundmarketing.com/university/how-to-blog-effectively-for-business-gf101
Inbound Marketing University Class on Public Relations through Content Creation
http://inboundmarketing.com/university/pr-for-inbound-marketing-gf-402
Free Tool to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Business Blog
http://blog.grader.com
Resources for Setting up a Blog
http://www.pronetadvertising.com/articles/my-50-favorite-blogging-resources.html
Top 100 Blogs in the World
http://technorati.com/blogs/top100
Inbound Marketing University
http://inboundmarketing.com 7