A.O.B.
Blogging for the small business
Published: 16 March 2010
As our personal and professional lives become increasingly intertwined with the wonder that is the Internet, the doors of self-promotion are proving easier than ever to open. Where once it was predominantly larger companies and organisations that had ready access to valuable marketing tools, the growth of user-friendly tools of web-based interactivity is opening the doors to small businesses and organisations as never before. The development of the blog means that just about anyone with an internet connection can have their voice heard by his or her intended audience.
Make a concerted effort to maintain a focused and regularly scheduled blog, and you can take great strides towards a greater online presence.
Where to start?
There are so many blog software options now on the market – many of them available as open source, or free – that it can be difficult to decide which one to use. Here are a few options we think worthy of mention.
WordPress, one of the giants of blog software, offers a very flexible and powerful free service. The basic package offers a wide range of functionality in posting different types of content and interactivity and is available through www.wordpress.com. This free service also has a number of low-cost upgrades that allow for greater control of the design and web addresses.
Of particular interest to British businesses, Google and BT have teamed up with e-skills UK and Enterprise UK to offer a free website to all businesses in the UK, via the Getting British Businesses Online programme. This solution offers a good deal of functionality (Google does know a bit about the internet, doesn’t it?) and could prove very valuable to a business looking to edge its way on to the internet.
Going bespoke
Companies or organisations that have a developed brand may find that neither of the above options offer enough control over the look and feel of a website. Happily, there are still plenty of bespoke routes from which to choose. WordPress offers its software as open source, as do a number of other companies like Drupal, Joomla and Textpattern. Then there is very reasonably priced software like Expression Engine which, for a small license fee (think hundreds, not thousands), offers lots of website functionality.
All these options are best approached with the help of a design agency, particularly one with experience not only in the construction of such functionality, but also in its usage.
Making progress
Whether you choose either the two options above, or if you prefer a more bespoke route (a good idea if you want to control the look and feel of your website), you’ll still need to craft blog posts.
The shape and direction of your blog entry should be dictated by what you are trying to achieve with your blog. Who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say? How do you hope to engage with visitors to your blog? Spending enough time and energy to thoroughly answer these questions is a key step to ensuring that your blogging efforts follow your online strategy.
As we at TGP have noted in many conversations with clients and even on our blog, producing quality content is integral to building a successful blog. Quality can take many shapes and forms, but generally speaking you need to create original, insightful content. That can be through the demonstration of good practices within a certain industry, careful analysis of a recent news story or even a detailed news update about the company and its services.
A company blog is not and never will be the be-all and end-all of modern marketing. But a well-structured and successful blog adds a powerful tool to any company’s marketing efforts, regardless of the company’s size.
Liam Dempsey is an associate of The Governance Partnership.