Today we will tell you why you should create a blog for your company, what aspects should be taken into account when choosing the right solution and the differences between the alternatives.
Why create a blog for your business
Surely you know that a blog is a simple and effective way to communicate news about your company is, but did you know that a blog is a customer acquisition channel?
According to the report State of Hubspot Marketing in 2012 , 70% of companies that publish every 2 or 3 weeks customers generate through your blog. Moreover, 52% of companies have a blog indicated that the prospects (or leads) of this channel have a cost per lead below the average cost.
The reason why a blog for your company is an acquisition channel is because it is a source of generating traffic to your site. First, a blog is one of the best strategies to improve your position in search engines like Google. Not only the search engines include your posts on their search results, but also improves the positioning of your site.
Second, a blog is an effective technique to position your brand in social networks. Publications can be shared on Facebook or Twitter, bringing your brand to new audiences, generating new followers and customers.
Finally, a blog allows you to establish your brand as an authority on a given topic, as could be fashion or electronics.
1. Choose the theme of the blog
For your blog to be an effective acquisition channel the theme should be relevant to the customer segment you are targeting.
A common mistake in business blogs is talking only of the company, its products and offers.Hardly users to share this type of content. Make an offer occasional publication are not necessarily bad, but definitely it can not be the theme of your blog.
It is best to think about the interests of your customers or difficulties. For example, if you have a fashion shop for young adolescents publications can make regarding the best dressed to go to a party of 15 and how to combine them, what things to avoid when getting dressed to go to a party, etc.. But if you have an electronics store with a focus on video game items, you can make posts about the best devices to play a particular game, the best year mouse or keyboard, etc.. In the case of this blog, the main theme are strategies for small and medium businesses who want to sell online.
Remember, the blog should generate interest in your customer segment, not employees of your company.
Two. Choose the platform that suits your needs
Once you have chosen the theme that will guide your publications, you must select which platform you will use for your blog, that is, what software or service is right for you.
Features to consider in choosing the platform
Cost: free and paid solutions exist. Of course the price will vary according to the services and level of support.
Hosting: regarding the hosting of your blog, there are two types of solutions, those that provide the hosting included, and offering the software but you must install it and keep it in a hosting provider (known as self-hosted solutions).
Self-control: not all platforms allow you to set your own domain. If you want the links to your publications help position your site then it is essential that you use your own domain for your blog. Otherwise the value of the bond will be attributed, for example, blogspot.com and not your domain.
Design: the design of your blog will have to choose between three options: choose a free template, buy a template or use a completely custom design. Of course, when using the latter alternative should you or your designer to implement the design.
Buttons to share on social networks: if you want to maximize the reach of your posts you must pave the way for your readers to share. It is important that the buttons to share your posts on the main social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are visible and accessible.
Text Editor: There are two types of editors, publishers where you see how it will look when you edit the text (called WYSIWYG or What You See Is What You Get), and the editors of HTML and CSS. If you do not know HTML and CSS and do not have time to learn, with the WYSIWYG editor is sufficient. But if you want to have complete control over the look of your post, then the editor of HTML and CSS is right for you.
SEO (search engine optimization) for your blog to be effective as acquisition channel is essential that it is optimized for search engines. The solution you choose should allow: define URLs friendly ( what are the friendly urls? ) and successfully complete the HTML title tags and meta tags description (meta tag descriptions).
Subscriptions: Subscriptions are a central point of any blog because they allow you to generate a base of readers and those who are with some interesting publication first become loyal readers, and future major customers. There are two types of subscriptions: via RSS or email. To provide greater flexibility to your readers, we recommend offering both.
Authors: blogs in business there is often more than one editor. If you want that each author has their own identity within the blog so that readers can follow along each of them, make sure to choose a platform to manage multiple authors.
Analytics: As we always recommend in this blog, each acquisition strategy must be accompanied by a measurement technique to analyze the success of this. The platform you choose should provide a measurement system, or better yet, allow you to integrate some of the best known solutions Analytics on your blog, such as Google Analytics .
Support: As with any service, inquiries or faults may occur. Each solution offers different levels of service: a help page, a forum, or email support. However, consider that each level of service comes at a price.
Plugins: some platforms allow you to install plugins or widgets. These are very useful for adding some useful features that may be missing in the platform. Consider the difficulty of the process of installing these plugins may vary by solution.
Platforms existing blogs and their characteristics
The most popular platforms are: WordPress.org , WordPress.com , Typepad , Tumblr and Blogger . WordPress is listed twice because it has two solutions radically different .
Please find below the differences between these alternatives:
| WordPress.org | WordPress.com | Typepad | Tumblr | Blogger | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (but you must consider the cost of hosting and maintenance) | Free | From $ 8.95/month | Free | Free |
| Hosting | Not included. You must install it on a hosting service | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Own domain | Yes | Yes, but it costs USD 18/year | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free Templates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pay Templates | Yes | Yes | Not | Yes | Not |
| Fully customizable design | Yes | Yes, but it costs $ 30/year | Yes for plans from $ 14.95/month | Yes | Yes |
| Buttons to share on social networks | Yes, installing plugins | Yes | Yes | Yes, but you must change your template and insert the code for each button | Yes |
| HTML & CSS Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WYSIWYG Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Select the URL of the publications | Yes | Yes, but you can modify part of the URL | Yes | Not | Yes, but you can modify part of the URL |
| RSS Subscription | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Subscribe via email | Yes, through Feedburner | Yes, installing a plugin | Yes, through Feedburner | Yes, through Feedburner | Yes, through Feedburner |
| Multiple authors | Yes | Yes | Yes for plans from $ 14.95/month | Yes, but only for secondary blogs | Yes |
| Analytics | You can integrate the solution you want | Includes own solution . But you can integrate Google Analytics NO | Includes own solution and you can integrate Google Analytics | Yes, with Google Analytics | Yes, with Google Analytics |
| Support | Online Help Center | Help Center online and by email if you purchased some functionality | Help Center online and by email | Online Help Center.Allow contact you by email but do not mention that provide support | Online Help Center |
| Plugins | Yes, you can install any plugin .There are more than 22,000. | Yes, but they offer a limited set of plugins | Not | Yes (call them widgets) | Yes (call them gadgets) |
| Methodology installing plugins | You must manually install the plugin.Requires some technical knowledge | Simple installation. No technical knowledge required | Not available | The installation is usually a code and copy paste | The installation is usually a code and copy paste |
Our recommendation
To help you make your decision, you share our recommendation for different needs:
- If you want to have a fully customizable solution both from the design and functionality, the platform is WordPress.org for you. However, keep in mind that you or someone with technical knowledge of your team should install and maintain the platform, plugins and updates.
- If you need a complete solution, you do not have technical knowledge, but want to be able to add templates and plugins that have been tested without the need to install them manually, we recommend using WordPress.com.
- If you look for a professional solution, with the ability to access hundreds of templates, you do not have technical knowledge and would like to have a support team for any eventuality, Typepad is for you.
- If you fancy a simple alternative, with the basic features but want a beautiful design, we suggest to use Tumblr. However, note that the documentation for the service is less complete than on other platforms.
- If you want simplicity and are interested in integrating your blog with services like Google Analytics and AdSense in a few clicks, Blogger is your solution.
Three. Create your blog
- Create your blog on WordPress.com .
- Download WordPress to install on your hosting service.
- Create your account in Typepad .
- Create an account on Tumblr .
- Create your account in Blogger .
What solution you tried, and what results have you obtained?
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