Wrong. Maybe no one wants to follow a blog that reads like the user manual for a hydrostatic pipe testing machine, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear related information from an expert in the industry.
It’s also seriously underestimating the power of search engines to say that business blogs don’t get read. You may not get a loyal following for your blog straight out the gate, sure. But if it’s well written, you will get search hits from people needing the information you’ve got.
More traffic = more people. More people = more clicks on that FOLLOW button. That’s the dream.
Professionals read blogs by other professionals
We read blogs for escapism – there’s a reason lifestyle and fashion blogs are so popular. But we also read blogs that are relevant to our field, because most humans invest rather more of their time in things linked to what we actually do for nine hours a day.
I’ve written about the LA plumber before: he posts pictures of his plumbing jobs and people love ’em. I have a lot of tree surgeon friends and they all share and engage with pictures of trees being surgeoned. They belong to Facebook groups abut trees being surgeoned. The interest is real, even if to the outside world it looks a bit nuts.
I’d say I personally spend up to 10% of my day looking at blogs about copywriting, reading tweets from marketing experts and Googling grammar tips. This is the kicker: of all the people with internet access, how many turn immediately to search engines when they need some information? The answer is 89.3%. Probably.
But find the interest point for consumers
If people weren’t interested in welding, there would be no fancy iron gates in front of their houses. If people didn’t give a hoot about events catering, weddings would be a miserable affair. We are interested in that which concerns us, so find the bit that concerns your customers and talk about it.
Things I care about on a business blog:
- Discussion of difficult subjects – the more risk, the more interest
- People features – customers doing cool things, guest experts
- Stuff I could never have thought of by myself
- Special extras like free help sheets and discount codes
I care about these things because they all benefit me. I get entertainment, ideas, instruction and free stuff. Never forget that you have to give a benefit – words are not enough.
Get more tips on what to write about on your business blog.
[bctt tweet=”But no one reads business blogs, right? Said the person doing it wrong. “]
