Business blogging guide?

[brain357]

I'm having trouble trying to figure out just what I should be blogging about for my business. Are there any do's and don'ts? Is there any great guide out there now I could read through? Some things I am thinking about blogging:
1. Announcing new items. Think I have to be careful not to duplicate copy though?
2. Product feature. Maybe some new pictures and info about old products.
3. I sell items that are replicas from history so thought maybe posting links to news articles about historical finds.
4. Announcing new features on the site.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'm having trouble trying to figure out just what I should be blogging about for my business. Are there any do's and don'ts? Is there any great guide out there now I could read through? Some things I am thinking about blogging:
1. Announcing new items. Think I have to be careful not to duplicate copy though?
2. Product feature. Maybe some new pictures and info about old products.
3. I sell items that are replicas from history so thought maybe posting links to news articles about historical finds.
4. Announcing new features on the site.

All of that is good content and makes perfect sense.

Are there "do's and don'ts"? Not really. Of course stay away from politics or social issues unless that's part of your company culture or marketing.
I think what you've laid out sounds good for what you do.

Write well, use images, think about SEO, and promote to build readers.

As for guides...maybe focus on copy writing blogs like Copyblogger - Content Marketing Mastery (http://www.copyblogger.com/)

[tmcmahon]

One issue I have with your four points is that they're all entirely focused on your business/products, not on the visitor. You might be saying "Well duh, it's my businesses blog. I'm going to blog about my business", but visitors aren't going to care about you as much as they care about themselves.

I like to apply the 80/20 rule that's often used for social media to business blogs as well. 80% of the blog's content should be informational, industry coverage, customer facing, etc... and 20% should be your four items... sans #3, that sounds like it will blur the line between the two focuses.

If the reader trusts you as a source for information they'll be much easier to turn into a customer. Plus, the informational posts will get more natural traffic from sources like social media and organic search than posts about your company. I get so sick of seeing "blogs" that are nothing more than Company Award!, Featured in Niche Magazine!, New Chrometastic Widgets!... etc...

The outlier is if you're such an established brand/product that people are coming to you first for updates and are excited about your new releases, or you're the new, hot thing in the niche. Then you could make it the 60/40 rule or whatever you find that works.

[Natalie]

I’m a huge advocate for blogging. However, I suggest you be careful with the content you are producing. If you’re only going to promote new products and site updates, that’s more ‘company news’ – not really blog content. The purpose of a blog is to share useful, valuable, interesting information that educates and/or excited your target market. For example, instead of talking about a new surfboard that’s in stock, write a post relevant to surfboards in general, such as “What materials are surfboards made out of?” or “How to choose the best surfboard for you”. Remember, it’s not all about you. It’s about your reader.

[James S]

If you were a customer looking for the exact products you sell; what would be some points that would help you get excited about those products? Usually a blog is to tell a story or even educate visitors about the products, rather than be a pure selling platform (like a product page is).

[aafable]

That's easy. You can talk about:

1. Behind the scenes of your business
2. Events that you plan to go to
3. Educational information related to your business. (Eg. if you sell candles, you can write about "Types of candles and their uses")
4. How tos (Eg. if you sell bbq spatulas, you can write about "How to cook delicious burgers")
5. Other pains your customers/clients are facing.

Many businesses do these. That is actually how I find the services and products I'm using.

[jacreative]

Your blog should help your SEO and ranking, if it is done right. It means that you need to focus on the same keywords, that you are targeting with your website, you need engaging and unique content, and you should never post the same thing on more than one platform. You can share links, that works well. You can also post links about historical finds, but it would be even better to write the stories of the replicas, and create unique content for the products. Good luck!

[Bizsort]

Your blog should help your SEO and ranking, if it is done right. It means that you need to focus on the same keywords, that you are targeting with your website, you need engaging and unique content, and you should never post the same thing on more than one platform. You can share links, that works well. You can also post links about historical finds, but it would be even better to write the stories of the replicas, and create unique content for the products. Good luck!
Agree with jacreative , that for this particular business history behind products would be good content.

[Darcie-amber]

I would say blogging can be an incredibly rewarding experience however, it is very important to understand the basics, and then from there you never know how much impact you can have in your blogging endeavors. Always begin by doing some research. Whatever the topic you may choose, see how others are approaching it. Find that unique aspect others have missed. That's where it can jumpstart! plus providing a different angle can help you stand out from the crowd.

[Palani Kumar]

All your points are perfect to start with, and I just wanted to add a few more.

Try to implement sales funnel on your blogs with effect to your niche. This can be effectively done by finding content ideas for different mindsets (stages of the funnel) of potential Customers.

Since you are selling Historic replicas you can focus on trendings and new finding of History as a topic for level one of the funnel, followed by relics (Artifacts) specific blogs for instance you can write about a Rare Roman Gladius being found at a place where the Romans are traditionally not believed to have dominated. On the same blog you can try to sell the Replicas of Roman Gladius or even other historic items of Romans in general.

The key to success here depends on the Effective use of content, internal links (sales actions) and of course the interesting nature of your content.

All the best...!