by Rob Jones, Marketing Coordinator, BuildDirect

In my last article, I talked about how to approach writing a blog.  And a lot of what I said applies here too with a lot of the same principles at work;

• being personal by revealing our personality, values, and points of view in every article
• being plain and conversational in our language and not use sales copy
• being confident in our selves and in our products and service
• being diligent when it comes to addressing issues brought up by readers
• being consistent when it comes to how frequently new posts are published

Blogging is easy, once you get the hang of it.  But, getting the hang of it can be the hard part for a lot of people.  And one of the key questions that comes up in conversation when it comes time to write our first blog post is “what do I write about?”

After all, some of us don’t exactly work in exciting, sexy industries where everything we deal with is immediately super-fantastically interesting to a general audience.  A lot of our day-to-day business might even be looked upon by outsiders as downright mundane.  And this can be true, if we’re just writing about the impersonal facts of our industries.  So, what’s needed is more than just an article or two that covers the basics with nothing extra for the reader to digest.

What I’ve found when writing my own personal blog, along with my contributions to the wood flooring blogs at BuildDirect, is that blogs are best approached when they have an overall purpose.  Your blog should be constantly addressing a question that your customers are asking.  And all of your posts should contribute to that effort.  Whatever types of posts you decide to go with, this is a good thing to keep in mind.

Here are a selected 10 suggestions on types of blog posts which you might consider.

• Thought of the day.  This can take any form you choose, whether it’s a thought on how to improve an area in your industry which your colleagues or competitors are talking about, or a concept you’ve picked up from a book you’ve read, or even a film you’ve seen.
• Quotations. Take a quote from someone you admire, and talk about how it might relate to your business, or to the lives of your customers.
• News. This one needs to have some parameters set by you as far as how much you want to reveal, but news items about your company - what you’re working on, what you’re working toward -  are often great ways to let your customers “in”, rather than keeping them at a distance
• History. Maybe the products or services you offer have a long, illustrious history that not many people know about.  Who better to talk about it than you?
• Rant and Rave. Sometimes, it’s a good idea to be opinionated.  It helps to build up that sense of confidence which is so important to a successful blog.  Take an issue - large or small, important or innocuous - and have a good rant.  Try to be funny if you can (don’t if you can’t!). But, let your point of view be known.
• True Stories. One way to build credibility with readers is to talk about your business in action.  Talk about a unique sale, or a business trip you took when things went well or not so well.  Any real life information humanizes your business, and keeps it from being just a name on a sign
• How To. Instructional information about your products and services is very useful to readers.  And content which is useful to readers means more of them, and more of a chance to sell to them on another part of your site.
• Reviews. Depending on your business or industry, reviews can be a great source of information for your readers, and also builds up a lot of credibility for you as an expert in your field
• Question of the Week. FAQs have always been a useful part of corporate communications.  But, what if you could talk about some of them in more detail, allowing your customers to interact with them, rather than just read them?  This is where a Question of the Week can really boost your readership, and your reputation as a trusted voice in your industry.
• Picture of the day. This type of blog post also can take on many forms.  If you’re an installer of wood flooring for instance (as many of our customers are…) maybe the picture can be a before and after shot, with a commentary about the job, having a very hands on application to what you’re writing about. Maybe the picture you choose is just something which sparks a thought, and isn’t directly related to your business.  Remember to use a creative commons image (Flickr has a great resource for this) if you’re not using your own pictures, or get the written permission of the owner of an image you use.

These are obviously just a few examples of how you might go about creating blog posts.  Some of the better strategies surrounding topics is to create (you guessed it!) a series.  This is particularly useful if you’re trying to tackle a big topic.  One thing you want to do is to make sure that you’re not giving too much information in one entry.  Breaking up a topic is a pretty useful way of managing this issue.

Blogging can be a lot of fun, as well as being very useful.  Blogging is a great way to communicate with your customers and invite them into your world.  When you engage directly with your customers, you build trust, confidence, and long term benefits when it comes to relationship management. Your blog can be a sales catalyst, as well as a useful vehicle for public relations.  Your blog can be a great way of gaining visibility on the search engines, and as a means to raise your profile among your competitors and industry peers too.  The advantages are pretty obvious!