As a business owner I know firsthand that blogging is necessary in order to connect with customers, share expertise, increase SEO, etc. However, I’ve also learned just how difficult it can be to come up with unique and interesting content for my business blog month after month. My company, Transcription Outsourcing, LLC, provides transcription services to businesses and professionals in a variety of industries. At first I felt as though I had unlimited topics to cover in my blog posts. However, after about nine months my fountain of topics began to run dry and I had to look for creative ways to keep my blog interesting and relevant. Here are a few tips of the trade that I’ve employed to keep my blog fresh and my content idea mill running.
- Try Periscope. Utilize Periscope to record a company event, seminar, or speaking engagement and then embed link of video after the fact in a blog post with a brief write-up on the event. Periscope is a hot new social media tool that creates live recordings and allows viewers to comment in real time. It is cool, trendy, and a whole lot of fun.
- Record your post. Instead of writing the blog post, record it as an audio file and have it transcribed by a company that offers marketing transcription services, such as mine. Once you have the transcript, all you need to do is finesse the content just slightly to have an interesting and informative post.
- Utilize images. Post a gallery of images from an event and then provide a brief write-up describing each image and observations from the event. You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
- Create video blog posts. If you find a blank screen daunting, try creating video blog posts. You don’t need sophisticated equipment to do this, a simple video recording of either yourself or another employee talking about a relevant topic is all it you need. Videos are a great way to show the people behind and personality of your brand.
- Respond to FAQs. If customers frequently ask the same questions about your business or services, keep a list of these queries and address them individually in your blog posts. You’ll both create content that you can share with a customer the next time the question comes up and increase your search rankings.
In addition to the tips listed above, I find it helpful to create a list of potential topics and ideas and plug these into a rough editorial calendar. On days when I’m having trouble coming up with fresh content for the blog, I can always reference the calendar for a topic idea. Creating a successful blog requires time and creativity; but the rewards of increased SEO, brand awareness, press coverage, web traffic and ultimately higher sales are well worth the effort.
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Ben Walker is the president and owner of Transcription Outsourcing, LLC. He is a seasoned entrepreneur and businessman with more than seven years of experience in business transcription. Walker founded Transcription Outsourcing in 2010 after identifying a need in the marketplace for a transcription company that catered to legal, law enforcement, medical, academic, and general businesses. Walker manages and oversees all aspects of business development and client retention at Transcription Outsourcing. He also works directly with clients to ensure their transcription deliverables exceed expectations. Walker is a Denver Business Journal 2015 “40 Under 40” award nominee. His business, Transcription Outsourcing, was named as one of the 2015 “Top 50 Family Owned Businesses” by ColoradoBiz Magazine.