Thomas Kelly
30 July 2021
There are at least three types of content that do not belong on your business blog. The reason for this, is that blogging is meant to be more conversational, and less boring business speak.
These three types, are;
- Company internal news
- News and current affairs
- Case studies
Let’s get into the reasons why, and how to address each of these, below.
Company events/internal news
It comes as a shock to many – the majority of people care about themselves. You have heard it before “what is in it for me?” And to be blunt – the fact that you held a staff picnic, or attended an awards presentation – or even won an award – is not what people come to your blog to read about.
Yet you are incessantly told to ‘humanise your brand’ and ‘be personable’ – confusing, right?
The problem
It simply isn’t interesting to someone who is looking for a solution or help with an issue. Time is limited and people are focused on finding the information they need, as quickly as they can. Irrelevant information in the wrong place is confusing and off-putting – and can lead to a negative impression.
The Solution
Thank heavens for social media! Your social feeds are the perfect place to include your inside and behind the scenes stories. Social media is where you can most effectively humanise your brand by showing the engine room of your business using ‘in the moment’ posts.
Current affairs and news
The definition of ‘news’ is something ‘new’ (see what they did there!). By the very definition of itself, news has a limited life-span and is often superseded by more recent ‘news’.
If demonstrating to your audience your organisation’s ability to stay on top of every development in your industry – and this would be important if you depend on ‘industry news’ to deliver your services.
For example, an investment company trading in shares would be expected to know what the market is doing on an hourly basis at the very least – then a ‘news’ section on your site would be a very good way to show you are across the very latest. Real Estate agents also need to show they are abreast of the latest industry news.
The problem
If you include this data in the blog section of your site, you are mixing your content and making it more difficult for your audience to find what they need. It also renders a large portion of your blog content as ‘out of date’ very quickly.
The solution
Create a separate news tab on your menu or include a side-bar live feed so the fast moving content is easily found and the latest information is highly visible to your audience. Don’t mix it in with your small business blog content.
Case Studies
Case studies are one of the most powerful marketing tools you can have in your content tool-box. They are reputation, expertise and social proof all rolled up into one neat package. In fact they are so valuable they deserve their very own VIP top-menu tab – and not a run-of-the-mill spot in your blog post line-up.
The problem
A good case study takes time to put together. You needs all the elements – problem, solutions AND (most importantly) results. They are not a quick 400 word post with a client’s name peppered throughout – your clients deserve more than that – the format and layout of a case study is very different to a blog post.
The solution
Create a case study for each of your products/services that clearly shows how you solve a client need, and what results were achieved. Now find every blog post that addresses each need, and use your CTA (Call to Action) to link your audience to the relevant case study.
At the end of each case study, link to the relevant product or service – do you see how those three steps build a ‘product story’ for your audience?
Here is the problem (blog post) —> this is how we solved it for Client X (case study) —> and this is where you can get it as well (your product/service)!
In Summary
Even if you have thrown all your content into the blog section of your site, it isn’t difficult to create new site sections and move different types of content into the right sections.
The more organised your information is, the easier it is for people to find – and understand – your message.
