How accessible are you to your prospective customers through your company website blog? As I’ve mentioned before, having a great product or service behind your online presence is nothing if you don’t offer users the incentive to learn more about it and make the move to make a purchase or set a transaction in motion. Many a Traffic Tuesday has noted that generating successful and lasting web traffic does not just boil down to algorithms and formulae, but to using your site to reach out to individual people in the related community so they know you’re out there and active. Maintaining a company blog, like many of my Los Angeles website design clients do, is an easy, effective, and even fun way to get your website the attention it deserves. Keeping a few rules of blog etiquette and tone in mind will help build your readership, set you apart from the competition, and push more traffic to your site.

Be Consistent and Current – If you’re going to bother maintaining a blog, keep it updated. If weeks and months slip by with no activity, however many returning visitors you might have are going to lose interest. Generally, adding a new post, news item, or video at least once a week is advisable.

Interaction Builds Interest – Presenting informative and engaging blog posts is important, but don’t be shy about asking your readers for something in return. After all, that’s how you nurture a positive rapport with them. Structure a post around a question and invite comments and answers; your readers will appreciate that you value their opinion and in turn you’ll get to gather more information about who they are (think of it as a long form opt-in field). You can then respond to these user replies, which might even contain specific questions about what you do or offer and lead to some business.

Show Your Readers Love – Nobody likes a snarky, superior blogger, or one who altogether ignores their questions and replies, so get back to readers, and especially other bloggers, who reach out to you. Be friendly, even if they are asking question with an extremely obvious answer. They might be new to the topic or field, and perhaps your advice could put them on exactly the right track. Who knows if that seemingly clueless reader will become a leader in your industry and return the favor of your help someday?

Be a Person Not a Bot – Make your posts enjoyable to read as well as informative. Instead of always using facts and statistics, recount an amusing personal story relating to the topic at hand. Don't be afraid to be funny, a little irreverent, and casual, unless your business specifically calls for a formal and highly professional tone.

Thanks for reading. Jason.
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe below to this blog.