Wednesday, August 05, 2015

What is the purpose of your blog?

The purpose of a blog is not easily defined, and every business should  have its own set of documents describing the purpose, aims, objectives and intent of  their own company blog.

 

When documenting the purpose of your blog be sure to have your business plan handy, as the company purpose, aims, objectives and intent will be used to describe the purpose, aims objectives and intent of your blog.

 

http://frank-gainsford.blogspot.com/
Document your blog and change your attitude to blogging

Once you have taken the time to document the purpose, aims, objectives and intent of your blog, you will find it an awful lot easier to  write clear instructions for your content creators , and ensure that the content that they create and assemble is more suitable for your intended target market audience.

 

From a FUFISM based  marketing perspective the primary purpose of your blog is to act as a supplemental marketing strategy to your website, and support the purpose, aims, objectives and intent of your website.  Your blog will of course have many secondary purposes just as your website has many different secondary purposes.

Your blog should be viewed as an essential asset that acts as part of your online presence, and be treated as the second most important online communication channel that you own, remembering that your web site is the primary online communication channel that you own.

One of the more important purposes of your blog,  should be to act as a link building, and content marketing  channel for your web site. Your blog and your web site are owned by you, making them your digital assets, whereas your social media is just leased online space, where you have very little control over the activity that takes place there.  You have total control over your blog and your web site, so you can dictate the activity that is allowed to take place within these two digital assets that you mange and control.

Your blog should also complement your website and act as a content marketing platform for your web site, where you add extra value to the content and context  of your web site by expanding the conversation started in your web site, through posts and pages in your blog,  that attract comments and on going conversations around specific topics as listed and discussed in your web site.  These conversations should then be extend to the social media, so that the social media may then be used as an extension of your blog to market your online content within your web site further and in more detail,  to the search engines as well as  your intended target market audience.

Your blog should also be used to solve consumer issues with your products, services and related information flow patterns , by answering specific questions picked up through your social listening tools, or queries raised by your audience within the online environment.

 Your blog is not a sales house, and you should not be pushing sales within your blog, but rather sending viewers to your sales pages within your web site, from blog posts that form part of your sales funnel, or pages within your blog that are dedicated to sending visitors to specific landing pages within your web site.


You should have a blogging policy, and a set of documents describing the purpose, aims, objectives and intent of your blog.  This set of documents should also descibe where your blog fits into your totsal marketing plan, along with who is in charge of the SEO issues, and how these are integrated into your web sites SEO issues, as well as how your blog will be integrated into your social media marketing tactics along with the marketing roles played by
1) your web site
2) your blog
3) your social media tactics
4) your offline marketing tactics and staregies


Besides direct marketing, content marketing, link building and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  issues your blog should also play a number of other important roles in many other areas of your business including but not limited to

  • public relations issues
  • after sales issues
  • customer education issues
  •  community building issues
  • business networking issues
The power of your blog should not be underestimated, and you should review and update the documentation describing the purpose, sims, objectives and intent of your blog at least once every three months, but once a month would be best practice.