Users like to learn, and they appreciate learning about a subject that complements their lifestyle. Your products and services certainly fit within someone’s lifestyle. If you can answer their questions and engage them intellectually, the engagement of these individuals can expand your business. Readers become customers if you play your cards right.

Understand Your Audience

A blog that’s too vague won’t serve any purpose, and a blog that’s too narrow won’t get much interest. Your blog should be targeted to the concerns and curiosities common among your target audience. Identifying the interests of people who enjoy your niche is critical to providing the kind of content they actually want to read. Many business bloggers engage their audiences by sharing stories and the resulting wisdom of their personal voyages that lead to the inception of their business. If you understand what your audience wants to know about, you can do the same thing.

Write Informative, Original Content

You’re not the only business blogging in your niche. Your competition has a blog, too. If you want to keep potential customers turning in your direction, your blog needs to outshine the others. Original content is what’s most important. Tired topics, recycled posts, and curated articles can be found anywhere. Your blog posts need to contain valuable insights and actionable tips. People should be able to easily identify a takeaway point or compelling call to action for every post.

Allow and Respond to Comments

Questions and comments can become sales leads, provided you engage with the user who left them for you. This is your opportunity to build a connection to your readers, fostering trust and stronger associations with your business. Include questions in your article that will prompt people to comment. Not all comments will require a response, and it may be impossible to tend to all of them if your blog has become quite popular. Try not to miss any opportunity to interact with your readers whenever possible.

Cross-Promote Your Blog Posts

You want to draw in as many interested followers as you possibly can, across as many platforms as you use. This means linking your blog in your Facebook posts and tweets. This can help bring passive followers into your inner circle. By adding “share” buttons to all of your blog posts, you’re encouraging your readers to do promotion for you. If they have social media friends who would appreciate that post, they’ll click that button and do a little promoting on your behalf.

Always Update Regularly

Nothing will cause you to lose followers faster than allowing your blog to go dormant. If you don’t post regularly, you aren’t keeping your business fresh in the minds of your readers. Create a regular posting schedule. If you have a post series, always post it on the same day of the week. People will know when to come back for the next installment. Posting regularly also helps keep your blog at the top of Google’s rankings, allowing more people to find you through organic search.

When drafting content for your blog, remember that an effective post is one that is a mix of promotion and helpful content. People won’t come to your blog for blatant advertisement – they’ll come to your blog for your useful knowledge. Always apply feedback you receive in the comments, and allow your customers to shape your blog.