Our blog has been listed as one of the 25 finalists in the Smarter Business Ideas Top Blogger competition. This has prompted us to think about what makes a great blog.

Blogs can be a great addition to your business’ PR strategy because they can help you to communicate with your target audience, share your stories and engage with others.

Here are some of our tips for creating a great blog for your business.

Pick your topic
Choose a topic for your blog and stick to it. Ideally this topic should be related to your business or its industry to raise your profile as an expert in your field.

Once you have chosen a topic you should avoid writing about anything else. If you stray from your chosen topic then your readers may become disinterested and stop reading.

Consider your target audience
Think about who you want to read your blog and why. For example you may want potential customers to read your blog in order to build their brand awareness.

Your blog should then aim to reach this target audience by posting content that is interesting and appealing to them.

Have great content
Having great content is extremely important to the success of your blog. With great content people are more likely to read your blog or recommend you to their friends.

Your content should be interesting and relevant to your readers or contain information they might be looking for.

You can help to keep your content interesting by posting in a variety of different ways. For, example you could post videos, infographics or run a giveaway.

Be consistent
Regularly posting fresh content on your blog is important to attract new readers. If your blog hasn’t been updated in a long time then readers may lose interest in it.

A great idea is to set a specific day that you will publish your blog post and make sure you adhere to this deadline. For example, you may choose to post content every Monday and Wednesday. It is a good idea to post at least once a week.

Make it easy to read
Make sure your content is easy to read by splitting up large chunks of text into short paragraphs and using subheadings and bullet points.

Catchy headlines
Interesting headlines can increase the chances of people reading your blog post. Your headline should also convey the main point of the blog post.

Use images
It’s a great idea to use images in all of your blog posts because it helps to attract readers’ attention and makes the content more interesting. When sharing the blog post on your social media sites a picture will be more eye-catching then a block of text. This may encourage more people to read the blog post.

Use internal links
You can use internal links in your blog post to direct readers back to a previous post for more information.For example, if you use the phrase ‘marketing tactics’ in your blog post you can link this to a previous blog post about marketing tactics.

This is a great way to provide your readers with more information without having too much text on one page. It also means readers are less likely to leave your blog to search for more information.

Social it
You should share every new blog post on your social media profiles by posting a link on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest profiles. This will help to drive traffic back to your blog and encourage other people to read it.

You should also include social media share buttons on your blog to enable readers to easily share your content.

Ask a question
Encourage your readers to interact with your content by including a question at the bottom of each blog post. This will help to create a conversation with your readers and allow you to gain valuable feedback or build a relationship with them.

Make sure your blog allows readers to comment by ensuring the comment section is available under your content.

Creating a blog for your business is a great way to communicate with your target audience in a different way. Include blogging in your PR strategy and discover the communication benefits today.

Public Relations Sydney is a finalist in the Smarter Business Ideas Top Blogger competition! Please help us win the People’s Choice award by voting for Public Relations Sydney here.

What do you think makes a great blog?

Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au.