Blogging, notwithstanding what Matt Cutts had to say about it, still remains an important internet marketing activity. It’s a great way of earning natural links, but it’s even a better way of building relationships with authoritative online entities and your personal/business credibility. The problem is that there are many internet marketers that choose to use guest blogging or blogging purely as a link building activity (that’s why Google’s comes out all guns blazing against blogging in general) than a relationship building activity.
But you need to start clearing your blogging misconceptions quickly and start to think beyond link building as its core objective. You need to start thinking of your blog as a tool for building credibility, authority and influence. In this article, we will focus on building credibility through your blog and how you can go about doing it. So, let’s take a look at a few things you need to keep in mind to improve credibility through your blog:
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Align Your Blog With What Your Business Stands For
No, this doesn’t mean the products and services that your business has on offer, but the principles and values that it stands by. Your blog must be in sync with the principles and values that are the foundation of your business and are driving its growth. If your business stands for innovation, make sure your blog content is innovative and always brings something new to the table for interested readers. People will expect a fresh and whole new perspective about a current hotly discussed and debated topic from your blog. The mundane just won’t do.
Delivery Quality, Always
Do no scrimp on the quality of your blog posts. Quality in this case refers not only to the error free writing and the readability of your blog, but also to the actionable and useful nature of your blog content. It must be something that addresses and satisfies a particular need of its target readers. This will ensure readers will take time out to go through it. The mark of a good post is that it is a solutions provider. It exists for a reason, and its purpose is fulfilled with its content. As you keep delivering quality content to your readers, your blog’s increasing credibility will be transferred to your brand. The reputation of your blog will build the reputation of your business.
Connection With Influencers
Use your blog to start building relationships with people who matter for your business – your consumers, brand advocates and influencers. Find out who these are and begin following them on social media and start sharing links to your blog posts with them. If it is a worthwhile post, which says something that’s really important and which helps a section of audience that constitutes their own fans and followers, they will choose to interact with you. This will pave the way for more solid one-on-one engagement, which improves your credibility. By interacting with the people who matter, some of their credibility rubs off on your brand.
Regularity Is Critical
You cannot take your credibility for granted. Each well-written, thoroughly researched piece of factual content helps build your credibility brick by brick and this is a never ending process. Keep updating your blog regularly, because target readers will expect you to; if you don’t, there is a good chance that people will move away to some other blog (in a nightmarish scenario – your competitor’s blog) to get the information they need. In the world of blogging, it’s very difficult to reengage the attention of your target audience, which you’ve lost as result of your irregular posts. More importantly, each reader you lose is a mark against your credibility; on the other hand, every new blog visitor/reader is like the piece of brick that builds your credibility. Regular blog postings can lead to more visitors, which will improve the credibility of your blog.
Show Readers That You Care To Make A Difference
At the end of the day, a blog can only work if it’s not about you but the visitor. Whether it’s a blog on your business/ecommerce site or a standalone blog, people are going to read it if they think the author cares about them. There should be no ulterior motive to your blog (even if there is, it must not be evident), and the visitors must feel that the only reason you are offering them information is to better their lives. This will improve your credibility like nothing else can.
The key to writing such blog posts is to understand your target audience comprehensively, their interests, their problems and research post ideas that will resonate with their needs and expectations. It’s your visitors who are your credibility assets and your blog posts must be able to illustrate this fact.
End Words
If you want to build credibility with your blog, you can’t afford to ignore its readers. It must be all about them and little about you. There is a tendency amongst bloggers to talk about diverse topics, but very few of them are actually relevant to the target audience. Such topics are like a wasted opportunity. If you really want to earn credibility through your blog, you need to create content that your readers will love going through, and implement the takeaways to solve a particular problem they’ve been facing. If you can do this, your blog will reap rich dividends in the form of improved credibility.
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