Your Blog as a Hub

If you are a business, brand, or consultant, you need to have an online presence. It doesn’t matter if your work is “brick and mortar” or not, there is simply no reason not to have a website.

I can’t tell you how many times I have gone to Google to search for a restaurant, service, or other type of business to find more information only to come up with a big nada. My first thought at this point is that this business doesn’t want me to find them. I don’t care if you have a yellow pages entry or not, most of the time I’m not going to read it.

If you don’t have a website, you are missing out on a massive amount of revenue. You are not only leaving money at the table, but you are potentially closing your doors to new clients/buyers/customers.

Like most people, I am extremely pressed for time and I don’t really feel like calling you if I don’t have to. I want to be able to order online, email you with questions, or submit a service request without having the hassle of talking to someone on the phone.

I know, I know…you might be thinking that most of your customers don’t use the internet anyway or that your type of business isn’t one that needs an online presence. Well, my first response is that your customers don’t use the internet because you haven’t catered to the ones that do! I guarantee you that if you start building a hub online, that you will find a new breed of customer entering your door.

Even if you’ve got all the customers you can handle, think of what you can do with an online presence:

1. Collect customer email addresses to advertise promotions or special offers.
2. Create an online service desk to make handling customer issues a “hands off” experience.
3. Brand your business to build its reputation.
4. Get noticed by trade publications or other media outlets.

The list goes on and on…

So, now comes the fun part, the action plan. I’m going to lay it out for you nice and simple:

1. Build a website with a landing page that details what you do, what you have to offer, and why people should buy from you. This page should have your brand logo or image as well as an email form to capture customer information. Make sure to include a phone number and email address.
2. Create a blog as an addition to your website. Your blog will not only help you collect more online real estate, but blogs are great Google food. You will have a much easier time getting noticed if you own keywords in your niche or location. You don’t have to blog every day, or every week for that matter, but you do need to post on a regular interval so that people know your blog/website isn’t dead.
3. Offer special links to promotions or discounts and update them regularly. There is nothing worse than clicking on a link to see someone’s promotions only to find that they are months old or inactive. No dead links or old content…period!

Your blog is the hub for your business and is an excellent way to actively attract attention and stay hip at the same time. Your website will allow your customers to find you online and research without wasting your time or their time on the phone. Just make sure to monitor your email account so that you can provide service from all fronts. You will be amazed by the time you can save and the new business that you attract.

This article reprinted with the permission of Nathan Hangen, Social Media. Nathan is a professional blogger as well as social media expert and the author of “Twitter Rockstar“.