When looking to engage the community using a business blog, it is important to do it right. Poorly researched, haphazardly written articles will give only marginal benefit compared to specific, informative, and interesting posts. In the worst case, an article that has received little attention could even reflect poorly on the company as a whole. The internet is a public forum, and being less than cautious about what you put on it could seriously affect perception of your reliability or professionalism.

However, aside from basic quality concerns, it is also important to choose topics that will speak to and engage your target audience. A blog post should not be a simple recitation of company news or a blatant advertisement. The first is boring, and the second could potentially drive off consumers. Modern web browsers are very advertisement savvy, and if they feel like you are simply blatantly selling, they will simply leave. The reason not to include basic company news is that for the most part, people don’t care. What they want is something that speaks to them or interests them.

When choosing topics, there are three things that I consider essential. The first, is your own knowledge. If you have a poor understanding of your chosen topic, your writing will reflect that. And drawing in a customer is useless if they leave with the impression that you don’t know what you are talking about.

Second, you need to choose something that is relevant to your business. You want to draw in people who will be interested in your services. So tailor your topics to things that your typical client will enjoy, and that is related to your specialty. This can be a great area to show of your knowledge of some service or product that you provide, and demonstrating competence is a great way to build trust.

Finally, focus on making the topic interesting. Often this is a matter of understanding what people want, and what things they might browse onto. A title is critical, but it should not be clickbait. Clickbait is a style of online content creation that uses a sensational headline meant to get a “click”, but that often has nothing of substance to offer after the click. The headline was either misleading, a gross exaggeration, or a simple lie. While this can get initial interest, it is not a sustainable model. If you gain a reputation for having no worthwhile content behind your headlines, you will quickly lose the ability to get people interested, even if you begin producing quality content.