In the first of our two-part series about bank website blogs, we discussed how blogging can help you communicate with your customers, educate users, boost your search engine result ranking, and increase sales. Now that you understand the benefits of having a bank blog, we’re going to share some tips for getting started and advice for maintaining readership.
What’s in a name?
The first step of starting a blog is deciding what to call it. You’ll want to give your blog a unique name to set you apart from competitors in the financial sector as well as existing blogs. As an extension of your marketing strategy, your bank blog should represent your brand. You don’t necessarily need to include your financial institution’s name. Instead, you could create a moniker that combines either your target audience or topic focus with the purpose or the goal of the blog.
Timing Is Everything
Once you have a name, you’ll need to determine how often to publish the blog. Will you post daily, weekly, monthly, or on specific days? Whatever you decide, be consistent. Once you develop a loyal following, a schedule will let readers know when to expect new material.
You can also use the schedule to develop an editorial calendar. With an editorial calendar, you can organize and plan topics ahead of time so you can meet deadlines.
Managing Your Blog
Before you start blogging, you should define roles and decide who “owns” the blog. Somebody, if not the writer, needs to research blog topics and keywords. While having one blogger may be easier to manage, you could have multiple or guest writers depending on the topic. If you opt to have more than one writer, a single editor can ensure that each blog stays true to your bank’s voice and brand.
Another decision you’ll have to make is if you’ll accept comments on the blog. Comments allow you to maintain an ongoing dialogue with your readers. However, this will be successful only if a moderator can respond to comments in a timely manner as well as monitor for off-topic comments, personal attacks, and spam. Finally, a person or department must assume complete ownership and responsibility for your blog. This ensures the content you share is compliant and achieves your goals.
Final Words
Now that you know what you need to set up a bank website blog, what are you waiting for? You can easily add and maintain your blog on your bank or credit union website using our BankSITE® Builder CMS (content management system). And, remember, our team is here to help 24/7 if you ever have questions.
