FreshBooks is a hugely popular accounting software.
Businesses of all sizes use the software to manage their revenue, expenses, invoices and more.
Everyone from freelancers to big business managers use FreshBooks. It’s a simple tool that uses the power of the cloud to make doing business easy.
I’ve used FreshBooks a little bit on my own and have worked with it many times with writers and clients. It’s a great service and it’s no surprise to me that a great company like this also maintains a great business blog.
Quick Look: The FreshBooks Blog
The design of the FreshBooks blog is good. The blog is housed on a sub-folder, which I always recommend to clients. For FreshBooks it’s important to have a solid setup because they’re perceived as a smart, forward-thinking company.
The design matches the site. You feel like you’re still on the FreshBooks site. If you’re a new visitor you know you can easily find more information if you first visited the site through a blog post.
One small thing that always catches my eye is the placement of the email signup form. I always recommend to clients to have an email signup form on their blogs. What can be confusing to readers is the location of the form. In the case of the FreshBooks blog the form looks like a search bar where you can search for information.
The title tag is also interesting. I like to keep title tags short and sweet. This one is pretty long. Most people won’t see the entire thing. I tell clients to stick with the main point and leave the rest for other pages.
FreshBooks Blog Title Tag: FreshBooks Blog – A blog about our thoughts on entrepreneurship, teamwork, our services, the Web and anything we find interesting.
Most people won’t see all that. I would stick with the main attraction of the blog. Those are some great categories, though.
But other than that this is a great looking blog with great information.
FreshBooks Knows Its Customer
By looking at the first few posts including the Popular Posts you can instantly tell that FreshBooks knows its customer: entrepreneurs. The current top blogs include one about starting a business for $100, another about surveys and another about business ideas.
These are all targeted at a very specific audience.
That’s the most important thing when starting a business blog. You have to write for your customer. I like to narrow it down to one specific person.
Take one of your customers and imagine them as your main blog reader. Write posts for that person. It will help you really figure out the most important content for your blog and you’ll attract the exact type of reader you need, which is the kind that converts to being a customer.
Series
Series of posts are a good idea. It gives people a reason to come back to the blog, which is good for capturing the continued attention of new readers.
FreshBooks has Tax Thursday. It’s a useful series for entrepreneurs and it’s something people will want to come back for each week.
This strategy is like a TV show. You give people great content and they keep coming back each week. There is a common theme and it works great if you leave them hanging just a little bit on each post so they want to come back.
Focus on the Reader, Not the Company
One thing that comes up with new clients here at GBW is the issue of blog titles and the focus of the posts.
The strategy FreshBooks is using is a good one.
Notice that many of their posts are things that will help their customer. Yet most of the posts are not directly about accounting software. They have posts about how to hire the right person. There are posts about legal topics, others about social media, business news, etc.
The point is that you’re looking to attract your ideal reader or customer. You can write about anything that person is searching for online.
FreshBooks understands this and they get people on their site and because the new readers are the ideal customer there is a good chance those people will want to use the FreshBooks accounting software.
Conclusion
FreshBooks not only has a great product, they have a great blogging strategy.
Use their blog as inspiration for your own business blog. They’re a company that is doing it right.