Search for blogs in Google and you’ll get over 3 billion results.
Blogging Stats
· 40% of companies have blogs for marketing
o They get 55% more site visitors
o And 67% more leads
§ 20 or more posts a month can drive significant traffic and therefore leads
· 71% of people said blogs affect their purchasing decision
Source: Hubspot’s An introduction to Business Blogging.- 57% of bloggers report having more than one blog. (source)
Blogs are a source of thought leadership and shouldn’t be “ego streams” (That’s my phrase for it). You should give your opinion along with some value content.
If you’re starting a business blog, start with one blog and integrate your efforts. Use tags so readers can get to the topics they’re interested in.Writing ideas
· Content can be about trends, answering questions, asking questions, interviews (i.e. interview a subject matter expert or interesting person), join Groups (LinkedIn, Facebook) to see what people are talking about
· Audit your current content (on your website, digital properties, presentations and even proposals) and find some that can be repurposed
· Invite guest bloggers (industry experts, key influencers, sme)
· Don’t just curate content, add value with your opinion; get permission to re-use articles (if you see a relevant article Write what you find interesting about it or even controversial and then link to it)
· Be current, provide reaction/perspective on current events
· Set Google Alerts for topics you want to follow and write your take on what others are talking about
Style· Be interesting, clear and take a position
· Be consistent with your tone and overall style of writing
· Provide your perspective and opinion
· Support your information with facts, statistics and references to add credibility
· Use metaphors and story telling to get across key ideas
· Make it relatable for your audience; make it personal
· Spell check and grammar check – mistakes reflect on you and decrease your credibility
· Include your byline and reference any relevant credentials – and do the same for any guest bloggers
· Document your style guidelines and provide to any guest bloggers
Frequency· Frequency correlates to Number of leads (the more quality content the better)
· Set realistic goals
· Be consistent when you post and the number of times
· Develop an editorial calendar
· Have a backlog of content that includes evergreen content (then you can take a vacation and schedule this content)
· It can take a blog 3 to 5 years to gain significant traction and that’s only if you work at promoting it (be patient), you’ll be gaining in SEO if you write your content with high relevancy
Best practices· Develop themes and make sure to incorporate keywords
· Optimize with key words
· Incorporate CTA – contextual and banners to lead gen information
· Use images and video
· Format your posts so they utilize headings and subheadings as well as bullet so people can scan
· Utilize search engine optimization by putting keywords into titles, headings and content
· Write titles that engage the user – ask a question or present a provocative opinion
· Write what you know
· Have your content deliver high relevancy and be authoritative; address problems readers are interested or that they are facing; identify gaps – ask questions
· Credibility – references and links to high authority sites; provide links for further information
· Engage your audience
· Refresh content, give your readers reason to return
· Respond to comments in a timely manner (e.g. within 24 hours, or two days)
· Promote your blog and your articles
o Have a sign up form or RSS
o Enable social sharing and write tweetable content
o Incorporate your blog into your signature, link from your website, reference it on any slide presentations and social posts
o Submit your blog to directories
o Write guest posts on other people’s blogs and reference your blog as your appropriate
o Invite experts to write on your blog and hopefully they will then reference your blog on their’s
o Share promos of your blog in social media
Measure your successSuccess isn’t only about numbers; it’s also about the quality of your readership and the relationships you’re building. Metrics you can track:
· Number of followers/visitors (quantity)o Who is following you (quality; e.g. is an influencer with a large following following you?)
o Who is linking to you and driving traffic to your blog
· Visits by blog post (Page views)
o What articles/topics are popular (is this an area you can write more about to engage this audience?)
· Subscribers – total number and month by month growth
· Number of comments
o Quality of comments – there is high value in a positive response, encourage people to link to your blog
This post first appeared on Website And Communications Best Practices, please read the originial post: here
