If your company has an online presence, you should be blogging! Even if it doesn’t, you should still blog. Why? Because a good blog will draw potential customers to your site, help spread the word about your business, and improve your conversion rate. It can also help build your reputation as a trusted, reliable expert in your field.
To help you get started, we’ve rounded up the top dozen blogging tips from around the web.
Post new content frequently
According to this article on HubSpot, “Over a two-month span, businesses that published blog entries on a regular basis (more than once a week) added subscribers over twice as fast as those companies that added content once a month.“ Consistency is key, so create a content calendar to help you stay on track with your posts.
Keep a spare blog post handy
We all have busy lives and sometimes things happen. Keep a spare blog ready for publication when life, or the flu, interferes with your content calendar.
Use a catchy title
People will decide whether or not to read your blog after reading just the title. So make it a good one! CoSchedule’s free headline analyzer tool can help you create a great title. A catchy title might even translate into more shares on social media. Just make sure the content is as interesting as the title. No bait and switch allowed!
Speaking of content…
There’s a lot of competition out there. In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to write content that’s interesting or unique. Reading takes effort, so make sure that what you’re posting is worth that effort. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, this article should help.
Structure matters!
Most blog visitors are actually skimmers rather than readers. Structure your blog so that it’s easy to skim– otherwise you may lose your visitors!
Subheadings break up blocks of text, making it easier to read. They also give your viewers a taste of what’s coming up next.
Use images
Photos, drawings and other graphics add interest and actually increase your blog’s believability. Great images are more likely to get your blog shared, too.
Know the most popular social networking sites and make sure you’re a part of them. Keep track of interesting questions, quotes, or other tidbits that you hear from your contacts on social media. These are often great for generating blog posts that will spread through that same media.
Also make sure you provide share buttons – and make them easy to find!
Build trust
If you offer your blog viewers the opportunity of asking questions or leaving comments, you’ll build trust, and increased trust often leads to improved sales.
Get to know your target audience
You need to know for whom you’re writing for and what their interests are. That way you can write posts that resonate with them. Hint: your target audience is usually your target customer!
Stay true to yourself and your brand
Best-selling author and expert blogger Jeff Goins says: “Writing isn’t about picking the right topic; it’s about finding the right voice.” Make sure your voice accurately reflects you and your brand.
There are a lot of aspects to a successful blog: analytics, SEO rankings, keyword choices, social media shares. It’s perfectly okay to ask for help when you need it. Just make sure that you’re choosing experts who have the expertise you need.
Realize that you’re in it for the long haul
The web is a very big, very busy place. It might take a long time before you start seeing results. Be prepared to stick it out, learn, grow, and improve. Eventually, your patience and your efforts will pay off!
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