In order to establish a following, readers need to know when to expect new content. The more useful the information you post, the more readers you will attract and the more likely they will become regular readers. Remember the old writing mantra: Show, don't tell. If, for example, you are promoting a particular business strategy , provide an example of how and why it was successful.
Make a point to invite your readers to weigh in and share their opinions in your comments on every post. And when they do have something to say, acknowledge their comments, even when their viewpoint differs from your own. It's good to have a clear focus when it comes to your blogging topics , but too much of anything can be a turnoff.
Be willing to introduce new topics or a new way to look at a common topic to add interest and increase engagement. If you want your readers to continue reading, put your subscription options in an easy-to-find place. You also can attract more subscribers by offering multiple options. Access to the RSS feed and a post-by-email option are popular choices.
Don't expect your readers to catch every single post you write unless you're reminding them that your blog exists. Share links to your blog in social media , on your website, in your newsletters, and even in your email signature, and encourage people to click through. If you typically write long all-text posts, try mixing in a few shorter posts or adding images to see if it changes your pageviews.
You even can throw in an occasional video post to add a new level of interest. Sometimes, all it takes is a little controversy to get your blog on the map. Don't be afraid to take a stand on a hot topic in your industry, and then encourage discussion in your comments. As any online marketer will tell you, every customer started simply as a visitor to their website. Fresh, relevant content refers to the practice of creating original content that directly addresses those problems or challenges your consumers are having on a consistent basis.
Pulling content from other industry blogs or rehashing the same ones continuously will actually have the reverse effect on your site. In fact, Google actually penalizes sites that employ duplicate content, negatively impacting your search engine ranking. At IMPACT, we produce our own content daily, focusing mainly on offering helpful, relevant blog articles for our target audience that also tie into the services offered here at our agency.
This not only drives new traffic, but also return traffic from subscribers. Content marketing has been declared across the marketing industry as the new SEO. Because of this, your website will get buried alive without fresh, relevant content, mainly in the form of blogging.
This has become even more important due to the changes Google has undergone in the past few years. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first. At IMPACT, we utilize the many resources in our own office to help produce fresh, quality, and relevant content every day. If maintaining a frequent blogging schedule sounds like too much given your schedule, contact IMPACT today and learn how we can help.
Blogging frequently does more than increase organic traffic , it also generates more leads. As your publish more and more posts, the total number of indexed pages keeps going up.
It turns out that once businesses have published blog posts or more, their traffic is nearly double that of businesses with total blog posts. Not sure how to get set up for business blogging success? Follow this simple point checklist from our Community Coordinator, Carolyn Edgecomb. Too many companies miss the value of obtaining loyal blog readers. The more readers you can get to subscribe to your blog, the more opportunity you have to fill the top of your sales funnel and increase the number of visitors coming to your website regularly.
One of the top biggest benefits of blogging is to build SEO value for your website. By placing your blog on a separate domain, you're separating the SEO value of your blog and website, hurting the performance of both. Blog readers like consistency and the ability to know when they can expect new content; therefore, you need to develop a consistent blogging schedule.
Whether you blog monthly, weekly, daily, or multiple times a day, keep it consistent. Use your blog scheduling tool to release your content on a routine basis. How many blog articles are you creating each month? Publishing a blog article about a current topic or industry trend is a great way to bring more traffic to your site. One necessity of every blog is social share buttons.
How else are your readers going to share that fantastic article you recently published? The success of your blog depends on how many people actually read it! There is no better way to maximize the potential of conversions from your blog than through a clear and compelling call to action. You should always provide your readers and visitors with some direction.
An even better way to target your readers and audience is by adding sSmart CTAs. You need to develop content that targets your buyer personas. Think of your blog as a way for you to educate your buyer personas and a way to engage with them to push them down the sales funnel. One of the biggest culprits is oversized photos. How important is a high ranking? Be sure to link to other relevant content in your posts as well, as this helps to drive traffic to other areas of importance as it relates to your marketing goals.
You have a unique voice in your industry, ensure this is on full display by including a name and even a face to go with each blog you publish. This helps to establish your credibility as an industry thought leader and also builds trust with your audience. It's hard to get excited about blogging for your business when you hate writing which many people do. Fortunately, you don't have to be a great writer , or love writing, to create a successful blog.
All I need from you is an agreement that publishing content is critically important to your marketing efforts right now. We all know this, so let's not focus on theory and get right down to helping make it a more manageable process. Here are 5 tips once shared by our former Marketing Director, John Bonini once shared.
Contrary to what you may believe, great writers don't necessarily have an abundance of free time on their hands. Many are even expert procrastinators and find the hardest part of writing is, in fact, getting started. What the great ones do, however, is carve out those invaluable periods of time where they can be productive and hit their word counts. You don't have one. And that's okay because you can manufacture it right now. First, let's think about a time during your day where you're alert, attentive, yet free of any responsibilities.
Maybe it's your morning commute. Or when you're waiting to pick the kids up from practice. Whenever it is, this can be your time. Find a topic that makes sense for your business, or maybe a common question you hear from prospects and customers.
Write down as many of them as you can. Every day during your window of opportunity, record yourself talking all about these topics i. Don't worry about organizing your thoughts. Just talk. Later on, take a seat in front of the computer and transcribe everything you said. Organize it in a way that makes sense, with paragraph breaks, headers, and maybe even some bulleted lists. Before you know it, you'll have the makings of a solid blog post.
Notice how we found a way around the traditional "writing" portion? There's nothing worse for someone who hates writing than a blank screen and no direction. This is not the same as Picasso pondering a blank canvas, and more an opportunity for a beleaguered writer to anguish and express cursory remarks in front of the whole office. Never attempt to write without an outline. That'd be like a novice chef cooking without a recipe. Would you eat it?
Don't answer that. Sounds simple, but if you give this process the respect it deserves, it'll make writing the article more paint by numbers than creating from scratch. One of the most common challenges I hear among aspiring bloggers is, " what the hell do I blog about every day?
Won't I run out of ideas? Make it a habit to comb through your social networks every day looking for ideas. What types of challenges are people talking about?
Not sure how to find this? Simply tack the word "problems" to the end of your industry and hashtag it. You get the idea. Social media is fertile ground for discovering ideas and finding questions that need answering. Once you find them, you're doing less writing and more answering. Pro tip: Check out our interactive blog title generator and you'll never run out of ideas. The most frustrated of writers tend to over edit. Before they finish a sentence they're already thinking about everything they hate about it.
What happens next is a vicious cycle of writing and backspacing that leaves you still working on an introduction three hours later. Take a little advice from Ernest Hemingway he knew a thing or two about writing and write drunk and edit sober.
Now, before you go clamoring for your flask, understand the interpretation is more about writing without the limits of editing on your mind. Simply write. Then write some more. Your writing process should be a freewheeling transport of thoughts and ideas from your brain to your processor of choice. Another misconception about writers is that it comes easy.
I help busy business owners take control of their to do list by providing virtual assistant services. With a background as a PA and a degree in creative writing, I help my clients boost their productivity to focus on the things that will bring them value.
Many of my clients require help with their blog and newsletter, plus other content creation such as social media and website updates.
I have ghost written content for entrepreneurs in the health and beauty industry, maternity fashion, WordPress developers and funky stationery. After graduating with a degree in creative writing, I spent several years working as a PA in local government. After that I travelled independently for six years and started documenting my travels and sharing hints and tips for first time solo travellers on my personal blog, Meander With Meg. My tips come from the perspective of someone who is a blogger and also a reader of blogs.
Everything I know about blogging is self taught and I come at blogging from the ground up, grass roots level. To me, a successful blog is one that always remembers who it is there to serve. Gone are the days of LiveJournal and MySpace where you could basically publish the ramblings of your diary online — now each time you hit publish you are very aware that your content is in the public arena.
So, with the reader in mind, I have three tips to focus on:. What are you passionate about? Write the way that you talk. Have faith in your own voice.
Remember, your voice is something no one else has. Some people will love your voice and some people will hate it. Everybody is time poor these days — at least they say they are — although there always seems time for a social media scroll.
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