Blogging has been an effective marketing technique dating back to the late 1990s, and it isn’t going away anytime soon. In reality, 80% of businesses use blogs for marketing and sharing content, meaning there are unlimited blogs in each topic category that create competition. To stand out, your blog needs to be engaging and provide enough value that people want to read it.
Creating a blog series requires planning and effort from your marketing or leadership team. Select your categories or topics in advance to support your overall marketing strategy. Keep in mind that you may want to offer training, tips, guides, advice, ideas, or other knowledge to your viewers. You may determine that you want to offer content to varying audiences. It’s okay to provide different areas of content to different types of readers as long as your brand voice stays consistent and you are very clear about what type of information you are sharing each time. Blogging can be beneficial to your digital marketing strategy because it provides an added value to your viewers and helps your site with SEO by utilizing keywords and key phrases.
What Makes a Great Blog Post?
Easy to Understand
A great blog post is easy to read and understand by anyone that comes across it. You will have industry-related people, who may be technical experts, read your post, but they won’t be the only ones. Many people come across blogs looking to learn, so you want to be approachable even to those who aren’t technical experts. When you use experienced industry language and write as if they should already know certain things, your blog could become dissatisfying. Consider leveling down the industry jargon, or at least provide a glossary of terms and explanations, and don’t be afraid to go into detail on certain things. Another great tactic to make sure your readers understand is to link to older blog posts that go into detail on a topic. This also helps with time on site which is a key indicator to how valuable your website is to your viewers.
Valuable and Useful Information
A well-written blog post doesn’t have to be a work of art, but it does need to contain valuable information quickly. Readers have a low attention span and if they get halfway through your blog and don’t find any relevant information to their problem, they probably won’t finish the read. Stick to the point and stay on topic. Creating valuable and relevant information is also a standard now in the new Google Helpful Content update and could affect your Google ranking. Sometimes a short list of tips, a quick-guide, a Do’s and Don’t’s can stir interest and provide value.
Include Relevant and Eye-Catching Images
When a reader comes across a blog post and the whole post is a long, wordy document, it can appear overwhelming. In fact, 71% of bloggers report using visuals as part of their strategy. This is because everyone has different learning styles, and you want your blog to appeal to everyone. Incorporating a good mix of writing and visuals can make sure you appeal to all readers who come across your post. Think about this as a magazine page: what would make you stop and read more?
Include a Clear Call-to-Action
Including a call-to-action benefits the reader and your business. The end of a blog should tell the reader what to do next. The last thing you want is for a reader to see all the useful information you just provided and then wonder “now what”? Whether your call to action is to reach out to your business for more help, a link to another post to read more, or click here to buy, the next step should be direct and clearly presented.
After reviewing the factors to creating a great blog, you can begin your plan and outline your frequency of posting and topics to cover. Here are 10 tips to consider when writing your next blog post:
Review industry-related blogs for inspiration
When choosing a topic, think about a problem your readers may have and how you can help solve them or answer their questions
Make sure your personality shows in your writing and that your voice stays consistent
Choose captivating words for your headlines and titles
Make sure your audience leaves with valuable information
Use examples to back up what you are saying
Link and tag anyone you mention in your posts
Don’t try to stuff everything into one post: create multiple posts that link together
Always tie back to your brand’s values and incorporate those in your writing
Keep all your posts within your niche
To fully understand blogging and find out what works best for you and your audience, do your research, create a plan, then go for it! Just like anything else, blogging requires trial and error and not every tip is right for your brand. If you are struggling with your blog content and need additional help, 30|90 Marketing can help improve your blogging efforts. Check out more of our blog posts, too! Reach out to us today to see what we can do for you.
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