A well-written blog moves your small business forward and keeps your company on trend with one of the top content marketing strategies. But, what does it mean for a blog to be done well? While every business person may give you a different opinion, check out these tried and true improvement suggestions to get your blog working for you, not the other way around. You can discover how to improve blog traffic to propel your small business forward.
Create Fresh, Engaging Content
The first step to engaging content is to know your audience. After all, content which misses consumer needs fails to do its job. Look also for gaps between competitors’ offerings and reader questions. These openings offer prime opportunities to create fresh content which meets consumer needs.
Establish a Unique, Relatable Voice
Readers are drawn to the familiar and easy to understand. The voice of your blog must speak directly to your audience, not above or below them. Choose your words and voice carefully to help you connect with your audience but also stand out from the Internet crowd.
Develop Your Style
Blogs show your audience the face of your company. This space allows you to express yourself and the nature of what you do. Stay true to the personality of your company by writing accordingly. Always keep the sales pitch low key, and find a style that stands out from the competition.
Avoid Boxing Yourself In
While sticking to industry topics meets the needs of your consumers, venturing a bit beyond these borders reaps rewards as well. Extend content to subjects directly related to your company or business to expand readership and enter new markets.
Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse
Get more mileage out of your content by recycling it. Updating older posts with proven track records and reposting them brings valuable information back to the reader. Or, expand the breadth of a piece by using it in varying forms across several formats (i.e. email, social media posts, etc.)
Engagement
Making a genuine connection with your readers builds a relationship based on trust and reliability. Positive engagement can help take your small business to the next level.
Hang Out With Your Readers
Knowing your audience also means knowing where they like to hang out. Connect with readers by regularly contributing to social media channels, websites, industry blogs and forums where they frequent.
Use Quality Images
Pictures make an impact. Visual images draw human attention and shoot information into brains quicker than text. And, when text is paired with a visual, reader retention jumps from 10 to 65 percent. Use quality, relevant photos and infographics to get your point across and engage consumers.
Interact With Your Audience
While it gets messy at times, interacting with your audience builds relationship and trust. Encourage readers to leave comments, invite their feedback and engage in dialogue on social media. Responding in meaningful ways to positive and negative comments keeps the conversation going. Just get them talking.
Build Industry Authority
Relevant, compelling content builds authority in your industry. To boost your reputation further, include industry thought leaders in your links and as guest posts. Reach out to influencers with large social followings to write for or endorse your blog, or get a mention on theirs.
Share Across Social Media
Not all social media is created equal. The most effective platforms are the ones your audience interacts with on a regular basis. So, do a bit of research, identify those channels used by your audience, create shareable content and share multiple times. Also, include easy sharing icons on every blog post.
Action
The ultimate goal of your blog is to inspire readers and get them to take action. Discover how you can make this happen.
Earn Trust
A primary action on your part is to remain true to your commitment. In other words, be consistent. Whether related to blog frequency or content promises, honoring your word earns trust from readers. And, consumers value dependable companies.
Be Trendy
Discover what is trending in the blog-o-sphere and incorporate these ideas into your posts. Creatively using trends mixed with strong data and industry knowledge gives your content a contemporary, in-the-know feel. Outdated content or strategies fail to impress readers.
Call Readers to Action
Calls to action prove a vital component of any blog. If a reader fails to understand what action to take, likely, he or she will remain inactive (at least on your site). Be clear and concise with the next step.
Measure Success
Web stat tools measure blog success. Use them to understand the impact of your posts. Are you reaching the intended audience? Is another, unexpected group of readers engaging with the content? Which topics and content formats are popular? How are people finding your blog?
Adjust Your Strategy
Measuring success keeps you in-the-know as to what hits and what misses your target. But, acting on this information is a crucial step. Use the data to make adjustments to content and strategy to better achieve blogging success.
With diligence and know-how, your blog propels your small business forward. Get started with a few of these strategies and reap the rewards.
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