Creating A Powerful Blog Post
Looking to get more traffic to your site? More brand awareness? More customers? Writing blogs is a great way to help you in each of these areas. This blog will discuss how blogging can help grow your business and how to write them effectively.
Why does blogging help grow your business?
A blog is a form of communication where your company can post and promote new content relating to your business, and more importantly, your industry. Blogs help you attract, convert, close, and delight customers. Providing answers to questions customers may have will make them want to read your content, which turns them into visitors to your site. Use your blog to promote offers and next steps. This will help you stand out against competitors and build trust which is a main goal for potential or existing customers.
How do you create an effective blog post?
Pick a topic and title.
Format and optimize the post.
Promote offers on your blog to increase lead generation.
Add social sharing buttons to your post.
Pick a Topic and Title
Educational content is the best content! Try to answer the questions or issues that people are having. You also want to make sure you are writing about your industry and not yourself. This will give customers a better impression of your company if you don’t come off too pushy and boast about your brand.
Before writing a blog, you obviously need a topic. It’s a good idea to brainstorm a list of topics right off the bat, but in the end, make sure you pick one to focus on. Ask yourself these questions when considering:
What are the most frequently asked Q’s?
What do your buyer personas need help with?
What do you wish people knew about your industry?
What are industry bloggers, social media and your competitors talking about?
You’ll also want to do keyword research to see what your buyer personas are searching for. As far as titles go, you can start with a working title to narrow down your topic. Include a long-tail keyword in the title, which HubSpot defines as a primary keyword that is expanded upon with additional context. Make it as short as possible, as Google only shows the first 50-60 characters of the title in search results. Lastly, make the value of the post clear! What is the reader getting out of reading your post?
Format and Optimize the Post
Formatting your post is almost more important than your actual content! You want to make it as visually appealing to your reader as possible so they want to continue reading. To do this, you want to…
Utilize as much white space as you can to give readers’ eyes a break, and allow them to focus on the content.
Use section headers, and bullet points or numbered lists to highlight key points.
Bold important information to help readers quickly grasp key takeaways
Use images to break up your text—put one at the top of every post to entice readers further.
Optimize the post around the long-tail keyword. Include it everywhere possible like the title, URL, headers, body, etc.
Include internal and external links throughout the post
Promote Offers on Your Blog to Increase Lead Generation
Promoting offers on your blog may help grow your customer base even further. Advertise your current offers and sprinkle CTA’s strategically throughout your blog. Always have one at the end, and you can even include a passive CTA with hyperlinked text.
Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Post
Adding social sharing buttons gives readers easy access to share your post if they found it helpful. Remember that consistency and frequency is encouraged, and each new blog is a new opportunity to gain new visitors.
Creating blogs that contribute to your buyer persona’s needs is a great step to help your business and customer base grow. Happy blogging!