Though blogs are not as popular as they once were, there are a lot of advantages to having one for your business. Aside from being one of the best things you can do to boost your SEO, they can build trust with your customers, and give you the time and space to delve deeper into topics you talk about on social media. Your own website is also where you have the most control and ownership. Other sites can always go away or deny you posting privileges. It’s smart to have your audience connected in a space you own. If you already have a blog or are considering starting one in the new year, here are some things to keep in mind:
- As always, know your audience, and know your goal. Above all, your content must be interesting and useful to your target audience, and it’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve. Is your blog primarily a tool of SEO? Are you using it to drive traffic to social media channels you’ve monetized? Does it exist to bring traffic to your website where products are for sale? Are you showing your customers you’re the right person to perform the services they need? The more you think about your audience and purpose, the more effectively you will meet your goals. Once you know who you are trying to reach and what you want them to do once you reach them, you’ll be able to craft content that helps that happen.
- Use your keyword research to help you come up with topics, but DO NOT keyword stuff. Think about your audience’s intent. Why are they searching for the words and phrases they’re searching for? Use this information to solve their problems and answer their questions.
- Don’t forget brand consistency. Write so that the tone and voice reflect your branding on social media and in the real world. Don’t be known on TikTok for hilarious videos and have a blog that’s technical and dry for the same brand. Slight variations are common (and desirable) among different channels with different audiences, but people should always be able to tell who you are.
- Have a good title. While you want your title to draw people in, you have to make sure the rest of the post lives up to the title’s promise. Never have an enticing, click-baity title on a post that doesn’t deliver. Except in rare cases where your voice is well established or when you’re making a point, the audience should basically know exactly what to expect in the post from the title.
- Format for reader ease. Most people skim and scan on the internet. If you have huge blocks of text with no white space, you make that more difficult for them. Use short paragraphs, lists, bullet points, sections with headers, and anything else that makes it easier and more appealing for your audience to digest the material.
- Proofread. It’s not necessary to be overly precious; perfect is the enemy of both the good and the done. If you discover a typo from months ago, don’t make yourself sick about it. However, you shouldn’t be sloppy. Proofread and double check you work. Read your posts aloud to check for the sound of them. Especially if you’re trying to attract professionals as customers or clients, you will want to write well.
- Post on a consistent schedule. If you can only manage once a week, or even once a month, stick to that. Don’t post every other day for three weeks and then go silent for three months. Consistency builds trust and loyalty, even when people aren’t consciously thinking about it. They may never notice that you posted every Tuesday at 2 for six months, but they will notice if they start to never know when to expect your post.
- Optimize for search. As always, make sure your website’s technical SEO is up to snuff. For your posts, use good meta descriptions and relevant tags. And, of course, have content worth reading.
- Promote your blog. Even if you are using your blog to promote something else, you still need to promote your blog. Because your blog has a permanence your other channels don’t, you should link to it from your social media channels and email signature. It also doesn’t hurt to spread the word in the real world.
- Use your posts for additional content. We’re flooded with content all the time, and there’s a lot of pressure to produce more and more of it in order to stand out, compete, or even keep up. Break your posts into parts for social media content whenever you can. Always get the most uses you can out of your content, especially pieces that perform well.
Substance and Style 