Congratulations! You’ve built a powerful business, developed a robust website to represent it, and have now decided to add a company blog to your digital marketing strategy.
…So now what?
You’ve learned why blogging matters to your audience, but starting one can be a daunting task. Rather than staring hopelessly at a blank page, try learning a few good blogging habits to boost your confidence. Here are some of the basics we rely on:
Choose topics wisely – The first step in writing a blog is coming up with a topic to write about. With blogs, you have much more freedom to discuss whatever is important to you or your industry than typical traditional marketing. Don’t get stuck thinking about it as a sales piece; this blog will represent you in a much broader sense than that. Would you like to be seen as a thought leader in your field, a friendly neighbor, a trustworthy professional, or maybe all of the above? Choose topics that help you achieve your goals while being useful to current or potential customers.
Make it easy to read – Buzzfeed may have invented the click-bait “listicle” by way of their GIF-heavy pop culture content, but at it’s core, it’s still a great blogging strategy. Think of your blog as a combination of both a list and an article. The content should be informative and interesting like a good article, but organizing your writing with lists, bullets, or broken down topics makes it easy for your audience to read and digest the information.
Keep it tight – You’re a passionate person and have a lot to say on a particular topic—which is great—but don’t bore your readers with long-winded ramblings. A blog around 400-600 words usually has enough meat to be helpful without being boring or overwhelming your audience with too much information.
Write regularly – Whether you choose to post to your blog once a week, once a month, or in some other interval, the most important thing is to remain consistent. Not only do readers appreciate it, but search engines do, too.
Make callbacks when possible – As you begin to develop a healthy blog with lots of posts, it’s a great idea to refer back to earlier posts whenever possible. If not, you can also link to other author’s blogs. You might be afraid of driving people away from your blog, but there’s also potential to grab the attention of other bloggers who may return the favor.
Encourage interaction – It’s great to have a blog that people like, share, and comment on, and one straightforward way of getting comments is to simply ask for them. This is a particularly strong strategy if you’re writing about something a little controversial. Nothing too crazy, of course—you don’t want to alienate people, just get them involved in the conversation.
Blogging isn’t rocket science, but it does take time, practice, and effort to make it pay off. At Outmarket Pro, we have the expertise to create a blog your company will be proud of. Combine that with social media and email marketing to help push your blog out to the right audience, and you’ve got a soup-to-nuts digital strategy for your business—all in one stop, for one price. Call Mark at (502) 897-3020 or email [email protected] to create a personalized approach that achieves your digital marketing goals.