Starting a company blog is one way to make the most of your content marketing. Your blog becomes the hub for news updates, opinion pieces and customer case studies, giving your audience a regular channel to follow, consume and comment on.
But how do you make sure your blog writing is engaging your audience? And how do you create blog posts that will add real value for your customers?
Here are 5 key tips for improving your business blogging
1. Blog about something you have a passion for
This may seem obvious, but if you’re going to write a series of blog posts around a particular theme, it really HAS to be something you have some genuine interest in and passion for.
If you’re running your own business, then you’re already going to have a passionate belief in what you do (at least I hope so!). But try to refine your blog topics down to titles and themes where you have a lot to say.
If you’re going through the motions, churning out a load of facts and figures on a topic you’re not engaged with, your readers will be similarly disengaged. Talk eloquently, and with a real sense of belief, and that passion will be evident in your writing.
2. Steer clear of technical jargon
Every industry has its own jargon, abbreviations and phraseology. And it’s likely that people in your industry will understand that jargon – but don’t forget that the vast majority of customers WON’T have a clue what those technical terms and in-house abbreviations mean.
Where possible, use plain English and steer clear of the nerdy jargon. Sometimes you’ll have to use a technical term, so spell it out in full and include the abbreviation in brackets. Always assume that your reader needs the explanation, unless you’re talking to an audience who will definitely share your understanding of this jargon.
3. Give your readers something useful
What your customers and potential buyers want from your blog is value. If they’re going to invest their precious time in reading your content, you need to give them something useful.
Think about how you can share your knowledge and experience to make life easier for your customers. Open their minds to new ideas, share practical tips and point them towards sites, videos and books that may help them.
Give them a reason to want to come back, and make sure they leave a little wiser.
4. Post content as frequently as possible
This is another incredibly important one: if you’re going to start blogging, you’ve got to do it REGULARLY!
A blog with 10 posts from last April, but none in the past six months, isn’t going to be followed (I speak from experience here!). The key to building up an audience, raising your search engine optimisation (SEO) scores and becoming known in your sector is to post frequently.
Sit down and come up with a list of titles and topics and put dates next to when you’ll write them and post them – with those titles, summaries and dates in a spreadsheet, online calendar or project management solution, you’ve got yourself a content plan!
5. Think about keywords and SEO
If people are going to find your blog posts when tapping away in Google, you’re going to have to think about keywords and SEO.
Search engines will look for the main search terms and keywords that link to a given topic, industry or product. And that means your blog titles, your opening paragraphs and your meta data (the text that’s embedded in your blog but is only seen by the search engine) must have the right words in there.
For example, the title of this post has the keywords ‘business’ and ‘blogging’ in the title, as well as ‘marketing’ and ‘content marketing’ in the introduction. Think about what your customers will be typing into their browsers and include as many of these search terms as possible.
Also, link back to previous posts when there’s a related topic or theme (like I did in tip 4) – this gets people visiting the rest of your blog and bumps up your traffic.
Get stuck in and get blogging!
There you have it – 5 simple ways to improve your business blogging. This is in no way an exhaustive list and there will always be new and innovative ways to improve your posts, boost your SEO and raise your brand’s profile in the online space.
The best way to learn, is to do. So, give blogging a try and see where it takes you. You never know, this might just be the opportunity your marketing has been waiting for!
How To Write Killer Content For Your Startup
The tips you need to start making the most from your blogging and content marketing are available in my book – How To Write Killer Content For Your StartUp.
My book gives the advice you need to write, plan and improve your business content, broken down across ten easy-to-read chapters:
- Define Your Vision – Missions and manifestos
- Know Your Audience – Customers and targets
- Create Your Brand – Personality, style and tone
- Improve Your Writing – Readability and grammar
- Build A Website – Content and messaging
- Have A Content Plan – Planning and Timelines
- Get Blogging – Telling Stories
- Start Getting Social – Tweeting and sharing
- Run A Campaign – Email, newsletters and ads
- Analyse Performance – Engagement and analytics
Do your startup a favour and start exploring the content marketing journey.
Order your copy of ‘How To Write Killer Content For Your StartUp’
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