Statistics show that today, there are over 500 million blog sites that churn out around 2 million posts every day. With hobbyists and professionals alike blogging about topics that seem similar to what you are passionate about, you may wonder if your company’s blog will ever get noticed. Truth be told, it can.
However, it requires you to approach blogging with a clever content strategy in mind. To get on the right track quickly, here are 10 simple steps that you should follow stat!
Pick an appealing name
In the digital space, first impressions matter even more, as you don’t have a chance to make one in person. As a result, your blog’s name is of utmost importance, as it gives your readers a sense of what’s in store. An attractive name accompanied by a URL that’s click-worthy will ensure that readers can identify your blog in a sea of other similar ones.
Choose a neat yet attractive layout
Forty-three percent of your readers will only skim through your content. So make sure that your page has a simple yet effective design that’s able to convey the key message to even those who are looking for a quick read. Since readers spend only about 37 seconds on a page, it’s imperative that your layout is neat and easy to follow.
Craft eye-catching headlines
Crown each article you put out with a headline that makes users want to click and read. Your headline should use a mix of power words, emotional words as well as common and rare ones to do this. Moreover, remember that a headline length of 6 to 13 words will help get you maximum traffic.
Optimise your blog for smartphones
Today, around 80% of internet users are smartphone owners as well. With people reaching out for their phone for every little thing, be it work or leisure, it’s essential that your website is optimised for hand-held devices and is just as attractive and effective as a desktop blog.
Know your audience and what matters to them
Find out who your readers will be, what their likes and dislikes are and determine the tone of voice you should be using. At this stage, conducting focus groups helps greatly as it will help you get nuanced perspectives and ensure that your blogs tie in with exactly what readers are after.
Write unique, quality, actionable content
Reports show that you generate 9 times more leads when your blogs are long-form and discuss a topic in depth. While every blog need not be lengthy, you need to create quality, engaging content if you want sustained readership. Further, actionable content helps your readers feel that they are getting something concrete out of every post that you upload. This in turn ensures that they keep coming back to your blog to consume more content.
Ensure that your material is easy to digest
While you must feature quality information, keep your language simple. This will make your communication more impactful, and cater to everyone, be it long-time customers or new ones who have just come across your company and don’t want to be bombarded with jargon that requires deciphering. Further, use subheads to make information snackable and give your readers the gist of your article in under a minute.
Add visuals to your story
Studies show that the human brain processes visual data 60,000 times faster than text. Therefore, visuals should be an integral part of what you are trying to communicate through your blog. Visual data can also help you retain customers on your blog for a longer time, make your content more memorable, and make complex concepts and information simple and sticky. These benefits are also reason why around 71% of marketers employ visuals as part of their digital strategy.
Make yourself visible by using social media, SEO and RSS
Before writing your blog, research keywords and optimise your data for a voice search to get a good ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). In other words, by paying attention to keywords, RSS feeds and social media promotions, you can amplify the reach of your blog and ensure that the intended audience is consuming the content you’re putting out.
Publish posts at regular intervals
Publishing regularly ensures readers that they have something to look forward to every week or every month. This in itself will help you stand out from other blogs. However, while you focus on quantity, don’t let there be a dip in quality as it will hamper your SEO ranking and also decrease the trust people place in your blog. In other words, if the quality of your content drops, you will no longer come across as an expert in your field.
While these measures surely offer results, remember that it takes time, effort and attention to detail to achieve your targets via content marketing.
Whether you need compelling blogs every month or a content strategy to set the foundation for digital marketing, grow your business with us by your side!
