When it comes to marketing, a blog attached to your website can be one of your biggest and most cost-effective assets. Starting a blog is exciting and it’s free! Sure, you can get more involved with templates and get help from Paveya to really boost your content, consistency, and SEO reach. But if you really just wanted to get started today writing content and exploring the potential of blogging to get a basic understanding before taking it to the next level, there are many avenues to get you started. Before you jump into the rabbit hole that can be blogs and blogging, ask yourself a few questions to help bring focus to your writing. Focus, along with knowing your audience, is why some blogs are successful and others are not.
What do you want to say and who is your audience?
Knowing what you want to say before you begin is key to a blog. While that’s also true for each post, knowing what you want to say overall will help steer your decision-making. This is your mission statement. Write it down. Tack it above your desk. Leave sticky-notes around so you’re confronting it day after day until it’s revised and you can live with it. Knowing this will make finding and writing about related topics easy. It will help you charge through the days of writer’s block and help you break beyond what other people are doing so you create your own, unique content. Think of this statement as an umbrella that will repel away any obscure or unfocused content while protecting everything that is underneath for a reason.
What you want to say may not have a direct audience just yet, or maybe you know the niche group you’re trying to reach. Your target audience should be taken into account if you’re blogging for your business or for it to appeal to people. Once a blog is started and gains momentum, it’s important to stay true to what you have to say, people want to listen and learn from others. A lot of blogs get going and then make the mistake of deviating from the path. If your blog is about antique truck restoration, don’t start diluting your brand and message with posts about food, or unrelated personal issues. You’ll lose your audience.
How will you create and deliver content?
Know what you have to say? Well what are you waiting for? Get cracking. Typically, writing blogs out of the gate is often an exciting challenge that bloggers harness to drive momentum. There’s a whole world out there for you to lend your advice, expertise and thoughts to. At first, content seems like it’s in an endless supply. But over time, writer’s block will creep in, you’ll get tired of the same old delivery and you’ll need a plan. Here is some advice and thoughts as you begin to navigate the blogosphere and content creation:
Fuel your SEO
Identify a consistent structure along with an arsenal of keywords and stick to it. People (and search engines) prefer organized thought and layout. Having chaotic post after post is not only hard to keep readers interested, it makes it challenging for visitors to return. Consistencies in structured headlines, paragraphs and keywords are assets to your posts.
Keep It Real
People are really good at reading beyond the fluff. Company and brand blogs already begin operating at a loss because people are skeptical that the content is solely written to sell them something. Think of going car shopping and that feeling you get when a salesperson walks across the lot towards you and all you want to do is browse and be left alone. Which brings up the next point…
Focus on Educating Your Audience
Your blog must be seen as an educational tool or free resource. It’s your ticket into the conversation. While it’s ok to highlight something about your brand or company from time to time, take the 80/20 approach. For 80% of the time, you should be focused on topics that will educate and advise your audience and only 20% of the time should you even mention your brand. Selling your product is not the point of a blog.
Remember Your Voice
As you dive deeper into the world of content-driven marketing, remember your voice when you started. There are many distractions that can potentially throw you off of your vision and what you have to say, but it is truly one remaining unique aspect in the information-saturated world.
Shout Outs
By linking to other blogs and citing articles, you’re highlighting quality work you admire and are opening yourself up to someone who is involved in a conversation, you’re not just yelling things about yourself to people. You’ll begin to build relationships that could be beneficial down the road.
Timeliness
All content doesn’t have to have a time peg, but one sure way to keep people interested and find relevant content is through industry news and writing about changes in the industry that could have an affect on a potential client.
While this is just one spec of ice on the tip of the iceberg on blogging, it is one step closer in attracting inbound leads for your brand while diversifying your online presence. If you’ve already decided on a blog then you probably know the potential and need for your brand to have a quality website. And you probably know that having a bad website runs prospects away. Like a bad website, a poorly constructed blog that is inconsistent or rambles off topic too much does more harm than good for your brand. For more information, please be sure to check out Paveya’s blog.
