In today’s digital world, there is no question that blog writing has become an everyday part of your marketing mix for any small business. Not only will it help you improve the SEO on your website; but more importantly a blog enables you to share your opinions or debate a news item with your ideal client and engage with them in an informal way.
The number of blogs generated have increased significantly over recent years. Blogging social media site Tumblr.com had just 100m blogs registered in April 2013, they reported just under 400m accounts in January 2018. In 5 years there are now four times as many blog accounts out there – that is with just one provider, this does not include blogs on many business websites, but is indicative of the increase. So in short there is much more content out there, with this in mind how do you achieve cut through? And what are the things that you need to avoid? Here are some things to consider:
Don’t have vague objectives. As with every piece of marketing activity, it is important to be clear on what you are trying to achieve. It could be that you wish to share some knowledge, raise awareness of a topical subject or simply debate an argument. Be clear on what you would like to happen as a result of the blog and encourage your audience to take these actions e.g.: comment in the blog itself, shares in social media, or to get in touch, etc.
Don’t provide un-interesting content. We talk a lot about content being king in marketing today and this is true for your blog writing as well. An effective blog is only as good as the interesting and relevant content you provide for your ideal clients, if you provide boring content your blog may have the opposite effect to what you are trying to achieve and switch off your audience.
Don’t write an irregular blog. Writing a blog works from an SEO perspective if you write regularly, whilst there is no set reported number of times you should blog, we often speak with my clients about providing a blog monthly as a minimum. However, the more you blog the better the impact, we always recommend to our clients though, only commit to what you can do at your busiest times.
Don’t write in the wrong tone of voice. Whilst blog writing is a great opportunity to share an opinion or show a different side to your business, you still need to make sure that the tone of voice within your blog, whilst potentially informal, compliments your business and works with the rest of your marketing.
Don’t share too much. If you are writing about the business or topic that you love, there is a big danger that you will give too much information away. For the most part people write a blog to earn a living, so try not to give to much away so that your ideal client does not now need to engage with you or purchase your products or services.
Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. Don’t forget if you have been doing some research or if you are using someone eles’s images then credit them for their work. You can do this via linking back to the original articles – see my source section below as a demonstration of what I mean.
Don’t stop sourcing new material. This loops back to what we were talking about earlier, always ensure that you provide interesting and relevant content. If you are to write a regular blog, then it is key to continue to source and learn more about your industry and business, so that you provide fresh ideas and content for your ideal client to engage with.
Blog writing can be time consuming. Don’t forget to assign as much time as you need to source the right content. But fundamentally your blog should be grammatically correct, with an interesting structure, engaging and fun.
Enjoy planning and writing your next blog.
We would love to hear what your biggest challenges are in writing a blog for your business or what other ideas and things to avoid you have discovered, please share your thoughts in the comments section below. For other similar blog and content articles please CLICK HERE.
If you would like some help in planning your next round of blogs please contact us and take advantage of our FREE initial 60-minute consultation for any new client.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/256235/total-cumulative-number-of-tumblr-blogs/
https://www.mostlyblogging.com/blogging-pitfalls/
https://theblogpress.com/blog/blogging-avoid-these-5-pitfalls-for-success/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/beginner-blogger-mistakes
