How To Know If Blogging Is For You

Blogging is one of the most cost-effective and efficient marketing tools available for business owners and entrepreneurs. To effectively use blogging to communicate with your audience and drive traffic to your website you need to understand some important do's and don'ts. Keep reading to discover what they are and how you can get the most out of your business's blog.

The Benefits Of Blogging For Your Business

Blogging has many powerful benefits for your company and will help your brand in tremendous ways, from boosting visibility to establishing credibility. Here are some great reasons why your business should have an active blog:

Boosts your visibility. Search engines love fresh, new content that is relevant to people searching the web. Making sure you add new posts on a consistent schedule will increase your odds of being found through an internet search.
Positions your business as the go-to expert in your field.Knowledge is power; show your audience and competitors you know what you're talking about and have a vast amount of expertise in your industry.
Gives you access to an audience on a national platform. Blogging is a great way to reach people outside of your local region on a national and even international level. Anyone who has access to a computer or mobile device can find you!
Establishes credibility. Sharing information from other industry leaders and collaborating with them establishes credibility for your business as a strong force in your field.
Amplifies awareness and recognition of your brand. Publishing a blog post is quick and easy! This ability to share posts on multiple different channels increases your brand's awareness.
Increases traffic to your website and social media profiles. Because your blog should be on your website, people have to visit it to read your posts and will be more likely to explore other areas of your site.

If your business isn't blogging and building a social media presence, your potential customers will wonder why they don't see you on the web and may go with your competitor instead.

Valuable Blogging Statistics

Why Blog?

Blogging provides many benefits for your business.

Numbers don't lie. These statistics back up how valuable blogging is for businesses and how you can benefit from it.

Seventy-seven percent of internet users regularly read blog posts.
Seventy-one percent of B2B buyers consume blog content.
Sixty percent of people purchase a product after reading a blog post about it.
Content marketing is 62 percent cheaper than traditional marketing.
Sixty-one percent of Americans spend more time consuming blog content than emails.
Having a blog increases your chances of ranking higher in search by 434 percent.
Once you publish 21-54 blog posts, your traffic can increase by 30 percent.
Blogging influences six percent of e-commerce sales (12 percent for businesses that blog regularly).

It is amazing how effective blogging can be! The ability to share news, photos and opinions in one place is one of the greatest technological advances in the public relations industry to date. Surprisingly though, many businesses are still not taking advantage of the benefits and proven results.

8 Do's Of Blogging

blog do's

Make sure you follow these eight suggestions for blogging for business.

After seeing the benefits and the numbers backing them up, you should be ready to jump on the blogging train. As you start to put together your business's blog there are some important do's you should know to get the greatest results. These eight suggestions will help you reach your blogging goals.

Use strong headlines. Your headline is the first thing a reader sees and helps them determine whether your content is worth reading. There are numerous tools on the web that will help you generate strong, attention-grabbing blog titles based on your topic. CoSchedule has a terrific headline analyzer that scores your titles on many different criteria.
Post often. The more frequently you post, the greater the results you will see. Updating your blog at least once a week with new content is a great target, but posting more often is even better. Whatever you decide for your posting schedule, make sure to be consistent with it.
Use keywords strategically. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing, which can appear spammy. Stick to one or two specific keywords and use them strategically through your post. They should flow naturally in your writing and appear in your title, subheadings, first sentence and about every 100-150 words.
Stick with it. Blogging, like all other inbound marketing techniques, takes time – at least 12-18 months – to show results. Don't give up if you do not see the results you want immediately. Your patience will be rewarded in the end.
Use graphics. Graphics are a great way to catch the reader's attention and bring them down the page to keep reading. Make sure they are relevant to your post and add to what you're saying. Images with faces in them receive an extra SEO boost, too.
Write at length. Typically, long-form blog posts of at least 2,000 words do better in search results than short-form posts. They provide more value and information for your audience and showcase your expertise. Short-form posts of 500-700 words also hold value and provide a quick resource for readers; however, the meat of your blogging efforts should focus on the longer posts.
Edit: Editing is a vital part of successful blogging but is often overlooked. If this doesn't happen to be your strength, set aside your post for a few hours and come back with fresh eyes; it's easier to see mistakes and typos after giving yourself a break. Before you publish your post, ask someone on your team to give it a once-over to make sure you didn't miss anything obvious.
Share on social media. After you publish your blog posts, don't forget to share them on all of your social media platforms! This cross-channel communication is a great way to gain visibility, acquire new readers and reach potential new customers.

6 Don'ts Of Blogging

Blogging don'ts

Pay attention to blogging "don'ts" when creating your posts.

Now that you know what you should do, it's important to also understand what you need to avoid. When planning your blogging strategy and outlining your posts, these six mistakes can have a negative impact on your efforts.

Inconsistent posting. Publishing blogs on a regular basis is important to keeping readers engaged and returning back for more. Have a set day of the month or week designated for publishing new blog posts. This will keep you on track, and your readers will be effectively engaged and know when they can expect your next post (plus it's really good for SEO).
Irrelevant topics.Readers stick with blogs they read on a regular basis because they can depend on the content to be reliably informative. While it's important to have diverse content within your specific set of topics, straying too far might deter your audience from staying loyal readers.
Negative posts. Content that is positive in nature is more likely to be shared by readers than negative content. Blogs are a great way to convey your thoughts and opinions, but keep it upbeat and positive to increase your chance of a post getting shared on different channels.
Poor design. Blogs that are outdated or unorganized could be losing readers, simply because they find the site difficult to navigate. A clean and simple design is better than a complicated setup that can hinder the audiences' ability to find information.
Poor readability. Your audience is just as mobile as you are, meaning they might attempt to read blogs while they're on-the-go on a mobile device or smartphone. Ensure your blog is optimized for both desktop and mobile viewing to reach everyone in your target audience.
Lack of focus. Your blog should not be treated as a diary for posting your random thoughts on different matters. Make sure that what you write is valuable to your audience and relevant to your brand. Keep your posts on topic and to the point rather than going off on tangents.

With time and effort, blogging will be one of the biggest game-changers for your company, at a fraction of the cost of other techniques. Avoid simple errors while putting into practice the effective tips I have offered to allow your blog to flourish and reach new heights.

Want to learn more about blogging? Contact us today for a complimentary consultation with our CEO, Erika Taylor Montgomery. She'd be happy to share more about how this tactic, as well as other content marketing and public relations strategies, can be beneficial for your business!

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