Blogging may be a relatively new concept for most business owners, but as we’ve discussed elsewhere, it can be a very effective marketing tool—for two reasons in particular. First, an effective blog will position the business owner as an authority in his or her market. And second, Google and other search engines love blog content, which means that a regularly updated blog can help you move higher in search engine rankings.
Today, it’s easy (not to mention free) to get started with a basic blog on a platform such as WordPress.com. But your blog won’t do you a whole lot of good if you don’t have a strategy and a plan of attack. Below are six steps to help you blog effectively:
1) Define your audience. First and foremost, who is your blog intended to reach? As a CPA, for instance, your desired audience may be business owners in your city who are looking for help with their taxes. Define your target audience and design your blog to appeal to that audience as much as possible.
2) Identify keywords to target. What are the most important keywords that you’d like your blog to show up for on Google and other search engines? Coming back to the CPA example again, phrases like “Miami business taxes” and “Miami tax preparation” may be effective. Once you’ve identified these key phrases, work them into the headlines and content of your blog entries. However, it’s important that you incorporate these keywords naturally—simply stuffing your blog posts with certain keywords and phrases will make your posts difficult to read. SEO is important, but your number one concern must always be for your human audience.
3) Write compelling headlines. Choosing the right headlines are important, especially when it comes to prompting a potential reader to click on a link to your blog post via social media or a search engine. Think about your audience and what they want—and craft your headlines in a manner that appeals to them as much as possible.
4) Leave plenty of white space. If your blog entries look like a wall of text, they won’t get read. Instead, use short paragraphs with space in between. If possible, use bold font in order to draw attention to key posts. The goal is to give your readers the ability to quickly scan your post in search of specific information. If they find what they’re looking for, chances are that they will take the time to read the whole thing.
5) Provide actionable information. Nine times out of ten, when a reader finds your blog it’s because they’re looking for actionable information. So give it to them! There are plenty of ways to do this—creating a “how-to” list such as we’ve done in this post can be very effective. Just be sure to ask yourself this question before you hit the “publish” button: “will readers walk away from this post ready and able to take action?”
6) Write consistently. Updating your blog every couple of months simply isn’t good enough. We recommend that business owners write once per week—with twice per month being the absolute minimum. This ensures that the search engines see a regular flow of fresh content, and it gives your human readers a reason to keep coming back. The biggest challenge most business owners have with this is simply time… it seems like there is always something more important to do. We recommend setting aside a specific time every week in order to work on writing blog content.
An effective blog will increase your credibility, improve online visibility, and ultimately translate into opportunities to grow your business. But in order to succeed, you must have a plan. The steps we’ve covered today will get you started in the right direction, but please don’t hesitate to contact us today if you’d like to learn more!
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