There are few things more powerful when it comes to driving traffic to your company's website than business blog posts.
By harnessing the power of search engine optimization, frequent and consistent blog articles can pull in a higher percentage of leads and website visits than all other SEO tactics combined. If, that is, you have a proper strategy and produce valuable and relevant blog content.
The Business Blog: An Often Underused Content Marketing Powerhouse
It's no overstatement to say that an effective business blog can be one of the most powerful tools in a small business's content marketing toolbox. And why do we say that? Because data has consistently shown that the content produced by well-planned and well-managed business blogs produce more website leads and website visits than any other type of content.
And as a quick side note here, keep in mind that - simply put - content marketing for small businesses is a digital marketing strategy that attracts, engages, and retains an audience by creating and publishing articles, videos, podcasts, and other content.
And chief among them are blog articles.
This is because, according to our friends at HubSpot,
"Blogging helps boost SEO quality by positioning your website as a relevant answer to your customers' questions. Blog posts that use a variety of on-page SEO tactics can give you more opportunities to rank in search engines and make your site more appealing to visitors."
How much of a "boost" are we talking about?
An article from another source states that,
"On average, companies who blog produce 67% more leads per month. Updating blog posts can increase traffic by 106%."
Really? Yes, really. The bottom line with good business blogging is that this SEO-focused content helps build brand awareness and generate traffic to a brand's site. You can't go wrong with multiple benefits!
For example, the same research determined:
- 34% of buyers will make an unplanned purchase after reading quality content.
- 46% of people take recommendations from bloggers/vloggers into account.
- Brands that use blogging for marketing purposes see 13 times the ROI of businesses that don’t.
So, another way to view this concept is to imagine the huge "hole" in your overall marketing effectiveness that is left without an active blogging strategy in place.
Nuts and Bolts of A Content Marketing Blogging Engine
Successful and effective blogging as part of a comprehensive content marketing strategy requires attention on several fronts in addition to writing.
Of course, writing and crafting a blog post or article is first and foremost in importance. But then there are the technical considerations.
As HubSpot points out,
"Although it's clear blog content does contribute to your SEO, Google's many algorithm updates can make publishing the right kind of blog content tricky if you don’t know where to start. Some blog ranking factors have stood the test of time while others are considered 'old-school.'"
Some of these long-standing blog ranking factors include dwell time, or the length of a time a reader spends on a page on your blog site. Then there technical issues such as page speed and mobile responsiveness. Your prospective audience is, unfortunately, impatient and not very tolerant of slows sites and upload speeds.
In addition, HubSpot recommends updating older posts with new information and data, as well as including links to credible sites that have original, up-to-date data,
Prefer to have a professional in charge of your SEO? We can help with that!
When it comes to optimizing your blog content for search engines - which is at the heart of your blog post's purpose - here are some tips from HubSpot:
Identify the target audience for your blog.
No matter what industry your blog targets, you’ll want to identify and speak to the primary audience that will be reading your content. Understanding who your audience is and what you want them to do when they click on your article will help guide your blog strategy.
Conduct keyword research.
Keyword research can be a heavy task to take on if you don’t begin with a strategy. [Start] with the topics your blog will cover, then expand or contract your scope from there.
Add visuals.
Search engines like Google value visuals for certain keywords. Images and videos are among the most common visual elements that appear on the search engine results page.
Write a catchy title.
The title of your blog post is the first element a reader will see when they come across your article, and it heavily influences whether they’ll click or keep scrolling.
Include an enticing CTA (Call-to-Action)
The purpose of a CTA is to lead your reader to the next step in their journey through your blog. The key to a great CTA is that it’s relevant to the topic of your existing blog post and flows naturally with the rest of the content.
Focus on the reader's experience.
Any great writer or SEO will tell you that the reader experience is the most important part of a blog post. The reader experience includes several factors like readability, formatting, and page speed.
And always remember that when you craft a blog article, you are writing for two audiences: the actual (human!) reader, and the search engine (primarily Google).
Being the Conductor and Not the Engineer
On a train, the locomotive engineer drives the train, while conductor manages the activities of the crew and passengers on the train. In addition, unlike the engineer, the conductors may take payments or tickets from passengers and assist them when they have any difficulties. They may also oversee the loading and unloading of cargo.
Kinda sounds like being a small business owner, doesn't it?
It may be that you may need an "engineer" to drive your blogging content marketing engine for you.
And that's because some, if not all, of these tasks we've listed here may be a bit beyond your technical know-how. Or it could simply be that you don't really have the time or resources to engage in this aspect of the blogging process.
We get it. Which is why we specialize in helping clients produce effective SEO-focused blogging strategy as well as with producing the content, if needed.
Drive Your Content Marketing with a Business Blog
A successful content marketing strategy incorporating a business blog will help drive traffic to your website, create new prospects, and increase sales for your business.
In simple terms, a business blog works.
But achieving your blogging objectives with a great business blogging strategy takes time and know-how. And it won't happen by just producing some random blog posts or creating a short video or two that you upload on social media.
On the other hand, using the proper blogging tactics will allow your business to benefit from an effective digital marketing process.
This is especially true for content marketing.
Your audience will need to see and read your content for a period of time before they contact you. This is why your published content - such as blog articles - must be consistent, frequent, and relevant.
The most effective digital marketing strategies are built on consistent, high-quality blog articles published at an optimum frequency. Other content is important, to be sure, but without a solid business blogging platform, you may fall short of your digital marketing goals.
And the good news is that you don't have to do it all alone.
In fact, one of the best investments you can make with your marketing budget is to partner with a solid firm like BroadVision marketing.
Click the link below to learn how to get more out of your digital marketing efforts, or simply call BroadVision Marketing at 707-799-1238.
