Tagged: blogs

Blogging

blogging

Building Your Business with Blogging

As the year unfolds no doubt one of your business goals is to drive more traffic and attract more customers to your website. Fortunately, with the numerous social media platforms at your disposal you have many options to assist you with your goal.  One of the most tried and true methods though, and one which has been in active use for over ten years, is the creation and maintenance of a blog.  Since 2002 Insiteful Solutions has successfully assisted numerous clients with this popular form of online marketing.

Blogs, which began appearing in the 1990’s but caught traction in the mid-aughts (awkward term for mid-2000’s), has the advantage over other social media platforms by providing the option of writing without limited word counts. Blogs allow you to post and share up-to-date and useful information about your business with current and potential customers.  While the blog will ‘live’ on your website, you can easily amplify your message by sharing the link to your post on your social media channels.  You can tailor the introduction to your blog for each platform and include any corresponding images or videos.  Linking all of your communication channels around your blog post enables you to drive visitors to your business website.  Blogs with comment capability can also can start a valuable dialogue between you and current and/or potential customers.

To assist your business in the increasingly competitive world of search engine ranking, blog posts can be an integral and cost-effective part of your strategy.   To maximize this potential the content of your blog should be rich with relevant with key phrases and words that would connect a search engine to your business.

Blog posts should be topical and targeted. Ideally, a person should be able to read a blog post in seven minutes. It is important to remember that blogs aren’t the domain of extensive white papers or case studies; rather they are meant to introduce new or re-visit topics of value to your customer.   As all things associated with social media, blogs continue to evolve.  Currently the ideal blog post is between 1200-2000 words.  When writing and posting your blog don’t underestimate the power of the title.  It is recommended that a blog title comprise of 8 to 12 words and does not exceed 70 characters (source: http://www.hubspot.com/ ). The title of your blog can then be modified for posting on your social media platforms.  Twitter allows 140 characters per tweet, but for linking articles it is recommended you use 120 characters.  Research on Facebook has found that a title with 12-14 characters generates the most ‘likes’.

If you find the thought of writing a regular blog post too onerous or time consuming there are other options to keep your website full of fresh, relevant content.

Top Ten Lists

Top 10 lists are a quick and interesting way to fill a blog post. If there are certain areas of your business or industry news you wish to highlight you can create a ‘top ten’ list and occupy each section with one or two bullet points with information.

Reference Industry Articles

Re-posting and commenting on recently published industry articles that relate to your business is a quick and easy way to occupy to your blog. An added bonus to this strategy is that it lets current and potential customers know that you are watching trends within your industry.  Another option is to add a ‘feedback’ section where you can encourage your customers to share their opinions about the article; thus opening another line of communication and drawing more attention to your website.

Guest posting

By having another industry leader guest post for your blog you accomplish three things:

  1. You provide your customers another expert opinion on your industry
  2. You increase your potential customer base by exposing your audience to the guest blogger’s followers
  3. It allows you to take a break from posting to focus on other areas of your business

Many bloggers within similar industries have reciprocal arrangements where they will guest post for each other’s blogs.

Create a Video post

If you are more comfortable speaking about your business than writing about it, creating a short video is an option. Fortunately it is now simple enough to create a short video and include the link to your blog and social media channels.  If this is your preferred method of communication you can also create a YouTube channel for your business.  It’s important to note that to increase your search engine ranking you will require a text component to your video.  You can either transcribe your video content or create a separate written introduction which mentions the key words and phrases associated with your business.

Post an infographic

An infographic is a great way of posting information about your company in an accessible visual manner. Built on the shoulders of bar graphs, infographics often contain interesting statistics and facts about a business in a bold branded fashion.  Similar to short videos, search engines do not index graphics, so it is important to include text with key words and phrases associated with your business.

Hire a Copy writer

If your budget allows, hiring a copywriter is always an option. It is important to find one who specializes in your industry and is open to collaborating with you.  When starting work with a copywriter it is imperative to communicate the tone and voice you wish your blogs to convey.  If you decide to open up a dialogue on a blog post written by a copywriter, it is highly recommended that someone within your business respond to customers’ questions or comments.

Writing a blog post using one of the aforementioned methods is an effective and timely way of communicating with current or potential customers. By writing and keeping your business blog up-to -date you are connecting with your audience and sharing with them that your business is current with industry trends and can therefore deliver on its mission.

Insiteful Solutions are online results specialists. For over 14 years we have provided over 610 global companies with targeted strategies for increasing profitability.  If you would like to discuss ways in which a regular blog would grow your business please contact us at: http://www.insitefulweb.com/contact-us or 905-947-8235.

 


 

Blogging – Can your company afford not to blog?

Blogging is essentially marketing your business. Content Marketing can be a tricky business. How do you know what to blog about? How do you reach your target market? How do you understand all the analytics to measure your ROI?

There is no specific model that will work with every industry. If only there could be one fool proof handbook that everyone could use marketing online or content marketing would be easy!

It is now known for a fact that regular, fresh, relevant content that you produce on your website the better your SEO results will be. Having a strong social media audience enhances your SEO as well.

Blogging is an easy way to quickly update your content and spread it through your social media. There are many different platforms out there that allow you to manage your own content, such as WordPress, Joomla etc. (be careful which one you choose as some are more search engine friendly than others).

Adding relevant content on a regular basis helps make your entire site more relevant as well as the post you’re writing. Once you’ve written your post, post it on your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, SlideShare etc. Posting on your blog and social media allows your “followers” or potential customers, clients to engage with your content and your company, making it easy for readers to leave comments on your blog or on any of your social media accounts.

By writing a blog on a regular basis you start to establish your company as an authority on a subject and you show off your expertise. Many companies find the thought of writing blogs and continuing to do so a daunting task and may shy away from it. They just simply don’t want to write articles as that isn’t their expertise. In an ever changing market place, especially companies with an online presence in today’s world, they simply cannot ignore the fact that they need to stay active and relevant to compete with all the other businesses in their field. Gone are the days where you can just put up your website and update the date every year.

How often should you blog? Well the general rule is you should blog as often as you have something to say. Don’t just blog for the heck of it, you need to keep your readers engaged, wanting to come back to your site or at least contact you to find out more. The more your readers comment or engage with your content the more attention the search engine’s pay attention.

There are so many different elements to take into account when planning a content marketing strategy it is import to formulate a plan and a cost effective budget. Most companies would rather just ignore it completely and lose out on so much valuable website traffic. Why not contact a content marketing company that is focused on helping businesses grow their online presence? We are here to help and give advice and create a package that fits your business. We look forward to growing along side our clients with pride!

You can contact Insiteful Solutions at 905-947-8235 ask for John or Barb we’d be more than happy to learn about your business and discover the best plan to steadily grow your business along side you.