Having fresh, engaging and relevant content on your website is important when Google determines how high your business places in search results. What better way to achieve this than starting a blog? A blog not only allows you to easily self-publish content frequently, but also helps to begin conversation and establish a relationship with your customers and future customers.
Here is a brief summary of blogging best practices you may want to incorporate into your blogging strategy:
1- Have a clear purpose for your blog
How can you tell if your blog is successful if you don’t know what “success” means? Possible goals (and tips for achieving them) for your blog could be:
- Growth in website traffic
Pay attention to keyword selection. Select one or two main keywords for the subject of your post, and build your content creatively around them. (Thankfully, the days of website pages stuffed with keywords are long gone!) - Increase conversion rates
You may want to consider a call to action (e.g., “Download Your Free White Paper”) to get people to “do something” as a result of reading your post. - Build conversation with your readers
Ask questions in your blog post, especially at the end where the reader is ready to respond. - Establish your expertise in a subject area
Want to prove to the world you know your stuff? A blog is a good vehicle to toot your own horn, but only if you can write passionately, eloquently and expertly. If you’ve got the enthusiasm but lack sufficient command of the written word, consider creating a draft or outline of your blog posts and getting a professional copywriter to do the rest. This way, you maintain control of your content without relinquishing responsibility to someone who is not you.
2- Design your blog with the reader in mind
No one likes to read anything that’s hard on the eyes or difficult to find. Make sure:
- Your background colors are light
- Your font style is a sans serif (that is, there are no “curly bits” on the letters) and the font size is 12 point or better
- You have no more than two sidebars
- Your sidebars are not over-cluttered with information
- The content area of your posts are in the “Goldilocks Zone” (that is, not-too-wide that it’s hard for the eye to track across the screen, or not-too-narrow that a reader isn’t sure they’re reading your content. I think around 650 pixels is about right, don’t you?)
- You’ve got good navigation to supporting information (I have a categories list at the bottom of my blog that directs readers to more information.)
- You’ve used relevant keyword links in your posts (rather than “click here”)
3- Know how to respond to negative comments in advance
Negative comments are inevitable, as you can’t be loved by everybody. And, people generally don’t take the time to write ANY comments (positive or negative) unless they care enough. So, why not change your attitude about negative remarks and see them as an opportunity to show your readers that you’ve heard their cry.
You’ll want to immediately remove any comments that insult without a specific reason, or may be offensive to your readers. For those commenters who have voiced a legitimate complaint, respond to them accurately and respectfully, and in a timely manner. Do what you are able to do to make things right. How you react to public criticism is a good example of your character and whether someone would want to do business with you now or in the future.
And, finally –
Are you a seasoned blogger and have more suggestions to add to this list? Add your comments below for all of us to benefit from your expertise!
If you’re new to blogging (or even if you’re not), here’s a webinar from Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University stuffed with great ideas to thing about when considering the addition of a blog to your marketing mix:
Webinar: How to Blog Effectively for Business
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