Creating a Blogging Strategy

Is blogging on the back burner for your business? Do you think it’s a cool concept but don’t know where to start? Maybe you want to do it more often but don’t have the time? Does this sound like you? If so, you probably need more solid information about the benefits of a blog for your business.

There’s nothing wrong with blogging as a hobby. But it’s not the best approach if you’re using your website to attract and convert customers. To do that, you need consistent, targeted, planned content with a purpose. You need a blogging strategy, and we’re here to help you understand the why and how of it all.

Why You Need a Blogging Strategy

Think of a blogging strategy as a working plan for your blog. Details aren’t necessarily planned down to the minutia, but the overarching goals are clear and purposeful. Think less “blueprint” and more “I’m going shopping for a new blazer, but I’m open to buying matching shoes and accessories as well.” It’s essentially goal-oriented flexibility. 

A blogging strategy keeps your goals in mind while considering your ever-changing industry and what’s happening worldwide. Your brand voice, personality, and goals may stay the same, but your ideas and preferences could change at the last minute. It’s more important to have necessary and relevant conversations with your audience rather than staying strict with a content schedule. Especially when crucial or controversial topics arise in your industry. You want to stay open-minded and available for these changes.

Your blogging strategy should include a content calendar, blogging tools, task assignments, and keyword strategies. When your audience reads and shares your blog posts or your site ranks in search, your blog gets noticed. It drives more traffic to your business’s website and makes you an authority in your industry.

Benefits of Blogging for Business

You may already have a blog for your business. If so, it may be time to tweak your approach to improve it. If you don’t have a blog at all or you’ve been treating your current business blog like a hobby, you probably don’t truly understand what makes a successful blog. That’s why we’re here to share these benefits of blogging for business.

Generates Brand Awareness

People go straight to the internet to get information. When their burning questions relate to your industry, your business needs to be one of the first sources they see in the search results. Being part of the top search results is how blog posts create awareness for your brand. The keywords and valuable content within your blog post might be the first piece of content someone sees from your business. Before you know it, you’ve piqued their interest and potentially gained a new supporter.

Establishes Credibility

Over time through a regular publishing calendar, your business becomes recognizable and is a reliable source of information. You become known as a credible source and industry leader. But credibility doesn’t happen after one or two blog posts. Instead, it develops organically through customized, useful, purposeful blog post topics you write about well. The keyword here is “well.” You can’t just slap some industry-specific content on a page and call it a blog post. You have to research your industry and client needs, organize a blog outline, and write in a digestible and relatable way.

Drives Site Traffic

The majority of web traffic comes from searches. Use SEO best practices that boost your website’s traffic. If you do SEO right, Google and other search engines will do a lot of work for you. We highly recommend practicing intentional SEO habits rather than using spammy keyword stuffing or lazy clickbait.

Builds an Online Community

Posting regular content means you’re helping your audience solve their problems. Doing so will help them feel connected to your brand. They’ll become part of your community and share your messages with others. “Online community” may not make sense to you just yet. Think of it as a safe space for your clients to sift through information without being judged or disrespected. You can make them feel comfortable and seen with the topics you cover and the questions you answer. Mutual understanding and trust turn your business/consumer relationship into an online community.

Boosts Leads

Blog posts allow new groups of people to find your business through organic search. If your posts include valuable information, people are willing to exchange a piece of information with you to get it. This content is called a lead magnet. 

For instance, maybe your post includes an infographic or coupon code that someone is willing to give their email address for. This exchange means the consumer gains access to what they need, and you now have their email address in your database. It’s a mutually beneficial deal that’s simple to achieve. 

Just remember that the content you’re exchanging must be more valuable than what they’re giving. You want to make it worth their while!

Creating a Blogging Strategy

Now, let’s talk about strategy. The blogging strategy you develop for your business shouldn’t look like anyone else’s. It should be unique to your brand and represent your short- and long-term goals. Ensure your team is on the same page to eliminate posts that don’t represent your brand. Your plans may change along the way but don’t use that as an excuse not to strategize. Flying by the seat of your pants isn’t a strategy.

When creating a blogging strategy:

• Define Your Goals. Coming up with interesting blog topics can be a booger. You want to have evergreen topics that can be written about and published at any time, but you also need relevant posts that can be published quickly when something big or important happens in your industry. Think about a few core questions. What do you want to accomplish with your blog? How will it serve your audience while furthering your business goals? Defining the goals for your blog ensures that you always understand the “why” behind your writing. 
• Identify Your Audience. Your blog’s audience likely is your ideal customer. Understanding everything you can about them will help you better write to fulfill their information needs and eliminate their pain points. Pay attention to your post analytics. What topics or blog styles garner the most attention? What posts bring a spike in sales or website visits? Analytics provide insight into what your ideal clients want and need.
• Research Keywords. Researching and writing with keywords helps search engines recognize your content as what searchers are looking for. It’s how you get organic traffic through search results. Knowing the right keywords allows you to intercept someone’s search journey before they find their information elsewhere.
• Choose Topics. What you blog about should reflect your audience’s needs. Your blog’s subject needs to be broad enough to inspire many topic ideas but specific enough to help people and lead them back to your business. Effective topics will answer questions while sparking new ones that promote meaningful conversations with your audience.
• Determine Who Will Run the Blog. The best way to stay consistent and cohesive with your blog is to know who is in charge. In other words, who will write the content, edit it, ensure it’s published, and promote it on social channels? It could be you if that’s something you have time for. But it can also be someone else on your team or someone you outsource to, and that’s perfectly OK.
• Pick a Publication Schedule. Be realistic about the frequency of your posts. How often can they be written, edited, scheduled, and published? Can your team do it themselves, or do you need to outsource content creation and posting? We recommend posting on your site at least twice a week. Twice a week is better. Sticking with a publication schedule will encourage your audience to watch for your posts regularly.
• Create a Content Calendar. Your content calendar doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should keep your blogging team organized and on track. Content calendars increase your chances of getting and staying ahead so that deadlines don’t creep up on you or your team. Read our post on creating the best content schedule to learn more.
• Produce Original, Valuable Content. Your blog posts can turn readers into customers if you meet their content needs. Ensure each post gives them the desired information and is easy to read and understand. Your posts should be digestible and a reasonable length for your intended audience. Don’t be afraid to come up with your own ideas and include your unique perspective. Standing out is key to becoming memorable and recognizable.
• Use Design Elements. Blog posts don’t have to stop with black words on a white background. Include your brand colors, symbols, and formatting that makes sense for your readers. Organize your posts with consistent design themes that carry throughout all of your posts and make it clear who wrote them.
• Incorporate Strong CTAs. A simple “contact us today” doesn’t have to be your only call to action. Think outside the box to encourage your audience to purchase, subscribe, share your content, or something else. Strong CTAs incite emotion, encourage urgency, and speak directly to the reader. 

We understand these steps take time and effort to add to your routine. If you don’t want to take the work on yourself, it could be a good time to outsource your content writing. Blogging can be a huge opportunity for brand exposure. By not engaging, you are leaving money on the table.

Leveraging Keywords for Your Blog

If you want to drive more traffic to your content, use keywords strategically. Keywords are the words or phrases typed into search engines when users are looking for answers. 

For example, “shampoo” is a keyword, but so is the phrase “best shampoo for frizzy hair.” If you own a hair care company, it helps to use single-word and multi-word phrases like this to rank highly on search engines.

First, you need to conduct keyword research. We recommend focusing on “long tail” keywords at first. Long tail keywords are uber-specific words or phrases that relate to your brand. They tend to convert potential customers into buyers faster than general keywords. 

“Best shampoo for frizzy hair” is more specific than “shampoo.” It may be searched less than “shampoo,” but it meets buyers further along in their buyer journey. Specific searches mean buyers are closer to converting. Consider search volume, competition, price, and word count when selecting keywords for your content.

The best way to incorporate keywords strategically into your content is to write honestly and naturally in your brand voice. Don’t use keywords too often. Instead, place them in titles, title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags, and headers. Study the words that would most likely be used by your target audience and organically work them into your content.

Using a Content Calendar

The smartest way to optimize your blog is to create a content calendar for when and how you publish. 

Staying organized and on schedule creates consistency for your audience. 

Content calendars are a lot like puzzles. Pieces are moved to fill gaps, and some are easier to plan than others. Think edge puzzle pieces versus center puzzle pieces. Things change, and you’ll likely have to rearrange, but it’s crucial to have an outlined posting schedule. 

When making a content calendar:

• Understand your strategic goals
• Align content with marketing campaigns and your overall goals
• Plan and schedule blog posts, so you aren’t writing at the last minute
• Maintain a consistent publishing frequency

Your audience appreciates the attention to detail and a reliable posting schedule. Trust with your audience builds positive relationships, ultimately building your credibility as a business. Think about your favorite companies you support. How do they encourage your trust? It’s likely with their consistency and quality of work. Content calendars aid in both!

Analyzing Strategic Impact

You’ll never fully know if your blog strategies are working unless you analyze their success. Use web analytics tools like Google Analytics, Tableau, Momently, HubSpot Marketing Hub, or SEMrush to track your blog’s performance. 

Identify areas of improvement, but don’t be afraid to acknowledge the positive results as well! If you stay true to your brand, there will be unique pieces of your blog that you should keep. The parts that display your brand’s personality and flare are key.

Analytics help optimize your strategy for better results in the future. Changes will be necessary when navigating your blogging strategy, especially in the early stages. It doesn’t mean your blog is failing. It means recognizing how you can improve and caring about your audience’s opinion. 

An audience respects this kind of flexibility and desire to learn.

Consistency is Key

There’s no question about the value of a blog for your business. A blog serves your business now while simultaneously investing in the future. The kicker is that running a successful blog is a lot of work. Content Journey can provide the blog assistance you need! We can help with everything from keyword research to social media content promotion. Book a call today, and let’s discuss how we can grow your blog while you focus on the day-to-day of your business. Future “you” will be grateful!