Creating the content for your business blog is the #1 most important factor for a successful blog.
In fact, I think that’s where many unsuccessful blogs fail. It’s being aware of what your target audience wants and trying to create that type of content. It takes time to learn that. Trial and error. Most aren’t willing to commit.
But let’s say that you have great content. You’re committed to continuing to create it for a long time. And you want to give a boost to your brand and your blog along the way.
Here are some long-term efforts you can implement to market your business blog…
1. Podcast Guesting
You can do the normal things with each post:
- Social Media
- Snippets
Those are all things you should do. I also like to focus on increasing awareness for your brand overall. And also mentioning your blog as you do that overall awareness strategy. Because your blog can be a great source of information for your target audience and customers. It’s a great bridge from awareness to trust to customer.
Podcasting has blown up over the last five years. The arrow continues to point up. People love listening to podcasts. Podcasters need content and for that they often need guests.
Being a continual guests on multiple podcasts is a great way to grow your profile.
It’s relatively easy to search for podcasts using Google or Anchor. Reach out. See what the host is looking for and see if you can provide what they need.
Commit to the outreach regularly and you’ll get consistent opportunity.
When the host asks where people can find you, tell them about your blog.
2. Social Media Q&A
Social media is often about posting content to get a reaction. A thought. A rant. A blog post with a link. These are all fine, but what people really seem to appreciate is Q&A.
It’s simple, but valuable. You can start by searching for questions people are asking that you can answer. You can use hashtags to help with the search. Put the practice on your schedule each week and commit to it for the long-term.
Over time, as you help more people your following will grow and you can host regular Q&As with your followers. Just ask for questions.
3. Forum Q&A
Don’t overlook the old school forums either. There are lots of people asking lots of questions in your industry. Search Google for your industry and forum. You’ll find a bunch. Jump in and join the forum. Then start answering questions. The more often you do it the more people will appreciate you and they’ll search for more content from you which leads them to your blog where you can provide even more value.
4. Regular Guest Blogging
Guest blogging offers the opportunity for you to reach new people. You’ll often get the byline at the end where you can link to something. You could link to your website. That’s fine. But these are blog readers. Why not link to your blog? That way they can get even more information that they’ll likely find valuable.
Commit to regular guest blogging outreach. Set a number of blogs to reach out to each month. Maybe 10 a month that could lead to 1 published guest post. Try to find a blog that you can write for each week or each month as well.
5. Written Interviews
Like podcasting, there are a number of sites that post written interviews. These are often done via email where the site editor sends you questions and you send back your answers. Identify someone like you in your industry. Search their name on Google. Do this until you find written interviews they’ve done and then reach out to those sites to see if you can do it.
Link to your blog in the byline.
6. Publishing A Book
One of the first things I do when I read a great book, especially a business book, is search for the author’s blog. Most have a blog and most have amazing content on it.
Obviously it’s easy to write this tip, but writing a book is no easy task. One way you could do it is to identify 10 books written by your peers. Reach out to their publishers. See if someone can work with you to develop a theme for a book that they are looking to publish.
7. Co-Creating Large Written Content
Finally, a step below writing a book might be to write a piece of online content that is big, but not book big. But bigger than a blog post. Maybe a piece of research. Or a big guide to something your customers struggle doing.
Get together with another person in your industry. A friend, colleague or whoever. Write it together. Then you can market it together. You could look for someone that is much more well known than you are. You could do 80% of the work or whatever and in exchange you get to piggyback on their popularity which will attract more readers to your blog.
Conclusion
Most people think that blog marketing is about each individual post. It definitely is, but there is opportunity to think bigger about your blog overall. Think about increasing the awareness for you and for your blog. Your blog, over time, becomes a huge resource. When people hear about you they often search for more content from you. Having your blog there waiting for them brings a chance for a lot of opportunity to win sales.