People are investing in their homes. That includes the landscaping. They’re buying all kinds of things to help improve the look and value of their homes. They’re also hiring companies and individuals to handle the installation work.
This is a trend that will likely be on the rise for at least a decade. People want their homes to look nice. They want to maintain or increase the value. Baby Boomers are retiring in record numbers. Many have a lifetime’s worth of savings to begin spending and many will spend it on their homes.
This trend alone is an opportunity. But with this trend will come competition. Landscaping businesses will need to be creative to stand out in their areas.
Blogging can be one way to do that. Blogging may seem simple, but many businesses avoid it because they don’t like the writing and the continuous effort. But that’s a big opportunity because people are seeking information about landscaping.
Here are some tips for starting your own landscaping blog…
1. Daily
If you’re going to start any type of content marketing effort – blogging, video, podcasting, social media, etc. – I recommend starting with a daily schedule. You’re already behind all the others that have been doing it for years. So you have to catch up. You also have a lot to learn about your specific audience. You need a lot of content to build a collection of data. You also have to figure out your content style. Quantity allows you the room to learn.
If you’re starting a new habit the best way to do it is to do it daily. You have to really make a hard change and a hard commitment. Daily is a hard commitment. But the payoff is large if you can do it for months and even for a year. If you blog daily for a year you’re going to be better than you were and better than all the others that only blog occasionally.
2. Repurpose
Blog content can be repurposed to publish on social media. I like to start with the blog on your own site. This way you establish the original source of the content. You own it. You can change it and the platform around it. But I also like to take each post and publish the entire thing natively on social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook. These platforms have large audiences. They want to keep their audiences on their platforms so they like native content. That’s content meant to engage on the platform and not take people away.
By creating one blog post you get all the advantages of having it on your site and you can reuse it on popular social channels and build brand recognition there. You can also use snippets when sharing photos on Instagram.
3. Case Studies
Case studies and stories are going to be important for a landscaping blog. When you finish a job, if your company does full landscaping for clients, document it with some photos. Then have someone write about the job from start to finish. Share the details on what you did, why you did it and more.
Readers will love to read about these stories and they’ll start to imagine how your service can work for their situation.
4. Q&A
Another solid foundation for a business blog is question and answer. Start paying attention to all the questions people are asking about landscaping. Especially in your area. Use your blog to provide the answers. You have a lot of knowledge about the industry. You don’t have to do only the difficult questions. Anything is worthwhile for the blog. If one person is asking you a question in person you can bet a lot more are searching for it online. And your blog can be the resource they find.
5. Local Commentary
There is also an interesting shift in local commentary. Newspapers are shutting down. So are local radio stations and even local tv stations. People still want local information, though. It just requires a different model. It’s a gamble, but hiring a local journalist to do their same job, but for your company blog can really pay off big.
Conclusion
You can ride the upward trend in the landscaping business in the coming decade. But there will be competition. If you really want to stand out a blog can be one way to do that. But you have to be committed. Hopefully these tips can help you figure out if it’s the right path for you.