Marketers that invest in blogging are 13x more likely to see positive ROI than those that don’t.
If you’re reading this, you’re interested in business blogging. Maybe you have a competitor that’s been blogging and they’re beating you in the online game.
Or maybe you’ve been blogging, but you haven’t been getting the results you expect.
Whatever the situation, if you’re looking to give your business blog a boost, these strategies will help…
1. More Quantity Than You Think
This is the biggest strategy mistake I see in the blogging world.
Obviously we’re all shooting for quality. But it’s easy to use that as an excuse to not publish enough content.
Steven Spielberg releases one movie every ~1-2 years. But those movies are almost always amazing. And even at that pace he still has a few stinkers once in awhile.
But the biggest thing people overlook is that they’re not Steven Spielberg and Steven Spielberg wasn’t always Steven Spielberg…
When Spielberg was a kid, he made movies all the time. I’m guessing nearly 100% of his free time that he controlled was spent making movies. Then he became a young adult and that continued. Most of this material was never released. Eventually he had a breakthrough and released 1-2 movies per year. And he’s kept that pace up. And it’s actually a pretty high quantity pace for the movie making world.
If you release one blog post a year, it better be something to the scale of ET or Jurassic Park.
That would be a good strategy. It wouldn’t be normal for the blogging world. But it would be possible.
Or you could take the more normal successful blogging route. Between one post per week to one post per day. Commit to it. The quantity will lead to quality.
Look at the competition. They likely fall within this quantity spectrum.
2. 80% Formula, 20% Experimenting
When you’re starting out with a business blog, or if you’re revamping one, start with what seems to be working. If your competition or blogs you admire are doing a lot of lists, do lists. If they’re doing “How to…” posts, do those.
It’s okay to start with a formula that works. That gives you a chance to win with the audience. You can still bring your own style and wisdom to a list post. People like lists. You don’t have to fight against that.
But what I like to do is leave 10-20% for experimenting. Completely off the wall stuff. The stuff you want to try, but aren’t sure will work.
This gives you a chance to succeed. It gives you creative freedom. And it also gives you a chance to discover new home run content.
There is a beer company in my area that has been around for over 100 years. They have been releasing basically the same original beer since the beginning. But for most of their history they’ve also been experimenting with other beers. Most fail.
But some are huge hits. Including their shandy beer that came out in 2007 that is now their #1 seller.
3. Q&A
If you’re not into the lists or the how to stuff, try going with the simple question and answer. Your customers have questions. You probably have answers. In fact, you’re probably doing it every day in the business already.
Head over to the customer service people and listen to the questions your customers are asking. Then head over to the sales department and see what questions prospects are asking them.
That should give you at least 50 or so ideas for blog posts. If you’re doing 2/week then you’re set for the first six months.
From there, start looking at industry forums, industry blogs, comment sections on those blogs. Search YouTube for videos relating to your industry. Look at the comment section for questions.
4. Stories
Your stories make your blog unique. Share stories that relate to the topic you’re discussing. Share client stories, your own stories, employee stories and more. Humans are wired to consume stories. No two are the same. They’re all a little different. They let people find their own takeaways.
5. Snippets
For every post you publish, identify 3-5 snippets you can pull out and use on social media. If you’re struggling to find stuff to share on social, here is your solution. It also doesn’t matter if the social media landscape changes. If Facebook stops working for you, try it on LinkedIn. Just move to the one that is hot.
This works to boost your blog, your brand and it all works to bring you more business.
Conclusion
Blogging can seem intimidating. And the reality is that it’s more work than most realize. The strategies here simplify things a little. But the work is real. It’s an opportunity for many businesses. If you have determined that blogging is for you, try these strategies and you should be in good shape.