For blog’s sake
A blog is a platform that allows individuals, businesses and corporations to self-publish online content. The word blog — an odd, little name for such a big, important thing — comes from the shortening of weblog. When a blog is updated with a new story, that’s a blog post.
Blogs are a cornerstone of good digital marketing plans, because they boost SEO, improve site traffic and ultimately lead to engagement and sales. A blog can help position your brand as a leader in its industry, delivering valuable insights and information. It’s where you share who you are, what you know, what you stand for, and how your expertise can help your audience.
HubSpot’s 2023 State of Marketing Report says the number one marketing trend this year is that the highest ROI of any marketing channel are blogs, social media shopping tools and influencer marketing.
“Brand work, from content marketing to social media to big swings like events and TV spots, helps audiences connect with your company and what you stand for — and it’s worth the investment,” writes HubSpot’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kipp Bodnar, in the Report’s foreword.
The long game
“SEO work is a long game, so some marketing teams looking for quicker wins sometimes overlook how powerful it can be. But once a company sets up a blog and optimises its web pages for search, it lays a foundation to significantly increase web traffic and inbound leads,” says the Report.
Marketers who use blogs enjoy almost 70% more leads than those who do not. In a survey of U.S. consumers, more than 50% of people revealed they made a purchase from a company after reading its blog. It’s a universal truth that everyone loves a good story.
Blogging is simply publishing on your own behalf, so you should consider whether asking the marketing intern to write a blog is the right move for your brand. Whoever is writing your content must have the interest, talent, skills and experience for the job.
Your blog writer not only needs to understand your business and brand deeply enough to create content that offers genuine value to a reader, but they should also (ideally) have the editorial and communications skills of a senior writer. If they don’t, make sure you get someone else’s eyes over it before going live.
Keep it real
Can AI write your blog? Sure — but not very well. The current bland, generic outputs of AI are exactly the opposite of what a great blog should be: unique, idiosyncratic, insightful, fun, raw and human. That’s where genuine connection comes from.
Your blog is your brand in conversation with potential customers, so every word needs to work hard to create a meaningful connection.
Say you’re interested in guitar. You might search for something like: “What electric guitar should a beginner buy?” You click on a guitar brand’s website and explore the blog page. It’s informative and written by someone who obviously loves guitars. Suddenly, you have access to an expert. You’re grateful to the business for sharing its knowledge and have just decided what brand you want to buy.
If you build it, they will come
Google’s algorithm rewards you for posting regular SEO-rich content. The key phrase for this blog is “blog writing”. If we’ve done our job well, we’ll be near the top of the search results for this phrase over time.
And just who is this blog for? People seeking information on how to enhance their blog writing. What would we like to happen? For those people to ask us about creating blog content. Then we’ll have converted traffic into leads.
As someone reads your blog and comes to understand who you are, they might begin a conversation with you about your services. But for this to happen, there’s something you’ve got to do first – build your website and blogging capabilities.
Your blog is a gift that keeps on giving. Once posts are up, they keep working away quietly for your brand, 24 hours a day. Once a post has achieved a ranking, it will keep popping up on searches if you’ve made the content attractive and relevant. A good blog will generate 90% of its leads in the months after it was first posted.
You can also optimise older blogs by cross-checking them with key phrases used at the time of posting, and refreshing that content to remain topical.
So, what type of content should you be sharing?
What to write, and when
This blog could be described as a client resource. It’s designed to attract potential clients with free, fresh and useful information, but it also allows them to draw on our agency knowledge to create their own engaging content.
Thought leadership is an innovative piece written by a genuine expert, who shares their specialist knowledge or perspective. A simple way to describe thought leadership is an exclusive piece of wisdom you can’t just Google, because that knowledge lives in an expert’s head.
News blogs are simpler. They should reveal updates, events, new work, products or innovations in your business, while reinforcing who you are and what you do.
Then there’s the fun blog, which can paint a shiny picture of your culture. While this can be incredibly engaging, be careful with the antics you show around the office. Sure, it might be hilarious when the junior videographer dresses up as a hot dog, but a client looking at that content the day their invoice arrives might be forgiven for wondering what they’re paying for.
Aim to share a combination of news and client resource blogs weekly, try for a thought leadership piece once a month, and sprinkle fun blogs around like fairy dust.
Of course, there’s no point in blogging unless your work can be found. Make sure you’re following best SEO practice, and alert your followers to new blogs with email marketing and social media. Your blog gives you something to talk about on other platforms!
If you’re not currently blogging on behalf of your business, you should seriously consider it. If you don’t, your competitors will.
Want to find out more about how to launch and run a successful blog? Get in touch here.