Blogging has proven to be an extremely advantageous resource that can demonstrate to your customers your company's value. Many companies that have implemented a content strategy such as blogging, find that they are able to more effectively drive traffic to their website, convert leads, build stronger relationships with their audience, and overall generate more business for their company.
It's true, blogging can help you differentiate your company from your competition, and humanize your brand in order to offer clients a more connected and personalized experience. But, (I know you knew this was coming) not everyone that starts a content strategy sees these kinds of successful results.
The problem is, that more often than not when companies don't see the results they are looking for, they are all too quick to blame the content tactic as a whole and scrap the idea. If you aren't seeing the results that you desire, you may want to review what kind of a process your organization follows for your content marketing strategy. Below are the top 5 common mistakes most business blog writers. If you catch your company incorporating (or not incorporating) any of these, it's time to take a different direction.
Top 5 Mistakes Business Blog Writers Make.
1. You don't publish on a regular schedule.
Having, and sticking, to a regularly scheduled publishing date is essential in the world of content marketing. Your customers are looking for consistent activity, and will often come back to your blog to read new articles on those specific days. If your content isn't showing up when it is supposed to, chances are you will lose your readers' interest. If you don't have one yet, it's a great idea to create an editorial calendar to make sure your blogging stays regulated and on time.
2. You focus only on self promotion.
People don't always come to your blog only to read about how great your company, products, or services are. Readers are attracted by titles or headlines that pertain to their interest, needs, or issues that they want resolved. Your blog needs to prove to be a valuable resource to people that could be customers in the future, like your target audience. You need to put yourself in their shoes. What do they want to know? What questions might they want answered? What can you help, or make easier for them? Try answering questions about your industry that you think is important knowledge to have.
3. You don't use visual content.
Visual content is a great way to connect with people, and often times makes your blog posts seem a little less, shall we say, boring. Images can capture readers attention, making reading your blog a more enjoyable experience. It's important to find an image that is relevant to your blog topic, but can also draw immediate attention to your target audience. Creating your own image or design is always a great idea, (I often create or design simple images in paint, or Word). However, you can just as simply find suitable and inexpensive stock images via the Internet on sites such as iStock.
4. You don't promote your content on social networks.
If you don't promote your content, it's never going to get read. It's really as simple as that. If you participate on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or LinkedIn, share your well-written, and hopefully entertaining content so that potentials can read and enjoy. If you want to be a serious business blog writer, you are going to have to learn that building relationships and social interaction is more than essential, it's necessary for survival. Whenever you publish new content, be sure to post it on your various social networks so you can establish yourself as a thought-leader in your industry.
5. You don't optimize your posts.
At this point, you should know that you need to have keywords within your blog post to take advantage of SEO, and the rewards that come with it. Create a list of target keywords that you believe correlate to your blog article, and sprinkle those words throughout your publication to ensure search engine crawlers will index the page properly. However, don't fully commit to catering solely to search engines for SEO purposes. No matter the cost, it's a far more effective strategy to impress your readers.
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