As inbound marketing begins to take over the advertising world, online blogging has seen explosive growth.  Blogging is the first step to inbound marketing and has become an essential aspect to a company’s success. Blogging is the simplest way to join the online community while sharing important content with your viewers. According to Hubspot, websites with a blog generated 55% more visitors to their site than those who didn’t have a blog. Companies can use blogs to write posts about content that is important to their audiences and that matches their search inquires on search engines.  This way when potential customers surf the web, there will be a greater chance that their company will pop up on search engines. By driving more traffic to your site your company will immediately see more leads. Blogging is a way of giving your company a voice and really letting you get your opinion out there. Additionally, it provides you with the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise on topics that are important to you and your company. 

Now you might be thinking, how would I even go about starting a blog? Well, it’s easy.  First you must create a blog page on your companies website, or create a website if your company doesn’t already have one.  Then you must choose a blogging platform; Wordpress is commonly used and easy to operate.  Additionally, you can always hire an inbound marketing company who can set up a blogging page for you.  Once the page it is created it is important that you develop a goal for your blog.  You need to decide what is important to write about and what your clients would care to read about.  You should also take into consideration what are important keywords to use throughout your blog to optimize your position in search engines.  After all this is set-up it is time to start posting! You want your passion to shine through in your posts and not only educate your readers, but also inspire them. Here a few must-haves to include in your posts:

Noteworthy content

Content is the most important part of your posts.  You want to educate your audience with your posts, but also make sure your posts are relevant to your company.  If you were a web design company it wouldn’t make much sense to blog about the latest celebrity gossip, as that’s not likely to help your SEO.  With this in mind; you have to make sure you aren’t using this page to blog about your companies product and services, and instead you should use these posts to write about things that interest you while always making sure the content itself is pertinent.

Catchy titles

You need to hook your readers by using a captivating choice of words as a heading for your blog post.  Remember this is the first thing that people will see and could make or break whether or not they decide to read the blog!  Titles that include lists like “Top 5 reasons you should…” usually do well as they attract readers by providing them with a simple and quick read that gets directly to the point.

Interactive media

It is important that you don’t bore your reader with lengthy posts that use no visuals or social media.  Pictures help support your text and provide your readers with some visual relief.  Additionally, videos and surveys’ can also be used to help create an environment that it is a two way street between you and your audience. 

Size

Length does matter!  A blog should typically be between 400-600 words, but never should exceed 800.  Viewers aren’t looking for a research paper; they are looking for a quick and easy read.  A long blog post could be an immediate turnoff for viewers. 

CTA’s

Call-to-actions are an important part of blogging that are  essential for turning leads into clients.  Simple place a call to action at the end of your blog and immediately see results!