Do you hate blogging? Let's look at some blogging tips which will help you to turn your blog into a powerhouse marketing tool. It's easier than you think.
Start by considering how your blog appears to you. Perhaps it seems like a time sink; alternatively, you may look on it as a way to take your business to the next level.
Use these five keys to unlock the power of your business blog.
1. Consider your goals, then commit to a schedule.
Make a list of outcomes you're looking for in 2014: increased traffic, better conversions, enhanced visibility... If this sounds complicated, keep it simple.
Create a statement: "In 2014, our blog will help our current customers by ________. It will attract new customers, who will see our business as __________." Your statement summarizes your goals, and because it's brief and to the point, you'll remember it.
Put this statement where you'll see it, on a sticky note perhaps. Use Google Analytics to track your results.
Then decide how often you'll blog. You don't need to commit to a schedule. If you do however, blogging will be easier.
2. Your blog is a publication: vary your content.
Blogging is instant publishing. Your blog is a publication and just like a magazine, and can have several contributors.
In 7 Steps To Make Your Blog A Marketing Machine, Heidi Cohen suggests:
Outline a series of on-going content columns. Extend the information you're going to cover in terms of categories. Go a step further and think like an old fashioned magazine to create a set of regular features related to the focus on your content marketing strategy.
It's excellent advice. Magazines have two primary forms of content: editorial, and advertising. Use both. This speaks to Tip 5: inspire action with your blog posts.
3. Collect a team, and add them to your editorial calendar.
When a client tells me he hates blogging, it's because he's taken the entire burden on his own shoulders. You need a team, and you may need to bribe people, or hire them. If you haven't considered soliciting guest posts, consider it now. Ask members of your staff to volunteer (bribe them). Reach out to colleagues, suppliers, and even investors if you have them.
Consider reaching out to other bloggers too. Cast your net widely.
Make a list of possible contributors, and reach out to them. When you get a contributor, add them to your editorial calendar.
4. Reward yourself when you hit blogging milestones.
Set up blogging milestones. Your milestones can be anything you choose, and can involve traffic, and conversions. Or perhaps your milestones will be the number of social shares, or even the number of posts you create.
They can be public, or private, as long as they're meaningful. Rewards make good bribes for your contributors.
Make a list of milestones, and of rewards.
5. Remember to inspire action with every blog post.
What do you want your blog's readers to do when they check out a posting on your blog? Perhaps you simply want to give them additional information about a product. You needn't spend all your time discussing products' features and benefits however.
If you're selling oven ware for example, there's no need to confine yourself to talking about your various products. You can talk about famous chefs, give recipes and tips, or post photos and videos of readers' kitchens. The possibilities are endless, as long as you remember to inspire action.
Create a blogging template. At the bottom of the template, type: ACTION! (Include the exclamation point.)