As A Business What Should I Blog About?
In my previous blog posts, I have told you about the importance of blogging for your business - but what should you blog about?
You know you should be blogging on a regular basis, whether that's once a week or once a month but the pressure of having fresh and relevant ideas especially if you're short on time can put you off having this regular schedule. Or maybe it's simply not at the top of your list as it often happens - you're great at what you do, but blogging and social media isn't your forte so it's easier to ignore it, even though you know you shouldn't be ignoring social media marketing for your business.
I want your business to boom whether you're based in Hampshire or in Mallorca - remember, it's all about growing and blooming at the right stages! So I have written a short and handy guide to help you get inspired and motivated about blogging for business.
1. Pick A Relevant Topic
Google focusses on prioritising content which is interesting and relevant to it's audience - content which is 'user first'. Whilst you may be tempted to write an article on a current news story in your industry or mask a sales pitch within you post think about what value you are bringing to your user: are you answering their question? Are you giving them free tips to make their lives easier? Are you writing an entertaining piece which your user will relate to and share?
Think about what your audience want to see from you; what questions they may have and ultimately Google an answer to; or simply a topic like 'Blogging for Business'. A great way to research topics is to ask your audience - jump on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and ask your audience what questions they have so you can answer them on your business blog! If you're bringing value to your audience, they're more likely to built trust with you and buy from you.
Top Tip To Blogging As A Business:
"Allocate a day in the month when you sit down and pick your topics, then try to write and schedule as many as you can - so you know you are keeping a consistent schedule! You will be more focussed on your content and create more effective blog posts."
2. Find A Template & Design
Pick a signature template and layout for your posts - be consistent. Some things to consider are:
- Where to place pictures and how many
- How to break up the text so your audience can read it easily
- Does it have social sharing buttons to easily share content?
- Is it inline with the rest of your site?
Having brand guidelines for your business will help you design visuals and keep the tone of voice of your blog the same as your business. You want to have at least one image per blog post to make it visually appealing and easily set a social share image. Remember to break up your text in digestible paragraphs and make titles bigger!
To give you an example, I keep the Dalry Rose Digital Blog template with one hero image; and the rest is content broken down into tips. Because I know if you've landed here you're after tips and hints on how to better your digital marketing, so having 10 images will just be out of place (unless I'm showing you how to do things!).
But on my lifestyle blog Dalry Rose Blog I am visually focussed as my audience who land on my blog are there to see photos of products, get inspired on places to visit and where to eat (and we all eat with our eyes!), find style inspiration - all very visual things. So I have a minimum of 3x photos and less text to give them tips and context, and also help my SEO.
3. Make Sure Your Content Is Searchable!
If a tree falls in the middle of the forest, but there's no one to see or hear the tree fall - did it really fall?
That's kind of what it's like when you publish a brilliant blog post and don't shout about it or ensure your blog is searchable! Make sure you've implemented SEO in your blog post with relevant keywords, tags, and headings.
Once your post is live make sure you're shouting about it on:
- Social media
- Mail lists
- Colleagues and friends, ask them to help you spread the word!
Remember you have to be your biggest fan online because if you don't love your brand then why should anyone else? Talk about your blog posts and share them everywhere you can!
To Summarise:
- Pick a relevant topics which brings value to your audience or answers a question
- Pick a template and design to be consistent with the rest of your brand and site
- Include relevant imagery and split up your content so it's easy to read
- SEO is your best friend: have you chose your keywords and topics so you are easily found online?
- Shout about your post - use the power of social media marketing to help your posts be seen by potential customers!
The biggest investment in digital marketing is time - and this is the reason 90% of clients seek out my help. If you can relate to this pain point, or simply want your brand to grow and bloom through digital and social media marketing then please get in touch - I love chatting to you!
