Companies that blog 15 times or more each month get five times more traffic that companies without a blog, according to the Marketing Benchmarks from 7,000-plus Businesses report.
What does it take to make a blog on your business site a success? And let's be clear, we are defining success as making your business revenue.
First, you should understand how to show what you are doing with your blog is actually working. How do you do this? A few ways.
- Analytics. Show how many more visitors you are getting to your site. That's extra brand reach.
- Collect emails. Show how many more emails you are getting because this is worth money. Emails = Sales Leads.
- Track Conversions. Through any analytic tool you can track conversions based on entry sources. Viola!
Think of it as the circle of life. Traffic-Lead-Conversion-What Is That Lead Worth To Your Business or What Sale was Generated? And repeat.
So what are some tactics and techniques to succeed with your business blog? Let me share a few favorites.
1) What is Your Ideal Customers Pain Points?
By understanding your businesses various buyer personas you can create a variety of content that will interest them. Sales and Marketing should never be siloed, and this is a big reason why. Marketing needs to know exactly what prospects are telling sales people the problems are. Talk to their problems and how to solve them. And, repeat for each persona, each problem. The subjects and topics should keep your content team fairly busy. This will help attract relevant traffic to your site, boost your SEO and engages with your current customers. It makes your business seem more human.
2) Learn Copywriting Skills.
Copywriting is roughly defined as the art and science of writing copy (words used on web pages, ads, promotional materials, etc.) that sells your product or service and convinces prospective customers to take action.
Copywriting incorporates tactics like using various words to paint better pictures, a writing tone and style that is captivating and "non-salesy", and a focusing on a single action from your reader to prompt leads or sales. Many bloggers already do this without even realizing that a few tweaks to what they've already learned can pay off big time! People love a good story and the ability to tell a good story that also prompts leads or sales is where its at in Business Blogging.
Plenty of sites have online copywriting courses now. I like CopyBloggers' site for some good e-books to get you started on the topic.
3) Write Stuff Worth Sharing.
This may seem obvious, but it is often overlooked. Research what is popular out there in your industry and being shared on social media. Make what you are writing worth reading. It is proven that people love lists, infographics, polls and giveaways. Sprinkle them in your posts and you will surely notice an uptick in interest. The more people read, the more people enjoy, the more people share- it all trickles down to more traffic, more emails and more interest.
4) Create a Call to Action.
Your posts should all contain at least one call to action. What do you want the reader to do once they are finished reading your post? Perhaps move them forward in the sales cycle? {Yes}. Provide additional resources, a landing page with your service related to your post, an email collector, e-commerce opportunities to solve the problem- you get the picture.
What are tips and tricks you have incorporated to your business blog?