Having a blog is essential for any business, but you need to follow some guidelines in order to make sure your blog has the greatest impact.
Blogs must not just function by your own will, but with a plan. Listed below are six simple business blogging guidelines that will help you create a great blog. These will allow you to connect with customers and potential customers in a way that’s engaging and answers their questions.
1. Define your blogging goals.
Before you begin blogging, it’s essential to define the goals that you want your platform to accomplish. This will help you to develop a content strategy and show you where to focus your efforts. To define your website’s goals, you must answer the question, “Why are you blogging?”
- Driving foot traffic to your business?
- Increase sales or generate leads?
- Educating customers and prospects about your business guidelines?
- A behind-the-scenes look?
- Attracting potential customers from outside your area?
- Brand identity?
To be effective and focused, a blog content strategy should include at least two to three of these goals. It’s important to remember that your goals should be specific.
2. Keep it up.
Regularly updating your blog with new content is essential for your business and for it to appear active. This will help your website rank higher on search results.
There aren’t any clear guidelines on how often your blog should be updated. However, it depends on your goals. Here are some tips for business bloggers.
HubSpot states that if your main goal is to increase organic traffic, you should post regularly. This would translate into approximately 3-4 times per week for small businesses. If you want to increase awareness about your small business, then posting only once or twice per week is sufficient.
3. Do keyword research.
Although blogging about your business topics is a good idea, it’s important that your content targets the search terms people are using to maximize its reach. Keyword research can help you find these search terms.
The ideal key phrase is one that has high search volume, low competition, and is relevant for your business. Your blog will rank higher in search results and attract more traffic if you include these keywords in your title and body.
4. Try to write blog posts of the ideal length.
Although there are no guidelines, you should limit the length of a blog post to a certain word count. It is possible to create traffic to your website or generate leads by writing longer blog posts. According to most recent numbers, for search engine optimization, the ideal length of a post is between 2100-2400 words and for lead generation, it’s around 2500 words.
There are many types of blog posts and they all have different lengths. Blog posts answering questions should not exceed 1300 words and should be kept to under 1700 words. How-to posts should contain between 1700 and 2100 words.
These lengths will make your content more visible in search results. However, engaging content can be created that is higher quality, informative, and includes relevant keywords that are easy to find for your audience.
5. Include visual elements.
Images and videos make pages more interesting to visitors. They also help increase attention spans. Research shows that people retain 65% of information when it’s accompanied with visuals. Only 10% are retained if the information is not accompanied by visuals.
Infographics and charts can be used to increase the time users spend reading your blog posts and help them remember its content.
6. Create a blog content calendar.
Birdseye-view content calendars can help you avoid writer’s block by providing a structure to follow. It also makes consistent blogging easier by helping you visualize what you need to do.
Although all of these tips for business blogging may seem overwhelming, they will help you create a framework to your blog that ensures that your content is timely and reaches your target audience. You’ll be amazed at the positive impact they have on your business and blog.
Just think of your post as the friendly neighborhood bulletin board where people can post their ideas and comments. This gives customers the feeling of the personal touch, even with big companies.
These guidelines are meant to encourage the average small business owner. Blogging platforms such as WordPress are extremely user friendly today. Anyone with normal intelligence and a half hour to spend each day can put up a blog, one that will drive business your way. And don’t forget to constantly check out your competitor’s blogs! Chances are you’ll be able to pick up some good stuff there, too.
