Think of a blog as your brand’s own ‘newsletter’. Your blog could contain personal anecdotes, how-to guides, statistics, stories – the list goes on. Blogs are usually written in a conversational and casual format as opposed to the more rigid and monotonous research journals.
Regularly updating your blog could be the difference between your brand staying relevant or getting outpaced by the competition. All businesses, both big and small, are now devoting a portion of their marketing budget towards maintaining a regular blog. The goal is to regularly engage audiences, optimize websites around search engines, and preparing a weekly (or monthly) newsletter for subscribers.
As a matter of fact, B2B marketers who implement and maintain a ‘healthy’ blog receive 67% more leads than competitors that do not. The question then, isn’t about ‘why’ you should maintain a blog, it’s about ‘how’ you should go about setting it up. After being in blogging for many years, we think we know the answer.
Finding a Niche
This can be as simple as discussing the products and services that you offer. For example, if you’re selling deodorants, your blog should be centered around the deodorants, discussing topics such as, “benefits of deodorants”, “toxic ingredients in deodorants”, “signs your deodorant could be cancerous”, etc.
You’ll have to become creative here because the internet is filled with dozens and dozens of blogs on deodorants.
If you’re a solo entrepreneur, then try finding a niche that you are genuinely passionate about.
If you like cats, go wild with the topic and write about felines at great lengths. If you’re a gamer, and this should be easy, set up a blog discussing video games and all the latest developments that come along with it. And here’s the best part, you don’t have to be completely original either. You just give your own spin on the topic, add some of your own experiences, and you’re golden.
Try to Maintain a Modicum of Originality
This can be difficult if you’re dealing with a topic that has been done to the death. For example, “what are the most common foods cats like to eat?”. There are hundreds of blogs discussing at length what cats like and don’t like to eat. Being original can be challenging. Instead of writing on common cat foods, you could discuss choking hazards when cats swallow dangerous toys and other stuff lying around.
Just make sure to stay focused on the topic you select and try not to drift away from it. Expand your topic and make sure all the disparate concepts flow together. It pays to be unique because the more different you are from other blogs, the more you’ll be valued by search engines.
Keyword Wars
Once you’ve figured out the topics you want to write on, your next goal should be to nail down your target keywords. Our experience tells us that new blogs shouldn’t spend their efforts on extremely common keywords like “cat foods” because initially, their website won’t have the necessary ‘clout’ or domain authority to rank for it.
But you can target a keyword like “best canned cat food” and discuss this topic at length. Also toss in other related keywords in your blog post, such as “cat foods”. Once you’ve built up enough domain authority, you can start gunning for the big keywords. Make sure to check out what your competitors are doing to rank on the first page of search results.
Use a free tool like SEMrush to find out your website’s domain authority.
Here’s a free tool that lets you find keywords based on search volume. Our advice is to use long-tail keywords, such as, “best canned cat food” to easily rank higher than your competition.
Never make the mistake of ‘stuffing’ keywords throughout your article with the hopes of tricking search engine algorithms. Google will penalize keyword stuffing. It used to work in the past, but now it’s dead in the water. Keyword stuffing is the fastest way to get blacklisted by Google, that means having to start over with a new blog.
Try to integrate keywords as naturally into your blog as possible. Hire blog writing services to do this for you if you’re unsure about this step.
How Frequently Should You Blog
There’s no one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to the frequency of blog publishing. Most experts agree that you should at least blog thrice a week. Your needs will vary based on your business. The solution that works for someone else may not work for you.
To put things in perspective, Huffington Post publishes one blog post every 58 seconds. To be fair, they have the luxury of guest writers from around the world doing the bulk of writing for them.
But even if you’re a small business and don’t have the time for blog writing, you should still stick to the three-blog-per-week rule.
How Many Words Should Each Blog Post Have?
Make sure each blog has a decent word count of between 500 words to 1500 words. If you’re feeling particularly creative, shoot for over 3000 words per blog. Lengthy blog posts have been proven to rank higher than their shorter counterparts.
The first page of search results speak for themselves. Just take a cursory look at one of those Neil Patel blogs, they’re huge at an average of 3000 words per post. Lengthy blog posts are the surefire way to blow your competition out of the water. There’s no two ways about it. Just make sure your blog isn’t gibberish, sometimes, it’s better to just keep things short, simple, and to the point.
But we realize that not everyone has time in the day to write 3000 words on cat foods, or whatever your target niche is. This is why it’s easier to hire blog writing services to do the heavy lifting for you.
Blog Structuring
While it’s tempting to write whatever comes to your mind and just patter away at the keyboard, blogging has to be focused and comprehensive. There has to be a structure to it, such as, an introductory paragraph to quickly reel in the reader, followed by a step-by-step process.
H1, H2, and H3 headers are very effective at helping the writer stay on track and make navigation easier for the reader. Make sure to use them often.
Some people just want to skip the boring intros and dive into the heart of the matter. Headers make this possible. Your audience should be able to digest each paragraph in its entirety before moving to the next one.
Use Pictures and Infographics
Did you know infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than long, drawn out posts without images? Visual cues are far more effective at engaging the human brain. We’re always distracted and have fleeting attention spans. Sometimes it’s better to have all that information neatly summed up as an infographic.
You can expand upon the points contained in the infographic to explain things to the reader.
If you don’t have access to an infographics team, then, you can still make do with pictures. There are millions of copyright-free images to choose from. Just use Pexels or Pixabay. Chances are, you’ll find something. Or just pull out your camera and take high quality picture yourself. The fact is, visuals with colors increase a person’s willingness to sit through the content by about 80%.
So there you have it, this is the gist of setting up and maintaining a blog. If you need further help make sure to reach out to the pros at Content Development Pros.
