Blog posts are a great part of content marketing. It does a lot for your business including increasing traffic, building trust with customers and humanizing your business.
Most importantly, it informs your customers about your products/services. However, blogging requires planning just like all other marketing efforts. Here are some helpful tips that can get you ahead of the game.
Post on a Consistent Basis
It’s all about timing. According to Todaymade, most blogs fail after a few months only because they failed to be consistent. Have a schedule for your blog posts. Plan the amount of time you give yourself to generate an article and what days of the week you will post. For example, you can plan to produce three items a week and spend two days on each blog. If you create a pattern, you appear more organized and professional to your audience. Blogging consistently can help generate more traffic through SEO.
Bloggers Who Specialize
It would be great to have everyone at your company write blog posts. However, there’s the quality verses quantity issue. Producing fewer high quality articles rather than a bunch of unthoughtful articles is more effective and beneficial to your company. There are about 200 ranking factors in Google’s Algorithm according to Backlinko for high quality content. A couple of employees should write about what they know. In effect, experts are writing about their expertise, which Google values. These bloggers can learn all of the tactics and spend time learning the ropes of successful blogging.
Plan Your Topics Ahead of Time
You don’t want to come into work wasting time on searching for an article topic. Create a blog plan way ahead of time. Think about the topics you want to cover for the next few months. Ask yourself what your customers are interested in and what you think they need to know. Always keep topics relevant to your audience and not just your company. Have a variety of topics each week. For example, you can plan four SEO articles a month and post one each week. At NuZoo Media, we have a blog section called Biz Buzz where we write about fun and interesting topics such as local events. We post an article about every other week. This changes up the routine and keeps the blog interesting.
Piggyback off of Previous Articles
What does piggyback mean? It’s using a subject or a sub-topic from a previous article and creating an entire article on that topic. Things change so rapidly today that yesterday’s news is often obsolete or has dramatically changed in a short time. Revisit old posts, and create new, up-to-date articles. If you look back at your articles you might see little paragraphs that could be branched into several new articles. This also creates more room for in-bound links which is linking to articles you have written previously which can help with SEO.
One of the most important strategies of getting your business out there is optimizing your content for the web.
You may have good content about your product or service but the way it’s structured makes a significant difference to search ranking. Here are effective approaches to attracting traffic to your website.
Most Important Information First
Using the inverted pyramid is an important and standard way of writing for optimizing your content. Put the most important information first because that’s the area readers go to first. Placing your most important keywords at the beginning of the content is critical because that’s what will show up on the Google results page in the meta description section which is the short description of the content that’s displayed. Your meta description should be taken from the beginning of the content and contain the most important information of the entire piece. Google Algorithms values the placement of keywords at the beginning of the content according to Backlinko.
Don’t Use Branded Keywords
This is a major block to optimizing your content. Why? Because you’re limiting search results to people who search your brand name in particular. Branded keywords are a result of your brand name recognition and will rank on the top page of Google, so there would be no need to optimize. So take your brand name out of focus and center the piece on non-branded keywords. For example, branded keywords would be: NuZoo Media, NuZoo Marketing, NuZoo Video. Shoot for more general non branded keywords such as video marketing, SEO, or video production. People are more interested in the product than the brand.
Write For the Mass Audience
As a professional you tend to use words and phrases that are tied to your industry. However, that doesn’t mean everyone else will understand. You need to write for a general audience. Most readability scores tell you to write for the 7-8th grade level according to Microsoft Office. Write in a way that people outside of your industry can comprehend. Optimizing your content through easy readability can boost your search rankings.
Always Include Images
Optimizing images can help boost your search ranking according to Yoast.The most shared content contain images. Photos get over 50% more Likes on Facebook, and over 100% more comments than average posts according to FastCompany. Images are compelling and make the page look more attractive. You can optimize your images by adding keywords in the alt tags of the photo. However, don’t stuff the alt tags with as many keywords as you can. Search engines will lower rankings for over-optimization.
Contact NuZoo Media for more information on web design and content marketing.
Your website is one of the most important aspects of your business. It can be hard to keep up with all the latest updates.
However, there are big website mistakes that businesses make that potentially hurt your company.
Here are some of the most common website mistakes businesses make as well as how to fix them.
Focusing More on Traffic Versus Conversion
Too often people think the more traffic, the more conversions which is a very common website mistake. People focus on trying to get as many visitors as we can, but aren’t getting enough people to take action. Why? Well one of of the main reasons is, you aren’t reaching your targeted audience. You may be getting a lot of viewers but not the specific viewers that need your service. So what can you do? Changing the wording on your site is a potential way to increase conversions.The copy on your site needs to be phrased in such a way that’s customized towards your target audience otherwise known as content marketing. Website conversion rate is nearly 6 times higher for people who engage in content marketing according to SmartBugMedia.You need to add consistent content to your website as well as high quality content. This will help with SEO and eventually conversions.
Hiring Your Neighbor to Build Your Website
This is one of the biggest website mistakes of all. Yes, there are many free online web builders that anyone can use. However, it looks unprofessional and does very little for your business. Without an original domain, you won’t rank anywhere on Google Search. Another issue is if you try to move websites in the future, you risk losing credit for all links aimed at your website according to AmericanExpress. Free online builders come with standard and overused templates that won’t represent your business in the best way. Another downside to using a self web builder is tracking traffic onto your site. Hire a web design company. Web designers can tailor the design to compliment your uniqueness and branding. A good web design company can manage the stats, compile reports for you and make recommendations on landing pages, changes to site structure and content to help boost your organic ranking.
Website Isn’t Optimized for SEO
Tailoring your website for SEO is your best opportunity to get ranked on Google Search. Write with subheads and highlighted keywords. Keep texts bold and short and content in an inverted pyramid order. You want the most important content at the top. Page titles should start with your business company name followed by a brief description of the site. Don’t start with words like “The” or “Welcome”. All the little things you do for your website can add to your search engine ranking such as having a blog, linking to authority sites, and writing original content.
Website Looks Too Busy
Squeezing in as much information onto a page is no longer welcome. One of the most common website mistakes is having a cluttered and confusing website without having a sense of flow and easy navigation. People need a clean looking website especially when viewing from mobile devices. Tabs and links need to be easy to find. It’s all about simplicity now. You might want to show off all your best work and photos, but it can be a little overwhelming to a viewer.
The lack of certain website features can be the reason your website traffic and conversion rates aren’t where you want them to be.
If people are leaving your site without returning or taking action, it might not be about the product or service but the website experience.
The way you represent your business is vital because your website is the first place people go to find out about your services. Here are a few website features you can’t go without.
Mobile
Because mobile devices are a huge component of online activity, going mobile is one of the most important website features you need to have. Customers want a fast and easy way of viewing a website, especially with a small screen space. 61% of consumers like a brand more when they have a pleasant mobile experience according to Mobify. Going mobile shows consumers that your business is innovative updated and active.
Social Media Platforms
The presence of social media on your site is critical. Social media is great for networking, communicating and showing people what you’re all about. People on social media can help your business grow by writing about your business, sharing your posts and inviting friends to follow you. Use social media to promote your products and offer promotions. Social media also gives you a platform to show your customers how you’re engaged with the community. Have share buttons on the front page of your website where it’s visible and stands out.
Sign Up Form
This is a call to action. Encourage customers to sign up for your e-newsletter. Through newsletters, you can inform people about your services, news and promotions. Offer incentives for signing up such as a discount on a product. This is a great way to interact with your customers by sending out emails on a consistent basis. Have your sign-up button on the front of your page where it stands out.
Blog
If you don’t already have one, a blog is one of the website features that gives your company a plus. Blogging is a great way for customers to get to know more about your company and the people that work there. Writing articles about your industry, its’ products and services helps position you as an expert and builds trust with customers. Customers can leave comments and questions for an interactive and personal experience. Blogs generate 126% more leads than those without a blog according to Yahoo! Small Business. A valuable part of blogging is that it can generate more traffic through search engine optimization (SEO). If your website has a blog, your website can be easier to find on search engines because they love fresh content to index.
Blog posts are a great part of content marketing. It does a lot for your business including increasing traffic, building trust with customers and humanizing your business.
One of the most important strategies of getting your business out there is optimizing your content for the web.
The lack of certain website features can be the reason your website traffic and conversion rates aren’t where you want them to be.
Sign Up Form