Is blogging really dead? Contrary to what you may believe, blogging is far from dead, my friends! Actually, blogging is one of the best ways to market your business and reach your people.
A blog can significantly benefit your business for a ton of reasons, including:
- Improving your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so Google can more easily connect your ideal clients to your business.
- Helping you to create a more sustainable Pinterest strategy with a means for regularly creating fresh URLs on your website
- Allowing you to dive in deeper and build your audience’s trust in you, in turn building your authority on the subjects you want to be known for!
I’ve been blogging regularly for my online business for almost an entire year, and I’m here to share my greatest learnings, takeaways and tips with you today in this new post!
Tip #1: Take the Time to Strategize Your Content
This is my greatest tip for you because around here, I’m all about working smarter, not harder.
What’s the point in taking up your precious time to write long blog posts that don’t actually further your business objectives? This is why it’s so essential that you actually take the time to research and strategize what your blog content will be.
A great idea at this stage is to identify what your blog categories will be. Think of this how you would think of content pillars; broad themes that house each piece of your content.
For example, my blog categories are:
- Design
- Branding
- Mindset & Self Care
The first two categories speak to the work I love to do, while the third speaks to something absolutely essential to my brand and what I want to be known for. I often share how I didn’t really think much about mindset or self-care until I was actually an online business owner. I’m really passionate about spreading awareness on just how important these elements are to our wellness as entrepreneurs. These are all things I want to be known for!
When it comes to strategizing the actual content for your blog, you will have your categories (pillars) to help guide you through what you’re going to write about. But even more important is for you to have your sales and marketing plan close by, so you know what programs or launches you’re going to perform in your business and when so that you can create content that supports your plans!
For example, when I knew I would be launching my website template shop, I wrote a lot more about Showit, website tips, and the benefits of using a website template to build my authority on this topic.
Tip #2: Decide How Often You Will Post
Consistency always wins, my friends. So don’t feel you have to publish a certain amount of posts just because you saw someone else doing it. What’s more important is that you pick a rhythm that you can be consistent at.
Your goals for your blog will also impact how frequently you will want to be posting.
If your goal is to use your blog to help improve your SEO as a long-term strategy, for example, you could simply post on your blog once or twice per month. But, on the other hand, if your goal is to grow your business on Pinterest, and you’re using your blog to help you do that, you will actually want to be creating about 3 or 4 new posts a month.
Above all else, though, quality over quantity, my friend.
Tip #3: Always Have a Relevant Call to Action
I probably fall asleep at night muttering this to myself because that’s how often I say this, but please always include a call to action in every single post! I recommend taking the time to design some call to action (CTA) banners for your core offers and lead magnets, so you have them at the ready!
Every single post should funnel into either a freebie or one of your offers so that you can keep visitors on your site as long as possible (and if they do leave, it’s so they can sign up for your email list or freebie!)
Below the banner you include in the post, also include your call to action as a hyperlink, so the visitor has both options for opting into the offer!
Let me show you an example that I designed for my client Lauri:
Tip #4: Include Pins or Other Ways Your Reader Can Share Your Post
If you’re using Pinterest for your business, be sure to also include a couple of Pins at the bottom of each blog post, below a line of text as simple as “Like this post? Share it on Pinterest!” Of course, if you’re not on Pinterest, you can still make it easy for your viewers to share with prompts for them to do so via email or other social media outlets.
Whatever you chose to do, just be sure that you include clear instructions for what you want your reader to do, with simple words like “share now” – it need not be complex, just be direct!
Tip #5: Build Authority With a Strong Internal Linking Strategy
There are two types of links: inbound and outbound (AKA, internal and external), the former being links to content within your website URL, and the latter being links to other websites or resources.
There are benefits to each, again depending on what your goal for your blog is. Generally speaking, internal links are what you want to prioritize more because they’ll keep your visitors on your website. That said, including a couple of external links to your content to cite resources that help you make the argument or point you’re trying to achieve is also important.
Let’s focus on internal linking, though, because that’s more important. Especially if you’re bringing guests to your blog via Pinterest, you’re going to want to make sure that they actually stay on your website. External links take them away from your website, so be sure that when you do include them, you check off for them to ‘open in a new window’ or tab.
A strong internal linking strategy will improve the duration of time that your visitors spend on your website and help you build your authority.
Throughout your blog post, intentionally link to other posts and web pages of yours that will support the piece you’re writing. Of course, you don’t want your post littered with links, but using them intentionally is fabulous.
There are two other easy ways to add more internal linking to your blog posts. The first is to include them as call-outs throughout your post, like below…
Are you enjoying this post about blogging? Then you’ll love this post.
Another simple method is to include relevant articles linked at the bottom of your post that you think the reader would like to check out next, like so:
Tip #6: Write Long-Form Posts
The thing with blogging is that you want to make sure you’re writing long-form content, like this post here. There must be a certain amount of text on your website pages for them to really be meeting the best practices for both SEO and Pinterest.
That said, it’s also important your content is helpful and relevant, so don’t add length just for the sake of it.
Pick topics for your blog that you can readily and easily write about so that it’s easier to craft this long-form content for your business. The best part is you can repurpose it for your social media or email marketing! For example, I could take this long post and turn it into 3-4 helpful value-packed Instagram posts!
Aim for 1200-2500 words in your posts to build authority and help you rank for SEO.
Tip #7: Write About Things You Want to Be Known For
Writing about things you want to be known for is a best practice for your blog. If you have a strong keyword strategy already in place on your website, you likely already know that your blog topics can build upon and beyond those keywords to help you build your authority on those keywords that you’re hoping to rank for with your website.
Tip #8: Research Popular Searches To Get Post Ideas
We want to make sure that we’re blogging about things that our reader really wants to read, so a great habit of getting into is checking out the popular searches on Pinterest.
Simply begin to search, and you will see popular searches begin to auto-populate, which will give you some inspiration and ideas for what is currently trending:
I also recommend you think of the time of year you’re posting in and save your meatier, more high-education pieces for times you know people will be ready for them! Like the beginning of spring or fall. The middle of the summer is not the time for this, as many are out enjoying the nice weather.
So what do you think… you ready to get blogging?
It’s Time To Start Blogging For Your Business!
With my easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing blog template, you can add a blog to your Showit website today. It’s time to build your authority, improve brand recognition, and more by blogging for your business!
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