You’ve heard it before, “You should blog,” “You really need to blog,” “Don’t you have a blog?!” You’re not sure what the purpose of blogging is, but on your commute you’re motivated to write that 600-word story – about how no one stood up for a disabled passenger and the impact of the aloof, disengaged culture we have become.
Your story’s great; well written, delivers an inspired message – to anyone who finds it. But which of your prospective buyers is typing into Google, “What’s the impact of the aloof and disengaged on society?” Not many, I bet. And which part of your service or product offering serves as a solution this problem?
So what’s going on? Your prospects aren’t finding your blogs through search, and while you can still post links to your blog on forums and social media, if the topic isn’t meeting the needs (‘pain points’) of your prospective buyer, they’re unlikely to click-through on it. “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
You’re not blogging for business and if part of your strategy is to increase the number of visitors to your site or increase your lead conversion rate, you’re probably going to be disappointed by the results of this kind of blogging and simply give it up yet! But don’t do that yet! Here are my tips to writing relevant blog posts that will bring you the stats you’re after:
Start with the goal in mind. What ROI do you want from this blog? More visitors? How many? Convert visitors into leads? What percentage?
Determine who you’re writing for. Which prospective buyer are you trying to reach / attract with a new blog? David the division manager? Rita the recruitment manager? Teresa the wonder-mum?These are your “Buyer Personas”: fictional, generalised representations of your ideal customers. If you don’t already know who your Buyer Personas are, stop everything and find out now. What your ideal customer looks like should form the foundation of every marketing initiative you undertake.
Decide what problem you’re solving for your buyer. Refer to your Buyer Persona’s pain points. What problem are they searching answers for? This becomes your topic.
Know your call-to-action(s). Decide what you want your visitors to do once they’ve read your blog. Think about your goal, your Buyer Persona and where they are on their Buyer’s Journey.
Define your keywords and keyword phrases. What words are your buyers using to describe this pain point or to search for answers to the problems your blog solves? These become your blog’s keyword phrases.
Links. What useful links can you add to your blog that will help keep your audience on your website? Can you link content in this blog to your other blogs or landing pages?Are there any external sites of authority that you can also reference and link?
Write your content. Finally, with everything above in mind, it’s time to write your content. This step is placed towards the end of your blogging process and not the beginning. This helps ensure your blog is relevant, resonates with the right audience, and stays on track.
Finalise your title and headlines. You’re likely to have already thought of this; now is the time to perfect it. Keep in mind the problem you’re solving, and how you’re attracting visitors and enticing them to click-through and read your blog.
Select your images. Now that your blog has a clear purpose and a personality, it’s time to give it a face. Select an eye-catching, appealing image to help attract click-throughs.
Proof, upload, publish, market! Get it out!
Rinse and repeat!
To help guide you through the process and keep the steps in the right order, why not use a blog template? An organisational blogging template will also help keep consistency in purpose and performance where you’ve got multiple authors.
