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It might surprise you that businesses that blog could see a 13 times return on investment (ROI). Launching a blog and putting one post up won't get these results. Instead, you have to blog well and blog consistently.
Businesses with blogs receive up to 55% more traffic than companies without blogs. A blog allows you to have another platform to connect and engage with your audience, helps you become an authority in your industry, and increases your brand's awareness.
A blog usually is a manageable add-on to your existing website, so creating one is worth the effort. As a small business owner, you can launch an influential blog in just a few weeks. If you need help figuring out where to start, here are ten helpful tips for launching a new company blog.
1. Start with a library of posts
An essential part of e-commerce is the user experience, which involves how customers interact with your website and brand online. When a visitor lands on parts of your page that seem empty or broken, it can create an unpleasant online experience and break their trust in your brand.
For this reason, please don't start a blog with just one blog post. Your website's blog section will look underwhelming if you add more content in a few weeks. Additionally, you don't want to take time and effort to promote your blog only to have people come and look at one post.
A bright tip is to have a library of posts ready before you launch your blog. When you're ready to go live, please upload a handful of blog posts as soon as possible. As you promote the new blog, those who visit it will be more likely to stay on your site longer as they look through several posts.
2. Post consistently
If you want your blog to succeed, you need to upload new content consistently. Could you set a cadence for yourself and stick to it? As your blog develops a following, your readers will come to know when to expect new posts and will look forward to your latest content.
Take the planning one step further by creating a content calendar. This schedule could include how often you want to post when you publish new posts, future blog topics, and overarching themes for your blog.
Try to get ahead of your content calendar. You never know when daily operations will take you away from your writing. Once you have created your calendar, could you make sure you're a few weeks ahead on blog posts? Have all your posts scheduled to go live on specific dates, so if you need to take a week off from writing, it will be good for your upload cadence.
3. Provide valuable content to your readers
To have a successful blog, it will need to provide value or entertainment to your readers. People will only subscribe and come back to the blog if they enjoy what they're reading. Whenever you consider a new blog topic, ask yourself if you want to know more about this subject.
4. Allow your employees to contribute
Also, please don't assume that you're the only person who can contribute to your company blog. Could you ask your employees if they are interested in writing a blog post? Allowing your team to write for your company blog takes some of the pressure off of you and offers a fresh perspective to your blog. Your employee will also likely share their work, connecting your blog with a potential new audience.
BBB Pro tip: When you go this route, please make it clear to your employee that you have final editing rights to proofread the material and make sure it's in line with your brand's voice.
5. Partner with other local bloggers
More than likely, you have some local bloggers who would love to gain more exposure. You can pitch other bloggers to guest write on your site in exchange for you linking to their content. Working with other bloggers is a mutually beneficial partnership that adds a fun change-up to your blog.
6. Utilize user-generated content
User-generated content is any content that a customer creates and posts online about your brand. This content is particularly great for a few reasons, including:
- It's free.
- It helps you engage with your customers.
- It's a third party that is essentially promoting you.
- It's an effective marketing strategy: websites that included user-generated content could see a 20% increase in return visitors.
Consider repurposing user-generated content on your blog. Collect photos customers put on your social media platforms and create a blog post using this content. You could have a monthly post where you showcase your favorite photos of customers using your product. Additionally, you could write a blog post about your favorite customer reviews of all time. Easily repurpose this content for your blog by getting a little creative.
7. Repost your blogs
When a new blog goes live, you must share it across all of your company's social media accounts. Sharing your recent posts will help your blog get more subscribers and increase traffic to your site. As a small business owner, consider also posting the blog on your social accounts.
8. Make it easy to subscribe
Inviting your readers to subscribe may seem like an obvious tip, but it's surprising how many blogs make it challenging to subscribe! Always put a "subscribe to the blog" button in a prominent place on every blog post.
9. Do your SEO research
Your blog will see more traffic if you conduct Search Engine Optimization (SEO) research. Keyword research will help you identify the topics your audience is searching for and ensure that your blog is valuable to your readers.
Also, could you consider SEO when you're finalizing the length of your blog? According to HubSpot, a blog post should ideally be between 2,100-2,400 words (in 2021) for SEO purposes.
SEO doesn't have to control every decision you make about your blog, but good SEO practices can help your blog rank higher on search engines.
10. Don't forget to link to your products
Lastly, remember to link to your products or services occasionally. Your blog post is another avenue for sales, so use this platform to discuss new products or services, promotions, and more.
Moving forward
Creating and maintaining a blog for your business can seem overwhelming if you haven't done it before. However, with some planning and a consistent schedule, you can create a blog to help you connect to your customers and provide value.
Another way to build trust with your customers is through BBB Accreditation. Visit BBB.org/get-accredited to learn more about BBB Accreditation and how it can help your business.
BBB of Southern Piedmont and Western N.C. contributed this article.