In today’s highly competitive marketplace, writing strong, compelling blogs that attract potential customers to your website is not merely important to your business, it is absolutely critical.

Here are a few of the reasons why blogging matters:

• Blogs telegraph that you have the best solutions for what people in your market are looking for.
• Blogs keep your website content fresh without your having to constantly add pages.
• Every post you write gets published as its own, individual, indexed page on your website. The more indexed pages you have, the more opportunities you have to get found online.
• Blogs attract more visits to your website, not just random clicks but qualified traffic — consumers with specific questions or problems that your business can solve.
• Blogging allows you to offer ways for interested searchers to learn more, such as watching a webinar, downloading a white paper or requesting an e-book. All of these help you convert leads into prospects, and prospects into customers.
• Blogging enables you to forge 1:1 relationships with your customers, demonstrating that your interest in them goes beyond merely selling them something.
• Most importantly, blogging has a direct impact on your search engine ranking. By creating targeted blogs that demonstrate your knowledge about a certain subject, you establish yourself as an authority in that category — something that search engines like Google pick up on and use to calibrate your ranking.

The proof is in the data

If you’ve read my blogs, you may have sensed by now that I’m a bit of a data junkie. That said, here are some great statistics about the effects of blogging on a company’s bottom line:

• 79% of marketers with a company blog reported inbound ROI for 2013
• 43%  of companies have acquired a customer through their blog
• Even in 2010, there were 152,000,000 blogs on the Internet
• 46% of people read blogs more than once a day
• Most people read 5-10 blogs
• 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes
• Companies that blogs have 55% more website visitors
• B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those who do not
• B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not

10 things to keep in mind when writing blogs

Great blogs, like a powerful magnet, will draw people to your site and your solutions. Here are some pointers for you to follow each time you compose a new blog post:

1. Keep your buyer persona in mind.

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional picture of your desired customer(s). When writing blogs, imagine what that persona is searching for. If you help solve their problem, they’ll come back to you again and again.

2. Blog consistently and frequently.

Some blog experts advise blogging multiple times a day, others say 2-3 times a week. It all depends on the benchmarks you’ve set and the manpower you have available. And don’t forget, writing blogs is just the first step.  After you post them, you need to follow up with social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr and whatever other options you choose to utilize.

3. Pay attention to formatting and imagery.

People are visual. They respond to blogs (and websites) that look appealing, are inviting, are easy to read, and that convey relevant information they can use. Break up your thoughts with explanatory subheads, use bullets rather than run-on copy, make liberal use of white space (easier on the eye than a page crammed with too much content), and definitely put in pictures (insist on high-quality), both for visual interest and to illustrate what you’re talking about.

4. Address one topic per blog post.

If you find you’re writing about something else than the topic you started with, it’s time to break up your post into two or more blogs. Stay focused!

5. Use keyword research to help determine your topic.

Focus on keywords that are associated with your industry or niche and that reflect what your target audience is searching for. Also, optimize your blogs for the keywords you want to rank for. 

6. Focus on the visitor.

You’re writing for your ideal buyer, not the search engines. Yet, you must write so that those search engines will find your blog.

7. Don’t forget about SEO.

Here are some “must do’s” to keep in mind:

• Keywords in the title (55 characters)
• Meta description (140 characters)
• Image file name and Alt tags
• Links and anchor text
• Focus on mobile optimization

8. Write compelling blog titles.

Your blog title needs to pique readers’ interest and get you noticed. Therefore, the subject of your blog and its value to a reader should be evident in the title.

9. Include links and Calls-to-Action (CTAs).

Since blogs have huge lead generation potential (and you never want to miss out on a lead conversion opportunity), always add a Call-to-Action to the bottom of every post (such as: “Contact Me,” “Want to Know More?” or “Download My White Paper on Inbound Marketing”).

10. Mix it up to keep it fresh.

Any hot topics or new developments in your industry? Are there customers’ questions you can answer? For a different voice and viewpoint, invite guest bloggers to post on your site.

To learn more about writing great blogs, download our white paper

In our white paper “How Do You Write Great Blogs And Why Should You?” we take you step-by-step through 10 best practices for writing compelling blogs, ones that will propel your company and your solutions to rise to the top of search engines so that potential customers choose you. Download by clicking the link below.

Could your business use a boost?

At SAMC, we help organizations change, grow and thrive amidst today’s changing times. Without a doubt, blogging is very important component of this. If learning new strategies for robust, results-driven blogging might be of interest to you, we would like to offer you a free consultation. Please contact us!