Blogging can do wonders for your business, no matter what industry you are in, but only if done right.
It can’t be denied that this sounds just like any other corny phrase, but don’t roll your eyes just yet before you hear some hard evidence. Companies that run a blog have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t.
Furthermore, a study has shown that if the number of Google indexed pages increases by 50-100, a company can experience double-digit lead growth.
Awesome, right?
Before you think about giving up, let’s take a look at these effective strategies that can help you draw more attention to your blog and potentially convert more.
Table of Contents:
- SEO is the way to go
- The importance of UX
- Optimize for mobile
- Leverage social media
- Respect your audience
SEO is the way to go
Search engine optimization is intrinsically connected with content marketing. Let’s say that you have produced some really great and useful content that could help your target audience solve some of their burning issues.
But, since there are so many blog posts, it will be very hard, if not impossible, for searchers to find your piece of writing in the sea of content on the internet.
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Instead of waiting for your target audience to accidentally stumble upon your blog and discover its value, start by enriching your content with relevant keywords, that is, the words and phrases that people use when performing search queries.
The first step is to identify the keywords that the members of your target audience use when they’re trying to find the content they’re interested in. Your competitors can be a goldmine of information about relevant keywords, but make sure to use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Keyword Explorer too.
Of course, this strategy is much more than just keywords and it includes link building and dealing with various Google’s ranking factors, which is why you need an SEO specialist or agency. Also, bear in mind that this is a time-consuming process, so don’t expect overnight results, but once it picks up steam, your rankings will go up.
The importance of UX
After you’ve optimized your content for search engines, it’s time to optimize user experience. When visitors come to your website or blog, you need to impress them if you want them to stick around and come back again.
Several factors affect user experience, and having well-organized pages that can be navigated easily will definitely improve their dwell time.
The whole point of a blog design is to make content accessible, but don’t forget that visual appeal counts too.
A Harvard study has shown that visitors perceive aesthetically pleasing websites as trustworthy and usable. That’s why taking advice from a reliable graphic design studio about branding and UXD is a smart idea.
Optimize for mobile
Although mobile-first indexing hasn’t yet been implemented, it’s better to get ready for it in advance. Otherwise, the lack of a mobile-friendly version of your website will negatively impact your rankings.
Taking into consideration the fact that global mobile traffic data will increase sevenfold by 2021, it’s only logical that you should enable your visitors to properly access your blog via their mobile devices.
Mobile optimization has become a competitive advantage, and internet users nowadays have high expectations. If your visitors try to read your blog on their mobile devices and it’s not properly displayed, they’re very likely to bounce and find what they’re looking for somewhere else.
Some of the best practices when it comes to mobile optimization include not using flash and pop-ups, as well as solving the fat finger problem.
Leverage social media
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Google+ can be excellent vehicles for expanding your reach and promoting your content.
A strong social media presence will drive tons of traffic to your blog, but you need to pick the right channel for your industry. LinkedIn is a great place for sharing your blog posts on B2B topics, while Facebook and Twitter work for almost any industry.
If the content you create is valuable to your followers, you can be sure that they will like and share it, which will exponentially increase your readership.
But that’s not all.
Google perceives all these likes and shares as a signal that your content is relevant and of high quality, which means that your rankings will be positively affected despite the fact that social media activity isn’t a ranking factor.
Respect your audience
If you want your blog to become popular, you need to interact and communicate with your readers on a regular basis.
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This means that you should respond to their questions and comments in a timely manner. Such an approach will show that you respect your audience and that you care about their opinion, not to mention that a constructive discussion below a blog post indicates that the content is compelling and engaging.
Sometimes you’ll get negative feedback, but that’s not a bad thing at all. You will find out what your readers like and dislike, which will help you improve the quality of your content.
Similarly, when you get a lot of positive feedback on a blog post, do a follow-up piece to elaborate on the topic and discuss it in more detail.
These tactics will help you boost your blog and increase its visibility.
