Having a blog is a great way to connect with your audience and keep them updated about new products, news, and other information. But having a blog isn’t enough. You need to work hard to make sure people read it and take action as a result. To do this, you need to think of your blog as more than just an outlet for ideas. It needs to be part of a wider strategy – one that will generate leads for your business rather than just exposure. Here are some blog tips from experts on how you can make it happen:
Make sure your blog is part of your overall marketing strategy
The first of our blog tips is to treat blogging as a form of marketing. So, before you even think about what to write, you should know who your target audience is, how you’ll reach them, and what you want them to do as a result. This will help you to create blog posts that are relevant to the audience you want to reach, and that are likely to resonate with them. Once you know your target market, you can start creating an editorial calendar so you know when to publish each piece of content. This will help you to stay consistent, and will also make sure you don’t fall behind on your content if you have a busy schedule.
Write SEO-friendly blogs
Write blogs using keywords that your target audience search for. Getting these keywords in will make your blog stand out, not just to the audience, but to search engines too. I will help your blog appear higher in search results, bringing more traffic and potential customers to your site. To create a successful SEO-friendly blog, you’ll want to focus on creating accurate, keyword-rich content that your readers find helpful. You can do this by researching the topics that your readers are interested in and then choosing keywords that are likely to be searched by readers. You can also try including relevant links to other blogs or websites that readers might find helpful.
Create a lead magnet for your blog
A lead magnet is a piece of content designed to build your email list. Popular lead magnets include downloadable guides and eBooks. Whatever content you decide to create, make sure it’s something people will find useful. This will make them more likely to add their email address to receive it – and will also make them more likely to buy from you in the future. You can use your content to create a lead magnet in two ways: Offer the content for free on your blog and ask readers to sign up for your email list in exchange for the content. Or, publish the content as a standalone piece on your website and encourage readers to sign up to receive future updates. You can include an offer for something free in exchange for an email address too. For example, you can offer a free monthly newsletter that includes tips on the topic you write about for your blog.
A/B test to find the right content for your audience
Once you’ve started publishing content, you’ll want to make sure it’s resonating with your readers. This will help you to focus your efforts and make the most of your blog. So, find ways to measure your progress. Tools like Google Analytics and Facebook are great for this. They’ll tell you how many people are visiting your blog and where they come from, as well as your average time on site and other useful metrics. Once you’ve gathered this data, analyse it to see what’s working and what isn’t. Then, you can make adjustments to your content to keep readers engaged and coming back for more. For example, if you notice your readers are leaving your page after reading just one paragraph, you may want to try restructuring your sentences or paragraphs to make them easier to follow. You can also try different topics to see what your audience responds to best.
Write guest posts to promote your blog and generate leads
Once you’ve got a blog up and running, you may find other blogs in your niche are interested in publishing your content too. In exchange for publishing your posts on their blog, they may invite you to publish a guest post on your blog in return. This is known as a “reciprocal link” – and it’s not just a one-sided relationship. Your guest post will drive traffic back to your blog, and theirs will drive traffic back to yours. Plus, writing guest posts is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers in your industry – which can help you to build your network and make new connections. When you write a guest post for another blog in your niche, you can include links back to your blog in the body of your content. Make sure you include a note at the top of your post to let the host know you’ve done this so they can include the link in their post too.
At Servon, we have written guest posts in the past for a couple of our strategic partners, Arthur Online and Property Hive. And we have generated leads from them! Both have great blogs that have a lot of readers. By writing for them, we got a noticeable amount of traffic to our site, which resulted in more leads. As an added benefit, we also improved our writing and received a lot more traffic to our blog as well. Read some of our external blogs here:
How Property Managers can easily capture more leads: What marketing channels should you use?
How To Effectively Brand For Estate agents
Don’t forget email marketing
Once you’ve started to get regular readers and subscribers on your email list, you’ll want to make sure you’re not letting them go. When you sign up to your email list, make sure you keep readers engaged by giving them regular updates and tips related to your blog. From time to time, you should also run a campaign designed to encourage your regular readers to take a specific action. For example, you could offer a discount code to your mailing list first. Or, you could ask your readers to complete a survey to let you know how you can improve your blog. And remember, the blog tips above will help you create a blog that’s engaging for readers – but they’ll also help you to attract new leads to your business. So, make sure you stay consistent, and continue to update your blog to keep readers engaged.
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