Blogging is one of the most popular content marketing tools you’ll find in a well-rounded digital marketing strategy, and it’s not hard to see why. Consumers – both private individuals and businesses – love using the internet for research, and blogging is the easiest way to get detailed, interesting, and engaging information about your products and services out there. With that in mind, let’s jump into the basics of blogging for content marketing purposes.
Is Blogging Worth it?
Let’s start with getting a clear idea of why blogging is so important for marketing your business – and that means looking at results. After all, blogging is fairly time-consuming, requiring research and a good grasp of grammar, technical language and your brand, so it’s important that this hard work plays off.
So, let’s start with digital marketing experts. Content marketing professionals who produce all different types of content for digital marketing consistently rank blogging as essential, with 80% of them committed to producing blogs as a means to hit overall marketing goals – more important than infographics or even emails. This is because blogging really pays off for their clients, who receive twice as much traffic from blogs than emails.
One of the main areas where blogging has an impact is SEO, with websites that have active, quality blogs receiving 434% more indexed pages than those without. 72% of content marketing experts say it’s their most effective SEO tool. Clearly, if you want Google to notice your business, you need a blog!
Blogs are also a great way to engage with your target audience and show them how different products and solutions can solve certain challenges, enhance processes, or enrich their life. Honest, high-quality blog content can teach readers skills (how-to posts), educate them on things they may not know about your product (informational posts), thank them for their loyalty (appreciation posts) and show how your business supports your community (local support posts).
When we want to learn how to make a particular meal, change a washer in a tap, eat healthier, treat a twisted ankle or dress for a certain theme, we turn to the Internet. And that’s why it’s important that your restaurant, plumbing company, nutritionist practice, physio practice or events company is there to help. Through blogs, you’ll build a relationship with clients, create a sense of trust and authority, and keep your brand front and centre.
How To Blog – Some Essential Guidelines
You can blog about anything, any way you like – but if you want to optimise your blogs for digital marketing purposes, here are some guidelines.
- Keywords – As with your website content, keywords in your blog will help your audience find you. You can then link these keywords to relevant pages on your website. Remember to write them in naturally and repeat key phrases a couple of times to support your SEO efforts.
- Blog titles – Try to keep your blog titles short and snappy, and include a keyword you want to rank for if you can. Titles with 6-13 words attract the most traffic, and people love how-to content that teaches new skills.
- Content – When it comes to content, quality is very important. Don’t plagiarise, and remember to credit your sources wherever you can. Use a link to this source, as this can help your SEO and provides good will for theirs. Write clearly in concise language, like you are having a conversation. Focus on adding value and answering your audience’s need rather than pushing sales copy or a product. Create content for different audiences, seasons and events, aligning it with your offering. If you want to check your blog post before you upload it, running it through Grammarly will help you catch any small errors.
- Blog length – There’s no magic number that determines a perfect blog length, but there are some good general rules to follow. Stick to 300-500 words for shorter blogs on more limited content topics, but make sure you mix it up with blogs that are closer to 1000 words for richer topics. On the Internet, we all have very little patience and focus, but blogs of around these lengths perform well with both consumers and in terms of SEO, with blogs of 1000 words or longer being shared and linked to the most frequently and top-ranked Google content measuring about 1,140-1,285 words. If in doubt, don’t pad your content – quality always counts more than quantity!
- Blog format – It’s important that your blog is readable, and is viewable on all devices. Rather than having a wall of text, break it up with infographics, secondary headings, images, lists, bullet points and other items that add variety and make it easier on the eye. Use a readable font and stick to it, keep your text size reasonable (keeping in mind that some people may view it on a smartphone or small screen), and make sure your background colour isn’t too intrusive, bright or similar to your text colour.
- Updating blogs – If your business has blog content that’s a few years old or more, don’t delete it or ignore it – update it (unless you are no longer offering that product or service). Google’s algorithm is updated regularly and the chances are that these blog posts aren’t in line with modern SEO best practices. With a quick touch-up, they can be updated and set to work helping your website rank.
Need Help? Our Content Marketing Team Can Build You a Blog!
At Digital Freak, we’re passionate about creating high-quality, original content that showcases what your brand has to offer. Our team of content marketing specialists works hard to understand each company they work for, their audience and their needs, in order to deliver blogs that connect and engage with your audience. Chat to us today about building a blog for your brand and getting your voice out there. You can even check out our very own blog for great tips and expert digital marketing insights!
I take a spark and turn it into a fireworks show! From internal client communications to LinkedIn authority articles, social media, and blogs, I write it all. My aim is to represent clients authentically with high-quality content that Google loves. I’ll show consumers why you’re the business they want to work with, buy from, and follow for life!
