If you've created a company blog, but the results haven't been what you'd hoped for, don't panic. It doesn't mean blogging is a bad strategy. It just means you need to take another look at how to grow your blog traffic. Here are some factors that might be contributing:
The most successful blogs focus on one to three target keywords, or search phrases. Your goal is for people who search for phrases surrounding what you offer to end up on your site, rather than a competitor's. Take some time to research what your ideal customers are looking for. This is somewhere a business growth specialist like JDR can be invaluable, letting your in-house teams get on with their existing tasks. It's also important to use variations of targeted keywords, so as well as "plumber in Manchester" you should also use phrases like "Manchester plumber" or "toilet repairs in Manchester". However, be careful to include keywords organically – i.e. how they would appear in natural speech. Constantly repeating the same keywords not only makes articles boring and tiring to read but also risks Google labelling your site as spam. That's disastrous for your search visibility.
When assessing how to make your blog interesting, it's vital to ensure that using your website is a pleasurable experience. Make your blog articles appealing to look at and easy to skim for information. Break up blocks of text by using subheadings and include internal links to make it easy for readers to find what they're looking for. Use an accessible font and try to avoid colour clashes, such as white text on a black background, that are difficult to read. Adding images can give a blog more visual appeal and immediately convey what the article is about. These things make it more likely your visitors will stay – and convert.
If someone using your website doesn't know where to go next, there's a risk that they'll leave entirely and head elsewhere to find what they want. Take care to ensure that your blogs are written to guide readers, rather than either leaving them directionless or feeling like hard sell. At every stage of their journey you'll want it to be clear how they can take the next step. A great way to assist them is to include straightforward calls to action. These simple, clear enticements to proceed are both welcomed by visitors and extremely successful.
Similarly, you won't get very far if your website's visitors don't have a clear idea of what your brand message is. If you're talking about a product's strength and durability in half your blogs and completely ignoring that aspect elsewhere, you're just going to create confusion. Look at blogs from the world's most successful brands and you'll see that they all know exactly what it is they want to get across. Assess whether your own blogs are doing this. If not, act to make them do so. If your articles are written by more than one writer, ensure they are all on the same page as far as targeting and core messages go.
A key aspect of knowing how to make a business blog successful is knowing how well it's performing. If you produce a good product but it sells poorly, you don't persevere with exactly the same marketing strategy. The same applies to blogs. Carefully track the number of visits, average time on page, social shares, Google rank for various keywords, and so on. Assess what works about your most successful blogs and, conversely, scrutinise less successful posts for ways in which they could be improved. It is likely that some of your articles will become important gateways to your website, drawing in visitors for years to come.
If in doubt about how to proceed with blogging, consulting a digital marketing agency is invaluable and highly cost-effective. Your own employees won't be distracted from their work by writing – which not everyone enjoys – and you'll get insight you'd struggle to achieve in-house. With tracking and analysis on your side, you can quickly determine what works and what doesn't.
Above all, blogging should have the aim of driving more traffic to your website. Creating the right mix of optimised content is paramount in achieving this. At JDR, we can take care of your content creation process and help you boost visibility, sales and profits. Get in touch to find out more.
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