Last month, we explored sources for blog content and time management considerations. This month we'll discuss ways to spread the reach of your blog.
Optimze Your Blog
Optimization is used to grab readers' attention as well as to help improve your ranking in search engines. It needs to serve both people and computer spiders elegantly, and ultimately improve your bottom-line. A blog is much easier to promote when it's been optimized. Be mindful of the balance between readability, searchability and exposure. We use Hubspot's comprehensive software to help us optimize, track and analyze every blog post.
Promotional Approach
- Share your blog across all the main social networks. This should be automatic by now. Include social media sharing buttons encouraging readers to share your content within their networks and expand your overall reach.
- Use compelling images, video or other media in your posts to convey your message and add visual appeal to otherwise straight text.
- Use compelling headlines that grab readers' attention. Keep these tips in mind:
Be simple, clear and direct
Create urgency
Be controversial or sensational
Use numbers or news
Use How-To's... or How Not To's
- Segment you blog well. Blogs are not novelettes. Subheaders, bold text and bullets all function well to direct readers eyes to your important info.
- Make your blog actionable. Whether readers found your blog via an email, social network or search engine, be sure to include strong takeaways and obvious next steps. Use Inbound Marketing techniques, be generous with your calls-to-action. Place them in-text, in sidebars, banners and buttons, and consider specific landing pages designed for converting your users.
- Make your posts entertaining and definitive. Use metaphors, humor or strong word choices to create content that is unique, memorable, sharable and potentially profitable.
- Nurture relationships with influential bloggers in your industry. This creates opportunities to spread across their network as well as potential accumulation of link-building.
- Create events, contests, presentations
or even QR codes (mobile-scannable barcodes) to draw attention and allow people a variety of pathways to easily subscribe to your blog. Combine this with your social endeavors to expand your reach and attract new visitors. - Maximize your email signature. Ideally, your blog will cover a wide range of topics all related to your business' identity. When sending an email, add your blog's link and drive traffic to your valuable resources.
Next month, in the final part of this series, we'll look at ways to measure reults as well some best practices for business blogging.
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