Do you need a blog? Many marketers will say absolutely. If you’re not sure investing in one will pay off, take a look and see what a blog can do for your organization…
Do you KNOW THINGS that will help your target audience?
Your target audience is looking for answers to their questions and problems. Can you help them? If you have things to teach them, a great way is through a blog.
Be generous with your know-how, and you’ll grow an appreciative and loyal audience. It’s a super way to become known as an industry authority.
Does your target audience SEARCH for information online?
Are your prospects and customers going online to ask questions and look for answers?
Google isn’t just the name of a business anymore—it’s a verb. “Google it!” has become the way we find information now.
Do you want your target market to get their answers from you or your competitors?
Do you want your readers to TRUST you and LIKE you?
Sharing helpful information on your website through a blog inspires trust and likability with your visitors. If you allow comments on your posts, invite people to share and be engaged with them.
People want to do business with those they trust and like.
Do you have COMPETITORS? Do you want to STAND OUT?
Be the blaze orange in a sea of camouflage. If your competitors don’t have a blog, you can stand out by having a great one. If they do, can yours be better? What can you do different? What makes you you?
Do you want GOOGLE to find you?
500 pages of blog posts gives the search engine spiders a lot more content to crawl than 10 core company pages. Give those engines something to find!
It won’t happen overnight, but over time your posts will become a library full of value. This is the very best way to get the SEO traffic you’re looking for.
Do you want OTHER SITES to link to you?
Links coming to your site from other good websites is great for SEO, too. But they have to have something to link to. Valuable content is that something.
And, while you’re at it, link to other sites when they’ve got share-worthy content. You’ll be doing both them and your readers a favor.
Do you want MATERIAL for your SOCIAL MEDIA platforms?
Are you on Facebook? Link to your latest blog post. Twitter? Tweet the best 2-3 lines. LinkedIn? Share your post with your connections. You get the idea.
SO…will a blog help you attract and keep customers?
What do you think?
In summary, an EFFECTIVE BLOG is…
- Relevant, helpful content
- Aimed at your target audience
- From your angle
- Added regularly—2-4+ times each month
- Over the long haul
The BIGGEST CHALLENGE of an effective blog
The biggest challenge of an effective blog is creating your editorial calendar and then sticking with it. Posting sporadically won’t give you results. Posting regularly—along with a few other strategies—will.