If you’re a newcomer to the world of business blogging, you may have found yourself wandering the cyber-sphere, looking for tips and tricks that will make your blog shine and attract the right kind of audience. And there are a lot of tips out there; depending on the article, you could find yourself scrolling through 10, 20, or 50 amazing MUST READ TIPS for your blog!
To cut through all the noise out there, mConnexions has distilled those hundreds of tips into the top three things you need to know to jump-start your business blog and set your business up for success:
1. Know When To Post
Knowing when and how often to post to your blog is the first step to success. Too few posts, and your blog will disappear from view; too many posts, and you risk overwhelming your readers and slipping into lackluster content. At least one post per week will help keep your blog alive, but for some businesses, that may not be often enough.
The right posting frequency can also be dependent on the size of your business. This great infographic from Hubspot shows how the traffic to your website can increase drastically the more frequently your post, depending on the size of your company:
For a sense of how often to post, look at what other successful businesses in your industry are doing. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, and the right frequency will depend on your industry, the size of your company, and how often you can create high-quality content. Regardless of how often you choose to post, remember to remain as consistent as possible. If you post a blog every day for a week, and then don’t post for two weeks, you risk losing the valuable attention of your readers (i.e., future potential clients).
While posting frequency isn’t an exact science, the day and time you hit the publish button can be! Coschedule.com shared this valuable research into the best times and days to publish your blog:
- The highest percentage of users read blogs in the morning
- The average blog gets the most comments on Saturday
- A higher percentage of men read blogs in the evening and at night
- The average blog gets the most traffic around 11am Eastern Time
- Mondays provide the most traffic for the average blog
- The average blog gets the most inbound links on Monday and Thursday
- The average blog gets the most inbound links at 7am Eastern Time
We’ve already mentioned that once you’ve decided how often to post and when to publish, it’s important to remain consistent. Luckily, tip #2 below is designed to help a busy business do just that.
2. Create a Content Calendar
When you get right down to it, the most challenging part of creating a regularly updated blog is often just knowing what to post! Coming up with an interesting, informative, and relevant topic can be stressful, especially when staring at a blank page with a deadline looming ahead. That’s just one reason we suggest creating a content calendar ahead of time; the other is to help you maintain a consistent scheduling of posting. Your content calendar can be done for a week or a month at a time – whatever fits your rhythm best.
Once you’ve decided how frequently to post, take some time at the start of the week or month to come up with a topic for each upcoming post. This can be advertising for an upcoming event, commenting on a recent piece of news or industry-relevant change, or establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry by creating unique and original content of your own. Creating a content calendar will also help you evaluate whether or not you have a good balance of posts. This balance should include educational posts, promotional posts, and outside links. A good mix of content types will keep your blog from becoming stale or predictable.
Once you’ve chosen a topic, put in your content calendar, along with links or graphics you may want to reference. When you sit down to blog, you’ll have a topic and the necessary resources to create a traffic-driving, conversion-creating post.
And while crafting that perfect post, keep in mind tip #3…..
3. Remember Your Mission
The last key step to successful business blogging is simple: remember your mission. Keep in mind your brand, your business, your services, and most importantly: your clients. Each blog should be written with your target audience in mind, both current and prospective clients. Reliable messaging will help prospective clients get to know you and will reinforce the relationships with your current clients.
Keeping your mission in mind will also ensure that your content stays fresh. You would never provide low-quality service to your clients, so make sure you provide high-quality content that will resonate with your target audience and reflect well on your position in the industry. Producing interesting, informative, and relevant content surrounding your specific services and targeting the right audience is the number one sign of a successful business blog.
Still wondering if you have the tools to make your blog a success? Love these ideas but don’t have enough time in the day to get your blog up and running? The Content Marketing team at mConnexions is here to help. Contact us today to find out how we can grow your reach and help your blog stand out from the crowd.