Blogging is easily one of the biggest marketing trends of the decade. It is well known in the marketing world that there are a variety of benefits blogging creates for business. Just a few of these benefits include:
- Establishment of a business as a thought leader in their industry
- Higher credibility with customers/readers
- Increased brand awareness through a variety of mediums, such as social media
- Increased Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you are wanting to start your own blog to take advantage of some of these benefits, here are a few tips:
Style and Format
One of the first steps to start your own blog is to choose a style and format. Consistency is important when it comes to the display of your blogs because you will be using the same style and format for all future blogs further down the line. It is also important that this display lines up with your overall brand image. If your brand and logo incorporate the colors green and blue, then your blog design should reflect this.
It may sound like a lot at first, but don’t sweat this step too much. The most important thing to consider when you start your own blog is the content, so a simple design that doesn’t distract your readers with too many visuals will do just fine.
Tagging and Links
Be sure to set up a tagging system when you start your own blog. Tags allow readers to quickly find relevant content so a few solid tags relating to your blog topic will go a long way. It can be easy to go tag-crazy if you write about a large variety of topics, but only a few are necessary per blog. Sweeping tags that encompass the basic premise of your blogs will do just fine when it comes to searchability. Remember, tags can always be added if you do feel that you missed something, but tags are difficult to remove because this could affect the tagging on content created prior.
Links within your blogs are also important because they will help direct the reader to other useful content either on your webpage or on another site. For example, if you are reading this blog now and would like to learn more about Millennium Agency or perhaps other useful marketing information, these links will help you easily get through to useful content. Another major benefit of having links on your blogs is that your SEO gets a big boost.
Authorship and Comment Sections
Setting up author profiles and comment sections are an important part of blogging. Author profiles encourage recognition of the author of each blog for their work and help the readers form a more personal connection with each blog. In addition to this, there is an added benefit of increased SEO for blogs with author profiles. These profiles don’t have to be very long or extensively detailed, a few descriptive words and links to personal social media pages work just fine.
Comment sections also allow readers to form a deeper connection to the blogs by posting their reactions. These reactions can be a great source of feedback for future blogs and an opportunity to learn more about your customers. Comment sections are very flexible in how they can be displayed and managed. If you decide to add a comment section on your blogs, you can decide things such as whether you want to screen comments or not, how many comments are allowed, and how many levels of comments there are so that you can address each post individually.
Sharing Options for Social Media
This tip is short and sweet. Social media is one of the most used platforms for sharing news between consumers. In fact, 72% of adult internet users use Facebook. With over one billion active users per day on Facebook alone, that’s a lot of sharing.
Including social media sharing options on your blogs will help exponentially when it comes to brand awareness. By including these links, readers can share with friends and help provide free promotion for your content as well as your overall brand.
Subscribe Options and Calls-To-Action
Including options that encourage consumers to subscribe is extremely beneficial when it comes to creating regular blog readers. This can open the door to email marketing efforts, as well. When a reader decides they would like to subscribe, you can present them with options detailing how often they would like to be notified, as well as what type of promotional emails they would like to receive from you.
The final tip we have to offer when you start your own blog is to include at least one call to action (CTA). CTA’s can be considered any type of writing or blurb at the end of your blog that encourages your reader to either read on or utilize your business’ products or services. Of all the people who read your blogs, it is very likely that a portion of them would be interested in learning more or perhaps doing business with you, which is why it is important to include the option for them to do these things. If you’re not entirely sure about how to create a CTA for your blogs, check out ours below.
Not every business may realize it, but featuring a blogging initiative on their website is extremely beneficial for a variety of reasons. Utilizing these tips and creating powerful, unique, and enticing content will help you design blogs with maximum impact. If a new blogging strategy is something you think would be advantageous for your business, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.
