Breathing life into the blog…

Is your content a little bit tired? If you are churning out repetitive blogs that peddle a hard sell, stop and give it some thought. The rule still applies – and never more so as digital platforms and social are fast growing – content is king and only the freshest and most engaging has the credibility to rule when it comes to SEO.

We are all guilty of hoovering up content as we jump from site to site. Information at our fingertips puts the consumer firmly on top and Google acknowledges and rewards good content with higher placing. As the saying goes, cream rises.

We’ve picked this as our final resolution as it’s possibly the easiest one to do. It just requires a little effort and the trick is not to let that effort trail off. Start by planning a blog schedule. Like with any communication, your blogs should be regular, regardless of whether you’re posting one or two a week or one a month (not that we’d recommend the latter !). If you can’t maintain two blogs a week, stick to one but make it good. One engaging blog is preferable to two boring ones.

Improving the content of these twice-weekly missives may seem a chore after the first few weeks hence why it’s best to plan ahead.  At the planning stage, get a few team members involved to generate some fresh ideas. These colleagues may baulk at writing a blog and that is fine. They don’t have to write them but their input is still a valuable resource as we all experience different influencers and this will bring some colour to the mix.

Establish a wide mix of content. Talk about the company and your own news by all means but mix this in with regular comments on newsworthy topics or relevant and helpful advice connected to the goods and services that you’re selling. As well as engaging your customers, your blog has the power to position you as an industry expert. If you offer good advice, visitors are likely to return to your website regardless of whether they are shopping for what you have to offer or not. You become more relevant and they want to hear more from you.

Don’t be afraid to try something new. Newsjacking is becoming an increasingly popular option for the bold. It’s basically a form of piggybacking on breaking news rather than commenting on the news that’s occurred that week. 

You’re pretty much inserting yourself into the news story. For instance, if you are a financial services company and you hear that a celebrity has gone bankrupt, you can publicly offer that celebrity a free one-to-one advisory service and blog about the same. You are injecting your ideas into the story and owning it to get more hits on your website. You’re also ticking the topical box. The quicker you get to it, the more topical it will be.

Also, consider uploading video or audio content. This always proves popular as it gives some variety and is an immediate form of engagement. It’s good for entertaining the visitors and, again, it helps improve SEO ranking.

Finally, reference your sources and provide links to give your visitors easy points of access.  Your blog should be a portal of entertainment and information. You can make it come alive.

For more tips on improving your blog content, drop us a line or give us a call on 0161 870 8194.