Not so long ago, blogs were channels where teens filled with angst ranted about how cruel the world is to them. Prime example – Mark Zuckerberg and how he compared the girl who dumped her to farm animals. Today, the blogosphere has evolved from a personal space full of nonsensical musings to a platform where people publish content, a tool for experts to give advice, a place where like-minded people discuss and for businesses to reach their audience.
Speaking of business blogging, a lot of brands are in quandary on how they can increase traffic to their site. It’s mainly a question of SEO, but there are a lot of internet marketing variables that come into play as well.
In solving this problem, while there are best practices and guidelines you can follow, it boils down to trying several things and determining which strategies or tactics work. However, to help you jumpstart driving more traffic to your blog, here are five, easy-to-implement suggestions and steps to optimize and promote your blog post.
Perform an Extensive and Comprehensive Audit of Your Content
When people visit your blog or any website for that matter, they are driven by a motivation or intent – whether it’s to get information, search for tips, be entertained or even just looking for something to read just to pass the time. If your blog posts are not aligned with your audience’s expectations, they won’t continue reading your blog, they won’t return to your blog and certainly, they won’t recommend your blog to others.
Make sure that every blog post you publish is well put together, well researched and is something that is relevant and compelling to your prospective readers. Many business owners withhold information because they feel that they are revealing their trade secrets. Here’s the thing. You’re not telling them exactly how you conduct your business. The knowledge you impart will position as an expert in your niche or category. This builds trust and as we all know, trust is a crucial element of conversion.
Consistently Read Blogs and Add Value to the Discussion
Set up a Google Reader or subscribe to the RSS feed of your competitors’ blogs, those of experts in your industry and other publishers that deals with topics related to your business. This will serve as your barometer to gauge what topics are hot and people are interested in.
Also, don’t just read. Participate by leaving useful comments that add value to the conversation. Simply saying “Great post! I love it” will not drive traffic to your blog. By leaving your own perspective on what was discussed on a blog, you are drawing the attention of the readers
Mine Your Blog’s Analytics for Insights
Business blogging is not just about publishing content. Since the stakes are higher and you have business objectives that you need to meet, it is essential that you have the penchant for analytics.
By looking at this empirical data, you will see patterns of what works and what does not. For example, are there certain days in the week where readership is noticeably high? Are there certain content themes (i.e. “How To” articles) that get more favorable response from your audience? Among the many steps to optimize and promote your blog post, examining analytics for insights is often overlooked.
One advantage of using WordPress blog is the extensive and easy to understand analytics. Other content management systems have this feature as well.
Integrate Blogging and Social Media Marketing
Blogging is social media. In fact, it can be considered as one of the earliest forms of social media so it is just fitting that your business blogging efforts should be closely integrated with social media marketing.
When using social networks to promote your blog, be strategic. Don’t just post links to new posts. Give it a structure. For example, as you’re working on a post, you can give you social followers a teaser of what they can expect next. When there’s an upsurge of interest on a topic you previously wrote about due to current events, refresh your social community’s memory that you have indeed wrote about that topic before.
Of course, don’t forget that social media marketing is about relationships and having meaningful conversation with people. Don’t let your followers hanging. Respond to their comments and posts.
Provide Content for Other Blogs in Exchange for Exposure
In other words, do guest blogging. Your blog may not have a strong following yet, but other blogs do and there’s no stopping your from leveraging their strong readership as long as you do it ethically and through quality content. Guest blogging is one of the steps to optimize and promote your blog posts that will only work for those who value high quality content marketing.
Just to reiterate, quality is very important. If you submit poorly written, the web administrators of these blogs will only get annoyed and you might be blacklisted. As an act of basic courtesy, read the blog submission guidelines of this site and make sure you provide content that will add value to their readers.
Blogging is a great tool to engage your audience and build your brand. If you think you’re publishing high quality content on your business blog, it would be a shame not to get the traffic and for people to miss out on reading your content. Start with these simple steps to optimize and promote your blog. You won’t see great results overnight but it’s a good start.