Your business blog is the lifeblood of your company’s website. It attracts new visitors and keeps them coming back for more. Your blog is an opportunity to build your brand, showcase your authority and credentials in the industry, and promote your products and services (without sounding too salesy). If you’ve let your blog gather dust this past year while you were focused on other matters, it’s time to pick up the reins again. The strategic goals below can help you make 2019 a more prosperous year for your business.
Brush up on the latest SEO recommendations.
A business blog is a great opportunity to improve your website’s search engine ranking. The better your ranking is, the more visitors your website will receive because your website will be more visible in search engine results pages (SERPs). Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the practices and techniques content creators use to write search engine-friendly copy.
Periodically, Google updates its search algorithm, which means that SEO best practices also change. In recent years, savvy website owners have abandoned questionable practices such as keyword stuffing, which involves literally stuffing keywords into the content in ways that aren’t natural or logical. The trend toward the natural, organic incorporation of keywords is only one of the ways that SEO is changing. Here’s a quick look at SEO trends and recommendations for 2019:
- Focus on quality content, not filler content.
- Build your brand by creating content people want to share.
- Improve the user interface and user experience (UI/UX) of your website.
- Optimize your website for mobile use.
- Optimize your content for voice searches.
- Capitalize on unlinked brand mentions (Google recognizes brands as authorities when they are mentioned frequently in various places online, whether or not the mention includes a backlink).
Get organized with an editorial calendar.
Beyond brushing up on the latest in SEO for 2019, another resolution to consider making is to get your blog organized with an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a schedule of all of the blogs you’re going to post in the weeks and months ahead. Every three months, you should create a calendar of content for the next three months.
Your editorial calendar should be informed by previous posts (try not to duplicate content), and it should contain a balanced mix of evergreen and seasonal content. Evergreen content never goes out of style, whereas seasonal content has a limited shelf life. Both are useful for your readers.
Improve your usage of geo keywords.
A third New Year’s blogging resolution to make is to improve the way your blog uses geographical keywords. A geo keyword defines the areas your business serves. Let’s say you own a carpet store in Detroit, Michigan. Your geo keywords might be “new carpets Detroit” or buy carpet Detroit.” But working in geographical areas by using these key phrases verbatim isn’t natural or organic. Instead, your blog should incorporate them as subtly as possible. The call to action at the end of each blog is an ideal place to add a geo keyword. You might write, “To buy top-quality carpets in Detroit, contact XYZ carpet store today!”
Add interactive elements to your blog.
A business blog is an opportunity to interact with customers, but many business owners don’t take advantage of it. This year, resolve to make your blog more interactive and engaging to your customers. For example, let’s say you own a clothing store. You could invite your readers to submit their fashion-related questions. Explain that you’ll choose one question per week to write a blog about.
Use your blog to build an email list.
Email lists are vital for businesses. They are databases of email subscribers who are interested in receiving updates and promotional offers from your company. These days, Web users are very cautious about submitting their email addresses. In order to grow your email list, you need to offer something of value.
Use your company blog to position your brand as an authority in your industry. From there, you can offer visitors insider tips and information by subscribing to your email list. Your email subscribers can also receive special discounts and other promotional offers, and invitations to upcoming events. A robust email list starts with a robust company blog that offers useful, actionable, and perhaps entertaining information.
Use your blog to promote long-form content.
In the digital era, modern businesses understand the undeniable benefits of blogging as a form of marketing. But too few take the next step of offering long-form content to their readers. If your company doesn’t yet have an eBook or video course, or doesn’t use its blog to promote those products, then 2019 is the year to make it happen.
Long-form content is an opportunity to reinforce your company’s brand as an industry authority and thought leader. It offers solid value to your readers, while subtly integrating indirect and direct sales pitches. Let’s say you own a gardening supply store in upstate New York. You could create an eBook on plants, shrubs, and trees that grow well in your agricultural zone, along with useful tips for planting and caring for them. In the eBook, you’ll include mentions to products you sell that can help your customers grow healthy plants. Once your eBook is ready for publication, you can create a series of blog posts intended to promote your eBook, such as a post on plant varieties that kids love to grow.
Remember to promote your posts!
If you’ve been posting high-quality content using SEO best practices, but your website still isn’t getting the level of traffic you want, then the problem might be a lack of social media promotion. This year, resolve to consistently promote your posts on your business’ social media accounts. At the very least, every company should have its own Twitter account and Facebook page. Share your blog posts on your social media accounts. You just might find that your content goes viral and brings in thousands of new visitors to your blog.
If you don’t have time to create editorial calendars, research the latest SEO practices, or write, publish, and promote your blogs, let the digital marketing experts at Pennington Creative handle it for you. We are your one-stop shop for better business marketing, offering everything from custom graphics and blog posts to eBooks and video scripts. Get in touch today and get ready for a more prosperous tomorrow!
