There are approximately
Most bloggers stick to the same basic blog strategies and hope their title, topic and
That is perhaps why a significant amount of business blogs fail within the first 90 days. Those that don’t outright fail may continue with inconsistent updates and marginal results at best. Yet, with the right attitude, these businesses could have a great online profile and be seen as an expert in their industry.
There are a number of reasons why having a successful blog is important:
- Businesses that post 15 or more posts per month generate five times the traffic than businesses that don’t blog at all.
- 81% of US customers trust the information on blogs while 61% of US customers have made a purchase because of information they found on a blog.
- 70% of customers learn about a business through their blog rather than advertisements.
Blogging statistics give strong evidence why more funds and time need to be placed into generating content and marketing the blog. However, as previously stated, you need to generate at least one, if not a set of blog strategies, to differentiate you from your competitors. Here are five unique blog strategies you can use to make your brand’s presence known.
# 1. Differentiate Authors
62.96% of readers feel that more than one author on a blog gives it more creditability. You can easily manage this in several ways. The first is to have different members of your team create content. Sharing the responsibility makes the task of creating content easier for your brand.
Each staff writer is likely to have their own topic and strategy. With this, you need to ensure the multiple blog strategies don’t conflict and can compliment each other.
Another method is to encourage guest authors to your blog. This can be a powerful marketing tool if you attract the right authors. By offering an industry star the chance to post on your blog, you are likely to have their fans read what they have written on your site. The guest blogger will also promote their work on your site, offering you further marketing penetration.
It is also good for your brand’s credentials. An industry expert posting on your blog demonstrates your brand is up to date with the latest trends. In addition, there may be a small
# 2. Interview Your Staff
There is nothing more appealing to readers than a personal story. Interviewing your employees is one way to cater for this. There are numerous angles you could cover in an interview, including:
- How they entered the industry.
- What changes, during their career, they have seen in the industry.
- What areas they see customers struggling with.
- How to solve common problems customers have.
As long as you keep the information valuable, you could create great content that will appeal to your target audience. It is also one of the least used blog strategies as few businesses think to cover the rich personal stories that are easily accessible in their own offices.
# 3. Case Studies
Not every business can do this, however showing evidence how your customers, or others in the industry, have solved common problems provides valuable content. This is one of the best blog strategies to demonstrate you have the knowledge, skills and connections to solve issues your target audience is experiencing. At the same time, this style of content is easier to match to typical search criteria your target audience will use. This will give you a better chance of being found in search engine results.
Again, a case study also appeals to many audiences because it is like a real-life drama. Humans are attracted to these far more than theoretical studies and if your case studies involve a well known brand, it will increase the likelihood your content will be shared.
Examples of this stratey working can easily be found. For instance, if you search for “Social Media Failure” you’ll find a host of blog posts about companies who have failed in their social media activities and only one talking generally about why campaigns might fail.
# 4. Post About An Event
Most businessess attend events for networking purposes. Those who do often rely on Twitter or Facebook to share their thoughts of the event. Rarely do attendees create blog content at a later date. However, these events could be a goldmine of content. The lifespan of a Tweet is about 10-20 minutes. Sometimes you can extend it by having people re-tweet it. Facebook updates have a longer lifespan but it is harder to extend their reach.
A blog post on the other hand has the best of both worlds. You can post your content online and it will last as long as you have it on your site. At the same time you have the significant exposure for the content. Not only do you benefit from the followers of a particular social media network (when you advertise) but you’ll also have the benefit of search engines.
With over a third of sites receiving 80% or more of their traffic from search engines, increasing your chances to be found is imperative. Consider some of these topics on your blog when you have attended an event.
- Your response to a keynote speech.
- Giving a summary of a talk you attended.
- Lessons you learnt from attending the conference.
# 5. Create A Post About Something Else
A major challenge for businesses is understanding what their target audience is looking for. This often leads to many blog strategies having a very narrow range of topics. However, customers do not have just one interest; they like to read articles on a number of different topics.
For example, a reader interested in parenting tips might also be interested in food, days out, cheap nights out with their other half, etc. If you aren’t providing this content you are only going to attract them when they are looking to solve a parenting problem. If you switch focus from time to time and post about something else which will still appeal to them, they will come to you for advice more often.
You don’t need to write this content yourself. You could form strategic partnerships with complimentary products / services and post content on each other’s blogs. The back links will help with
The problem with a strategic partnership is that you are having to deal with multiple blog strategies. Some of these might not be compatible with your brand’s.
The Final Word On Blog Strategies
Your blog is one of the best marketing platforms you have. To make the most of the opportunity you have to embrace unique blog strategies to demonstrate you are a thought leader in your industry and understand your target audience. Use some of the options above to create a distinctive blog that will attract your audience.
Images: ”Young manager working with notebook in the office/ Shutterstock.com“
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