Every business, no matter how big or small, can benefit from blog content. Not only is it a great way to demonstrate your expertise, it is a great way to get organic search results for your website. But, that doesn’t mean you should rely on new visitors to your website to do the majority of the reading that takes place on your blog page.
If you really want to convert readers into customers, or if you want to get even more business from your existing customers, you have to keep drawing them back to your website. That’s easy to do, as long as you have the write blog content.
Here are four ways to make your articles more interesting so people return to your website time and time again.
It starts with the title
Boring titles don’t get clicks. It’s as simple as that. The good news is, crafting a catchy blog title isn’t as hard as it sounds. It just takes following a few tips and getting a little bit of practice. There are plenty of formulas you can follow if you do a little searching online.
Your tone matters
The tone of your blog is extremely important. Unfortunately, it can be a bit difficult to get right, especially since the tone of each business should be slightly different.
For example, if you’re selling metal fasteners online, you will probably want to take a pretty professional tone and stick to the facts. If you’re selling outdoor camping gear, you can take a much more informal tone.
No matter what tone you settle on, make sure it is engaging to your audience and it stays fairly consistent across the blog.
Create easily-digestible content
There’s just something intimidating about a giant chunk of text, no matter how interested in the content you may be. If you want people to read your blog, you have to make it easy for them to skim.
A few ways to create digestible content include:
- Creating paragraphs with only a few sentences
- Using bulleted lists
- Using headlines
- Italicising or bolding important phrases.
Make sure everyone knows about your new article
You can’t expect people to visit your blog regularly on a whim. They have to know there’s a reason to come back and take a look. That means you have to promote your blog.
Every time you post a new article, make sure you mention the article on social media. Chances are, you already have a mailing list. Start sending out emails for articles that have just been posted. Make sure you mention that you have a blog when people come into your store, or point them in that direction by listing your blog page on your business card.
You don’t want to create content that just goes missing on the internet! You want to make content that people actually want to read. By following these tips, you can create the kind of content that keeps people coming back to your website for more.
Getting real results from your blog
Nathan Bonnisseau, of crowdfunding platform PlanA.Earth, discusses how the company’s blog has helped increase the number of delegates for its events, as well as boost traffic and engagement on the site.
PlanA.Earth is the first data-driven crowdfunding platform in the fight against climate change. Thanks to a house-built algorithm, Plan A prioritises and curates campaigns that are worth investing in and projects that contribute to creating a resilient and just future for our planet and its inhabitants.
PlanA.Earth launched in the spring of 2017 and has been active since. Prior to this, I was working on content for different projects and educational development institutions.
We introduced the blog in October 2017 for our second fundraising campaign with the main objective of providing support to the NGOs we were fundraising for. The aim of the articles were to provide a deeper understanding of the problem climate change was posing and the solutions proposed by the organisations.
Promoting the core business
The second objective was to promote our own company PlanA.Earth, the events we organise and the initiatives we take to speak about climate change differently (ie our Spotify playlists or interviews with cleanup surfers).
We have seen an immediate increase in the number of attendees to our events, traffic to our donation pages and interest in the project. The blog has also led to media interest and republications online and offline in magazines.
Our blog goes hand in hand with our social media handles @planaearth and could not function in a void. Our social media audience which has known a steady growth due to the choice of articles topics to cover different verticals. One does not go without the other, and I believe that is the great strength of our communication strategy.
Don’t create a blog to create a blog. It needs very frequent updating, solid content, troubleshooting and permanent monitoring to solve the equation of what your audience wants to read, what the others are looking for to catch them, and what you need to talk about to stay relevant. The game is worth playing, but only if you know what you want from it.
Further reading on blog
