Starting a business isn't an easy endeavor, especially when you think about everything you need to do to get it off the ground. A task that's especially important when launching a new business is blogging. A business blog communicates trust to your visitors. It gives you credibility and authority by showing that you are an expert in your given industry and it can even influence purchase decisions.
Eight Must Have Elements of A Successful Blog
1. Focus on user experience.
User experience matters – even for a blog. Make it easy for your readers to find what they're looking for quickly. To put this to practice, select a clean blog template with a lot of white space and use a clear navigational path so visitors can get to where they need to go in less than three clicks. Also, make sure your design is compatible with mobile devices, as more than half of all website visits these days come from a mobile device.
2. Content is king.
High-quality content is paramount to a good blog. Keep writing techniques – and grammar, spelling, formatting, and sentence structure – top of mind. Also, take the time to research a topic, offer a unique perspective, and write clearly on a particular topic related to your business.Quality and quantity are also complementary in blogging.
Marketing guru Neil Patel found that most of Google's top-ten search results for any given query have at least 2,000 words. He also determined that long posts exceeding 1,500 words get more social media engagement and links on other websites. Medium performed a similar study and found the optimal length of a blog post was seven minutes.
At Yoast, we have quite a few articles containing more than 2500 words and these really help in the growth of our organic traffic (Yoast - How long should a blog post be?)
3. Extra, extra ... read all about it.
While many see it as an afterthought, your headline can make or break the success of your post. In fact, eight out of 10 people will click to read your content if you get the headline right.
4. Keep it simple.
Make your blog easily readable. Split text into easy-to-read paragraphs by including bullets, lists, and subheads. The better the readability, the more likely a reader is to read all of the blog posts and consume the knowledge offered in your post.
5. Be consistent.
Many entrepreneurs get stuck in analysis paralysis with web content. There are no defined rules when it comes to posting frequency, so just make sure to maintain a scheduled cadence. Whether you post once a week or once a day, keeping a consistent posting schedule is essential. Here's some extra ammo to write frequently and consistently: According to Hubspot, companies who published more than 16 blog posts each month garnered almost 3.5 times more traffic than those who published between 0 to 4 monthly posts.
6. Curate a community.
Most visitors won't purchase anything on their initial visit. It takes repeated exposure to your brand to move people from consideration to buying a product or service. Put mechanisms in place to curate a community.
Add social-sharing buttons to generate social engagement for your posts, give readers the opportunity to comment on posts, or subscribe to an RSS feed or email newsletter.
7. Keep SEO top of mind
On-page SEO elements, like metadata and keywords, can impact your search engine position for the better. First, focus on optimizing each page of your site with one primary keyword target per page, using a different keyword each time. Perform research using Google's Keyword Planner to find high-volume, low-competition keywords. Then, integrate the primary keyword on the following elements:
Metadata: meta-title, meta-description, and keywords
Header tags (H1, H2, H3)
URL
Body copy
Alt tags (images)
8. Focus on Content Promotion
Your work doesn't end after you hit "publish." Once your blog post is up and running, promote it! You can do this through:
Email marketing: Your blogs are relevant to your email subscribers too. Your email should provide a quick snapshot of the blog's content, attracting readers with a call to action to read the full post.
Social media promotion: Both paid and organic social media promotion are a must with blogging. Use hashtags, shortened links, a visual, and compelling copy to attract people to click.
Forums: Seek out forums related to your industry, and engage in the conversations. Quora and Reddit are mainstay forums, while there also industry-specific forums available.
As you prepare to launch your new website, make sure you understand all elements that impact traffic, visibility, engagement, and growth.Did we miss an element of your startup's website? Tell us in the comments below!
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