Social Media Examiner found that 65% of marketers planned to increase their use of blog content in 2017. Maybe you were one of them.
And maybe now you find yourself asking why, since your blog posts didn’t deliver the results you expected.
There are a lot of reasons you might not have seen results from blogging in 2017. Some of them aren’t even your fault: you could be facing competitors who are knocking it out of the park, or you could be blogging in an industry that just isn’t easy to write about in a compelling way.
However, it’s much more likely that the power to improve your blogs is within reach. Whether you’re hoping to drive more traffic, earn better leads or boost engagement, these content development fixes can transform your lackluster blog into an inbound marketing powerhouse that helps grow your business and promote brand awareness in the coming year.
For business blogs that failed to generate leads
Earn prospect information with content offers. No matter how good your blog posts are, it’s likely that they won’t convince most visitors to hand over their contact information. Instead, you’ll need to provide something that they perceive to be of equal value to their personal data. Researched, comprehensive resources, like ebooks, whitepapers, webinars and other content offers are a great way to offer the additional value savvy users demand during the transition from browser to lead.
In fact, 63% of users indicated they would provide contact info in return for an ebook, while 76% would share information for a whitepaper. Not sure how to get started with content offers? The good news is, you can look to your existing blog content – check out our tips for converting your blog posts into an ebook.
Practice altruistic blogging. Here’s your blogging mantra for 2018: it’s not about you. Obviously you’re blogging to grow your business, but as you write, remember that your goal is to provide insight for your target audience. You want to help them define and solve a problem, guiding them through the buyer’s journey and offering clarity and facts along the way. If you’re delivering a sales pitch instead of focusing on informing, educating and engaging your readers, you’re going to turn off a lot of potential leads.
For business blogs that generated leads, but not the right ones
Review your buyer personas. 47% of B2B companies use buyer personas, and 57% believe they include a deep understanding of those personas in their content. But saying and doing are two different things. If you’re getting leads that that frequently fail to become customers, it’s time to take a second look at your buyer personas. Do they need more data? Are you ignoring the differences between B2B and B2C personas? Maybe you should try negative buyer personas. Once you’re sure of who you need to target, you can do a far better job delivering content that will encourage them to convert.
Consider the value of your offers. If you’re not offering high-value content offers, site visitors won’t give you their information. In comparison to the data cited above, just 19% of users would provide personal information for a podcast or video, and only 24% would fill out a form for an infographic. That’s because while these types of content can deliver ample value, they’re typically given away without the need to offer contact information in exchange. Make sure you know the value of what you offer, and set your expectations accordingly.
For business blogs that didn’t increase website traffic
Check your SEO strategy. If you’re using a well-defined SEO strategy, you could see a 2,000% increase in traffic to your blog, according to recent research. But if you’re not? Then you might be doing a lot of hard work for nothing. It’s important to utilize a blend of broad and long-tail keywords, as well as to consider the search volume of your terms and the difficulty in ranking for them. Making sense of your analytics can be tough, but simply choosing keywords and hoping to rank for them won’t yield the result you’re hoping for.
Similarly, you want to make your ranked posts count. Be sure that you’re pursuing the keywords that will benefit you to rank for – it won’t do you any good to rank for terms linked to goods and services you don’t provide or that have a different meaning in a different industry.
Promote your content. SEO is a powerful tool, but it will take some time to work. That timeline can vary case by case, so you might see results in as little as four months. Competing for exceptionally competitive keywords? It might take as long as a year. As you climb to the top of the SERP, make sure you use your social media platforms to promote blog content and get it in front of as many eyes as possible. Not sure where to start? LinkedIn is a great place to share your blog posts with industry peers and potential prospects. And don’t forget sharing widgets – they make it easier for readers to share posts on their own social accounts.
For business blogs that just aren’t getting it right
Consider your approach. Did you know most bloggers give up in just 6 months? That’s because blogging is hard work, and it’s easy to get frustrated. That said, there are a few things you can do to make the job easier. If staying organized is your biggest challenging, using a simple blogging calendar can help you know what to post and when to post it.
You might not be meeting your goals because you’re not entirely sure what you need to accomplish. If so, try setting marketing goals that guide your blogging strategy to success.
Struggling to get words on the page? Check out some writer’s block tips to help you get started.
And if you’re tired of hearing about errors in your blog, you’ll benefit hugely from brushing up on editing and proofreading tactics that ensure more polished, professional results that readers will value.
Leave it to the pros. Accordingly to TopRank Marketing, 64% of B2B firms outsource content writing. That’s because great content takes time, training and strategy to deliver the results you’re looking for. And you’re likely to find that it’s not enough just to buy articles and share them online, because if you’re not buying strategy as well as content, you’re only getting half of the value content marketing can offer. When you’re spending a lot of time on blogging, but failing to create strategy-backed, high-quality content, outsourcing content creation could be the ideal solution for your business.
How will you improve your content development strategy in 2018?
There’s no reason to stay bogged down by disappointment in your 2017 content marketing campaigns. Instead, take the opportunity to review your content development strategies, honestly evaluate your existing blog posts and commit to taking the necessary steps to transform an average business blog into a lead-generating, traffic-driving engagement machine in the coming year.
What are your content goals for 2018? Leave us a comment and let us know.
