Blogging offers plenty of benefits for business. It boosts the blogger’s credibility, drives traffic to the site, and encourages sharing on social media to name just a few. However, if you blog for the sake of creating content without any real plan or research behind the topics chosen, it’s not effective for your business. So, where can you look for examples of how great blogging is done? Observe your competitors — what their blogs look like, the kind of content they’re publishing, and which posts receive the most shares. Here are five things your competitors, or other experienced business bloggers in your field, can teach you about successful blogging.
Allow guest posts on your blog.
If you want to drive more traffic to your website, you need to publish new content several times a week on your blog. Publishing one to three posts per month is not enough to drive traffic. The more quality content you publish, the better — however, once you start publishing every other day, it becomes a full-time job. Not every business owner has time for that, so they allow guest bloggers to submit articles that showcase their unique perspectives on your blog.
Write guest posts for other websites.
Writing on your own blog is great for driving traffic. However, guest posting on other websites has a number of advantages including the ability to receive high quality links and get more exposure to a wider audience. If you have time, search for guest blogging opportunities and publish posts on quality websites for extra traffic and to better cement yourself as a credible expert in your field.
Share your opinion.
Treating your blog posts as essays or dissertations is one of many blogging mistakes that small business owners make. Your blog posts shouldn’t be treatises. They should be pieces of writing where you express your unique opinion about an interesting topic. Your main goal when blogging should be to inspire your readers to comment and share your content.
Publish engaging content rather than promotional.
Your blog should provide useful, interesting, and inspirational content. By giving something without wanting anything in return, you build trust with your audience. On the other hand, by writing content that is too promotional, you scare away your readers. Establish a relationship with your readers first and then share news about your products and services with them without blatantly selling or promoting any of it.
Organize your content.
If you want to encourage people to read and share your content, you need to keep it organized. Even the best text won’t be read if the structure isn’t mobile or desktop friendly. A great blog post should include quotes, headings, bullet points, photos, videos, or even tables and diagrams. Don’t publish your content as a huge block of text, but break it up into several smaller paragraphs. Make your text easy to read — each of your paragraphs should not have more than 6 sentences in total.
The most important thing to remember, whether you’re beginning in blogging or not, is that your business will not expand and your site will not receive more traffic if you are an idle blogger. Publish posts regularly and write content that is helpful as well as engaging to your audience. This way you’ll build a relationship with your readers. If you manage to make them trust you, they’ll share your content and buy your products. So, be smart and use the above tips to your advantage!
Emily Johnson is a blogger and a content strategist at omnipapers.com. She is also a contributor to many websites about career advice, productivity, work issues, blogging and writing. You can find more of her work on Twitter.