Does your blogging routine feel like a chore? Is it so routine you’re not sure if it’s working anymore? Maybe it’s time to rethink your blog strategy.
No, blogging isn’t dead. It may be morphing and changing as technology grows. However, studies show blog posts remain the most popular content format, with 9 out of 10 marketers using blogging to achieve content goals. Websites with active blogs also have 434 percent more indexed pages and 97 percent more inbound links than those without.
So, how do you maintain a successful blog today? You want to capture an audience and keep them coming back for more. You want to build a reputation within your industry and become an expert people rely on. Your answer starts with a blog strategy.
Blog Strategy – An Overview
A blog strategy isn’t a formal plan filled with nitty-gritty details on the content you’ll be creating. Instead, think of a blog strategy as your road map for how you’ll use your blog to reach your marketing goals.
Consider two bloggers. The first publishes blog content on whatever topic he picks whenever he feels he has something to say. Timing varies throughout the year from several times a week to a couple of times per month. He never receives comments, and there are few links connecting him to other like-minded businesses.
The second has a blog strategy. He publishes content every Tuesday and sends a newsletter to his audience every Wednesday. The content helps create several social media posts throughout the week … without fail. His research provides keywords to focus on and article titles he knows his audience wants to read. His business is growing; he sees the result with every piece of content he creates.
That’s what a blog strategy does.
Building Your Blog Strategy
Ready to use a blog strategy to keep you on track this year? Building a cohesive content plan is your starting point for strengthening your business and fulfilling your goals. Yet, if this is new to you, we have some suggestions on where to start.
Step 1: Start With the End in Mind
What do you hope your online strategy will accomplish? What do you want to provide to your visitors? More importantly, what do you hope to achieve a year from today?
When you start with the end in mind, it gives you something to work toward. When you see your business at a point in the future, it provides you with both financial and non-financial goals.
Financial goals may include purchasing a product or service. Non-financial goals might be promoting a cause, building a reputation, or growing an email list for your future use.
In each case, clearly define who you’re trying to reach. When a prospect is buying your product, what questions do they have? If they care about the cause you’re involved with, why should they care?
Traffic without understanding your goal rarely delivers. That comes from having clear goals that help you see what your audience wants.
Step 2: Identify Your Target Market
Do you have a detailed description of who your customer is? Do you understand what they want from your products or services? This crucial step can help you create content customers find helpful.
Let’s say you sell cars. You have a new crossover vehicle. You’ve noticed moms with kids love driving it because of all the comfort features. You’ve also discovered young men love it because of its sporty looks and handling.
With these two customer avatars in place, you can dive into content each will appreciate. Start with a blog landing page that goes deep into a keyword. Additional blog pages will add more details. Build sales funnels to entice people to sign up for free reports, join a mailing list, or contact a sales rep. The possibilities are endless.
Step 3: Keyword Research
Keywords are your starting point. They aren’t complicated; they are simply words or phrases people type when they head over to search.
Then, find your long-tail keywords. These are specific keyword phrases typically three to five words long. They are more targeted and less competitive than generic keywords, making them easier to rank for and far easier for conversion.
There are many ways to find long-tail keywords. Start with what you know. Continuing our example from above, if you sell crossover vehicles, you already have a variety of keywords in mind. Your brand, make, and model can all be used. Include top questions. Long-tail keywords include:
- What is a crossover utility vehicle
- Crossover vehicle definition
- What crossover SUV is best
Don’t forget your customer. The young mom with kids might not realize she wants a crossover vehicle until she does her research. So long-tail keywords might include:
- Best family vehicle
- Family vehicles with good gas mileage
- Kid-friendly vehicles
This list will grow as you learn more about your customers’ wants and needs.
Step 4: Creating a Content Calendar
A content calendar gives you a starting point for creating content each week. You can develop post ideas, carry out keyword research, and even batch-process content when you have the time.
There isn’t one strategy that fits every plan. With an unlimited supply of ideas, base it on your goals and desires. Consider your busy seasons and slow times: How can you promote during those times?
As you see your ideas on paper, it can allow you to put different plans together. An email can use your content to drive traffic to a landing page. Guest posts can cross-promote with other businesses.
This can help you build themes into the way you post to help you further reach your audience. Post “beginner” content on Tuesdays and “expert tips” on Fridays, for instance. It provides you with content ideas and gives your audience something to follow.
Do You Need a Blog Strategy?
Active blogs have more indexed pages and more inbound links. That also means sites with blogs have more traffic and potentially more sales.
Blogs rarely reach this point without goals in mind. Pull up your favorite sites: What makes them good? It’s because they have a well-thought-out plan. They add content deliberately, creating content based on their goals.
You can struggle with content and spend long hours contemplating what to do. Or you can create a blog strategy that helps you get where you want to go.
