Let’s be honest - if you aren’t blogging, then you need to be; and if you are blogging but don’t see the benefit, then it’s time to re-evaluate your blogging strategy.
Inbound Marketing Blog
It's unfortunate that we continue to see common misconceptions about the merits of blogging. Blogging may have gotten a bad reputation over the years, with (it seems) everyone who has an opinion having a blog, sharing their educated (and sometimes uneducated) opinions to the “blogosphere.”
Although that particular kind of blogging can be unprofessional and (many times) unimportant clutter, company blogs are actually a great way to upload fresh, relevant content to your website.
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Did you know: Search engines like Google LOVE valuable content and reward you for it? Search is not all about keywords anymore; it’s about creatively combining keywords, context, and topic. The more you do this, the more Google will love you and show you through increased rankings and impressions.
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Confession: I am obsessed with research. I will spend hours poring over information to ensure that I have all the facts and angles figured out.
I also happen to be very skeptical when doing research, wondering: Who’s credible? Is what I’m reading just a ploy to convince me of something or are there others who agree?
That said, I am a huge believer in reading reviews, Googling additional information, and… checking the comments section.
If your company has been blogging for years, you have likely had many campaigns that have inspired blogs posts. But now that those campaigns have ended, you may be wondering: “What purpose do these posts serve now that my campaigns are over?”
Besides the obvious SEO benefit of blog posts, there is another benefit to keeping them in your repertoire: You can recycle them.
Here are a few ways to repurpose your old content to drive user engagement and traffic to new campaigns.
Very few things are more frustrating than writer’s block. You just sit at your desk and stare at your desktop screen. Your mind is a total blank—it’s like you’ve forgotten how to link words together to form a coherent sentence. Meanwhile, your word processor’s cursor blinks at you mockingly. (Can you tell I’m writing from experience here?)
In my first writing job (at a college newspaper, mind you), I learned that I should write to an eighth-grade reading level. When it comes to writing marketing content for the web, I actually recommend writing to a fifth to eighth-grade reading level. Not because I think every reader is an uneducated dope, but because people consume content differently on the web. Even the person who can read "War and Peace" without picking up a dictionary, consumes web content under different conditions and with a different purpose than when they are feeding their intellect with classic Russian literature.
Bluffing Hipster Blues
Some of you may remember the joke that Jimmy Kimmel played on Coachella attendees a couple of years ago. He had a camera crew ask these people about a bunch of bands that didn't exist. The interviewees pretended to know all about these groups and how awesome they were.
It's a really funny bit. In a way, though, it's also a little painful. Some of you may have tried bluffing your way through a conversion on some topic you didn't know anything about. I've done it myself, so it makes me wince to see those folks get caught doing it.
Blogging has a critical role in digital marketing. First and foremost being; attract new users and increase traffic to your website engaging and interesting content. This means creating new and consistent content around trending topics and relevant information.
Even though there have been countless studies and online statistics praising this technique; why are so many large companies hesitant to insert this into the digital marketing strategy? Could it be because they don’t believe blogging is important or maybe they are too lazy to keep their blog updated?