Statistics reveal that businesses that blog are reaping the benefits in terms of increased ROI, increased inbound links, website traffic and lead generation. That being said, not all of them are getting it right. That’s why we’ve put together the top 4 best practices for blogging for businesses that will ensure each and every one of your company’s articles is sure to be a success.
Table of Contents
Why blog?
Blogs are not only a method to convey thoughts, ideas, opinions and news on certain topical spaces; they also serve a functional purpose, especially from an SEO and content marketing perspective.
The statistics are overwhelming, for example, businesses who blog generally receive 97% more inbound links than those who don’t and 37% of marketers say blogs are most valuable type of content marketing. Have a look at Active Blogs for a whole load more current blog stats.
Actively blogging for your business not only supports your content marketing strategy but also serves the following functions:
Creates original content collateral – adds to your content marketing mix
SEO purposes
Generates new and returning visitors to the website
Increases sales, ROI and leads
Supports brand positioning and authority
As a tool to increase engagement and shareability
Next up, comes the best practices.
Best practice 1 – Be Linkable
Always use links in your blog. Use a mix of outbound and inbound links, linking to other related websites and sources, as well as linking to other pages and articles within your own website.
Don’t forget to:
Use strong, relevant keywords in your anchor text
Interact with other blogs and link back to your own
This is paramount for good SEO and quality links will help to increase search engine results.
Best Practice 2 – Be Scannable
Breaking your text up into easy-to-read and scannable chunks is essential for maximum web readability as users scan the page for the informatio they’re looking for.
An effective blog post can be broken down into 4 parts:
The headline
The into
The body
The conclusion
Always remember to:
Use an inverted pyramid intro: start the article with the conclusion – about 170 -180 words
Use images and headers
Use numbered lists and bullet points
Break up your writing and make it visually appealing and succinct
Best practice 3 – Be Social
Social media not only helps to significantly enhance your blog’s visibility, as well as SEO ranking, it also helps to engage with your online blogging community and lends strong credibility to your blog.
Top tips:
Social sharing buttons are a must for any blog article – gives readers the chance to share your article online
Post your articles on your social media channels – this increases visibility
Respond to comments on your blog
Engage readers in conversation
Best practice 4 – Be Searchable
Optimising your content for SEO will ensure your article is ranked and indexed by the search engines. That being said, SEO is quite involved, with many different factors that need to be considered.
Here are the basics to remember when blogging:
Use keywords – find a main keyword for your heading and focus on 2 – 3 long tail keywords to include in your article
Use a clever mix of inbound links
Optimise your URLs and meta description
Optimise your images with alt text
Remember to make your blog responsive and mobile friendly
Now blog!
Blogging for businesses should be considered a crucial element of your overall SMART digital marketing strategy. If you remember to follow the top 4 blogging best practices, you’re sure to have an article that is relevant, engaging and generating leads in no time.
Do you have a blogging best practice that you think we missed?
