Member Article

Top Ten Blog Tips

At the end of 2011 there were 181 million blogs reported around the world. (source Nielson). It’s no surprise that number is constantly increasing because blogs are an effective online marketing tool that gets information out to potential customers. North East design agency Urban River will provide you with Ten Top Blog Tips on how to get the most out of your blog.

1. Know your blog goals

Look at why you’re starting a blog, the purpose of it and what you want to achieve from it. A good place to start with your blog posts is identify a need or problem that a customer has or may have and revolve your content around finding a solution.Generate ideas

2. Generate ideas

It needn’t be a difficult task to generate ideas for your blog because there are plenty of resources you can use to help you. Ask your customers what they want to know more about, get ideas from your social media followers and check out what your competitors are saying or what they are not saying as this could be an opportunity for you to fill the gap. You can also use blog search engine and directory, Technorati to search other blogs producing similar content to you, see what they are doing and pinch good ideas. Free ebooks, guides and list are always popular and tend to work well for lead generation purposes.

3. Decide your tone

The tone you decide to adopt for your blog will most likely depend on who your target audience is. A blog aimed at medical experts might have a professional and intense tone whereas a blog aimed at college students might have a casual, friendly tone. The key thing to remember is that the tone of your blog posts should always be consistent and no matter whom the target market is it’s important to be conversational in your nature and try to encourage interaction.

4. Be helpful

People enjoy blogs that they find useful and can benefit from. You should aim to teach readers something new and write posts that will inform and please your readers. Helpful blogs that provide practical advice are often the ones that are most shared by readers which helps to draw traffic back to your website.

5. Boost SEO

Including keywords and inbound links in your blog will ensure your business appears highly ranked and regularly in the search engines. Search engines like new material and as blogs are normally updated more often than your main website it encourages interest in your blog which in turn drives traffic to your website.

6. Visual appeal

Make use of images and videos to optimise your blog and make it more appealing to visitors. You can find free images on Flickr, (make sure to check restrictions) and videos on YouTube, BBC and many other websites. These support the content of the blog and make it look much better on the page.

7. Don’t blow your own trumpet!

There are times and places where it’s okay to talk about your achievements - a blog is definitely not one of them places! People don’t visit your blog to find out how great your company is and what you can do for them. They want to read interesting and beneficial information, not a sales pitch, so it’s important to keep self-promotion to an absolute minimum within your blog.

8. Reinforce your brand

Blog about topics which are relevant to your business area of expertise and make sure you incorporate your company ethos and brand values into posts. By doing this it can help to enhance your brand visibility to specific target audiences. It is a great way to add personality, a voice and a face to your business.

9. Shout about it!

Now you’ve written your blog post don’t just leave it sitting there, you need to promote it so it will actually be read. Use your social media networks, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and any other you’re signed up to and push your blogs out to a wider audience. Include social sharing options such as ‘Tweet this’ and ‘Like this’ on your posts which will assist to increase reach and packaging your blog posts into an e-newsletter is a great way to get readers to read more than one post.

10. Monitor

It’s important to monitor and measure the results of your blog to see if the time you are investing is paying off. You can gauge success buy looking at the number of posts and social shares, audience growth, conversion rate, subscribers and inbound links. Google Analytics is a useful tool for measuring your achievements.

Want some further advice on blogs? Give us a shout at 0191 423 5688 or info@urbanriver.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Urban River .