Blogging began with self-published diary-style entries on websites but has since evolved as many businesses have taken to adding blogs onto their corporate websites. The question for businesses today then is what strategies they can use to get the most traffic. This blog post will focus on providing helpful tips on how to do so effectively by focusing on five strategies.
1. Content Calendar
Firstly, the most important step is to gather your team and put together a content calendar as this will allow you to track and schedule your content. This will allow more control of the number of topics covered, and ensure that content is published regularly.
2. Create content with SEO in mind
The key here is to remember that blogging has evolved far beyond diary-style entries. Therefore, when putting together the content calendar, the organization should conduct a thorough keyword search that will drive the nature of the content and topics covered. The idea here is to allow Google to pick up your blog as relevant when people use that search engine to find information.
What is SEO?
Simply put, search engine optimization can be understood as the process of increasing and directing the volume and the standard of traffic to your website. Although the process is about using data collected from the search engines, it is also about understanding human behaviour in order to predict what people search for as well as the kind of content they consume.
As such, SEO is important for a number of reasons but the most important thing to note is that the bulk of online traffic is driven by search engines. Therefore, it is important to conduct further research on how to best use them to your advantage.
Sign up for the Licensed Search Engine Marketing Professional™ (3 Months Intensive Certification Program) to learn more about SEO & SEM.
3. Choose attention grabbing headlines
Using high quality headlines that immediately grab the reader’s attention will bring more traffic to your website.
Examples of the kinds of headlines that are likely to go viral include:
- List posts
- How-to posts
- Question posts
- Heart-to-heart posts
- Resource posts
4. Use headings and subheadings
This is to ensure that the lazy reader and the ordinary reader can better navigate your blog entry to find exactly what they are looking for. Examples of this can be seen on food blogs where there is a subheading titled ‘Skip to the recipe’.
5. Get straight to the point
It is important to deliver on the promise made in the heading or the title of the blog entry as soon as possible. It is essential not to bombard the reader with unnecessary and irrelevant information as this will often discourage them from reading further.
A blog is an crucial and powerful tool when used as a key element in a company’s digital marketing strategy. This is true when one considers that the topics chosen and well-written, informative blogs will encourage more people to learn more about your organization. A successful blog can increase the links onto your website by up to 97%. With these 5 tips in mind, your blog is off to a great start.
Here are some tools to get you started:
For more information, visit the International Institute Of Digital Marketing™
By Bridgette Khumalo
References:
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Hardwick, J. (2019). 7 Digital Marketing Strategies That Actually Work. [online] SEO Blog by Ahrefs. Available at: https://ahrefs.com/blog/digital-marketing-strategies/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2021].
Digital Marketing Institute. (2016). 11 Digital Marketing Blogs You Need To Bookmark | DMI. [online] Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/11-digital-marketing-blogs-you-need-to-bookmark [Accessed 29 Mar. 2021].
Wordstream.com. (2020). The 16 Best Marketing Strategies to Try in 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2020/01/07/best-marketing-strategies [Accessed 29 Mar. 2021].
Neil Patel. (2016). 33 Things to Learn from 33 Top Marketing Blogs. [online] Available at: https://neilpatel.com/blog/33-things-to-learn-from-33-top-marketing-blogs/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2021].
DSM | Digital School of Marketing. (2019). How do Bloggers Fit into your Digital Marketing Strategy? [online] Available at: https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/blog/how-do-bloggers-fit-into-your-digital-marketing-strategy/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2021].