If you are not blogging on your company’s website, your inbound ship is essentially not sailing. We have all heard “content is king,” so why aren’t you providing any relevant content on your site? I’ve heard many excuses like:
• I don’t have time to blog
• I don’t know how to blog
• I don’t know what to blog about
Bottom line, in today’s marketplace you can’t afford not to blog. Blogging is an easy way to increase SEO to your site and double, if not triple, your number of inbound leads.
But I don’t have time? If you blog successfully you will not have to do a lot of the more traditional marketing that has become unsuccessful for you. So, you will save time by not doing other things that don’t increase your ROI. You have so many free tools available to help you, so not having time to blog is no excuse.
I don’t know how to blog? Blogging is not like writing for the New York Times. Visitors like to feel connected to you when they read your blog, so let your personality shine through in your posts. Once you develop a voice, readers will begin to connect and develop a relationship with you. We all know people purchase things from those with whom they trust and connect.
I don’t know what to blog about? Google trends will help you with this. Google trends is a great tool to use to find out what people are talking about and what type of content they are searching for. Make sure you search the categories in Google trends so you can find more relevant content for your site. Sites like Ubersuggest.com or soovle.com/top are also great sites to get the top keywords to help you with your blog topic.
OK, you have your keywords you want to write about — now what? Can’t think of a title? Inboundnow.com/apps/kill-writers-block will generate SEO friendly titles for you.
When blogging you want to develop a content theme and create four to five posts that are all relevant to the same theme. This adds credibility to your blog and Google loves credibility.
What else helps boost your credibility? When people share your blogs it builds your audience and boosts your credibility. Make sure you include several “click to tweet” links in your blog. Clicktotweet.com is a relatively new tool that allows someone to retweet a quote from your blog, but not your entire blog.
Blogging has never been easier, but before you get started make sure you develop a clear inbound strategy with your team. The purpose of a blog is to increase awareness of your product or service, increase traffic to your site, capture leads and ultimately get a sale. A great way to get leads from your blog is to create a free e-book that visitors must download. Once you have crafted your four to five themed blogs, it is the perfect time to offer a free e-book based on your theme.
Now blog away.
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Donyel Cerceo is the director of marketing for Merritt Athletic Clubs. She can be reached at dcerceo@merrittclubs.com.
