Coming up with fresh, consistent and entertaining blog ideas for your website can be difficult, especially if you’re doing it all by yourself. You can outsource some of the blog writing, or invite guest writers, but here are some tips and suggestions to improve your blog content, which should get you more traffic and boost your business.
- Write for a specific audience
Most of the time, your readers are your customers, so write content that is relevant to them and answer the types of questions you think they would ask.
- Find out what your customers want to read
Use a free tool like Survey Monkey to create a questionnaire that will help to create a list of problems your blog could address. You could also check other sites in your niche to find out what your competitors’ customers are commenting on.
- Use clever keywords and phrases
Identify the keywords that keep cropping up from customers, then use Google’s AdDWord Keyword Tool to find high search volume phrases.
- Answer your customer questions and use their comments
If you find your customers are repeatedly asking the same questions, use these for blog posts. It will allow you to go into more depth on the subject than replying to a question by email. Your customers often have good angles or questions that you could use as a basis for a blog post.
- Stay current with your subject matter
By typing your blog keywords into Google Alerts, you can receive the latest updates, tweets and news on the topics, to help you stay current.
- Use Google Insights for Search
This will show you what people are searching for and what the next big search terms will be.
- Try a series
A five part (or more) series of blog posts that is entertaining or very practical/informative, will keep your readers coming back for more.
- Don’t underestimate the power of titles
Specific is good, if you want to keep your readers beyond the first few lines. “How to” headlines are popular, as well as ones that promise lists or easy-to-digest points.
- Use images
This increases the time a reader will focus on your blog. Images offer the visual stimulation that is often needed to keep your reader engaged. Using images with humour work well to draw attention, although they should have some relation to your article.
- Make sure you don’t make spelling mistakes
Careless grammar or spelling mistakes can undermine your efforts to sound professional and knowledgeable in your field. Using txt talk is another no-no; it makes your blog harder to read. Use a spell check and proof read your work before you post it.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on your blog posts, or if you need us to help you with your blogs, please contact us.