How interesting is your company blog? Often times, we find that company blogs are bland and boring. No offence to any of our readers, but this is one of the biggest reasons companies fail to launch effective content marketing initiatives. Even if you have expert guest speakers and guest contributors with impressive infographics and stock images, some of the blogs companies’ upkeep fall flat.
Addressing the Problem
There are many mistakes that amateur bloggers make and just because the blog is professional looking does not mean that, you as the website owner are immune to them.
Often, complexity gets in the way of a compelling piece of copy. Think of the type of language you use in your posts – how easy is it to understand? Do readers have the time to understand the issues that are being raised in the blog? Simplicity is the key to generating a following and capturing the attention of your audience. While it’s not always necessary to dumb down ideas, you should put some effort into how you convey them.
Another problem that we often find with blogs is that they are heavily focused on SEO and bot readers. If you are creating blog posts for the sole purpose of boosting your ranking, you will only end up decreasing your conversion rates and repel prospects and current customers. While it is important to be mindful of link building and keyword practices, never let them take over the real cause for blogging – your audience.
Repairing the Issues
Once identify the key problems with your company blog, you can begin working on repairing your blog image in such a way that it attracts and converts readers. Whether you’re going to spearhead this evolution or you have an in-house blogger in charge of the revamp, here are some tips to help get you start:
- Have a Personality
The best way to connect with your audience is by letting them know that a person (human) is writing. Even if you’re blogging for the sake of SEO, visitors want to know that the words are human and not robotic. Some of the best ways to connect with your audience is by talking to them directly, asking them questions, or sharing some personal information about yourself.
- Be Social
Signing up for a Facebook or Twitter account doesn’t count as being social. You need to find your audience and constantly engage them on the various social media platforms. As well, allow your readers to share your news and blog posts by adding social media icons on your blog page.
- Consider Keywords, But Don’t Keyword Stuff
Keywords are important to SEO, but there’s no need to stuff your blog posts with multiple, irrelevant keywords. In fact, it’s not going to help you rank on Google and your online marketing efforts.
- Be Consistent
The rule of the thumb for company blogs is to be consistent. By consistent, I’m not just speaking about the content of the posts or your personal views expressed, but also the frequency of your updates, your writing style and so forth. We are, after all, creatures of habit who prefer things in a certain way, in manners which we can anticipate a certain level of standards.
- Make the calls-to-action clearer
The goal of your blog is to ultimately generate leads. You never want to remain stagnant without testing different variables, such as CTA location and color schemes. If you are attempting to collect emails, then test the location of your submit box.
- Interlink Content
Make sure to link to other blog posts that you feel the reader would be interested in reading as well. This helps to keep visitors on your website. If they stay on your website longer it increases the conversion rates.
