drive traffic to your business with blogging

Driving traffic to your business with blogging

How creating and maintaining a blog can help you get new customers and keep the ones you have

Katherine RazCommunity Manager, Signalhq.com @katherine_raz

So, why blog?

The benefits of blogging for business

● Improves your business' organic search results and generates traffic to your website

● Creates opportunity for inbound links which increase search rankings

● Creates content that can be distributed via social channels, broadening your business' reach online

● Establishes your business expertise and credibility ● Helps with PR efforts as your business has more visibility● Creates community, giving customers a reason to engage with

you online (and helps your mom keep up with your doings!)

Strategic blogging drives traffic to your site

● Determine keywords which bring traffic to your website● Create a content calendar with post titles that contain those

keywords● Publish regularly and share your blog posts across social

channels (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google+)● Share your blog posts in your email newsletter● Add share tools to your blog so your blog readers can easily

share posts across their networks● Make sure your blog links back -- in several places! -- to your

main business website or otherwise "captures" traffic

Keywords for content

Using analytics to determine blog content

● Search traffic is the most powerful tool you have in determining blog content

● What keywords are people searching for that drive relevant traffic to your business?

● Create blog post titles that mimic search terms you're winning on and those you'd like to start gaining traffic on

Blog post titles that go for maximum SEO

● Find out what your current search terms are

● Identify valuable keywords using Google Keywords Tool

● Think like a customer: what search terms are they using to find my business or be informed

● Don't get creative with post titles: keyword it out!

Bad blog post titles

Clear Mistakes: Storm Installation Gone Wrong!

No-wheat Treats You Can Make

Love the Ombre Look? So do these celebs!

How to title your blog posts for maximum SEO

Good blog post titles vs.

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Installing or Replacing Your Storm Windows

Gluten-free Dog Treat Biscuit Recipes You Can Bake at Home

Celebrity Ombre Hairstyles You Should Copy This Fall

with keywords highlighted

What do you write about?

What goes on the blog?● Even "boring" or extremely

technical businesses can create interesting blog content by looking at their business from the outside in

● Combine content informed by relevant keyword searches with content that's useful to your customers -- what answers their questions?

● What everyday occurrence at your business has viral potential?

Giving away the secrets● Successful blogging means

sometimes sharing proprietary content

● Ideally, you're giving customers enough information so they determine they'd rather have you do it for them

● Think like a magician: show people how to do a few simple card tricks that aren't actually included in your show

Staying organized with a content calendar

● Determine key dates and events ● Write 80% of your blog content with keyword searches in mind● Think like a magazine: establish sections and themes for easy

reading: customer profiles, how to, etc.● Use a spreadsheet to organize information week by week● Determine blog authors and make sure they are responsible for

content● Work in advance to ensure you can get all needed content

together in time to publish

Self promotion ratio

● Your blog isn't a press release feed

● Create content that engages your audience. What's in it for them?

● Stick to the 80/20 rule of self promotion: 80% user-friendly content, 20% promotion of business services, products and events

● Good content can be promo in disguise

B2B versus B2C content

B2B blog content

● B2B blogs may have a smaller audience, but the overall goal is the same: win on search traffic and establish yourself as an expert

● Create content that helps your B2B customers do better business (save money, generate leads, etc.)

● Proprietary data, studies, and information can be a golden opportunity for content

B2C blog content

● Make your posts shareable, both technically and content-wise

● Tell the story of your business, customers and suppliers

● How can your blog engage the superfan and provide them with more content?

● What back stories add value to your product?

Getting maximum impact

Get more mileage with social sharing and RSS

● Make it easy for people to share your posts to social channels by installing a social sharing widget

● Promote your RSS feed so it's easy for readers to subscribe in a feed reader or via email

● Share your own posts across social channels, like Pinterest, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Twitter

● You can share the same post multiple times● Recycle old blog content in "best of" posts and in email

newsletters

Convert readers into paying customers

● Make your page "sticky" with clear explanations of your business and plenty of places to click for more information

● Ask them to subscribe to the blog or an email newsletter -- and give them a reason to do so

● Get them into the funnel!

Choosing a blogging platform

● Familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of each platform (for instance, you can't comment on Tumblr posts, but they're highly visual and easily shareable)

● Find a platform that's easy for you to use● Adding a blog to your existing website is as easy as YourSite.

com/Blog or blog.yoursite.com● No matter what, you'll want to make sure:

○ You can monitor analytics and traffic to your blog○ You can manage the flow of traffic from your blog to your

site○ You can easily link to and share posts across social channels

Which platform should you use?

a few suggestions :

WordpressBloggerTypepadSquarespaceMovable TypeTumblr

It all seems so technical.

How do you set it up?Find a blogging platform that hosts your content, then point your blog page to your hosted content.

OR :Use a flexible blogging platform to host your entire website. (Your blog doesn't have to be your front page.)

A few blogging tools that'll make your life easier

Resources

Thanks.

Questions? Feedback?Want to share your own blogging stories?

Contact me anytime.

Katherine Razkatherine@signalhq.com @katherine_raz