Optimize Your Marketing Strategies With These Blogging Tips

Published on December 8, 2014

It's no big secret that blogging resides at the top of the inbound marketing strategies list. Blogging comes with the dual benefits of a consistently active and updated website while providing an engaging and sharable resource for strong social media activity.

The rewards are there for the taking. There are a good handful of processes and shortcuts to blogging that make blog generation a less daunting and more effective. Here are some ways you can optimize your own blog marketing strategy, adapted from Ginny Soskey's suggestions on Hubspot.

Pick Topics That Convert Business

If you're going to spend your time writing a blog, it is a good idea to pick a topic which has a high liklihood of converting business. Your business has something to offer, and writing about topics which hint towards that offering will use your efforts to gain the biggest return.

Lets say you're a coffee travel mug distributor. Your goal is, naturally, to encourage your viewers to buy a coffee mug (convert the lead into business). A successful conversion-based blog topic for you would be something like "12 Reasons To Drink Coffee On The Go." This is better than a topic like "12 Delectable Coffee Concoctions You'll Love" because, while this second option does pertain to your product, it does not directly persuade users towards conversion.

Note: Of course, not all topics should have this push. Variety is key to diversifying and satisfying your audience. Keep these types of topics in mind, however, as a pursuasive marketing strategy for your company.

Don't Sacrifice Frequency - Use Formats to Your Advantage

In an ideal world, we'd all love to churn out eloquent 5,000 word blog-novels every day. In reality, of course, this is unlikely.

The key to blog marketing success is frequency. Pick a number of blogs you'd like to publish on a week-to-week basis (even 1 is a good number) and commit to it.

Good news: not all blogs have to take 3 hours of your day to draft. The blogging world is a flexible one, and comes with a wide variety of formats at your disposal. Use this to your advantage. Sometimes a quick tip or product review is all it takes to complete your weekly quota - even in a week that you only have 30 minutes to spare.

Keep An Ideas List Handy

When you hit a day where your creative juices just aren't flowing (and believe me, you'll have them) you'll want to have a backup strategy. Mitigate your writers block with a little advanced preparation - create an ideas list.

There are plenty of resources out there to do this - you can create a list directly within a task manager like Asana or Wunderlist, create a Google Doc list, paste sticky notes all over your computer screen... whatever works for you. Of course, we champion using digital forms of list keeping so you can easily share ideas with your team, add URLs or images, and copy and paste directly into your blogging document.

Too Many Ideas For One Blog Post? Make a Separate Post

You may find yourself writing a blog that will not end. In these cases, it is likely that you've chosen a topic that is too expansive for your own good. You can try and edit down the article, if you feel you're being too verbose, or...

...create a separate blog post. If there is enough pertinent information there and you don't want to lose your work, simply cut and paste into a new document, restructure both blogs a little, and you've done your work for the week.

Create a System

Use a system for creating your blog posts. It usually looks something like this:

  • Devising
  • Researching
  • Drafting
  • Revising
  • Publishing
  • Promoting

You don't have to write all day every day to achieve a good product. In fact, if you gather enough good material, most of the time the blog will write itself. Put those writing skills you learned in school to good work! Blog posts thrive off of a good system. [Bonus: How to Write a Successful Blog Post.]

Stuck?

It never hurts to call in a professional for help. It isn't easy to establish a writing regime from scratch. Luckily, there are companies like ours that can help get you started. Don't hesitate to give us a call with any questions you may have - we'd love to help you become a successful blogger.