A website without a blog is like a heart without a beat.
Look, your blog truly represents your digital pulse. And, it’s the activity center of your business website, enhancing your web presence and reputation.
But, the thing is, a blog can take many forms. It serves different purposes for a business, but also for its customers. The most successful blogs weave a secret thread called engagement into their fabric. Blogging isn’t as simple as it seems.
Creating and maintaining that elusive and precious thread of engagement makes it even more challenging. Drawing an audience, increasing website traffic, and crafting consistent content for your blog is only the beginning!
Your blog gives your business a voice. And, your business blog is the hub of your brand’s digital home. Your blog welcomes visitors, prospects, customers/clients, and even employees, suppliers, or partners.
So be sure your blog’s content rolls out the red carpet and welcomes people, enticing them to want to know more about you!
To help determine the right direction for your blog, think things over first. Even if you’re not new to blog management, you still may want to revisit a few key questions for clarity and purpose. (Hint: Keep doing this over time to evolve.)
Without a clear purpose and direction, your blog won’t help bring you business results. But don’t worry. Your website’s subject and main topics surface as you decipher your blog’s “why.”
If your website and blog are associated with a business, physical or digital, whether service or product-oriented, you already have some purpose or direction for your blog built-in.
Remember, distilling your blog’s vision to a singular core and understood direction is key to your business and blog doing well and gaining traction on the web.
What’s Your Mission?
A business, or a blog as a business, needs a Mission, Vision, and Values Statement in place— or at the least a Statement of Purpose or Company Manifesto— as a general guide to conducting business. It explains your WHY clearly and concisely to anyone with anything to do with the company.
Once you take a deep dive and microscopic look at who you are as a business, focus on your audience to identify your target market.
Knowing who you serve is a major factor in determining the kind of blog content to create. Taking extra time at the start to understand your audience (target market) and your business (blog strategy) pays.
Discovering your ICA or ideal client avatar is crucial in connecting the dots for developing content that leads to conversions.
This understanding is the turnkey to creating engagement for a successful blog.
Getting these first steps in place shortens the time it takes for you to have an impact with your business blog as the center of your digital hub. Your blog IS central to your digital presence, helping create your digital footprint.
I encourage you to embrace a resource-rich and mixed-media approach for your content strategy, while always maintaining a user-friendly mindset.
Remember, the content you create is the path you are offering to invite visitors, readers, and customers to get to know you, further.
Along this path, your focus is always on UX or user experience. And in turn, along the way, site users learn about you and your business or products. (And why you are fantastic, of course!)
Build Authority and Trust
At this point, it’s a good idea to contemplate what kind of content best fits your business blog and supremely serves your audience. But, seek relevance and authority in everything you create for your blog, so people see you as credible and trustworthy.
Content can move an audience in so many ways. No matter what variety of content or media you create, audience focus means you’ll want to inform, entertain, answer burning questions, and otherwise offer useful, valuable, compelling content to connect with people.
The possibilities for content are unlimited, but most often, well-written content is at the core of most blogs. No matter the final content format.
One of the biggest plusses to quality written pieces is they can be evergreen, meaning they maintain their value over a long time. Evergreen content is valuable for its longevity, but timely (trending) content makes a memorable impression and shows you are on top of industry-related happenings.
Still, original content is your top goal.
Establish Clarity and Focus for Your Blog
Gaining clarity and focus first allows your marketing, content marketing, and finally, blog content strategy to align, bringing you intentional and meaningful business results.
Taking a little extra time and these first steps shortens how long it takes to have an impact with your business blog, the center of your digital hub. Your blog IS the core of your digital presence, helping to create your digital footprint with every touchpoint. So make sure your blog has a heartbeat!
When you’re clear about your blog direction and business goals, you can customize the content you produce in your authentic style, so it suits your unique audience and helps you reach business goals.
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Psst. it’s going to be super fab!
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