One of our awesome healthcare clients asked us to help them get into the world of blogging. We knew we wanted to create something that would be interesting, valuable and get some attention. After looking for a great topic that would get clicks and visits to their website, we settled on “How to Get more Fruits and Veggies into your Diet”.
More than a year later, that one blog we created for them accounts for about 10% of the website’s monthly traffic. The return was impressive!
Regularly posting quality blogs will drive traffic to your website and increase your overall social following. Best of all, blogging really only costs you your time.
Why you should blog
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Show your website is active to Google, bring in traffic and rank for new keywords
- Grow website traffic, email lists, leads and sales
- Blogs are your chance to speak to clients, address industry issues, give news updates and show your brand personality
- Position your website as an informational source with a knowledgeable staff
- Blogs are social! Share in e-blasts and on social media, getting traffic and followers
Get creative with video, podcasts, photos, surveys and more.
Sitting down to write a blog every week or month sounds daunting to most people, but if you create a strategy and follow these simple tips, blogging can be less of a chore and even pretty fun.
Create a Calendar
Take a look over the next three months to a year. What industry or company events are coming up? What about holidays or national awareness days, weeks and months? What are people doing seasonally? Ask these questions to inform your content calendar.
Maybe there is a time of year that your organization needs a boost in web traffic, leads/sales or donations. Plan to create and release your blogs accordingly so they will have maximum reach and impact. Start early, add more information along the way, and meet your personal deadlines.
Keywords and Trends
Now that you have created a calendar filled with topic ideas for your blogs, see what people are already searching for. If you research trends and keywords associated with your topic, it will help to paint a clear picture of what people need from your blog.
You will get some great keyword insights by using the Google Keyword Planner in Google Ads. It’s a free tool, just sign-up with your Gmail. Use Google Trends to see what was popular over the last year in your topic category.
Lastly, head over to Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit to see if your topic has some clear keywords and trends around it. Check likes, shares and upvotes to see how your topic is already performing around the web to see if it is a worthwhile talking point. Learn more about finding keywords for free.
What’s Already Out There?
Trust us, most topics will already have a wealth of blogs, videos and news articles already on the web. Gather these and read as much as time allows so that you can create a blog that will build on what has already been written, and supply new information.
Just Ask
Ask real people what they want to know. It seems simple but this will give you tons of ideas about what people really want to learn about.
Listen to your clients, create a survey and ask family and friends what could be better explained. Hop on social media or online forums to ask questions and read comments regarding your topic. You might come away with a whole new perspective for your blog or 10 more blog ideas!
Get Creative
You’ve seen what’s out there, what comes up in Google and what keeps getting shared on social media. What can you do differently?
How about creating a YouTube video, hosting a webinar, creating an infographic, doing a live Facebook Q&A, conducting an expert interview or inviting influencers to a roundtable discussion.
Make your blog valuable and stand out from the crowd so more people will check it out and keep coming back for your next ones.
Create Outlines
It’s never too early start outlining your blogs ahead of time. If you are doing something more creative for one, you will need to organize. Get started now so when your deadline is 30 days away, you won’t need to scramble.
Remember, blogging is fun! (We’ve been smiling this whole time!)
It’s your opportunity to show your brand’s personality, provide updates about your business and become a go-to resource for information for current and prospective clients. Your blog will bring in visitors to your site and will give you a voice on social media.
Learn more about why blogs are good for your business here.
Need a little help? The creative team at Uptown Studios is ready to help build your strategy or write blogs for you. Call us today and let’s get blogging! (916) 446-1082
