By now, most businesses understand the importance of having a blog, sharing original content, and increasing return on investment. But do you know blogging is about much more than just uploading content?
It calls for a strategy of its own that takes time and patience to carve out, execute, and get results from—but the results are undoubtedly worth it.
When done correctly, blogging helps marketers be 13x more likely to see a positive ROI on their efforts and generate more traffic and leads for B2B and B2C brands. It is vital to have a blog page accessible to all, including those who are differently-abled.
Put simply, the more you invest into building a top-notch, accessible blog, and the more responsive you are to creating content based on audience feedback, the stronger the presence you will build on the internet and thus, the better your online brand will be.
If you want to get a good head start with blogging or want to refurbish your strategy, here are some actionable tips to help you transform your blog into an online brand:
1. Grow your email list
An easy way to promote your blog is by growing your email list from among your regular readers. Chances are you publish new content around two or three times a week—however, it is also acceptable to post just once a week.
Pick up a few blog posts from your content repository and repurpose them into a themed, easy-to-digest piece of content such as a downloadable brochure.
You could have a seasonal theme or something related to a topic that your readers want resources on, such as “A Guide To Preparing For Online Branding.” Then, send these out to a targeted set of your blog subscribers.
Other ways to engage them via email include monthly content roundups and curated best-of type emails.
2. Use social media marketing
Without a doubt, social media marketing is a must for brands of any size and in any industry space that want to succeed. Social media platforms are great choices to promote your blog posts. Share an update on your social feeds whenever a new post is up and provide a link in your bio so that your followers can go check it out. This is also a good opportunity for you to ask your followers what kinds of content they would be most interested to see posts about, thus helping you be more relevant to them.
3. Set up your RSS feed
While it is likely that people across your audience read content from multiple social media networks, some of them might prefer using an RSS feed to categorize content feeds from the publications they like.
If your blog is built on WordPress, all you need to do is add /feed to the end of your blog’s root domain to have your RSS feed.
Use any web accessibility auditing tool to ensure your blog pages meet established Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and that everyone can access them and consume the content.
Then, share this link on your social media pages and in your emails to your subscribers so that your audience can consume your content in the way they most prefer.
4. Answer questions on Quora
Quora is a Q&A platform where fellow members of the community answer questions on multiple topics. It has been around for a while, but it is considered one of the best places to build backlinks.
To optimize your Quora presence while generating traffic for your blog, pick some of the most relevant questions related to what you blog about and then provide answers that are tweaked versions of your blog post while including a hyperlink back to your page.
Try not to just blatantly post the link to your blog post in your Quora answer. You should also avoid copying and pasting your answers onto the Quora page, as it might get flagged for plagiarism. Simultaneously, be sure to up-vote other people’s responses and follow topics and niches relevant to your industry.
5. Invest in influencer marketing
Influencers have large followings of industry-specific audiences, and a collaboration with an influencer in your specific niche can instantly boost your reach and readership. Start by identifying the influencers you most want to work with and then connect with them via social media. In this context, you could also consider working with micro-influencers.
Not only will it cost less than collaborating with big names, but micro-influencers are looking for growth opportunities themselves. They will likely promote your blog/brand with more individual care.
6. Participate in up-vote communities
Aggregate sites such as Triberr, GrowthHackers, and BizSugar allow users with similar interests to share their blog posts and those by others to help the community access high-quality content.
These sites typically have an up-vote functionality that lets users vote for whether they liked a piece of content. By regularly sharing your blog posts in communities like these, you can potentially boost your blog traffic if community voters want your work and are keen to check out your site for more.
7. Be present on social bookmarking sites
Some members of your audience might visit social bookmarking platforms such as Digg, Flipboard, and AllTop and read curated content on the topics they are interested in. This allows you to share your blog posts in the most relevant discussion forum or topic thread. Be sure to pick an eye-catching headline for your posts, as this is what users will see first.
Wrapping it up
Businesses of all sizes need to know that merely creating high-quality content is not enough. You need to promote it widely and strategically across different platforms so that it reaches your readers, rather than waiting for readers to come to you.
And the best part is—if you prioritize your blogging strategy in the right way, that can further boost your brand and help grow your reach to the point where new readers (and customers) come looking for you!
