Blog Your Way to Better Business
How can a blog help my business?
What are some common types of blog posts I can create?
How do I get people to read my blog posts?
Imagine there’s a company called Equatorial Expeditions that organizes trips to locations across Latin America.
Equatorial Expeditions wants more people to come to their site and see the unique experiences Latin America has to offer. So they decide to start a blog and brainstorm ideas for posts that will interest potential customers.
Equatorial Expeditions knows Latin American travel, but their marketing team has never created blog content before.
Let’s help them figure out which of their ideas might make the best posts.
Most marketing focuses on sales, but blogs let you engage with your audience in a way that offers insights and entertainment, without calls to buy something.
However, a good blog can still help you make sales. People who enjoy your content are more likely to think good things about your brand and return to your website in the future.
This is important, because people who are familiar with your brand and have visited your site are 2-3 times more likely to click on your name in search results. They’re also 2-3 times more likely to make a purchase when they visit your site.
You can either keep your blog close to home and host it on your own website, or you can set it up on a separate platform.
Hosting your blog on your own site lets you customize the look and experience. But unless you know web development, you’ll probably need to pay a developer to create the blog management platform for you.
If your blog lives on an outside platform like Blogger, Tumblr, Medium, or WordPress, you won’t be able to fully customize it, but it’ll likely be easier and cheaper to set up because you won’t have to develop the site yourself.
Once you’ve figured out where to house your blog, you can turn your attention to creating content your target audience will want to read and share.
What you blog about will of course depend on your specific industry and audience, as well as your personal interests and expertise. But there are a number of versatile styles and topics that anyone can use to structure content.
Here’s a look at some common blog post styles:
Lists
“The 5 hottest nightlife spots in Cartagena, Colombia”
Slideshows
“Look at these stunning photos of Rio de Janeiro at sunset”
How-to’s
“How to live it up in Buenos Aires on a budget”
Interviews
“A hostel owner in Quito shares his secrets for exploring the city”
And here are some common topics you can blog about:
Current Events
“This Mexico City museum’s Frida Kahlo exhibit is a must-see for art lovers”
Trends
“See why savvy travelers are flocking to this gorgeous Costa Rican island”
Communal Identity
“10 things only people who have been to Machu Picchu will understand”
Personal Experiences
“Visiting the Brazilian rainforest changed how I think about animals and the environment”
TIP
Even the best bloggers run out of ideas sometimes. If it happens to you, try getting inspiration from what your target audience is sharing on social media. See what types of content are working well for your competitors and what insights you can gain from that success for your own content.
When you publish a new post, you need to promote it, or most people won’t know it exists. So use social media and email marketing to push your content.
Whenever you publish a new blog entry, make a separate post on all your social media accounts that links to it and gives people a preview image and/or preview text.Email marketing is another good way to promote your blog and build readership. Collect email addresses by including calls to action (CTAs) in your blog posts that encourage readers to sign up for exclusive content or special product offers.
If you already have an email list, you can send messages to your subscribers letting them know you’ve just started the web’s best new blog. Then you can keep them updated when new posts come out.
You can also pay to run ads on social media platforms that will push your content to your target demographics. You’ll usually get better results when you promote your most popular posts.
LISTEN UP
Online readers are always hungry for new posts. The more regularly you publish, the more regularly people will return to your site looking for your awesome content. Writing a lot of posts can be difficult, but making and following a content schedule can help keep you on track.
You’re creating some of the internet’s all-time great lists and how-to’s, but is anyone actually reading them? You need to measure and test your content to find out.Try different tactics and see what works. If certain subjects or styles aren’t popular, think about what you can change. But don’t get discouraged if every post doesn’t take off right away. Your audience might not be large enough yet.
Pay attention to how many views, likes, comments, and shares your posts are getting. If certain types of posts or certain subjects are more popular than others, make more of that type of content going forward.
DO THIS NOW
Hopefully you’re excited to start creating great content. But first, let’s figure out whether you should host your blog on your own site or on an outside platform.
If you’re participating in the course, go to the next section to access your self assessment.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Starting a blog and posting interesting content can attract people to your website who will be more likely to think of your brand positively and buy from you in the future.
Common styles of blog posts include lists, slideshows, how-to's, and interviews.
To attract readers, post regularly and promote your content on social media and in your email marketing.