You already know that content marketing is widely considered to be essential for your business. Maybe you’ve already got a blog that gets some organic traffic.
What’s next?
The sad truth is that most local businesses aren’t blogging about the right things in the right way. As a result, they’re losing business that’s going to their competitors.
If your blog is getting minimal traffic, you might be tempted not to post often or even to write it off entirely. That’s a mistake. Instead, keep reading to learn about the types of content that will help attract more qualified visitors to your site and help you grow your business.
What Does the Buyer’s Journey Have to Do with Your Blog?
I see a lot of local business who think that all blog topics are created equal. I cringe when I see post after post about internal company business or news that doesn’t tie into defined business goals. It’s a waste of valuable real estate on your website.
One of the best ways to use your blog to attract more qualified leads is to focus on topics that are relevant to your ideal customer and their journey toward buying your product or hiring you to perform a service.
A good way to start is to make a list of questions that people frequently ask about your products or services. Those can serve as the jumping off point for blog posts.
There are a few mistakes you should avoid with this type of content.
You best bet is to focus on long-tail keywords and questions. Remember that voice searches are more popular than ever, and most people ask questions when they do a query with Cortana or Siri.
To make the point, let’s look at an example. If the owner of a fashion boutique were looking for blog topics, she might want to write about clothes. Her inventory is mostly casual clothing and ranges from designer jeans to office casual. She won’t be speaking to her buyers’ journey if she writes about:
Likewise, she’s not going to be able to compete with articles about how to choose the right pair of jeans from sites such as Stitch Fix. And finally, she’s unlikely to get a ton of traffic if she chooses an obscure topic about buttons.
The goal with this type of content is to find a sweet spot that helps people find your website AND provides them with information that moves them toward a purchase.
Linkable Content and Traffic
Your second option is to choose blog topics that are likely to attract backlinks over time. This type of content usually falls into one of two categories:
In the former category, we might be looking at a post that explains how to restore and care for cast iron pans. That would be ideal for a kitchen supply store or possibly a cooking school. In the latter category, it might be a wedding expense infographic that helps people allocate their budgets properly, a topic that would be useful for a wedding planner or bridal boutique.
Because you want the content to be linkable and stay linkable, your best bet is to choose evergreen content. Evergreen content is content that remains useful over time. The alternative with a data-driven blog post is to commit to updating it regularly as needed to keep it relevant.
Tips for Finding Blog Topics
Thinking of blog topics can take time, so let’s finish with a few tips to help you decide which topics will help you attract new visitors to your blog.
I suggest making a list of potential topics and creating a schedule. Make sure that you cover each topic thoroughly and break your post up with images and subheadings. If you can use related questions and long-tail keywords as headings, you’ll be likely to attract traffic for multiple searches.
Blogging can be the ideal content marketing tool for small businesses if you choose your topics wisely and have a goal in mind. The information I’ve included here can help you turn your blog into a lead-generating powerhouse.
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