The why and how of successful blogging

A blog is a powerful way to establish your presence as a leader, generate leads, build interest, educate customers, answer questions, and stay relevant. 

A lot of websites include a blog as an afterthought, eventually leaving it to die a slow, lonely death. Ouch. Some other businesses, however, invest in a brilliant blog strategy, put together a library of stellar content, and use that space to build their business and contribute revenue.

Look, don’t take my word for it. Let these numbers sink in:

Long-form blog posts reportedly generated 9 times more leads for businesses¹.

57% of marketers say they’ve gained customers specifically through blogging².

Content marketing is 62% cheaper than traditional marketing³.

77% of internet users regularly read blog posts⁴.

71% of B2B buyers consume blog content during their buyer journey⁵.

Data like this is convincing enough in itself. But the best way to use data is to gain insight, and use it to craft an effective blogging strategy. Here are some blogging tips, backed by data, that can help you create an impressive portfolio of content.

1. Be consistent
Fact: 67% of bloggers who reported ‘strong results’ in 2019 posted on a daily basis.⁶

How often should you publish articles on your blog? The more frequent, the better, but not more than once a day. However, if you have to choose between quality or quantity, go for the former.

2. Mix it up
Fact: Articles with images get 94% more views as opposed to those with no visuals⁷.

Use visual formats to add interest and make your content easier to consume.
Pro tip: Get creative and make the most of every idea you have. Convert old articles into bite-sized information, podcast episodes, infographics, listicles, or videos.

3. Rope in the professionals
Facts: More than 92% of marketers consider content as a valuable asset worth investing in⁸.
Better content can drive traffic to a blog by up to 2,000%⁹.

Apart from drastically improving the quality of your content, outsourcing your writing to a professional is also cost-effective and frees up your in-house resources.

4. Headlines matter
Fact: 59% of people will share an article that they will never read².

That means the headline caught their attention. Make sure you have a headline that is strong enough to close the deal – whether that means clicking through to read, share, or buy.

Some other things you can incorporate into your blog strategy to grow your audience are SEO optimisation, audience research, guest blogging, social sharing, and email subscription. Blogs are also powerful tools for thought leaders, and a content and copywriting service like Wordsy can help with writing, editing, and proofreading content that will help you, your brand, and your business grow an impressive digital presence that drives business results.

Sources:

1 Siege Media | 2 Opt-inmonster | 3 Ryan Robinson | 4 Demand Metric | 5 2018 Content Preferences Survey Report by Demand Gen | 6 Impact | 7 Blog Tyrant | 8 Ryan Robinson | 9 Isitwp