Although business blogging has steadily gained popularity throughout the last several years, not everyone has had the opportunity to experience its power. Unfortunately, business owners can get wrapped up in the initial excitement of blogging, only to give up a short time later due to lack of results.
When business blogging isn’t delivering on its laundry list of promises, it’s not a wonder that business owners want to throw in the towel. It might even appear as if business blogging is just a bunch of hype, but the truth is that a lot of business owners are simply running a blog that’s broken.
And a broken blog will never yield impressive results for any business owner.
So, these are the top indicators that you’re running a broken business blog—and what to do if you find yourself meeting the signs.
Broken Blog Sign #1: No Traffic
Funneling targeted traffic to your blog can be a tough road, but it can also be a sign of trouble when you’re getting no traffic at all, despite your efforts. There are several reasons why no traffic is a sign of a broken blog, and it can come down to both the quality of your content or your blogging strategy.
So, if you aren’t getting any traffic to your company blog, take a close look at the following factors:
- Your promotion strategy. In order to maximize traffic flow to your company blog, you must promote on a regular (if not daily) basis
- The actual content on your blog. If your articles aren’t hitting the right note with customers, clicks and traffic won’t come your way
- Take a close look at your headlines. Writing effective headlines is an art, and bad headlines can tank your traffic flow
If your traffic numbers are less than stellar, this doesn’t mean that your blog is broken forever. You can begin to repair your blog by analyzing the content that you’re offering on your blog, and ensuring that it is both helpful and relevant to your audience. Tweak and test your blog headlines, and make an effort to promote your blog on a daily basis if at all possible.
Broken Blog Sign #2: Poor Presentation
You might be wondering how poor presentation can equal a broken blog, but it’s actually not a far-fetched concept. Blog presentation absolutely affects your business blog’s performance, and it can actually be driving customers away.
For example, some business owners make the mistake of formatting their blogs as one giant blog of text. This makes it difficult for customers to read, and drastically reduces the impact of your presentation.
Luckily, broken blogs from poor presentation are relatively easy to fix. Here are a few tips to help your blog recover from the blahs:
- Use sub-headers with H3 tag
- Stick to 3-4 sentences per paragraph
- Use italic and bold font throughout your blog post
- Include relevant visuals
- Use bullet points for easy scanning
As you can see, it doesn’t take much to bring your blog back to life with proper presentation techniques. You’d be surprised at what a presentation overhaul can do for your blog’s performance, and it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort at all.
Broken Blog Sign #3: Inconsistent Publishing
When you’re running a company blog, it’s important to stick to a predicable publishing schedule. We’re human and sometimes life happens and you’ll miss a post here and there, but do your best to pick a day (or two, or three) each week to publish a post.
If the thought of publishing on a regular basis overwhelms you, consider using an editorial calendar. You can use the calendar to stockpile blog topic ideas as well, so you won’t be scrambling for ideas when your publishing date is looming.
When you don’t publish posts frequently, customers can be under the impression that you’ve abandoned on your website. In turn, your website’s content will become outdated and no longer relevant. Offering fresh content on your blog is crucial to bringing new traffic to your website and generating leads, so refrain from skipping posts if at all possible.
Broken Blog Sign #4: No Customer Engagement
Lack of customer engagement is one of the biggest signs of a broken business blog. One of the many benefits of business blogging is connecting with customers and getting feedback through comments, e-mail, or even a phone call.
But when your customers aren’t engaging, it’s a telltale sign that your business blog is broken.
If your blog is suffering from lack of engagement, there are several approaches that you can take in order to turn up the volume:
- Ask relevant questions in your blog post to prompt a response from customers. Better yet, end your blog post with a question so it’s the very last thing that they read before taking further action
- Run a contest through your blog and directly encourage your customers to interact
- Share your posts on social media and ask questions to prompt responses (and encourage clicks through to your blog)
- Talk to your customers like human beings and in a conversational tone. It sounds simple, but talking at them with nothing but sales lingo will result in the exact opposite of engagement—and send your customers packing to another competitor’s website.
Broken Blog Sign #5: Missing Call-to-Action
Business owners can often forget to place a call-to-action somewhere in their blog posts. This isn’t to say that a missing call-to-action will tank your blogging strategy, but it’s one less thing to help prompt your customers to move through the sales funnel.
Keep in mind that you can add a call-to-action in other forms than just text. Buttons are a popular method for getting customers to click through to an e-mail form link—and it’s a lot more eye catching than a simple strand of text.
Furthermore, your call-to-action doesn’t always have to encourage customers to directly buy something. While buying a product directly through your blog is ideal, this generally isn’t the outcome when you’re blogging for business. Business blogging is about educating the customer and gaining trust, so it can be helpful to include a call-to-action that’s centered on content, such as:
- Downloading a free eBook
- Subscribing to a mailing list
- Offering an exclusive case study or white paper
- Free download for unique software that helps solve customer problems
However, it’s never a bad idea to leave a phone number for readers to call, or a link to a contact form. That way your readers can easily get in touch with you if needed.
Broken Blog Sign #6: Poor Quality Content
Perhaps the biggest sign of a broken blog is poor quality content. Customers are instantly turned away from blog posts that don’t answer questions, solve problems, or provide a unique angle.
Not only does the quality of your blog content need to be top notch, it also has to be free from any spelling or grammatical errors—which can drastically reduce your credibility.
So, when you’re writing your blog post, focus on the following features to help enhance the quality of your content:
- Include data that is supported by verified research
- Approaching an overdone topic with a new perspective
- Writing blog content that is useful and teaches your audience something new
- Offering content that is entertaining (yet relevant at the same time)
- Enhancing your content with visuals such as slideshows, graphs, and charts
Google has made it quite clear that the quality of your blog pulls a lot of weight in terms of search engine rankings. In fact, several algorithm updates have been released to ensure that websites with the best content are rewarded with good search engine rankings.
The number one rule is to write blog content that is intended for people, and not search engines. This means you shouldn’t litter your blog posts with nothing but keywords and hope for the best. Your content needs to be helpful, engaging, and easy to read.
Is Your Business Blog Broken?
If your blog is dropping the ball in terms of generating leads and building relationships, it’s time to take a closer look at your strategy. Running a broken business blog will only eat up a lot of your time and have little to show for it—but the good news is that your blog can be repaired by following the aforementioned steps and remaining consistent (and patient).
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