One of the biggest challenges for any business is implementing a blog strategy that brings results. With so many options and angles, it can be hard to determine the best approach for blogging. This makes many of us wonder how to develop a blog content strategy, especially since the onset of the pandemic.
Not to mention, the world of digital marketing is constantly changing. Even though your industry may stay the same for years, the methods that you use to market your business will change. This is especially the case when you are marketing your business in the digital world.
If you’re wondering how to develop a blog content strategy that’s effective and productive, these tips will help you stay on top of the game.
What is a Blog Strategy?
A blog strategy is one component of your entire digital marketing strategy. A blog strategy is a plan for how you will promote your blog, attract and keep readers, and most importantly, help your bottom line.
There’s a misconception that the only way makes money with a blog is with affiliate marketing or promoting it with ads. But the truth is that you can achieve your results organically with SEO, social media, and even email marketing.
In business, there are many different kinds of success possibilities when it comes to blogging. It can involve leads and sales, but it can also improve the path of business growth. Understand that a blog strategy is something that you work on for the long haul that can grow your business over time.
Generally, a blog strategy in 2022 will help you to:
✓ Attract the right customers to your blog.
✓ Identify your core market.
✓ Choose the right keywords for your blog.
✓ Drive traffic to your blog.
✓ Create a relationship that leads to sales.
✓ Make blogging a part of your business strategy.
✓ Make blogging a part of your overall marketing strategy.
How to Develop a Blog Strategy: Determining Content Goals
One of the essential steps on how to develop a blog strategy is determining your content goals. Each blog needs to serve a purpose other than filling an empty space on your website.
Without purpose, you can’t possibly expect your blog to perform up to your expectations. But what are some of the content goals to focus on as you develop a blog strategy?
Blogging for SEO
Blogging for SEO is one of the most popular reasons why brands choose to blog in the first place. Over time, you can achieve top-tier rankings with the help of blogging which brings a variety of benefits.
If you choose blogging for SEO as a content goal, you’ll need to keep some of the following technical tips in mind. This list will help you learn how to optimize a blog for SEO. Keep in mind that is only one piece of the puzzle, but it’s an essential element when you’re using blogging for SEO:
Blogging for SEO Checklist:
- Keyphrase(keyword) Density – 1% for the primary keyword, 0.5% for secondary keyword.
- Use Keyphrase in the blog title: Put this as close to the beginning as possible
- Use Keyphrase in slug
- 1-2 Outbound links to high authority websites (.edu, .gov, etc.)
- 2-3 Internal links to help establish website hierarchy
- Include the keyphrase in the introduction
- Use keyphrase in the meta description
- Meta description length – 150 to 160 characters
- Image alt attributes should contain your blog keyword
- SEO title length – 50-60 characters
- Heading H1 – Your blog title is typically in H1 format
- Heading H2 – Use as subheaders throughout the blog
- Headings H3 to H4 – Use to make offshoot points and headers as needed
Blogging for Lead Generation
Are you looking to achieve lead generation for your blog? This is possible, but you’ll need to make sure you are choosing the right topics as well as keywords. If your blog is driving leads, it means it’s resonating with your audience on an emotional level.
You can further drive leads with your blog by doing the following:
- Hitting the pain points of your audience. What matters to them most right now, and what keeps them awake at night?
- Researching topic ideas that relate to those pain points
- Determining keywords that target the pain points which may be in question format
- Including a call-to-action
An important note about blogging for lead generation: blogs can directly and indirectly convert. In a perfect world, a customer will land on your blog and fill out the form to contact you. However, this isn’t always the case.
For example, a customer may land on your blog then navigate to another page on your website and convert from there. The customer may also bookmark your blog and come back at a later date, or decide to just pick up the phone and call you.
Some leads may manifest in other ways such as signing up for your email list. There are many variables with blogging and lead generation techniques to consider if you choose this content goal.
Check out my video about setting goals for your blog, helping you learn how to develop a blog strategy in more detail.
Blogging to Become an Industry Authority
This is a lofty goal, but so is everything else that will make a big difference in your brand presentation. Using your blog to become an industry authority involves a lot of time and the creation of top-tier content.
- Plan to create unique blog posts that your competitors aren’t already covering.
- Include original research, stats or insights.
- The blogs will likely need to be in-depth with long word counts.
- You may need to tap into the network of industry influencers to help attract the attention of more readers.
- Make it a priority to include a meticulous writing and editing process, as your content will need to be impeccable to reach the level of an industry authority.
These are only a few examples of content goals that you can use for blogging. If your blog topic does not help you achieve your goals, you should not move forward with the topic.
How to Develop a Blog Strategy with a Content Calendar
Are you wondering how to develop a blog strategy? You’ll need to have a content calendar to streamline the process and maximize results. You can’t create a blog strategy without a plan and a content calendar is one of the very first steps. Without a strategized blog calendar, you’ll be spinning your wheels when it comes to content creation.
Why Use a Content Calendar?
They’re extremely helpful for keeping your digital marketing strategy on track and moving your plan in the right direction. It’s time to get organized with your blog strategy with a content calendar. You can use editorial calendars for blog posts, social media postings, and more.
- Clearly see what content needs to be created, edited, and scheduled for publishing.
- Help prevent you from missing scheduled posts and blog promotions.
- Keep your blog posts organized and easy to find by month and year.
- Create an editorial calendar for your blog that you can use as a reference and planning tool.
- Using a content calendar helps keep your strategic goals in front of you at all times.
- Content calendars make it easy to share with a team when your blog involves multiple people or writers.
- It helps keep you focused, especially when you’re busy.
- Because you’ll know what you’re publishing in the next few weeks, you can schedule your workload accordingly.
- A content calendar helps to formulate an effective marketing strategy, by keeping all components of your plan in one place.
- You can see your blog plan at a glance, giving you the big picture to keep you on point.
Since content calendars can be used for blogging as well as social media marketing, it can be helpful to blend the two together into one convenient resource.
Include the following in your content calendar:
- Blog post topic
- Publishing date
- Targeted keyword
- Content goal
- Resources
- A lineup of all of the publishing platforms where you plan to promote (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc)
- You can even break it down into publishing times with AM/PM, or an exact time of day that you’d like your post to be sent out.
I personally use Google Sheets to organize my blog content. It’s free and user-friendly. It’s also easy to share Google Sheets with team members or writers a blog writer to tackle your blogging plan.
Your blogging calendar is an essential asset to keeping your digital marketing strategy on track, and not leaving you stuck wondering what and when to post. This is a must-have component for your digital strategy in 2022.
Be Consistent with Your Blogging
The truth is that blogging is really hard work, and it’s tough to stay consistent. If you’re really looking to get ahead with your blogging strategy, you must be consistent. This means that you need to set a blogging schedule and stick to it.
Furthermore, you’ll also need to adhere to a consistent social media publishing schedule. All too often, business owners will haphazardly post on social media platforms without any result, resulting in giving up before they’re able to pick up momentum. They’ll also do the same with their blogs, stopping the process long before the fruits of their labor appear.
It’s very difficult to get results out of blogging if you aren’t consistent, and it’s vital for your success.
My video will below will show you how to develop a blog strategy with consistency in mind:
The other side of the coin of consistency is strategic application. You need to have an end goal in mind with your digital marketing strategy, and ideally, this goal will have measurable metrics such as traffic numbers, cost-per-click, impressions, and more. This is where you need to keep your content goals in mind as you plan on your blog through the year.
What is Your Blog Strategy for 2022?
Do you need help on how to develop a blog strategy? We offer blog planning services that can help you pinpoint blogging goals, keywords, and much more. Contact us today to learn about our blog planning and how it can help improve your overall blog strategy.
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