In the cyber security field, there is a term called “security fatigue” that describes how some employees feel after being told again and again (and again…) that they need to choose strong passwords, avoid sharing their account credentials, and follow other best practices for keeping data and networks safe.
The reason we bring this up, is because you may be experiencing a case of “blog fatigue.” Yes, you have known for years that your business needs to have a great blog. What’s more, you’ve certainly been on websites belonging to your competitors or other companies you admire, and thought to yourself “wow, their blog is amazing — we really need to reach that level.”
But then, things get busy and other top priorities take over — most notably serving customers and generating revenue. And before long, your inspired blog re-invention project gets pushed down the agenda, until it falls off the radar screen entirely. The problem with this, however, is that a great blog isn’t a nice-to-have anymore: it’s must have. And you don’t have to just take our word for it. Here are some eye-opening statistics:
Blogging by the Numbers
- Blogging and other custom content creation is ranked as the #1 most effective SEO technique. (Source: Marketing Sherpa)
- 68% of B2B and B2C customers are likely to spend time reading content produced by a company they are interested in. (Source: Content Marketing Association)
- Businesses that prioritize blogging are 1300% more likely to generate positive ROI than those who don’t. (Source: HubSpot)
- 61% of customers say they are more likely to buy from a business that regularly publishes custom blog content vs. republishes content found elsewhere. (Source: Custom Content Council)
- 82% of businesses that blog daily have acquired a customer exclusively because of their blog. (Source: HubSpot)
- Businesses with active blogs generate 67% more leads than those who don’t. (Source: HubSpot)
- Businesses with active blogs generate 97% more links to their website than those who don’t. (Source: HubSpot)
- Generating leads through blogging (and other inbound marketing methods) is 62% less costly than generating leads via outbound or conventional marketing methods. (Source: HubSpot)
- Blogs reach 80% of all U.S. Internet users. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)
- 47% of B2B buyers read 3-5 blog posts or other pieces of content prior to talking with a salesperson. (Source: DemandGenReport)
Best Practices for a Profitable Blog
Ultimately, while having a great blog is certainly a source of pride — after all, we’re sure you’d rather be the business that your competitors envy vs. the other way around! — the fact remains that your goal is to drive your business forward, which means that you need your blog to be profitable. To that end, here are 10 proven and practical best practices:
- Ensure that content is relevant to your target audiences.
- Blog frequently vs. once in a while. Businesses that publish 16 or more blogs per month generate 4500% more leads than businesses that publish 0-4 blogs per month (source: HubSpot).
- Properly optimize your blog post for search engines.
- Pay attention to design, formatting and graphics. Blog posts with images generate substantially more views than those without images.
- Drive traffic to your blog by announcing new content on your social media pages (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), as well as through email and e-newsletters.
- Allocate sufficient resources to your blog. Otherwise it will get pushed to the side and you’ll lose momentum.
- Add relevant Call-to-Actions (CTAs) to all blog posts. These typically appear at the end, but can also appear throughout posts as long as they are contextually relevant and not distracting.
- Ensure that blog posts are professionally written. This goes beyond grammar (there’s the who vs. whom again!). A well-written blog is informative, engaging, clear, interesting, and above all it is highly readable. Frankly, it doesn’t matter how substantial a blog post is. If reading it feels like slogging uphill, people simply won’t read it.
- Ensure that blog posts are at least 500 words long. It’s also perfectly fine — and in fact, recommended — to have lengthier posts. Longer, in-depth blog posts generate significantly more leads than shorter posts, and the average word count of top-ranked content in Google is around 1200 words.
- Augment and amplify your blog’s impact by occasionally publishing guest posts. Ideally these will be original (i.e. they won’t be published and indexed on any other websites). However, it’s OK every now and then to publish syndicated content in your blog, provided that the information is relevant to your target audience.
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Hopefully by now you’ve shaken off any lingering effects of “blog fatigue,” and that you’re re-energized and ready to turn your blog into a profitable business asset!
For expert support in this area ranging from guiding your executive and management teams to handling every aspect of your blog publishing program — from topic development through to online publishing — contact the Noble Webworks team today. Your consultation with us is free.
