Alle Ceambur

Learn the 3 secrets of how to build a successful blog strategy for your business so you can attract more clients and visits to your website.

But first, let me ask you this:

Is Blogging the right choice for marketing your small business?

As you’re aware, social media and paid ads are popular choices for brands nowadays. So why blogging is better?

Content Marketing: Building a Successful Blog Strategy vs Social Media Content

For most small businesses posting on social media is the best approach to attract more clients. It’s fairly cheap, and you don’t need to hire an expert writer. In some cases, you may be able to do it yourself – although I don’t recommend it.

3 Reasons why a blog is an important marketing tool:

1. Social media requires you to post daily to grow. You only need to post 1-3 times per month on your blog and see organic traffic

As an experienced marketer, managing multiple brands’ social media accounts, I know how much time it takes to create, schedule & post 20+ social media posts every month.

You need to constantly search for new trends, and come up with content ideas that are creative, valuable, authentic, engaging, and that bring you some form of return on investment (ROI).

And I haven’t even touched on analytics & reporting.

Maintaining a blog takes less time and you don’t even need subscriptions fo scheduling tools. I used to post 3-4 posts a month in the beginning. Nowadays I post 1 article per month and still get good organic traffic (above 10k visits per month).

But productivity is not even the main benefit when it comes to blogging vs social media.

2. Social media lacks SEO capabilities, a blog does not

As a business owner, you want to find the best ways to reach your customers. Do your customers spend most of their time on social media? Yes? Maybe.

Social media is a popular channel for engaging with customers, but it lacks one major thing: Searchability. Purchase intent. And even #SEO.

This is where a blog comes in.

Most people use Google to search for answers, find solutions to problems and learn new things. In return, they get directed to read educational blog posts.

3. A Blog is best used as an attraction and retention tool

The Extraordinary Power of Blog Content Marketing

With a business blog, you don’t need to be selling hard. Instead, by publishing valuable, helpful and educational content, people will come to your website. Eventually, they’ll enter your email list by choice, not force.

That’s what your business blog is best used for: as an attraction and retention tool.

How to Build a Blog for Business: Facts & Figures You Need To Know:

Why your business cannot ignore blogging anymore:

• Brands with a blog receive 97% more links to their website.
• Content marketers with a blog are 13x more likely to see ROI.
• Businesses who blog get 67% more leads.
• Websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages (great for SEO!)

The 3 Rules for Building a Successful Blog for Business

Rule #1: Plan your content around Long-Tail Keywords

Since Google determines which posts get the most traffic, you should start choosing content ideas based on keywords that are easy to target.

Long-tail keywords are made up of longer words or specific phrases that people search on Google. These keywords have fewer volume searches but they’re easier to rank if you know how to use them.

You can use keyword research tools like SEMrush to find keyword suggestions.

For example, the keyword “how to start a food blog” is easier to rank than “how to start a blog”.

Rule #2: Choose Blog Post Formats That Are Easier To Rank and Write for Small Business

01. Listicles

This is one of the most popular blog post formats, as it’s fairly easy to write. In general, the blog post includes a numbered list that feels organized and easy to read, like 10 websites every content marketer needs to know.

Blog post ideas for listicles:

• Top 100 songs of this year
• 7 Steps to write a blog post
• Best 10 social media management tools
• Top 9 social media planners

02. “How to” posts

This blog format can be used to teach your followers a skill, like how to schedule social media content. You want to write in a way that answers the reader’s main question, with valuable tips and steps.

Post ideas for “How to” blog posts:

• How to schedule content on Instagram
• How to overcome procrastination
• How to build a Lego castle
• How to teach your cat tricks

PS: Watch this Free 2-hour Writing workshop and download my blog post templates at the end. Use this guide to practice writing your first blog post.

Rule #3: Build a Content Strategy for your Blog

When you decide to use your blog as a content marketing tool, it’s important to have a strategy.

You’ll need to think about:

• How frequently can you create content (eg. 1 post per week, 2 posts per mo.)
• What types of content will you post (eg. ideas, topics, keywords)
• Your goals for the blog (eg. generate leads, traffic, awareness)
• How to promote your blog post (eg. interlink social media, paid ads)

Learn how to do keyword research in this video.

How to Create an Editorial Calendar for your Blog

An editorial calendar will help you manage your blog content and stay consistent.

There are various ways to build a content calendar. You can use a digital planning tool like Asana, Trello.com or create a template in Google Sheets, like I’m showing you in the example below.

The fields you can add:

• Status
• Title
• Target Keyword
• Keyword volume – I use SEMrush (FREE trial) to do keyword research
• Author
• Publishing date

How Editorial Calendar Tools to Help You Build a Successful Blog Strategy

If you’re hiring multiple writers or guest bloggers, I’d suggest you use a professional planning tool like Trello to manage your editorial content. This tool allows you more collaborative features and is better at tracking posts’ status using a visual calendar.

For example, you can create boards for different stages of writing:

• Researching ideas
• Writing drafts
• Editing & proofreading
• Final check
• Publishing

Final thoughts: How to Build a Successful Blog for your Business

A successful blog is one that helps attract and nurture your readers. Compared to social media content, blog posts are much more valuable in long term. Also, a blog is searchable, so you can take advantage of the Google search feature to get your website in front of interested people.

Do you need a blog for your small business?

I can help! Check out my affordable blog writing plans to get started!