Welcome to the world of blogging for lead generation! In today's digital age, blogging has become an essential tool for businesses to connect with their target audience and generate leads.

Gone are the days of traditional marketing where companies solely relied on advertisements and cold calls to reach potential customers. With over 4 billion internet users worldwide, having a strong online presence is crucial for any business looking to thrive in this competitive market.

As consumers increasingly turn to the internet for information and solutions, blogging has emerged as one of the most effective ways to attract, engage, and convert potential leads into paying customers.

In this blog post, we will explore best practices that can help you leverage your blog as a powerful lead-generation tool.

So, get ready to take your business growth to new heights by mastering the art of blogging for lead generation!

The Importance of Lead Generation in Marketing

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into individuals who have indicated an interest in your company's product or service. It's about sparking interest in what you offer, creating opportunities for a potential sale, partnership, or whatever your end goal may be.

Successful lead generation strategies create strong relationships with qualified customers who invest in your business for the long term. In the digital age, lead generation often occurs online where a plethora of strategies and techniques can be employed to attract potential leads. These leads, when nurtured correctly, can result in a higher conversion rate, impacting your business revenue positively.

But why is lead generation so important? Well, a business thrives on its customer base, and lead generation helps you reach the right clientele at the right time. It's a targeted approach to marketing that focuses on quality over quantity. Rather than casting a wide net and hoping for the best, lead generation enables you to engage with your audience, understand their needs, and tailor your products and services to satisfy those needs. By focusing on quality leads, you can build a loyal customer base that boosts your business's profitability and reputation in the market.

Tips for Creating Valuable and Engaging Blog Content

When it comes to blogging for lead generation, the quality of your content is crucial. You want to provide your readers with value, engaging them so they feel compelled to interact with your brand further. Here are some tips to help you create valuable and engaging blog content:

1. Understand Your Audience

To create content that resonates with your target audience, you first need to understand their preferences, needs, and pain points. Utilize analytic tools to gather data about your audience and use this information to guide your content creation process.

2. Create Quality Content

High-quality, original content is more likely to engage readers and encourage them to share your posts. Try to provide insightful, actionable advice that your audience can apply in their lives or businesses.

3. Use Captivating Headlines

The headline is the first thing your readers see, so make it count. A compelling headline can draw readers in and encourage them to read your content.

4. Include a Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Every piece of content should include a clear Call-To-Action, guiding readers towards the next step you want them to take. It could be anything from signing up for a newsletter to purchasing a product.

5. Leverage SEO

Incorporate relevant keywords throughout your content to improve its visibility on search engines, making it easier for potential leads to find your blog.

6. Engage with Your Readers

Encourage interaction by asking questions or seeking feedback. Respond to comments promptly and engage in a dialogue with your readers to build relationships and foster trust.

Remember, the goal of your blog is to provide value to your audience. By focusing on creating high-quality, engaging content, you can attract potential leads and convert them into loyal customers.

Innovative Ways to Generate Leads from Your Blog

As you delve further into the art of blogging for lead generation, consider these innovative strategies to make your blog a powerful lead magnet:

1. Host Webinars or Online Workshops

Webinars and online workshops present an exceptional opportunity to attract and engage potential leads. These online events allow you to share your expertise, offer insights, and add value to your audience in a more personalized and interactive way.

By hosting webinars or workshops on topics relevant to your industry or niche, you can effectively attract an audience interested in your offerings. Furthermore, registering for these events usually requires attendees to provide their contact details, allowing you to capture leads directly. Here is an example of DashClicks’ Marketers Mindset Webinars -

Pack these sessions with valuable, actionable content to showcase your brand's worth, and end with a strong, convincing call-to-action to guide your leads towards the next step in your sales funnel.

2. Offer Gated Content

Gated content is another effective strategy for lead generation. This involves providing access to exclusive, high-value content in exchange for the visitor's contact information. Examples of gated content can include eBooks, research reports, whitepapers, or advanced video tutorials.

The key is to ensure that the content provided behind the 'gate' is perceived as valuable enough by your audience for them to willingly exchange their information. By offering gated content, you not only attract potential leads but also position your brand as a knowledge leader in your industry, enhancing credibility and fostering trust among your audience.

This leads to the generation of high-quality leads, as the users willing to exchange their contact details are more likely to be interested in your offerings and more open to future engagement.

3. Use Pop-up Forms

Pop-up forms can be an effective tool for lead generation if used strategically. These are forms that appear on your website, often prompting visitors to sign up for a newsletter, download a free resource, or take some other action.

While they may seem intrusive, stats show that they can significantly boost conversion rates when used properly. The key lies in the timing and content of the pop-up. It's essential to give your visitors enough time to engage with your content before the pop-up appears so they don't feel bombarded.

Also, the offer on the pop-up should provide genuine value to the visitor, making them more likely to share their contact information. Always remember to keep the form as straightforward as possible, asking only for the necessary information to avoid overwhelming your visitors. Used wisely, pop-up forms can be a powerful addition to your lead generation arsenal.

Tip: Use forms management software by DashClicks and create custom forms to bring in quality leads.

‍4. Run Contests and Giveaways

Contests and giveaways can be a fun and engaging way to generate leads from your blog. By offering valuable prizes that appeal to your target audience, you can encourage readers to participate by providing their contact information.

The key to successful contests and giveaways is to ensure the prize is worthwhile and relevant to your audience, encouraging participation from individuals likely to be interested in your products or services.

Promoting your contest or giveaway across all your digital channels, such as social media platforms, email newsletters, and your blog, also helps to attract a wider audience. Always remember to include well-crafted call-to-action and straightforward participation instructions.

The simpler it is for your audience to enter, the more entries you are likely to receive. Once the contest ends, make sure to follow up with all participants, not just the winners. This can be an effective way to nurture these leads, further promoting your offerings and potentially converting them into customers.

5. Collaborate With Influencers

One of the more effective ways to generate leads from your blog is by collaborating with influencers in your industry. Influencer marketing provides an opportunity to leverage the reach, credibility, and audience of an influencer to enhance your brand visibility and credibility.

A guest blog post or a product review by an influencer can drive a significant amount of traffic to your blog, as well as generate quality leads. The key is to identify influencers who share a similar audience to yours and approach them with a mutually beneficial collaboration proposal.

Remember to thoroughly vet potential influencers to ensure their audience aligns with your target demographic, and that their online persona and values resonate with your brand. This collaboration not only provides you with unique and fresh content for your blog but also exposes your brand to a broader audience likely to be interested in your product or service.

6. Use Video Content

Videos have grown tremendously in popularity and for good reason. They are engaging, visually stimulating, and can convey more information in a shorter period compared to text. Videos can be an effective way to generate leads from your blog.

When you create informative, valuable, and entertaining video content, you encourage visitors to spend more time on your blog. This not only improves your site’s SEO but also builds a stronger connection with your audience.

You can embed videos in your blog posts or create a dedicated section for video content. Don't forget to include clear and compelling CTAs within the video itself or in the video description. This could be to subscribe to your channel, sign up for more information, or direct viewers to a landing page.

The key is to make sure that the video content is relevant to your blog topic, that it adds value for your audience, and that it guides users toward the next steps you want them to take.

7. Implement Live Chat Functionality

One innovative way to generate leads from your blog is by integrating a live chat feature on your website using a live chat software. This interaction tool allows you to engage with your site visitors in real-time, answering their questions, addressing their concerns, and guiding them toward your offerings.

Live chat support not only enhances user experience but also provides an opportunity to obtain users' contact information, hence generating leads. Most importantly, it allows for immediate interaction, which can significantly increase conversion rates.

8. Promote Free Trials or Demos

If your business offers a product or service that can be sampled, such as a software solution, promoting free trials or demos through your blog can attract potential leads. Readers interested enough to try out your product or service are more likely to be high-quality leads with a genuine interest in your offerings.

Ensure to collect readers' contact information when they sign up for the trial or demo so you can follow up with them later.

9. Utilize Social Media Sharing

Encourage your readers to share your blog posts on their social media platforms. This not only increases your online visibility but also attracts potential leads who might be among the followers of your readers.

To do this, make sure your blog posts have social sharing buttons that are easy to locate and use. You could also incentivize social sharing by offering discounts or exclusive content to those who share your posts.

10. Launch a Referral Program

A referral program can also be an effective way to generate leads from your blog. Encourage your readers or existing customers to refer your blog or business to their friends or family.

In return, offer them rewards for every successful referral. Referral programs often lead to high-quality leads as people are more likely to trust recommendations from someone they know.

11. Use Email Marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to generate leads. By including a subscription form on your blog, you can build an email list of individuals interested in your content.

You can then send regular newsletters or updates to your subscribers, offering them valuable content and guiding them toward your products or services. Remember, email marketing is not about hard selling; it's about nurturing relationships with potential leads and providing value.

12. Incorporate Lead Magnets

Leveraging lead magnets, such as offering free downloads or exclusive content, is another compelling strategy for generating leads from your blog. Lead magnets are resources that you provide to your readers for free, in exchange for their contact information.

The key to utilizing lead magnets effectively is ensuring that what you offer aligns with your audience's interests and needs, and provides significant value, making the exchange worthwhile for them. Examples of lead magnets may include a comprehensive eBook, an exclusive report, a free template or checklist, an educational video, or a discount code for your products or services.

To implement this strategy, create a prominent and clear call-to-action (CTA) within your blog posts, inviting readers to download your free resource. Once a visitor clicks the CTA, they should be directed to a landing page where they can provide their contact details to access the lead magnet. Remember to keep the form simple, asking only for necessary information to avoid overwhelming your visitors.

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By adding valuable lead magnets to your blog, you not only enhance the user experience but also attract potential leads who are interested enough in your content to provide their contact details, which is a strong indication they may be open to further engagement.

In addition to the strategies mentioned above, you can also leverage white label content services and lead management software by DashClicks to further enhance your lead generation efforts. DashClicks is a remarkable white-label marketing platform that provides top-notch content services.

With this, you can benefit from professionally crafted blog posts, articles, social media content, and more, all customized and branded for your business. It saves you time and effort, allowing you to focus on other aspects of growing your business while ensuring your content remains engaging and relevant.

On the other hand, the best CRM for lead management is an innovative lead management software that helps streamline and automate your lead generation process. This software is designed to help businesses attract visitors, convert them into leads, and then nurture these leads into customers.

The software not only enables you to track and manage your leads effectively but also provides insightful analytics that can help you refine your strategies and improve your lead-generation efforts.

‍Utilizing such tools and services can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your blog as a lead magnet, helping you attract more potential leads and convert them into loyal customers.

In Conclusion

Blogging continues to prove itself as a powerful tool for consistent lead generation. By providing high-quality content, engaging with your audience, and leveraging innovative strategies such as webinars, gated content, pop-ups, contests, collaborations, video content, live chats, free trials, social sharing, referral programs, email marketing, and lead magnets, you can transform your blog into a potent lead magnet.

The key is to understand your audience, offer value, and build relationships, turning your blog from merely a source of information into a dynamic sales tool.Remember, lead generation is not a one-time event but a continuous process that requires consistent effort and improvement. So keep blogging, keep innovating, and watch your business grow.

Can you earn money from blogging?

If your blog generates over 10,000 unique visitors every day, it is easy to earn a real stream of revenue from it.

However, if your blog generates fewer than 1000 visitors a day, then earning money through it can become more of a challenge.

Beginner bloggers give up way too early because they are not able to monetize their blog.

The truth is that you can't compare your chapter 1 with someone else's chapter 30. It takes time to build a blog that will generate revenue.

All you need is dedication, perseverance, and the right practices to make your blog profitable.

If your blog generates under 1000 visitors per day and you want to know how to monetize it, read on to know the different ways you can do that!

1. Create & Sell An Online Course

Online courses focus on a particular topic or subject. People perceive courses as something that offer more value than blog posts.

One of the best ways to monetize a blog that gets under 1000 visitors per day is to create and sell online courses. You don't require a lot of customers or leads to earn money from the first few online course you create. Just begin from where you are and scale from there.

Let's suppose your blog gets at least 60 visitors a day. Check out what those visitors want and craft a course accordingly. Even if your first course is not amazing, it is okay. You can always improve.

Takeaway: Creating an online course is an amazing way to upgrade your career in blogging. It allows you to offer the best content in an exclusive manner.

Today, there are plenty of platforms that help create and sell an online course. Websites such as Teachable, Course Merchant, and Udemy have become incredibly popular among aspiring bloggers and course professionals.

If you sell on Udemy, you can use social media and your blog to promote your course. You can even create and sell the course on your own blog.

Tip: You don't have to create a course on a complex topic. Just figure out the topic you know people are struggling with and create an online course on it.

Another thing you can do to create your online course is visit your best blog posts, make some tweaks to it, and share an updated version of it in the form of an online course.

In the end, ensure that your online course is unique, helpful, and engaging for your viewers.

2. Become an In-Demand Freelance Writer

A freelance writer is an individual who writes on different topics for emails, landing pages, websites, etc. If you are a blogger, then you already have what it takes to become an in-demand freelance writer.

Today, both B2C and B2B companies are recognizing content as the best-suited tool to acquire leads and nurture a loyal audience. As a result, a majority of businesses are always on the lookout for skilled freelance writers. Hence, taking this route holds the potential to transform your financial life. As per the latest statistics, 65% of freelancers earn more from freelancing than what they did in a full-time job.

Even though so many freelance writers are out there, it is hard to find the ones who have social media, SEO, and persuasive skills. If you learn these skills and add them to your writing roster, it will definitely work in your favor.

Tip: As a first step, market your freelance writing services via guest blogging on high-traffic blogs, social media marketing, consistent in-house blogging, and Facebook ads. If your clients find your work satisfactory, they will recommend you to more people.

3. Launch a Virtual Summit

Another way to monetize your blog is through a virtual summit. A lot of bloggers use this popular way to connect and build relationships with influencers.

Influencers bring you engagement, reach, and credibility.

Generally, a virtual summit is a video interview of 20 or more experts on a particular topic, which viewers opt-in to see. They are usually unchargeable for a specific time period, such as 1 to 3 days, and then subscribers may choose to buy an all-access pass for unlimited viewing.

Today, many bloggers have built their brands and income with the help of virtual summits. Many marketers and bloggers are easily making a six-figure income from virtual summits alone. What's more, virtual summits also help you become a go-to expert in your field.

Now, you may wonder how to succeed at a virtual summit launch? By making it a win-win for the experts! Select a topic that will inspire individuals to action, and ensure you have a product to sell at the backend.

4. Sell Coaching & Consulting Services

We all know that you can build an audience by consistently posting valuable content on your blog. This way, you educate with the help of content. But how about taking things up a notch and providing one-on-one coaching sessions?

A coach helps people face their challenges, achieve their goals, and provide timely feedback. Becoming a coach or a consultant is one of the quickest ways to generate money from your blog. This is because people are always looking for ways to learn, improve, and attain their goals. Plus, they are willing to pay for it.

Irrespective of when you started your blog, you can offer coaching services. Online coaching has become more popular after COVID-19 and has increased by 57%.

If you decide to sell coaching or consulting services, follow these steps:

• Do competitive research and check what other coaches in your industry are doing.
• Identify your potential customers and their problems. See how you can solve them.
• Ascertain what sets you apart from your competitors.
• Create a page on your blog dedicated to your coaching or consulting services.
• Use this page for advertising your services.
• Promote your services via social media channels that your prospects and potential clients actively visit.
• Create valuable content on your blog around the topics related to your prospects.

Tip: When you coach, you need to have an entrepreneur's mindset. Yes, we know that it will be hard to get your first client, but all the effort will seem worth it in the end.

Listen Up: If you start a coaching program that helps people propel their business forward, we know a way you can supercharge it! Simply leverage the DashClicks' business coaching solutions in your core coaching offerings. The easy-to-use, comprehensive platform allows your viewers to experience next-gen automation software and top-notch marketing solutions. It will help make their business goals a reality.

5. Create & Sell eBooks

You can always think about creating and selling eBooks to monetize your blog. There are many self-publishing platforms that you can use to publish your eBook. Amazon is one major retailer you shouldn't miss.

If you want to use this way to monetize your blog, then now is a great time to get started! Simply create eBooks and sell them on Amazon. Also, ensure you follow these steps:

1. Use your blog to pre-sell titles, create blog posts for promoting your eBooks, and redirect your blog readers to your kindle bookstore.
2. You can provide free copies or discounts in exchange for honest reviews as well. Having good reviews increases your book rankings as well as sales.

Listen Up: Blogging can help you turn your book into a bestseller. This is because you already have a reader base you can promote your book to.

6. Create a Marketing Funnel & Recommend Products

When individuals join your emailing list, do the following:

A. Follow up

Follow up on your prospects to convert them into buyers and generate sales. With the help of follow-up emails, you can reach out to motivated buyers, connect with them, and sell at the backend.

Note: Ensure you don't give up after just the first follow-up. Oftentimes, a number of follow-ups are necessary to generate sales.

B. Relationship building

When you generate awareness about your primary business, a relationship with your prospects begins. You then move them through a marketing funnel, while providing value with the help of content creation at every stage. The funnel further helps you build that relationship with your prospects. The purpose of the funnel is to attract viewers, transform them into leads, make them your customers, and delight them after they buy your product.

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When your prospects move along the funnel, ensure you nurture them with content such as infographics, videos, eBooks, blog posts, etc. Whenever you think they trust you enough to purchase from you, recommend affiliate programs and products, software, and any other product that should be shared with them.

Conclusion

A lot of beginner bloggers are not able to generate an income from their blogging efforts, because they think blogging alone is sufficient to make money.

But, so many successful bloggers generate a significant portion of their income by promoting and selling other services and products through their blogs.

To monetize a blog that generates under 1000 visitors a day, ensure you implement at least one of the methods discussed above and start working on it. If one approach doesn't work, you can always try another.

In case you find yourself unable to compete with others in your industry, don't worry. You can think about switching to some other industry where you are sure of becoming an expert. Then, start building links, drive organic traffic, and promote your services and products to your blog readers.

So, now that you know how to monetize a blog, which one of these ways are you going to try? Do let us know in the comments!

Content is king.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates would push this sentiment in 1996 with that very title.

We consume that content daily through text, images, video, and live streaming. A popular form of content among these channels is the blog post.

If you've ever interacted with digital marketing, you understand the power blog posts can have on SEO. But, what exactly is the ideal blog post length?

The answer isn't objective. However, let's explore the factors that dictate appropriate blog post length. With this knowledge, you'll be able to supercharge your SEO in 2022.

Why Does Blog Post Length Matter for SEO?

When Google ranks a piece of content, it considers multiple factors. Among these are:

• Quality
• Trustworthiness
• Authority
• Backlinks from external sources
• Page clicks
• Bounce rate
• Time spent on page
• Length

When we refer to length, we are referring to how well the content serves the needs of the reader. With that in mind, appropriate content length can vary greatly depending on what the blog is attempting to discuss.

As a general rule, longer articles tend to be more valuable for SEO.

Let's say that two websites are writing about how to develop a technical SEO strategy. One blog post is 500 words in length. The competitor's article is 2,000 words in length. In all likelihood, the longer article provides more valuable information as the increased length allows for greater coverage.

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A longer blog post also allows for more keyword opportunities. Writers can not only highlight primary keywords but create additional headlines and paragraphs that delve into secondary or tertiary keywords related to the topic.

With greater information available, Google is better able to understand what purpose the blog post serves so that it can serve it to the ideal audience.

Blog Post Quality vs Blog Post Length

Blog post length becomes more variable regarding the user experience.

When someone searches for a topic or question on Google, they expect to get a thorough answer. If the subject allows for a deep dive with supporting information, it should be included to make a longer, better-quality blog post.

On the other hand, you might fall into the trap of padding a blog post purely for length. While it might provide more opportunities for “keyword stuffing,” it makes for a poor user experience.

Google has also improved its understanding of content padding. If your blog post contains unrelated fluff, duplicate content, or too many instances of a keyword, it can harm SEO.

All of this serves to illustrate the point that content quality matters more than raw blog post length. If you can expound more on the topic to better serve the reader, you can and should provide a better user experience. With an improved UX, you'll see increased benefits to your SEO.

Likewise, if their topic does not warrant 3,000 words, do not stretch the material to help SEO.

Google provides fully-detailed guidelines of how it rates every webpage here. You can better serve your SEO strategy by practicing these guidelines as opposed to focusing on length.

Be aware that the more succinct and effective your answer, the more likely your blog post is to achieve the coveted position zeroā  at the very top of SERPs.

How Long Should a Blog Post Be?

You now understand the critical factors that go into determining a blog post's SEO value.

However, is there an educated estimate of the ideal blog post length?

In prior years, the often-quoted word count minimum was 500. This length allows you to provide bite-sized educational value to an audience without running into thin content warnings from Google. Anything less than is unlikely to positively impact SEO.

In 2021, HubSpot ran a study on its most-read blog posts and found 2,100 - 2,400 words to be the sweet spot.

Meanwhile, SEO company Yoast explains that articles should exceed 1,000 words for better results.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, marketing veteran Neil Patel and his team warn to avoid exceeding Google's cap of 10,000 words. Even 5,000 words or more may offer diminishing returns.

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These different findings seem to corroborate what we shared above regarding how audiences receive different types of content. Some companies find more success with quick, lean content on social media, while others fare better with well-researched, academic blog posts.

Determining the Right Blog Post Length for Your Site

The most effective way to determine how long your blog posts should be is to experiment and measure. This is a golden rule you should practice for all digital marketing channels.

It's best practice to create a content calendar and plan out all of your blog posts in advance. This allows your SEO team to research ideal topics based on your keywords. The research will also allow them to look at similar, competing articles and their respective lengths.

Several metrics will indicate whether your blog posts are performing well. Keep an eye on:

• Page clicks
• Shares
• Average time spent on page
• Clicks to other pages/blog posts
• Bounce rate
• Subscriptions

If short-form posts are not gaining the desired results, try to select topics that allow for greater blog post length. Your readers may be looking for more detailed articles that offer additional knowledge and insights.

At the end of the year, examine your top-performing blog posts. If they have a similar length in common, this may be the sweet spot you want to aim for regarding word count.

Finally, you can always ask your core audience what type of content they want to see. So long as you are striving to provide the best user experience, the issue of content length will typically resolve itself.

Conclusion - Focus on Blog Quality Over Blog Post Length

If you're looking for an actual number, 1,500-2,000 words will likely get the most traction with Google SERPs.

However, the length of your articles will not positively impact your SEO if they do not serve the reader. You should not attempt to pad your blog with fluff simply to meet an imagined quota.

Brands have found success in digital marketing when writing short, 300-word articles. Likewise, many brands dominate the top rankings with regular 2,500-word posts. What matters is how loyal your audience is and how well your content serves their needs.

Finally, you should seek out your own ideal blog post length by experimenting with different types of blogs. Utilize free tools like Google Analytics to track key metrics that are direct indicators of user engagement. The more your audience interacts with and shares your blogs, the more likely they are to improve your website rankings.

A website blog is a vital part of any SEO or digital marketing strategy. It has the potential to increase traffic, build brand awareness, drive sales, aid your customers, and establish you as an authority in your industry. However, when done incorrectly, your blog content can also provide little more than add additional pages to your website that clutter up your directory.

In this post, we're going to show you the fundamentals of how to create a winning blog content strategy in 7 steps. This will entail the processes of devising, researching, writing, and tracking your blog performance for the best results possible.

How to Create a Winning Blog Content Strategy?

According to a Content Marketing Institute study, 60% of businesses with a chalked-out content strategy reported achieving significant results, compared to only 32% who didn't have any specific plan.

Here are a few easy steps to create a winning blog content strategy:-

1. Decide on the Primary Focus of Your Blog

While you want to create a blog with good intentions, you need to consider why you will be writing and publishing posts. Of course, the primary goal is to increase conversions. However, your business success matters very little to those who will be visiting and reading your regular posts.

However, that doesn't mean that your blog should completely avoid any promotional intent. What we are looking for lies within a cross-section of what your audience wants to learn about and what your brand provides to alleviate those issues. Great content will not only educate customers on matters related to your field but should naturally lead them to conclude that your brand provides a valuable service that improves their life.

The easiest place to start is to ask yourself why readers would want to read your content. Consider the questions they ask and problems they search for when using Google. If you’re a personal trainer, your potential clients likely search for topics such as “how to lose weight.” As an authority in health and fitness, you could write a month’s worth of blog posts describing exercises and dietary tips that you would provide for your clients. If you work in business and finance, your audience may benefit more from the latest updates and trends related to that field.

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Your answer to “why” will differentiate depending on your industry and the nature of your brand. However, the common theme is understanding the biggest problems that your customers face. Your blog then provides real, actionable information and solutions to customers that provide true value and boost your reputation.

During your process of deciding the purpose of your blog, attempt to come up with several unique solutions. This is because where you finally arrive will depend upon the research you perform in the next few steps.

2. Understand the Strategy of Your Competitors

As with many aspects of your business strategy, you need to be highly aware of what your competitors provide to your shared audience with their blog. Bear in mind that a blog content competitor may not be the same as a direct business competitor. There will be websites online that target mutual keywords with their articles, but do not necessarily sell or provide products or services that your business does. Nonetheless, these will be the challenges in your way that will make you work for your traffic and keyword rankings.

With this in mind, your team should take a few hours to review blogs on a wide variety of websites related to the matters you want to write about. Look at the topics they focus on, how they outline their content, and how they compile every article within the blog. You are looking for any opportunities for your blog to provide something completely new and unique.

By pinpointing an approach that distinguishes you from your blog content competitors, you're already starting off with a unique value proposition. While audiences can find all kinds of articles based upon their query, they'll only be able to get your brand's different outlook on your website only. This is beneficial as it not only provides a strong foundation for keyword research but will actually allow your content to coexist and succeed independently of others.

Many brands make the mistake of adding blogs to their website only to copy the same old content you can find anywhere almost verbatim. It will take time, but look for those niche opportunities to create something unique. Even changing up the tone and attitude your company takes toward a topic versus competitors can provide a fresh, enriching experience for your readers.

3. Perform Extensive Keyword and Topic Research

Keyword research is your bread and butter when it comes to developing your blog content strategy. There are a variety of tools you can utilize to do this including SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz. These keywords serve as the basis for all topics you will choose to write about for your new blog.

While researching keywords takes time, it doesn't need to be overly complex. Consider the main focus of your business and its industry. Then, begin to create a list of items that are immediately relevant to the products or services you provide. You won't even need to come up with topics from these words or phrases, as most SEO software will also do this for you.

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For example, a local computer repair company might list out keyword ideas such as:

• Computer
• Hard Drive
• Graphics Card
• RAM
• Power Supply

When you enter these keywords into an SEO tool, you’ll receive a variety of information from Google including average search volume, the number of clicks, the average cost-per-click, and the keyword difficulty (how hard it is to rank for a said keyword). There is generally also a place for search suggestions and questions that show what types of questions users ask containing that keyword. Suddenly “graphics card” can turn into strong topics such as “How do I choose the best graphics card,” or, “how to repair a graphics card.” Because this local computer repair company has a lot of expertise in this area, these can prove to be high-value topics to write about if the keyword difficulty is appropriate.

A way to research topics outside of SEO tools is to get in touch with your audience directly. Social media is another component of a successful digital marketing strategy that allows you to communicate with your customers and audience at any time. Customers are generally more than happy to share their input about a service, a brand, or simply a problem that's related to your area of expertise. These issues could translate into great topics as your audience is explicitly communicating their desire to learn more in that area.

While keyword difficulty doesn't mean you necessarily should avoid a keyword, it will give you an accurate picture of how likely you are to rank for it. This is especially true for websites and blogs that are new and have no history with Google's search algorithm. For starting out, you'll want to shoot for topics that are of reasonable difficulty, show a high search volume and click-through rate, and provide a lower cost-per-click. You can still choose to write about higher-difficulty topics, but it will take time and consistent effort, which leads us into our next step.

4. Build a Content Calendar

You've decided on the focus of your blog, performed the keyword research, and generated a lengthy list of topics. Rather than just assigning your team articles to write, you should instead collaborate and create a content calendar for your company's digital marketing plan.

A content calendar offers a variety of benefits not just for your writing team, but for all arms of your marketing ventures. It is a monthly calendar where you can schedule due dates for topics, dates for posting, and the assigned team member. By keeping a strict outline of your regular blog posts, you can avoid issues such as duplicated or similar articles. Your writers will also have ample notice of what's due to ensure that your blog is always on time and up-to-date.

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Scheduling out your topics will also make it easier to visualize opportunities to group up subjects or create themes for your readers. As an example, let's revisit our local computer repair company above.

They started their blog with an article titled “How to Repair a Graphics Card.” Based on the remaining keywords, they may also be able to write “How to Repair” articles on a variety of computer component keywords. All of these articles are related, which creates an ongoing theme that teaches readers how to work with a variety of computer components. As a result, readers that engaged with the first post have a greater likelihood of engaging with future, related articles. This can create the ongoing momentum you’re looking for with your content blog.

Grouping articles like this also naturally lends your blog to internal linking strategies. This is an SEO retention strategy to keep visitors on your site for longer by linking to additional pages that feature similar content to what they are reading.

Content calendars can also help you coordinate with other aspects of your content marketing such as social media. It's that much easier to scout opportunities to promote and share blog posts on your social accounts when your various topics are outlined ahead of time. Your social media team can look for opportunities to generate shared traffic between your social accounts and your blog by capitalizing on grouped topic themes.

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Finally, a content calendar also provides you with a visualization of other events throughout the year that you may overlook. Keeping your blog articles timely is the best way to avoid inadvertently making your blog appear static or outdated. Content marketing in 2021 is a dynamic endeavor and coordinating your content with trending topics is the best way to keep active audiences engaged.

5. Create Your Content Bible

While the previous steps focused on the development of the blog itself, this step will futureproof the process of how your writing team creates the actual content. These are the rules that your team creates that dictate the structure, flow, and style rules for every article that goes up on your website's blog. While the idea of creating your own content bible or style guide sounds overwhelming, know that most publications use either the existing Chicago Manual of Style or AP Style as the foundation.

If you're unfamiliar, a stylebook is a list of guidelines for how content creators should utilize text, grammar, punctuation, sources, and other miscellaneous rules. However, every brand still needs its own style guidelines for additional matters. These can include what tones or attitudes are acceptable to use, whether or not explicit content is acceptable, how humor should be handled, etc.

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A style guide can make the difference between an amateur blog that casually features new articles and a professional writing outlet. It will ensure consistency across all of your pieces regardless of the writer and make your content easy to navigate for repeat readers.

It will also expedite the process of content creation by providing a template for all content as opposed to asking your writers to operate from a blank slate. The better they understand what you want from them, the more efficient content creation will be.Ā  This benefit will also apply to new writers that come into your company long after your blog is up and running.

6. Reinforce Your Written Content with Media

Everyday society shifts more and more to visual media as opposed to written text. Chances are that if you post a blog on your website that consists of text only, your readership numbers are going to be extremely low if not nonexistent. This is less of an indicator of the quality of your writing and more about the impact that original graphics have on marketing. That impact becomes exceedingly important for long-form articles where it becomes increasingly difficult to retain someone's attention.

Original, custom-made graphics tend to generate the best results. However, investing in an account with a stock photo website such as Shutterstock or 123RF is a quick, cost-effective way to get your hands on quality, copyright-free images to use in your blog articles. Any visual will offer positive results by injecting color and meaningful breaks from larger ideas throughout the body. Using best practices with these images will also present additional minor opportunities to boost your on-page SEO and potential search rankings.

In addition to images, alternative forms of media can have profound impacts on your traffic and conversion rates. This includes custom infographics that colorfully summarize and illustrate the key takeaways of your articles. It can also include personally-made and edited videos that in some way support the core message of the written content. You can further minimize your bounce rate by notifying readers that there is an infographic or video within the title or the beginning of the article.

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7. Track Results and Adjust Your Content Plan as Necessary

Content marketing is indeed a long-term marketing endeavor, but that doesn't mean you can't start tracking your performance immediately. The process may not be as clear-cut as calculating your ROI on your latest paid ad campaign, but it's possible when you know which metrics to examine.

You can start by using free tools like Google Analytics to keep a close eye on the traffic that visits your website. You'll be able to analyze which channels visitors use to discover your site as well as what keywords they are using in search. If you capitalize on high-volume keywords and use best practices to provide high-quality content, you should start to see an organic traffic increase with time. If you are not seeing an increase in visitors from your targeted keywords, it can be a sign that your content strategy requires a revisit.

Another indicator of your blog performance to look out for is the number of signups you have on your mailing list. There are few indicators more indicative of your audience's level of interest in the content you create. Your website and blog should feature some way to subscribe to the blog or sign up to receive notifications of new posts.

Additional ways to measure your blog's impact are to monitor the average time on page and average pages per session by the user. A 3,000+ word article takes on average ten minutes or longer to read, but your sessions will likely be shorter due to skimming. If the user is also making an effort to visit more pages, it can be an indicator of interest in the content you provide.

Finally, you can track the performance of specific blogs by setting up custom goals within Google Analytics. This is practical when the article aims to not only inform but to drive visitors to perform some sort of action. This could include filling out a form or making a purchase within the store. You'll be able to track which users complete this goal when accessing the site through the blog post. Be sure to provide plenty of call-to-actions in these types of posts to ensure your goal conversion rate is a proper indicator of your content quality.

If one or more of these indicators shows less than desirable results, then it will be time for you to revisit your content strategy. Experiment with new types of content or survey your audience on social media to learn more about what type of content they'd like to see. In addition to this, use tools like Google's People Also Ask to look into commonly searched questions that are related to your targeted keywords.

How to Create A Winning Blog Content Strategy Conclusion?

The biggest mistake we see people make when approaching their blog is not giving it the attentive and consistent strategy it deserves. Understand that even a great content blog will take up to six months to gain traction when starting from scratch. However, your results will vary depending on how effective your blog content strategy is for your brand.

Research your content competitors and look for any window of opportunity to differentiate your blog from others online. This unique foundation will lend itself to creating new and original content that serves your readers even when your competitors target the same keywords. Try to focus on keywords with a lower difficulty that still demonstrates a high search volume. Don't hesitate to look at commonly searched questions on Google to gain topic ideas or utilize the additional features within your chosen SEO tool.

After you narrow down what you need to write about, start to schedule those ideas into a content calendar. Stick to this plan as much as possible, but allow for flexibility to account for real-world events or trends that might be relevant to your industry. Then, create a style guide for your present and future writing team to ensure quality throughout every new article. Be sure to support all of your written content with engaging high-quality media that lends itself to shareability.

Finally, track your key performance indicators using Google Analytics. Pay attention to figures such as traffic, average time per session, additional page views, and your conversion rates for any relevant custom goals. Give your strategy the appropriate amount of time, then make adjustments if the analytics don't support your current approach.

With consistent effort and an honest approach to your content, you can create a winning blog content strategy that elevates your website above the rest in Google search rankings.

Businesses worldwide are increasingly using blogging as a tool to attract visitors to their websites. It has become a powerful way to gain traction to your website and increase your business's visibility on search engines. According to a survey by blogger.com, more than 60% of businesses run blogs as part of their digital marketing strategy.

However, 65% of these websites haven't updated their blog section in the past year. In not taking blogging seriously, they miss out on the incredible opportunity to rank on search engines and hence lose a lot of traffic.

If you want to get the most of your blogs, here are nine effective tips on optimizing your blog post for SEO.

Important tip: Before you decide to optimize your blog, make sure that your website is SEO optimized. You cannot construct a high-rise building with a shaky and weak foundation.Ā

1. Edit and Proofread

For an SEO-optimized copy, make sure your blog post is appropriately edited and proofread. It should be clean and error-free. According to an Adobe 2009 study, wordy or poorly-written content annoys about 39% of readers.

Carelessness and poor quality can create a negative impression. Proofreading involves screening the content meticulously for errors, typos, grammar, formatting, and other related inconsistencies. In other words, proofreading's primary objective is to write a perfect blog post. Even if your content is informative and grammatically correct, you need to make sure that it has the right tone, proper persona positioning, logical flow, contextual images, and style guide consistency.

Proofreading tips:

1. Take a printout of your post and edit it offline. It is more effective and easy on the eyes.
2. Read your article out loud. It is beneficial when you are optimizing your content for SEO. The goal is to create a copy that reads naturally. Make sure that the keywords don’t sound unnatural or stuffed.

Various Chrome extensions can help you read aloud. MS Word that comes with Microsoft Office 2019 and Microsoft 365 also provides this feature under the Review tab. You can access it by:

Review > Read Aloud > Select Play in the controls.

1. You can also try proofreading your article by reading it backward.
2. Try to proofread with one goal at a time. The first time you can proofread for grammatical mistakes. The second time, check data and facts, and so on.

2.  Consider the E-A-T Factor

Another critical aspect that will determine your content's ranking is how beneficial it is for the user. Therefore, you must evaluate it based on the E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) factor.

These are the factors that Google considers for ranking purposes and they are directly linked with the trust factor. The ultimate objective of Google is to offer the best experience to its users and the E.A.T. factor is an important metric that determines the level of trust Google puts in a particular website.

Here is an infographic that will help you understand the E.A.T. factor.

3. Optimize Subheads for Readability and SEO

Using subheads such as H2s and H3s help. Google spiders consider content with subheads as reader-friendly. Check your content on your CMS's visual editor to ensure the subheads are correctly added.Ā

4. The Links Must Open in a New Window

If links are opening in the same window/tab, the bounce rate may increase sharply as it leads to a poor user experience. Nobody wants to exit from a website just because they chose to click an outbound link. So, when adding links, make sure they open in a new window.

5. Add Call to Action

You should add CTA (Call to Action) to your blog post tactfully. You can place text CTA anywhere in the blog. However, you will achieve better results with an image CTA if you put it within the first, second, or third subheadings. Ensure that you add a strong CTA at the end of your blog post to prompt your readers to take action.Ā

Screenshot Courtesy: Blog.Hubspot.com

6. Add One-Click Social Shares

Twitter is a great platform to promote content. It's not just about Tweets; you can also leverage Twitter Chats, a powerful content promotion tool. Most of these chats lead to an ongoing discussion with a specific hashtag. If you belong to the same domain, you must take advantage of it. Search for relevant Twitter Chats on TweetReports and Twubs.

You can use a Click to Tweet plugin to share your WordPress content on Twitter. The Content Marketing Institute blog does it effectively to promote its blog posts. Your blog may have takeaways and punchlines that the readers should be able to share on Twitter with one-click.

Screenshot courtesy: Content Marketing Institute

However, make sure there aren't too many extra codes that can interfere with your rankings. Don't put any "click-to-Tweet" above your first H2.Ā

7. Add Meta Title and Description

Add a suitable meta title and meta description for your blog post. WordPress CMS allows you to do it quickly. A meta description's ideal length is between 155 and 160 characters, but it should be sufficiently descriptive.Ā

The title text can be between 50 and 60 characters, the ideal length that Google displays on SERPs. In the WordPress CMS, the ideal length is depicted by a green light that indicates you can go ahead with the meta description. If you are using the Yoast SEO plugin on WordPress, you'll have a color-coded smiley to signal perfect SEO.

You must also be mindful of your blog's readability. You will find a readability indicator in your Yoast SEO plugin. Pay attention to the engagement factor; it plays a significant role in deciding your Google ranking. It uses metrics such as "time spent on page" and "average time spent on the site" to measure engagement.

You should also include a call to action (CTA) in your content; it helps increase conversions and overall sales.Ā

8. Add ALT Text to the Images

It is vital to add alt text to your blog's images. This descriptive text is beneficial for the visually impaired or those using a screen-reader. Short for "alternate text," it tells the search engines what the image is about and helps them index it accordingly. For image visibility on Google, adding alt text is incredibly important.

9. Optimize for Social Sharing

You can easily do it with your site's SEO plugin (such as the Yoast SEO plugin) if you use WordPress. Click on the social sharing icon from the SEO options.Ā

You don't need to fill the title and description fields, as Yoast automatically pulls this information from the main fields. Scroll to the Facebook and Twitter images and upload your pictures there. But make sure that the image you select has alt text and a title tag.

Conclusion

The blog post SEO process can be frustrating and time-consuming, but if you follow the tips mentioned above, you'll attract organic rankings and traffic easily. Every step you take to optimize your content will improve your visibility on search engines. Attention to detail can make all the difference in your quest to achieve top rankings on SERPs. Therefore, you must take out some time to optimize your blog posts to boost your overall Google rankings.