If you’re not doing it already, writing blog posts is an exceptionally powerful marketing tool to add to your toolbox.
According to HubSpot, websites that post blogs end up seeing up to 55% more visitors than websites that don’t.
I already know that blog posts help get fresh eyes onto your site, but this statistic is shocking. With numbers like that—and the potential for those visitors to book your services?—we shouldn’t be skipping out on blogging!
And aside from bringing fresh potential clients to your site, blogging works it’s magic in other ways, too:
- It provides potential clients with valuable content
- It gives you a chance to highlight your expertise within your industry
- It gives you an opportunity to frequently update your website’s content, supporting your SEO strategy
- It goes hand in hand with your Pinterest marketing strategy
- It gives you plenty of content to pull from for your newsletter or social media posts
With all this good stuff, adding blogging to your marketing plan and creating a blog strategy is usaually a smart move for most businesses.
And it doesn’t have to be hard.
In fact, I’m gonna help make it not hard at all!
Creating a blog strategy
Identify what your audience wants to read
If you want your audience to read your blog, write about what they want to learn. So like the rest of your website, your blog requires that you deeply understand your audience.
There are a few ways you can do this:
- Ask them! If you have a newsletter, ask your readers what they’d like to learn about. If you’re in a FB group for your industry, post a comment asking what your ideal customers are dying to learn more about.
- Pay attention. Take note of the questions you’re most commonly asked. Keep track of the things your clients complain about in their lives and businesses.
- Think about your services and what help someone would need to DIY those services themselves. If someone’s not ready to invest in your branding services, what can you offer them that’ll help them do it themselves?
While you’re researching, create a list of every possible idea that crosses your mind. For the long-term, it’s helpful to have a running list on your notes app to jot these ideas down when inspiration strikes! Because, suddenly you’ll be seeing blog post ideas all around you.
Keyword Research
With all of the ideas and topics in mind, it’s time for keyword research to make sure that, along with providing loads of value, your blogs are also SEO-optimized.
Personally, I use UberSuggest, and with the free plan, you can get 3 searches a day. I ended up purchasing the lifetime plan, though they do offer monthly plans, too.
(Quick story: I actually accidentally purchased the lifetime plan, panicked, and reached out to their team to cancel it—which they immediately did! Then that same day I realized that the lifetime plan was actually such a good deal and made the most sense for me, given how often I’d be using it. So then I re-purchased the lifetime plan and it’s been happily ever after since.)
Based on your research, begin researching potential keywords that align with what you want to educate on. Chances are, you’ll also find inspiration for more blog topics here. Essentially, you want to go with keywords with a high search volume but a low keyword difficulty.
I keep all of my keyword research data handy in Google Sheets so I can pull from it when I need more ideas down the line, for blogging or my website.
Create a content plan
With all of this yummy data you’ve collected, now it’s time to weave it all together into a content plan.
I also use Google Sheets for this, though I know Airtable is another popular tool for this. (But I’m going to be painfully honest here: I cannot figure Airtable out for the life of me. So good ol’ faithful Google Sheets it is!).
You can set up your plan however makes sense for you. I break mine down into 6 months, and with one blog post a month, I have about 4 blog posts a month to plan. For each blog post, I’ll determine the general topic (I always find it best to settle on a title once the actual blog is finished), the category it fits into, when I want to post it, the target keyword, and any other notes I want to add.
Be consistent
Creating a successful blog strategy is only possible if you’re consistent! So when developing a strategy, be honest about how often you’ll actually be able to post. And then stick to it.
I’ve found that 2x a month is ideal for me.
BONUS!
Before you publish your blog posts, make sure you’re optimizing them so that they perform at their best!
And that’s the basics of creating a blog strategy!
It’s important to note that you don’t have to stick to your content plan to a T if you’re inspired to write something else! I’ve found that it’s really helpful in guiding me when I’m either super busy with client work or feeling totally uninspired.
But it shouldn’t ever restrict you.
Hey, I’m Kristie! And if you want help creating a blog strategy, I’d love to help! Message me here and let’s chat about what you need!
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