Managing a blog on your business website is a great way to help improve your marketing efforts (and if you don’t believe me, check out this article from several months ago). This is a space for your employees to really show clients and customers what they know, and this is typically where you will engage with potential customers through social media. A great piece of content will generate a lot of social shares, which will then generate more social shares, and so on and so forth. By the time you’re article has lost its luster, you’re sure to have gained the attention of a few future buyers.
However, managing a blog is no easy task. It takes a great about of time to keep the blog updated, and creativity is a must in not only the content but also in the layout of the blog. Fortunately, there are many ways you can improve your business blog without adding any extra steps to your day.
A Few Quick Tips to Improving Your Business Blog
Of course there are many different things you can do to improve your blog, but the following tips focus on the little things you can do right now that will make a big difference. No long strategy, no analysis, no team projects—just quick fixes.
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Start including captions on your photos.
I think that this is one of the most overlooked tactics to help improve a blog. Many blogs add a caption to their photos because a photo is the first thing to catch a reader’s attention. Some blogs write a caption that describes the picture or use humor in the caption, while others tend to write something like a title (ex: save 50% on a custom web design).
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Give readers to option to subscribe.
If your blog does not give readers the option to subscribe, you are missing many opportunities to keep readers coming back for more. An email subscription will allow visitors to sign up to receive your blog content via email. Many readers wouldn’t normally check your blog every day, but they are much more likely to check their email every day. You can add a subscribe button to most WordPress themes, but if you do not have that functionality, you can upload this plugin to include a subscribe button.
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Don’t forget to break up the copy.
Your blog will likely get more attention if a visitor can quickly glance over an article and see what they need to see. So many businesses focus on different content types, but they forget that traditional articles can be great if formatted the right way. A big block of text is often overwhelming and forces the reader to make sense of the article on his/her own. However, an article with many subheadings and bullet points is easier to read. This is a basic rule of Internet writing, but many businesses new to the blogging world still seem to get stuck with a typical long-winded article.
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Use interaction elements every so often.
Business blog are the perfect place to offer interaction. Have readers vote on which promotion you’re going to roll out next, or have readers take a poll to see what they like most about an aspect of your company. This will not only help you gain feedback, but it will help keep visitors coming back to check on the answers and give their opinions. Learn more ideas in detail here.
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Promoting your blog each day is crucial to success.
Promoting your blog is one thing many companies avoid because blogging is not supposed to be a form of promotion. While this is true, you aren’t going to get much out of a blog if you don’t have any visitors. Consider adding a link to your blog when writing for other websites or advertising your blog in your newsletter, or add in a plug for your blog on social media. It sounds obvious, but if you can remind yourself to promote at least once per day you’ll be surprised at just how much you were neglecting this quick fix in the first place.
Most companies find that incorporating a blog is actually a lot of fun. There are tons of blogs across the Internet that enjoys doing content exchanges, so you’re sure to make some great connections. Many companies hire someone to run the company blog, but it isn’t completely necessary. As long as you’re taking advantage of the obvious opportunities, you’re in good shape for success.
What have you done to help improve your company blog? Have using any of the tips above helped you see an improvement in your metrics or engagement levels? Let us know in the comment section below.