Once you learn blog basics, you should start to see productive results with your business blog. Even if you have an otherwise successful blog, there is always some room for improvement here and there. Here are seven ways to improve your business blog and fine-tine your results:
1. Compelling Headlines
You have a few keywords in your headlines. Your headlines are short and to the point. Two for two. Now, for the biggie – are your blog headlines compelling, interesting or engaging? In other words, if you were reading your blog for the first time, would the headlines grab your attention? If not, punch things up – add some action words, ask a question that your content will answer.
2. Bridging the Gap
If you’ve been running your blog for some time now, you probably have lots of old content saved up. If you haven’t done so already, reference old posts in your new content when relevant with links back to the original post. This eliminates the need to repeat yourself to clarify a point and engages new readers to delve into your past posts.
3. Guiding Your Readers
Sidebars are great for guiding your readers to related posts. This is also a good way to index top posts – as in posts with the most comments or views. Include links within your sidebar to highlight certain posts. Use a sidebar to highlight interesting comments or run a blog contest and highlight the top winners. Feel free to get as creative as you want.
4. Going Social with Your Old Content
You need content for your social media platforms anyway, so why not make use of your old content? Buffer is a great site that allows you to easily accomplish this task. Just sign in with your desired social account and load some of your older posts. You can then schedule your posts so that it doesn’t appear that you’re randomly dumping content to all your social sites at once.
5. Inviting Guest Bloggers
A great way to boost your blog’s appeal is to have occasional guest bloggers contribute content. Doing an interview is another way to get a fresh perspective into your blog. Just make sure you proofread and edit as needed to make it easy to digest. If your guest blogger offers a lengthy post, break it up into multiple posts. You can also ask readers demonstrating knowledge related to your industry or field to contribute a few posts.
6. Mixing It Up
Where is it written that you have to use the same fonts and overall design for your blog until the end of time? Mix up your formats. Add infographics, video clips, or expand the scope of your blog. Even loyal followers can get bored.
7. Promoting Your Blog
Do a little experimenting and see what methods work best when it comes to promoting your blog. Some blogs work well with your social platforms, while others work best when incorporated into your regular email lists. It all depends on your topics and your core audience.
A blog is an ongoing effort. Just because you’ve found a formula that works doesn’t mean that you can’t make adjustments now and then. Your business has to adapt and change over time, the same is true of your blog.
