I’ve done a lot of blog coaching over the past ten years to help marketers, executives, and business owners reach their goals. Blogging goals vary and can include a range of objectives, from positioning one as a thought leader to increasing leads. We started each session with a review of best-practice blogging tips.
Now, I have received much advice over the years for my various jobs, speaking engagements, social media consulting work, and even community theater! Almost everyone had provided great advice along the way. Do your best. Just don’t suck! As intimidating as that sounds, I found it very inspirational. All that I needed to do was to execute my plan and do a great job. I needed to avoid blowing the opportunity. So, here is the advice that I can give you, so your blogging efforts are the best and, most of all, set you up not to suck!
9 Blogging Best Practices
1. Don’t forget to blog to a target audience’s needs, pain points or interests. Yes, your blogging goal is secure your readers’ attention by solving their problems and not selling to them.
2. Don’t blog during the weekend or mid-afternoon, when you can avoid it, so you can set yourself up for the most sharing. Shareaholic research indicates posts between Monday through Thursday and 8 AM to 12 PM get shared the most. If you have a worldwide audience, then perhaps a time like 4:30 AM might work for you to make sure you are leveraging your readers in Europe.
3. Don’t keep it to yourself, look to syndicate your blog. Especially when you start blogging, look to external and established blogs to syndicate your work. It’s amazing the extra bump in readership and shares that you will receive from a highly read blog.
4. Don’t be promotional; just focus on issues that solve your readers’ problems. The role of blogging is to tell and solve readers’ problem and connect the dots for them (i.e., the call to action) for them to reach out with further questions with comments and direct contact. A blog with how-tos and big answers to big questions will be widely adopted over a promotional site.
5. Don’t make it all about you. Get guest bloggers. Remember, it’s a team effort, and the other members on the team have different audiences that they attract!
6. Don’t avoid using keywords, so your blog gets found by Google. Using keywords will help you get found by readers whose native behavior is to search on keywords!
7. Don’t forget to integrate links (i.e., backlinks) to your blog’s other posts and tabs on your blog, so you rank with Google. Backlinks are one way to help your organic search ranking, so use it to your advantage by listing other related blog posts, your URL and your contact page.
8. Don’t forget to put in a call to action so your readers know what you want them to do. Yes, you need to address the big issues and conversation and not be promotional. However, you can have a call to action at the end of your posts to help your readers connect the dots to connect with you!
9. Don’t forget to promote your blog and posts, so you are found! Thinking about tweeting twice a day for two weeks about a different fact or observation in your blog post, listing blog URL on your LinkedIn profile (i.e., Publications and Summary areas, Twitter profile, and your email signature.
Do you have any other ideas to help your blogging not to suck? If so, please comment below or email me at gerry@marketingthink.com.
Lastly, don’t forget to blog once a week so that you can become a better blogger. When an interviewer asked Stephen King, the world-famous writer and author of my favorite book, The Stand, about becoming a better writer, he answered, “One word at a time and write 1,000 words every day.” By working on your blogging, you will move your skillset from the bottom rating to being closer to a 10! I know I have become a better blogger by blogging more.
