For any growing business, content marketing is an integral component of long-term success. At a minimum, blog content should be well-organized, intriguing, and authoritative. Unfortunately, recent reports indicate that only 5% of digital marketers feel confident in their content marketing efforts.
"Just a few years ago, you could post 1, 2, 3, 300 blog posts on your website; furiously direct traffic to them through all your social platforms; amass zillions of inbound links; target a bunch of keywords; and easily rank on Google," says Justin Lee, head of growth at HubSpot.
It's true — content marketing has become incredibly complex. Today's digitally savvy consumers have become more attuned to the content marketing tactics and strategies instituted by the world's leading enterprises, small businesses, and startups. To meet consumer's growing content marketing expectations, marketers continue to roll out all-new practices to bolster content effectiveness.
5 Blog Writing Tips to Maximize Engagement
How do marketers deliver more value through their blogs? Follow these simple blog writing tips to maximize your content marketing potential, increase traffic, and drive more meaningful conversions:
Craft Compelling Headlines
The first step to building high-value blog content is to craft a compelling headline. Often, your headline is reader's first interaction with your blog content. As such, the headline should entice readers into clicking and learning more. To build a more effective headline, be sure to:
Optimize for Search Engines
Include your article's focus keyword in the article headline. As a best practice, limit the length of your headline to less than 70 characters. Most engines display less than 70 characters before cutting the title in search results.
Include Numbers and Data
Most readers prefer content that is listed or organized by number.
Present an Alternative Viewpoint
Try to attract readers with an alternative viewpoint. Do you have an especially compelling argument? Look for ways to challenge the status quo.
Convey a Sense of Urgency
Craft article headlines in a way that promotes immediate action. Why must visitors read your article right now and what is at stake if they don't?
"Your overall focus should be to educate prospects and customers, by teaching them new things," says Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital. "It's not enough that they click your headline. They need to read the information you've provided them in the body of your content, as well."
Create Unique Content
Secondly, body content should be fresh and unique. When you give readers substantive, thought-provoking, and valuable content, you are more likely to retain them as long-term customers.
Additionally, unique content will increase your blog authority.
"Think of it this way," recommends Julie Petersen, guest contributor at ProBlogger. "If you read informative articles of great value, you're most likely to bookmark those sites for future use. That's the effect you want to achieve with your own posts."
Unfortunately, creating unique content requires a considerable investment of time, energy, and resources. Streamline the content creation process by doing some great research. Draw inspiration from your competition or other industry leaders. What are others writing about and how can you shape your content in that way that presents a new or alternative idea? More importantly, shape the content in a way that resonates with your own target audience!
Include Embedded Links
Another tip for building content that drives more traffic and sales is to include internal and external links throughout your blog. Incorporating relevant internal and external links will increase blog visibility, website rank, and domain authority. What are internal and external links exactly?
- Internal Links: An internal link is a hyperlink that directs readers to another page on your website. Including internal links in your blog content helps viewers to stay engaged with your website longer. Additionally, internal links help search engines "crawl" or learn more about the webpage.
- External Links: An external link is a hyperlink that promotes a relevant piece of content that isn't on your website. Adding trustworthy, informative, and authoritative external links to your blog content will improve your website's credibility and provide readers with additional references.
To maximize your search engine optimization efforts, focus internal and external links around a specific long-tail keyword!
Unlock the Power of Video
Today, digital marketers continue to leverage the power of video marketing to influence and engage their target audience. For many industry-leading enterprises, video marketing is a must-have piece of the marketing puzzle. In fact, recent reports indicate that 80 percent of consumers view product or service videos prior to completing their purchase.
Video can be an extraordinarily powerful tool when used as a complementary content marketing feature. For example, a business could craft a compelling how-to blog post and record an instructional walkthrough video for some added context.
The best video content is helpful, non-promotional, and encourages viewers to search for more information or take the next step in the buyer's journey. Remember to align your video content with your brand standards and guidelines. Try not to stray too far from your brand's approved colors and fonts!
Optimize for Mobile
Today, 82 percent of adults own a smartphone, and the world's leading digital marketers have caught on. To take your content marketing to the next level, optimize for handheld devices including smartphones, tablets, and more. To optimize for these kinds of mobile devices, focus on the following:
Responsiveness
Smaller devices may have difficulty loading complex files. When adding imagery or videos to your blog content, be sure to optimize these files for the web.
Shorter Sentences and Paragraphs
Cut the amount of scrolling by cutting your blog content into smaller, more digestible sentences and paragraphs.
Collapsible Sections
Too much content can be a bad thing, especially on mobile. By adding collapsible sections to your blog, users can quickly hide content and access the information they need more efficiently.
Imagery
Including bright, vibrant imagery in your blog posts is another mobile optimization technique. Smartphone and tablet users tend to interact more with content that features a healthy variety of accompanying imagery.
Become a Blog Writing Champion
Are you ready to take your content to the next level? The world's leading corporations, businesses, and startups utilize these and other best practices to deliver more blog marketing value. Follow these simple blog writing tips to maximize the effectiveness of your content, capture more leads, and increase sales!
Become an ultimate blog writing champion by downloading the Organic Traffic Growth Guide. In the guide, discover how industry-leading organizations achieve explosive organic growth through content optimization, promotion, video marketing, and routine iteration.
