Having a blog on your company’s website or linked to your website is a cost effective online marketing tool. It’s important to provide content that will attract visitors, keep them interested, and convert them into customers. Place social media icons on your blog to make sharing easier. Have a conversation on Facebook and Twitter to show followers and fans that your company is interested in what they have to say. Show your care and concern.
Below you’ll find 7 dust-busting techniques that will clean your blog and make it shine again.
How to Clean and Refresh Your Company’s Blog
Redesign it.
The design implemented three years ago could be out-of-date today. It’s important to stay on top of the latest design trends. Pay attention to the color scheme. A bold color scheme could work for an entertainment business, but not for your medical practice.
Rewrite blog content.
Rewrite or hire a freelance writer/blogger to rewrite old content. This is a great content strategy to breathe new life into your blog. Perhaps, the content is outdated or didn’t make a good first impression when it was originally posted. Perhaps, blog posts weren’t optimized with keywords/phrases.
Rewrites could dramatically increase web traffic.
Tip: A headline on a blog post is just as important as a headline on a print article. You still have to ‘hook’ readers.
Ask questions.
Asking questions at the end of blog posts is a web traffic building strategy that most freelance writers and bloggers use. A question shows visitors that you want to know what they think — your company’s interested in having and maintaining a conversation with them.
Revise the writing style and tone.
What’s the tone of the current blog content? Style and tone can affect blog traffic. This is why it’s important to know ‘who’ the target audience is. For example, if your target audience is marketing directors, the content should be targeted to this audience by incorporating industry jargon and lingo. However, if your target audience is the ‘everyday’ consumer, avoid using industry terms. Your message will become muddled and lost. Customers will gravitate to your competitors’ content because it’s easy to understand.
Change the structure of blog posts.
There are many ways to structure blog posts. The most common way is:
- Headline
- Bullet headline
- Information
However, you don’t have to follow this pattern. Be bold and try something new such as:
- Headline
- Quote
- Information
- Headline
- Quote
- Information
Tips
- Keep sentences short and to the point.
- Use bold headlines and bullet points.
- When it comes to links, use a different color to stand out from the crowd.
Test different structures to see which ones receive the most ‘tweets’ and ‘likes.’ One thing that never changes is that web content must be compelling and interesting.
Post consistently.
How fresh is your company’s blog content? Is it posted consistently? You don’t have to publish a blog post every day; however, choose a schedule that works for your company. Perhaps, you’ll post twice a week or twice a month. Whatever you do, be consistent.
Try new angles.
Types of posts such as “How To” and “Lists” work because they’re fast and easy to read. But, you may want to ‘shake’ things up by publishing a controversial post here and there. If you disagree with your competitors, say so. If you disagree with industry trends, write about it (or have your freelance writer/blogger, write about it). There’s no harm in voicing your opinions. It’s a great way to jump start a conversation.
Use these blog ‘dust busting’ techniques to wipe the slate clean on your company’s blog. Experiment with different types of posts from “How To” to “Tips.” What works? What doesn’t work? Analyze the results to find out which posts had the most visitors and comments. Remember to keep your target market in mind when posting web content. Once your company discovers a strategy that works, stick with it. But don’t ignore new trends either. Stay on top of the ever changing world of blogging.
What are you doing to prevent your blog from collecting dust? Share.
Related articles
- Corporate Blogging on the Decline? Don’t Read Too Much Into It (mediaemerging.com)
- 5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic (savvy-writer.com)
- Whiteboard Friday – Corporate Blogging Tips (seomoz.org)
- Building Better Business Blogs (5/7): To Be Continued?? (zemanta.com)
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