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You can grow your business with blogs, but only with a solid content strategy. Here are some easy to follow steps to grow your business.
5 years ago, I purchased paid ads to grow my business.
My goal was to promote my business brand only with content. There couldn’t be a better strategy for a content agency like mine.
For two years, I focused solely on content and during that time, I didn’t pay for advertising. By the end of the second year, I had published 390 blogs, generating 700 visitors per day and revenue of $9,000 per month.
But the excitement quickly turned to exhaustion. I realized I was doing too much, that I wasn’t getting the success I dreamed of. I was writing day and night, blogging about things I never thought I would write about, and banging my head on about new things that people could be interested in.
What did I do wrong? Why didn’t my business grow because of my exhausting blogging efforts?
After a few setbacks, I decided to retire and rethink my content marketing. I spent time regrouping and rebuilding, convinced that I didn’t want to go back to paid advertising. I found a formula to develop my brand through blogging: content strategy.
Related: How to create content designed with the future of social media in mind
After implementing my content strategy, I began to see exciting results. We reached a monthly income of $31,000.
What I’ve learned from my 7 years in content marketing is You can grow your business with blogs, but only if you have a solid content strategy that supports you. Here are five easy steps to follow if you are interested in starting your own business.
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Define your audience and learn how to turn them into customers
You can create content that is sophisticated and well designed but won’t attract attention if it’s not what your target audience is looking for. For example, if an audience wants to learn how to make chocolate at home, they won’t read your beautiful and detailed blog about the history of chocolate.
To avoid wasting hours creating content that no one will read, strike a balance between your expertise and the topics your audience wants to read. Let’s say you’re a sushi chef and your audience wants to learn how to cook. To get their attention, add recipes and sushi rolls to your blog.
The next step is to turn the recipients into customers. Configure your website with clear paths to your product. A competent customer service team will magically turn hot spots into customers.
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Use the right keywords and SEO frameworks to attract this audience.
Currently, Google conducts over 5 billion searches per day. A high ranking in search results is an effective way to bring your brand to the forefront.
To create search engine optimized content, start with well-targeted keywords. Find ideas for them in your products or services. For example, if you sell cakes, use keywords such as “cheesecake”, “recipes” and ” French bread”.
The next step is to generate long-tail keywords from your main keyword. Long-tail keywords, usually are composed of three or more words, are good for targeting because they have less competition in the ranking and because people searching for these terms are more likely to convert into a sale. A person looking for a “little black homecoming dress” is more likely to buy than a person looking for a simple “dress”.
Use SEO tools to find long-tail keywords. The advanced keyword research tools provide valuable information about keywords, such as their competitiveness, the traffic they generate, and the pages that are currently ranked for them.
3 Focus on your website and build your authority with long-term blog content.
If you are new to blogging, where should you put most of your content? On Facebook, which has 2.6 billion active users per month? On the blogs of other sites that have already found followers?
Unfortunately, many new bloggers are focusing all their energy on social media and guest blogs. While these platforms are great, they should not be the place where the basis for “home-grown” content is built. Publish your messages on a platform that you have total control over – a platform that can grow over time without worrying about it crashing on you.
Think about what happened when the Huffington Post stopped running the guest blog platform. On the day of the announcement, many bloggers realized that they had lost access to years of hard work and creativity. If you build your house of content on someone else’s platform, you can’t be sure you always have full control.
Focus on publishing on your website to reinforce the authority of your brand. Spend most of your time publishing your best content on it.
Tips for building a content house with authoritative content:
Don’t write fluffy content. Dig deeper and make a copy of what you write, adding useful tips, statistics, and research.
Write longer blog posts. While 500-word articles are great for fun and light subjects, authoritative content should be at least 1500 words. Use 3000 words or more for detailed tips.
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Create content strategically and continuously.
Content creation should not be left to just when you are in the mood. Rather, it should be strategic, consistent, and well-planned. Create an editorial calendar with topics corresponding to specific release dates.
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Maintain and promote your content
Just like at home, the contents must be cared for over time. I review my existing content at least once a year. I update old statistics, improve formatting, and add new stories and facts as needed.
Promote the content you create. Let people know it’s there. Share it on social platforms. Send emails to your list. Content marketing should consist of 20% creative and 80% advertising. If you have unique and valuable content and distribute it through the channels your audience uses, it won’t take long for your content marketing to snowball.
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