Writing blogs is one of the most important things you can do on your website to give value to your customers.
But how can you take a basic blog post and make it a great blog post?
Once your blog post is written, don’t just click “publish” and forget it. Your hard work will get way more mileage, reaching a bigger audience with your brand, with the following steps:
Blog Checklist
- Image: The attention grabber!
- Post Excerpt: Spark the interest of your audience to read on.
- Call to Action: Tell them what to do next.
- Share to Social Media Pages: Spread your content out to a wider audience.
- Value Added Email: Send to your prospects list.
Keeping up with your business blog isn’t easy. Even for someone who enjoys writing, coming up with new ideas and posting consistently is really challenging. So if you’ve conquered inertia, sat down and written a great blog post, give it the finishing touches, and the attention that it deserves.
Add a Great Image
Whether you’re flipping through articles on Flipboard, or scrolling through your Facebook feed, you’ll find that marketing is becoming more and more visual, and a great image can help grab a reader’s attention. Here are a few ways to whip up an image for your blog post:
- If you have an artistic side, put your graphic design skills to use and create your own image.
- Inspiration is all around you. Grab your smartphone, snap a pic and add a filter on it for an instant image.
- Take advantage of others’ talents and search for images on Google images, Flickr and more using Creative Commons image search.
- My favorite is Canva – I do most of my own graphics with this program.
Create a Post Excerpt
It’s tempting to move onto the next thing once your post is completed, but one tiny extra step can make a big difference in your marketing. Write a short teaser in just a couple sentences. If you already have a great header that entices your audience to read on, you may not even have to write anything more. The content is already there.
Add a Call to Action
Your blog post shouldn’t be a dead end. Help speed up the conversion process by making sure that prospects who have come to your post know what to do next. Link to a related article or page on your website, ask them to sign up for your email newsletter, or point to a free resource that you offer. Don’t let them leave your site because there was nowhere to go next.
Share on Social Media
Social Media and content go hand in hand. Content feeds your social media engine, and social distributes your content to a wider audience. Oh, and guess what – you already have a snappy excerpt and eye-catching image to help spread the word.
Value Added Email
It’s easy to turn your blog headline into a subject line and to craft your pre-written excerpt into a value-added email that you can share with your prospect list. Do this for every post, and soon you’ll have a great drip campaign that will keep marketing leads engaged.
There is no better feeling than wrapping up an interesting, funny, educational, or entertaining blog post. But don’t just click “publish” and forget it. With a few extra steps, your hard work will get way more mileage, reaching a bigger audience with your brand. Make sure you follow the Klik Digital Marketing Blog for more expert insights.
