There are thousands of company blogs that literally have no traffic. All that you find on them is news about various different things that the firm managed to do. It is really important that you take the necessary time to understand the importance of having such a blog. There is basically no reason why you should have one if it does not offer real value to your business.
We will not talk about what you should blog about. You should already know that. If not, start learning as soon as possible and focus on that before you take into account what is written below. Companies need blogs and you need to start working on yours if you do not already do this.
The Importance Of Quality Content
Before we start talking about the simple tips that will help you to increase company blog traffic, remember that there is basically no way to replace quality writing. The best content you can offer is the one that is dynamic, attractive and relevant for your target audience. For instance, if you are targeting real estate property owners that want to sell something, you cannot offer tips about buying properties. Such mistakes are a lot more common than we want to believe.
Everybody keeps saying that content marketing stands out as the most important 2014 SEO trend we need to take into account. There is a reason for that: it works! It actually works for company blogs too.
Let us now get to the main subject at hand: increasing company blog traffic directly through your content. Here is what you need to remember:
The Most Important Part Of The Post Is The Title!
Just think about it! This is the very first thing that the potential reader sees. If the title is good, it will catch attention and clicks. If it is not, that potential reader will simply move to something else. There is definitely no shortage of content online so we need to create titles that are instantly attention grabbing for our target audience, create controversy, mention important names or keywords, make a hint to a conflict or maybe offer a question that the target reader wants an answer to or plays off some common settings.
Quick tip: Make sure that the title is short, under 140 characters with room for Retweeting and link. You want the share to look good in social media!
Quick tip 2: You can have a title and a sub-title for the posts. Promote the content with the sub-title where it is possible (for instance, Facebook) and use the short title for limited space channels like Twitter.
Always Use Photos And Use Them Properly!
From time to time I come across great writing on new lifestyle blogs, writing that is highly attractive. The problem is that although text is king for search engines, it is not for the actual reader. We need to use photos to enhance the quality of company blog posts.
The great part about it is that companies nowadays have an endless supply of photos that are taken on a constant basis due to different reasons. We also have access to designers that may be employed. The blog manager can easily take advantage of this.
Unfortunately, nobody really wants to read company blog posts and we need to convince them otherwise. Photographs anchor attention and it is easier for a blog link to be clicked when the photo is engaging. We should also add images because posts would look a lot better when they are shared on social media channels. Visual storytelling is big on Facebook.
They do not say a picture is worth one thousand words for nothing!
Getting back to the designer part a few lines above, you need to stamp the company name, website, your name or whatever you see fit on the photos (bottom corner preferred). This is because you basically end up with a small billboard that will float around the internet, getting you more traffic to your company blog. In addition, it will make it a lot easier to market on Pinterest and Instagram.
Blog Posts Should Have Value!
As already mentioned, too many company blogs just share news that are related to what goes on with the firm. That is not necessarily a bad thing since we, the readers, want to see what happens but when you just give us that, we will remember and we will not come back.
This inevitably brings us back to content marketing. The entire blog needs a main directive. While occasional fluff pieces are fine, if you do not tell stories, offer education or solve problems, you are limited. Every single bit of information you offer should ideally add value. Never recycle topics that were already covered unless they were not covered enough. Think about the reader, address issues, challenges or share some relevant experiences.
You can also give something away for free. In return, you can ask for a subscription. Many company blogs started to embrace this as they are offering free services for blog readers through coupons, newsletters and so on. Just make sure that what you give away for free is of high quality.
News Vs Evergreen Posts
How many company blogs did you see filled with news about relevant events? The answer is surely many or you did not actually read many company blogs till now. It is not a problem to offer news since that is something that is relevant. However, when that is all you offer, the information will lose its value really fast.
When you post evergreen information, it will most likely take a long time until it becomes irrelevant. You can thus have content that is always relevant and that can be shared or read. There are basically no limitations put on audience growth.
Quick Tip: Post news articles whenever there is something that is truly relevant going on in the industry or that is related to the company while making sure that most of the posts are meant to solve problems and offer value to readers.
Write Posts With Relevant Keywords!
It is very easy to start talking about a topic and to use the appropriate jargon. The problem is that people rarely use that jargon for Google searches. Simple content modifications in terms of targeted keywords can do wonders for your blog.
For instance, let’s think about a company blog post that showcases a new machine you have in stock called Driston X233. In our example Driston is a fictional brand and the machine is actually an industrial vacuum cleaner. A post with the title “Presenting The New Driston X233” would not bring in as much traffic as “Testing The Best Industrial Vacuum Cleaner We Have In Stock – Driston X233”. That is because people will not know about the X233 and will only look for that particular model after they heard about it somewhere else.
Think about the keywords that people actually use in search engines. For In our example, keywords like “best industrial vacuum cleaner” or “industrial vacuum cleaner tests” would be a lot better when compared to “Driston X233”.
Quick Tip: Use keywords that people actually use in search engines in your titles instead of the main brand keywords you want to rank really high for. Eventually, you will rank for those too if you get proper engagement or you will not need to rank as high since your content is found with ease by those that look for the really long keywords.
Experiment!
These are just some simple tips that will help you to increase company blog traffic but there is definitely so much more that can be said. The most important thing is experimenting with the content that you offer and analyzing what works well and what does not work well. At the same time, you need to know exactly what your audience is and try to solve a problem or offer important information for them through every post that you make.
