2021 September 20 Archive - EXEIdeas

Powerful content can spark movements that translate into conversions. Take for instance heartwarming #WhatsYourName campaign in 2020 by Starbucks UK. They partnered with Mermaids in support of transgender and gender-diverse people. The award-winning campaign encouraged social media users to use the hashtag and post photos of Starbucks’ mermaid tail cookie that raised funds for Mermaids’ helpline service. They posted about it on their company blog and used a combination of traditional and digital media to promote the campaign.Whether it’s selling someone an idea, a lifestyle, a product, a service, or any other commodity, knowing how to use blogs for brand promotions is a core skill any digital marketer should have.Sharing blogs regularly is part of a holistic customer retention strategy. When your audience sees you posting valuable content that showcases your expertise, it elevates your brand status as you’d be viewed as one of the most trusted authorities in your niche.Do not spend hard-earned marketing dollars on promoting subpar content. If you are constantly churning out content that doesn’t get engagement or translate to conversions, consider elevating your blog writing skills.So, how do you write engaging content that screams customer-centricity and holds the reader’s attention from start to end? Here are some useful tips and strategies for writing winning blog posts that elevate brand status.Writing Strategies That Work For Blogs:Basic Blog Writing Tips:After you have done market research, set your project goals and mission statement, and established your key performance indicators (KPIs) to track metrics that count, you will know how to tell your brand’s story better. Here are basic tips any engaging blog will have. See if yours tick the boxes.Hook Your Audience With A Story:The Hook of your blog post is how you start your work. You hook an audience with a situation that can pique their interest, a challenge or conflict that makes them more curious, and a resolution that gives the reader satisfaction. Satisfied readers can be leads.Here are the basic elements of a good story:State an interesting fact, or an alarming statistic. People are generally shocked by facts and are naturally curious to learn more in most cases.Appeal to people’s emotions. Present a moving anecdote, and frame it in a way that will garner empathy and elicit feelings of sympathy for its readers.Present a target audience’s pain point through a situational anecdote or directly, and organically relate this to how your offerings can help sort out their concerns.On the flip side, here are some things that make readers disengage from a blog:Little to devoid of substance- A piece that doesn’t provide some challenge or is devoid of substance bores readers, causing them to abandon an article.Excess text, even in formatted bullet points. This makes the piece overwhelming and hard to recall.Wordiness- Infographics, videos, and posters work and help readers increase retention.Lack of authenticity- fake-sounding critiques or user-generated content, and those that don’t connect to their client’s problems or issues.Write An Irresistible Headline:Your striking headline is the roadmap readers follow, connecting all your sentences and phrases like a river. Clear, succinct writing involves coming up with a blog title that hooks the reader with a clear goal and lets them want to learn more from you.Picking an interesting blog topic involves researching trending subjects on social media, and all other traditional media. Or at least, it should be a subject that provides solutions to your client’s pain points.Hooking readers in means you also need to engage their senses, so try to use sensory words when creating headlines. Put yourself in their shoes. Make it succinct, pack everything neatly. Also, remember to leave an air of mystery that will have them wanting to check out the rest of the good blog posts on your page.Provide A Motivational Conclusion:After discussing the pain points and ways on how to resolve relevant issues, you should encourage them to achieve their goals using the steps you provided. Empowerment encourages action and engagement,Tell them this by showing them through your writing that they can achieve positive results through the knowledge they gained from your advice. Edit Your Blog And Smoothen The Hard EdgesEnsure that your topic stays true to your audience’s interest. Cut repetitive statements, make sure that your transitions from one idea to another are smooth, and make it easy to read.Do this by deleting unnecessary words, paragraphs, contradicting statements, redundancies, or other elements that distract from the message of your post. Distil your ideas into a collection of vital elements that help shine a light on your message.Make it straight and to the point, and more “authoritative” in tone by using specific verbs. Writing in an active voice is also recommended, and be sure to pick strong adjectives to enhance discussions.You are an expert in your blog, but make yourself a relatable one. Readers aren’t looking to be lectured by a condescending know-it-all. Assure them that you have their back and hope they succeed in their endeavours.This one goes beyond saying, but be reminders that grammatical and spelling errors are a big turnoff. Readers who see poor grammar and spelling on blogs usually lose interest, abandoning it altogether without finishing it. Even expert editors use grammar checking sites like Grammarly to cut anything that can distract from what writers are trying to say.If you simply have no time to create a well-thought-out blog or learn about editing tools, consider leaving it to an expert. Hire a content writer with editing skills to focus on this area of your content marketing strategy. Use Eye-Catching Visuals That Go With Your Style And Content Add great visuals to go with your post. This gives readers an eye break from words. Just make sure that the images you put supplement, support, or highlight your ideas. If you don’t have in-house photography, a graphic design team, or you simply don’t have a budget for photo services, you can always download and use photos from royalty-free image sites. Just remember to give credit where credit is due.If you’re taking charge of visual assets, too, you can use a variety of photo editing tools like Canva, Piktochart, and others that you can check out to create better images for your blogs.How To Build A Winning Blog SEO Strategy?SEO in 2021 is a whole new ballgame. It’s not just about picking keywords that customers are searching for. You need strategic organization in terms of blog creation, distribution, and ranking.Business websites excel in organic traffic and have elevated SERPs thanks to SEO. SEO strategists can focus on three kinds of SEO:On-Page SEO- deals with website page content, and how to boost its ranking through optimization.Off-Page SEO- refers to backlinking reputable website sources to increase trust ratings in web search algorithms, thereby improving your ranking.Technical SEO- deals with website backend technicalities like coding concerns, which define a pages’ technical performance.Getting SEO right is a continuous process of market research (industry, competitor, target audience, trends, etc.), determining your audience’s concerns, and sharing content that resonates with their core needs. Always stay updated on SEO best practices and industry news, as developments come quickly in this field.Steps In Building An Effective SEO Blog Strategy:List all possible topicsList all long-tail keywords based on the topics you pickedHave a webpage for every topicCreate a blog pagePlot a consistent posting scheduleBe strategic about your link buildingGet high-quality media files and compress them before sharingKeep abreast with the latest SEO best practicesSee if you are meeting your KPIs by tracking and assessing your analyticsDevelop A Streamlined SEO Mobile Strategy:Your website must be accessible to whatever device a consumer is using. Mobile optimization ensures that users on their phones get the same satisfying experience as desktop browsers. This highlights the importance of mobile-first indexing that Google implements. Algorithms index and rank searches. Ensure that your page loading times are quick, that your site is responsive, adheres to local SEO basics, and has valuable content.Additional Tips For Promoting Your Blogs:List the top content channels to share your content.Expand in the right web spaces. Find your target audience by relying on web analytics like Google Analytics. This allows you to see where your content is receiving more engagement and shares.Tools like Buzzsumo also have a content analysis tool that shows all social media analytics like shares by the network, blog type, and length, plus the top-performing content yearly.Do a Cost Analysis and Budget for Digital Tools. Create a budget for content production and maintenance, digital tools, and resources. The tools you pick will highly depend on the publishing workflow you build to match your business’ pace.Turn Those Site Visits Into Conversions:Paid Ads, sponsored posts, influencer marketing, and using content publishing tools are all effective digital solutions that can help boost conversions. The base is still great content, of which blogs play an important role. So once you have the strategy down, run some tests before launching large-scale digital marketing campaigns.Your blogs and other advertising assets can be maximized with strategic cross-promotion in different digital channels. You’ll know if your strategy works when you get many shares and steady engagement that translates to sales.Ready to dazzle the crowd with killer blogs? Roll up your sleeves, labour over research & development, and get started creating content that will leave your audience wanting more.About the Author:Trevor Michael is a Customer Contact Industry Specialist of Select VoiceCom. He has operated successfully within this niche industry for over ten years across Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. He enjoys writing, golf and going to social events.Find Me On Facebook | LinkedIn