Is your blog doing what it’s supposed to?
What is the objective you have for your blog?
If you are using your blog to either generate traffic to your websites or convert that traffic into buyers (Ex as a content portal) then here are a couple of tips that you will find make a BIG difference in the success of your blog to your online business results.
What Your Blog Should Be Doing For Your Business
So many online marketers start blogs without a clear sense of what role their blog should be playing in their online business building OR have the criteria with which to judge the effectiveness of their blog.
What ends up happening for most bloggers is that they continually produce content but see very limited results in terms of traffic generation, user engagement or conversion – in more blunt terms – this is a complete waste of time, something that most of us do not have to waste.
Let’s start with understanding the 3 objectives of your blog:
1. Capture the attention of your visitor – you only a few seconds to do that before they click away
2. Draw them into the content to the point where they feel you really know your stuff and it is relevant to you
3. Get your reader to take action – such as read more, sign up to a list, click on an ad or click through to buy something from you (affiliate or of your own)
Now, go back and look at some of your latest content.
Imagine that there are millions of other pages of content around your topic, does your blog content do a good enough job of attracting the attention of your visitor? Â Does it contain an inspirational or attention-grabbing headline/title? Â Does it include an eye-catching, highly relevant image? Â Is there a video leading the way with an awesome title? Â Does it relate to a current event or news? Â Does it speak to your audience in THEIR language?
Next, imagine you are one of your visitors and you are drawn in by the title – what would you expect to see next?
Perhaps a couple of paragraphs of highly relevant content that directly delivers on the promise or topic posted in the headline? Â Is that what they find? Â For many people – there is too much irrelevant or uninteresting, unrelated content to wade through and so they disappear before they ever get to the stage of converting.
Consider mixing up your content too…perhaps a 5-minute video that addresses an urgent question or current event related to your topic, then a 15-minute podcast with some top-of-mind topics or interviews followed by a short Q&A on an urgent question that has come in from your market.
Finally, look over your content and again think of yourself as a reader from your target market who was hooked on your content and did stick with it to the end – is there an obvious next step for them? Â Is there a call to action somewhere in the content? Â Is there a very obvious, visible place where they can either find more quality content from you (Ex related links) or click through on highly relevant ads or to get a related product?
Honestly, in most blog content I review as part of the InfoMarketer’sZone Fast Track System there is NO obvious next step on most of the content OR the next step is not directly related to the content so the chances of someone taking that next step are minimal.
Print the list of blog content criteria out from above – follow that criteria for every piece of content you post on your blog and you will notice improved results. Â If you struggle with your writing or communication, consider either having your content edited or even produced (based on a solid outline from you) by a freelancer – while that will cost you a small amount, in the end your results will be far better.
