Small businesses have two things in common. First, they have a product or service that they have crafted and honed to a point at which they’re ready to show the market what they’ve been working on. Second, they want to shout about their product or service and need to find the most cost-effective way to do so (there’s no point in having the shiniest apple on the shelf if no-one knows the shelf exists!). This is going to take some research – you may wish to follow a marketer who delivers regular content on complementary themes, such as the podcast from marketer John Winsor, for example.
Let’s look at one way to get noticed: blogs. If you want to know how important regular blog updates are, just think of any YouTube channel. Channels with a smorgasbord of content and upload dates reading something like “4 hours ago”, “2 days”, and “one week ago show you that someone is at the wheel. Now look at a competitor channel who last updated “3 weeks” ago and “2 months” ago. Who are you going to click on? The most recent content that looks to be updated regularly? Or some older content with such a gap between uploads that the videos probably aren’t connected? Well, let’s get into it.
- Original content is the key
Following on from the previous point about content upload frequency, the first thing to note is that although most of us would generally choose to engage with content creators with a strong and regular presence, original content that contains valuable information will naturally gain clicks even where the posts are uploaded on an irregular or less regular basis in comparison to competitors.
That’s why blog posts that convert require a little extra thought. Are you regurgitating established answers? Or are you offering a new angle, perhaps through real life examples (i.e. case studies). If you think you have nothing to say but you want regular content, becoming a thought leader by analysing industry news and offering your opinion is one way to ensure that you will always have a topic to hand.
- Turn dull things into interesting things
Quarter one earned this much, quarter two was OK but this, that, and the other were against you, quarter three again was OK but in the context of comparing quarter one going into quarter two … are you asleep yet?
This isn’t a history report for your high school teacher. It’s not a tick box exercise to say all the right things regardless of how it’s presented. It’s a blog that you want people to click on, read, find to be useful, share, and click through to your other content, funneling down to your money pages. You need well written content, infographics perhaps, and a professional layout.
- Go evergreen with ultimate guides
Evergreen content such as longer pieces with titles that begin “A complete guide to…” are not this week’s news, but rather introductions to concepts. People love to read this ‘round-up’ style content, so, give them what they want.
