Blogging is one of the best ways to connect with both potential and current customers. It’s also a great way to educate them on your products or services. Sometimes, though, that’s a lot easier said than done. We’ve written this article to share eight business blogging tactics to generate more sales.
It’s not uncommon for businesses to struggle while kickstarting their blog campaigns. Some businesses need help developing ideas and strategies to get their campaign off the ground. Other businesses are simply striving to keep traffic coming back after they’ve seen initial success.
If either of these descriptions feels like it was written just for you, or you simply want to improve the results of your current blogging efforts, this blog post is for you.
The eight tactics we’ll explore next will both help your business blog stand out and help you generate more sales in the long run.
#1: Blog Consistently
Consistency is the key to success in business blogging. Instead of randomly blogging, maintain a consistent schedule that is compatible with your business goal.
If your goal is geared toward improving business relationships, you may want to consider making blog posts as frequently as possible. This way, your content stays fresh in the minds of potential clients and partners.
If your intention is to advertise your services and generate more leads instead, then you may want to schedule your blog posts less frequently.
Just how do you create a blogging schedule that’s a perfect fit for your business?
1. Calculate how often you can blog
Consider the amount of time, energy, and resources you have at your disposal. How often can you truly dedicate yourself to writing new blog posts for your business blog?
Think about both your personal and professional commitments. Then, determine what schedule would work well with most of them. It’s important to have a practical approach to your scheduling.
2. Find out the best time to blog
Are there times of the day or week that you find you’re most alert and focused? Maybe the weather has an impact as well? Do you find inspiration when it’s sunny or stormy outside? Is there a particular place that you enjoy sitting and writing? All of this is worth consideration when you’re choosing the best time to blog.
3. Determine where you will blog
Do you prefer to work from home, or in a quiet, secluded space where the distractions of daily life fade away? Or does sitting at your local coffee shop sipping on your favorite latte typing out your thoughts on a laptop sounds more like you?
#2: Add Relevant Call to Actions
When your calls to action are relevant, you’ll see higher conversion rates. Nothing sours a blog post faster than a non-relevant call to action.
Since this article is focused on generating more sales with your business blog, let’s talk about two types of calls to action that are most likely to drive more sales.
1. The Nudge Call To Action
Include subtle phrases in your blog post that will get readers to take action. Examples include “If you want to save time,” “If you don’t want to waste money,” “If you want more information,” or even “If you are wondering how to do it.”
Phrases like this will help nudge your readers toward taking real action and clicking through to your sales page.
2. The Redirect Call To Action
This type of call to action is useful if you want your readers to redirect their attention elsewhere, then come back later.
For example, a redirect could be a link where they can read more about your product, or to your contact page where they’ll be able to reach you directly.
#3: Use Customer Questions
It’s common for people to ask questions directly on your Facebook page or Twitter account. When that happens, take the time to see what things they’re asking about. Then, think about whether there’s an opportunity to create content around their question. This could be a chance to answer their question in detail through a blog post.
Remember that you may have other customers with different questions than the one you’ve just answered.
If you answer one question and find it’s not a unique problem, come up with more ways to answer similar questions in different blog posts. It’s a chance to get more mileage out of your content.
Using blog posts to answer customer questions is a great way to get exposure, and to show potential customers the type of work you’re capable of doing. This can eventually lead to an increase in sales.
If your blog posts relate to a product or service that you sell, this is also a great way for you to get links back to your site. This helps Google see it as a subject matter expert, and gives you that coveted top ranking in search engines.
#4: Conduct Effective Keyword Research
Before you even start thinking about writing a blog post, it’s important to do keyword research. This is a step that a lot of people skip—and that’s a big mistake.
It’s worthwhile to analyze the best keywords for your content. Then, you can use them in clever ways so you can rank on Google’s first page. This will ensure that you get good traffic that converts into sales for your company.
Keyword research can be a long and tiring process. However, it’s worth it if you’re prepared to put in the effort. It’s a step you don’t want to rush through.
Yes, it takes time and patience. The benefits will be worth it for your business, though. Your potential customers will be able to find you more easily on search engines, as well.
You may be tempted to focus solely on Google when you’re doing your keyword research. You might be assuming that this is the only place that people are making their searches.
Unfortunately, this would be incorrect. Other search engines like Yahoo and Bing also get traffic, and are frequently used for searches. Best practice is to optimize your website with keywords that appear in all three popular search engines, not just Google.
#5: Write Long Form Blog Posts
Creating great content for your blog is the easiest way to attract backlinks.
When you strive to create content that is more in-depth, high quality, and useful, it’s easier to get links.
More links mean the ability to get more traffic—and rank higher in search engines. This can mean more leads, and more sales.
Your blog posts can be more effective if they are:
a) In-depth – long form: 1,500+ words
b) High quality: well written, useful information
c) Timely – relevant to current events or news in your niche
Three tips for writing long form blog posts:
1. Develop an outline before you start writing
Outlines both help you stay on track and provide structure for your article. Structure is essential for long form content.
When you’re done with your first draft, you can reference your outline. It’ll help you fill in any gaps in content that could’ve been overlooked during your initial writing process.
2. Break your content down into digestible chunks
Structure your article based on providing value to your reader. Provide a compelling introduction with an attention-grabbing hook, and a thesis statement that defines the purpose of the article.
We suggest writing your introduction first, then writing each body paragraph before writing a conclusion. This can help you maintain organized, structured content.
3. Cut down on fluff wherever you can
Fluff is any unnecessary content that simply clutters your article. This includes filler words like “um” and “you know,” as well as any sentences that don’t support your thesis statement or purpose.
#6: Create Solution-Based Content
While some people start a blog to express themselves, this isn’t the intent of a business blog. Business blogs are best used to reach out to customers and potential customers.
When you write blog posts that solve problems related to your business, you can connect with and communicate to a market in a way that’s valuable to them.
They’ll learn more about your company through the sales funnel, and be more likely to want to take advantage of your solutions.
Solution-based blog writing is a powerful strategy. With the right approach, it doesn’t have to be difficult—or creative.
When you’re developing a solution-based approach for your own blog, think about these questions. They’ll give you a head start to creating valuable content:
1) What is the value of my product or service?
2) How can I show my customers the value of my product or service?
3) What pain points does my business solve for the market?
4) Why should a blog post on this topic be valuable to a reader like me?
5) How can I use images, graphics and videos to communicate the solutions?
6) What are the benefits of this solution to my current and future clients?
Yes, these questions might sound simple and similar. It’s still important to seriously think through the questions, then generate as many answers as possible.
A solution-based approach will help you create posts that solve specific problems for your business and/or industry. Taking this route will empower you to write blog posts with more actionable value for your readers, and that in turn boosts click-through rate and helps generate leads.
For example, instead of titling an article “Social media strategies for restaurants,” consider calling it “How to find the right social media marketing tools for restaurants. When you’re more specific, you open the door for better results.
#7: Write Content that Aligns with Your Customer’s Interests
Think about how busy you are in daily life. Your potential customers are no different, and your blog should act as a place where they can catch a break. This is a point where you can leverage on the existing enthusiasm of your customer.
What are they really interested in?
Ideally, you should choose a theme to use for your blog posts. For example, if you’re selling baby accessories, you can write about the best buying tips and parenting advice.
When you’re writing posts that align perfectly with your customers’ interests, you can be sure that they’ll take an interest in your blog. That leads to increased traffic, and increased revenue for your business.
Additionally, growing sales through your blog becomes much more simple when you focus on your existing customers.
How?
It’s very simple: You only need to acknowledge your current customers’ needs, making sure that you address them through your blog posts. Then, they’ll be more likely to come back for more of what’s offered in the blog posts.
#8: Make your Posts Scannable
Think about how you read blog posts. Chances are good that you aren’t carefully reading every single word. You likely skim through the content, and your readers are going to do the same.
This is why you have to make your content scannable. Break up the text, add images, and include bulleted lists wherever possible. That way, readers can easily skim through your blog post without losing interest.
Making your blog posts scannable also makes them more readable—both for your readers and for search engines that spider the pages.
Several tools can help you check to see if your blog posts are scannable. You can also run an eye-tracking study on your readers to see how they read your content. However, this option isn’t free, which may make it inaccessible to some businesses.
Scannable content helps your blog get noticed by search engines. It also will naturally lead to more readers coming on board and spending time on your blog.
8 Business Blogging Tactics to Generate More Sales – Conclusion
We hope this post has helped you learn more about these strategies, and that you feel ready to apply our eight business blogging tactics to generate more sales.
If you’re trying to drive more sales, we recommend incorporating the tips and strategies we’ve outlined in this blog post into your marketing strategy.
When you do so, you’ll be empowered to create content that’s effective at solving potential customer pain points, while also driving traffic back to your site. If you want to learn more about SEO or our services, please get in touch with us.
We’d love to hear from you: What are some ways you can use these tactics? Let us know below!
