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Writing and creating content for the web has become increasingly accessible since the introduction of WordPress. At least, if we look at the technical side of it. In practice, writing and publishing the content itself still proves to be a major hurdle.
“Who should type those pieces?”, “a blog is not suitable for B2B at all” or “after three articles I would no longer know what we should be talking about”. These are all arguments that are still heard today. And while blogging can be very effective. If you have not yet embraced blogging, let these three arguments convince you. Because of course there are practical hurdles, but they are quite easy to overcome (see also the 6 practical tips at the bottom) and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages 100%...
More visitors come to your site
A static website that gives visitors some information about your product or service is of course an excellent starting point. But at some point you have promoted all pages on that website and the visitor has seen it. Your website actually offers little value, except to visitors who were already planning to buy your product.
By publishing more articles on your website you create more relevant moments to draw attention to your website. If those articles are actually valuable, your target group will also read those articles. If you have built up a larger archive of articles over time, there will be more for that visitor to view. So not only are more visitors coming, they are also staying longer on your website.
And of course you will be WordPress site better and more indexed in Google. More content also gives you more traffic via search engines. An additional advantage is that these visitors are also really interested in this topic, otherwise they would not have clicked on it. So there are opportunities!
Blogging gives you more commercial opportunities
Blogging gives you more opportunities to convert visitors. If you have created value for the visitor with your message, they may have a reason to become your customer. Therefore, end your blog post with a good one Call To Action, link to relevant landing page, or registration form for your newsletter or other forms.
Writing articles that convert is a matter of puzzling and trying. With Google Analytics you can see exactly what visitors do and do not read. By sharing messages on social media you find out whether you “likeable” creates content. And if you actually get customers from your articles, you know which topics are popular and where you can add something. You cannot achieve this by writing four messages. And probably not at 40 either. Patience and continued work is a virtue here.
Blogging is cheap and is a perfect long-term strategy
Blogging is relatively cheap when you consider its shelf life. You, a colleague or a freelancer have to make the investment in writing an article once, but the article can remain on your website for a long time. Especially when it comes to evergreen content your article will remain relevant and therefore interesting for visitors for years to come. The longer an item is online and the more visitors it receives, the cheaper the item becomes.
You can therefore bring good content to the attention of your target group several times, spread over a certain period. A message then generates new shares and likes, generating a new stream of visitors.
Apart from the possibilities for conversion, blogging also has another long-term goal: branding. By writing a lot you position yourself or your company in the areas relevant to you. You or your company are seen as thought leader, and that can give you a big advantage over your competitors. So you create brand equity by writing a lot.
Practical tips for blogging
- Better to start moderately than not at all. If your company is afraid to blog because they are afraid the quality is not good enough, then at least start. Better to blog moderately than not to blog at all. Every blog is unique, it can only get better and you are at least visible in investing in the long term. The best day to plant a tree is today.
- Rotate the writing. If it is not possible to make one person responsible or free for writing, have this rotate among colleagues. If you have twenty-five people working in your company, everyone only needs to type a message twice a year if you want to publish weekly. That's doable, right? Appoint someone who can edit, so that the less good authors can also contribute.
- Write in interview form. By interviewing colleagues, very specialized knowledge can also be written down by someone who has no knowledge of it themselves.
- Create a content backlog. Write down interesting ideas for an article in a spreadsheet that everyone can access. Also note here sources that may be interesting and can serve as inspiration for writing new articles.
- Start small, like once a month. You really don't have to have something rolling off the presses every week or every day. Once a month is a good start.
- Work with a calendar. Map out when you want to publish something. Make a green box if it was successful and a red box if it was not successful. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't work out, another chance next week or month!