Optimizing your blogging strategy will not only generate better content but help you get more out of the posts you’re already creating.
Here are eight ways to propel your blogging strategy and strengthen the channels of communication between you and the community you serve.
DOCUMENT - It's too easy to overthink your blog. Instead, get on with documenting and commenting on what's happening in your company and the world around you. By all means, throw in more complex and longer-form articles that you might wish to develop. But don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
RECRUIT - It takes a village to blog well. Sure, you may be the main contributor to the blog, but don't get into the mindset that everything's on you. Ask for contributions from your team and the experts in your community. To speed things up, have them talk through their perspectives with you. Use the voice recorder on your phone to capture detail and save yourself time. Then write up the post under their name (with their approval, of course) or publish it as an interview. Think of yourself as part-time writer and part-time editor-in-chief.
REVISE - Take the time to review the articles you've already posted to your blog and update them wherever possible. The search engines reward content that's not only relevant to a searcher's query but that stays fresh.
EMAIL - Use the contents of your blog to craft messages for your email list. Leaning on your blog to fuel your email campaigns (and vice versa) is smart practice.
SOCIAL - Same goes for your social media accounts. Your blog content is prime material for sharing on social, whether it's a teaser message for a post or a standalone message inspired by a blog.
SEARCH - Blogs are great for getting your organization high up the search engines. Align your content with the kinds of searches your customers and wider community are carrying out. Get expert help to make sure your content is properly optimized for search.
INTEGRATE - Use your blog as a platform for signposting key resources and service pages on your website. Highlighting relevant pages for your site visitors is not only good practice but can help with your search engine rankings.
EDIT - Continuously revise. Always be going back and looking at what you've already drafted and posted. The more frequently you edit, the stronger your site will become over time.