15 Tips for Better Business Blogging

Blogging is not for everyone!

It requires dedication and commitment … and your most valuable resource … your time.  Before you even consider starting a blog, ask yourself these fundamental questions:

• Do I enjoy writing?
• Am I willing to be myself, be transparent and let my voice be heard…by the world?

If the answers to the above are a resounding YES, then blogging may become your secret weapon for lead generation, online presence and becoming an authority and influencer in your market.

Here are 15 blogging tips to guide you to a better blog:

1. Write about your passion(s).  Choose a topic(s) that you really love and is clearly your passion! Define your core topics and focus for your blog and stick to those subjects.

2. Find your voice.  Be transparent and authentic.  Write in a human voice – like you were having a conversation with a friend or client.  Invite a dialogue.  Be clear, concise and conversational.

3. Keep it Local.  Write about your neighborhoods, local market, what customers/consumers want to know about.

4. Know your audience. Write for the audience you want to have.  What questions, challenges and issues can you help resolve for your customers?  Write about that.  Survey your customers and clients to get ideas for content.

5. Write your posts for web readers.  Make it scannable, use white space, use paragraphs and headers.  Package the content (lists, top 10…), use bullets and graphics.  Recommend a minimal word count of 300 for your articles.

6. Think evergreen content. Adopt a mindset and awareness of how your experiences, questions from clients and comments on your blog can translate to content for compelling posts. Many of your posts when sanitized and timeless can build a library and knowledge base.  Consumers and prospects will be able to find you via keyword searches for the topics you’ve written about.  Also, you can send a link to a post you’ve already written when a new client has the same question or concern.

7. Optimize your posts for search engines.  Use relevant key words in post titles, tags/categories.  Integrate your search terms into the  body of the post (1-2% ratio). So, in an article of 300 words, you should mention your search terms 3 to 6 times.  Post frequently 2-4 times per week.

8. Include pictures and images.  Use your own photos, research various sites to purchase stock photos.  Remember to use keywords to name your image files and use the alt tag and description feature of your blog software for further SEO help. Try one of the many image and graphic design apps or online tools.  I personally use and love Canva.

9. Link, link, link!  Link to other bloggers, sources, websites.  Link to your own content within your blog posts. Post comments on other blogs – which

10. Persistence and perseverance!  Keep at it.  Don’t quit. Audiences take time to build.

11. Quality not quantity. Don’t force it – wait until you have something useful, entertaining, informative or interesting to write about.

12. Include a call to action.  Clearly display a call to action on your blog and in your posts that encourages the reader to take some action.  Some examples: Join your mailing list.  Sign up for MLS Search, contact form, free report or CMA. Download a report, whitepaper or eBook.  Purchase a product or service.

13. Participate in your online community. Read other blogs and comment.  Real Estate professionals… consider joining Active Rain and using their blog platform to connect and network with over 270,000 real estate professionals.

14. Use a content marketing schedule or calendar.  Use a calendar or a spreadsheet to organize your article ideas, days and times to post and as a record of what you have already posted.  You can download a free social media marketing calendar from Hubspot.

15.  Your blog is the hub for your content marketing strategy. Make sure you have links to all of your social media profiles and platforms.  Use a social sharing plugin or tool to automatically share your new blog posts on your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages.

Happy Blogging!

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