How to blog consistently

Introduction

How to blog consistently. That is the question!

Consistent blogging is key to communicating with your customers about your business and how you can help them with your services.

There are many ways to deliver long-form content to your customers, including podcasts, blogs and videos, though each has its own challenges.

In this article, I will focus on blog creation and the challenges that arise when creating this type of long-form content. I will also suggest some solutions that may help you address these challenges and enable you to meet your goal of consistent content creation.

Read on to find out more about how to blog consistently and get more of the right eyes on your content.

Problem #1 You don’t know what to write

As the expert in your business, you know that there are likely to be tons of things you could write about.

And you know you that in order to engage your ideal customer at every step, your blogs will need to be:

  • engaging and well written
  • relevant and relatable and
  • deliver a clear message.

Whilst you may have lots of ideas, perhaps it all gets just a little too overwhelming when you try to make sense of the topics and think about how you’re going to organise what you write. Perhaps you’ve realised that there is a strategy around creating content and that you’re not doing it.

Blinking cursor syndrome is a real thing. It refers to the amount of time it takes for a writer to move past their writer’s block and land on a compelling topic to create content around. You know that once you get started it will become easier, but the ideas just won’t formulate. Perhaps you’re able to get started but then get easily side tracked and before you know it you haven’t written anything.

SOLUTION #1 It’s all in the planning!

The success of your blogs will come down to how well you map and plan them out. To start, you’ll need to look at the bigger picture and create a strategy (or map as I call it) to guide you.

When it comes to the content you should be writing, ideally this would tie in with the keywords your customer might be searching for to find your services.

Also, tying this in with your website architecture means that the blogs you create will reinforce the service pages on your website. This helps both your customer and Google to navigate and find things intuitively. Then when you plan your blog topic it will be something your audience will want to read because it is backed up by data.

But like most things in life and business, there is a process and a framework which, if you can put in place, will help you with this task. Once you get organised, you will find that your blog ideas come thick and fast and your new challenge will become prioritising content and meeting deadlines.

PROBLEM #2 Blogs take time to create

In business, we are constantly juggling multiple roles and having to wear lots of hats. And one of them is that of a content writer!

Whether we like it or not the need to produce consistent, high-quality written content such as proposals, social media posts, presentations, emails and more, exists. Whilst some of the content we need to generate is internally facing, a lot is customer facing and if you are not a natural writer, this can be challenging – especially when it comes to blog-writing.

Have you ever thought of a good blog topic, tried to sit down and write it and ended up:

  • getting bored
  • feeling confused around the practicalities of blogging or
  • heading down a ‘writing’ rabbit hole and losing clarity of thought?

It is easily done.

After all, writing for our own businesses is tricky. We want to frame our products and services in the best possible light and show off our expertise and personality, but equally we don’t want to come across as too “full of it.”(Yes, imposter syndrome often comes into play here!)

However, the main issue is that good blogs take time to create and bashing a blog out quickly won’t yield great results. In fact, it could be harmful to your reputation and drive potential customers away.

Learning to set realistic expectations around blog-creation, particularly with reference to how long it takes to write a good one, is really worth doing.

SOLUTION #2 Get some help with blog creation

Be realistic about how long a blog takes to write, edit and publish. Your time is best spent on coming up with the blog’s core message and structure. Only you can do this, as you are the expert in your niche. You know what you want to cover and what message you want your audience to hear.

In business we just can’t do it all on our own. Yes, generating regular, fresh content is important, but so is our mental health. Rather than exhausting yourself by continually struggling to produce high-quality, engaging content, consider getting some help with your content creation needs. Not only will you claw back some of your time, but you can rest assured that your ideas are in the hands of an expert whose job it is to work their magic and consistently bring those ideas to life in new and compelling ways.

Find a trusted partner who you can work with to do the:

  • copywriting and editing
  • formatting and proofing and
  • publishing and scheduling

If you are a time poor business, then this solution is ideal!

If you have a little more time on your hands, then realistically break each part of the task down into a series of mini-tasks and put time aside to work through them, so that you get the job done.

PROBLEM #3 You’re unsure how your blogs are performing

With any type of content, you need to know that the effort you are putting in is worth it.

Whichever way you drive traffic to your blogs, you want to see that they are being read and engaged with. This helps you to know that you are creating the right content for your customers. Well written blogs can start conversations, pique interest in your business and serve as a successful advertising and sales tool. You need to know if they’re working for you, so perhaps it’s time to consider getting the tools in place to evaluate their performance and measure user activity.

SOLUTION #3 Use google analytics to measure blog performance

You can’t grow what you don’t measure, so having the right monitoring tools in place will help you to measure your blogs.

You will need Google Analytics to see where the traffic is coming from and how long someone is “dwelling” on your article. A longer dwell time signals an engaged and happy reader. A shorter dwell time, with a high bounce rate, signals someone who isn’t interested in your article.

Armed with this information, you can work on improving your articles, comparing what you did and seeing if it helped boost dwell time.

You can also set up goals in Google Analytics and link this to the completion of a contact form. Obviously, someone getting in touch with you is a great sign that they are interested in working with you!

PROBLEM #4 apparantely blogging is dead anyway

You are put off that blogging is dead and that video or audio are better performing.

It is true that podcasts and videos are an engaging way of consuming long form content and that there are many benefits to both of these mediums – not least the time it takes for your customer to consume the content and having flexibility about where they can do this.

However, the written word is still very important because customers like to have choice around how they consume content. In addition, Google can’t crawl a podcast or video file. It can only do this with text. Therefore, it’s safe to say that blogs will be around for a while yet and if anything, they have evolved!

SOLUTION #4 Repurpose your blogs to make them go further

To say blogs are not as effective as podcasts or videos is simply not correct.

It is worth having written content on your website for a number of reasons:

  • It gives your audience multiple ways to consume content, depending on their preferences.
  • Google can crawl and index blogs because they are text. This reinforces the content on your website and encourages Google to recommend your website as a solution to their search query.
  • Blogging requires less technical expertise than podcast production. To get a good blog in front of your audience, you simply need a capable writer and someone that knows how to publish content.
  • Blogs provide much clearer calls to action than podcasts. Calls to action within podcasts can often get lost within a sea of spoken words.

If you’ve already created your long form content as an audio or video – no problem. Get it repurposed into text for a blog!

In conclusion

So, there we have it – four reasons why you’re not putting out blogs and four solutions to help you overcome your stumbling blocks and become a more consistent blogger.

Blogs should form a vital part of your content marketing for your ideal customer. They will improve your overall visibility, boost your brand awareness and of course your SEO!

Need some blogging help?

Researching, creating s strategy and measuring blogs is all down to the right tools and know-how. Check out my SEO consulting service and start with a FREE discovery call on how I could help.

Hello blog scanner! Here’s an ‘at a glance” summary of the above…

HOW TO blog consistently

  1. You don’t know what blog topics to write. Solution – it’s all in the planning.
  2. Blogs take time to create. Solution – get some help.
  3. You are unsure how effective your blogs are and if they are performing. Solution – measure your blogs.
  4. Apparently, blogging is dead anyway. Solution – repurpose podcasts and videos into text for a blog.

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