Written an Article? Do These 4 Things Next to Get It Noticed
Writing an article is easy. Just fill a page with 1000 words, right?
Writing a compelling blog that people will actually want to read is a bit trickier, of course, but with practice, the right topics and a touch of flair you should be able to crack the formula.
Just as important as the writing, is knowing what to do with your blog once it’s written. After all, a fantastic blog that nobody reads is no use to anyone and certainly isn’t going to help with your marketing or brand awareness.
Bottom line is that you need to promote your blog, just as though it were a product or service. That means communicating about it and drawing attention to it to attract target readers who will potentially benefit from the wisdom you have invested in creating it!
1. Publish Your Blog on Your Website
Most websites have a ‘resources’ or ‘articles’ section – and if yours is a WordPress site, one of its core functions is to publish articles.
In posting your article to your blog or website, there are several ways to maximise its impact:
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- Make it look appealing: Look at your blog – as in ‘look at it’ rather than read it. Is it a single, unbroken block of text? If so, break it up into small paragraphs, lift out snippets, and pepper it with infographics and images. The visual style should ideally match that on the rest of your website and wider branding.
- Encourage sharing: Make sure your blog has share buttons installed. That way, if someone likes what you’ve written and finds it useful or interesting, they can pass it on to other likeminded individuals. The important point is to make this as easy as possible for them, so try using a tool like sharethis to create a simple cut and paste code.
- Use images and graphics: Adding images, graphics or even video through the body of your blog post is a good way to generate engagement and shares. Research carried out by BuzzSumo into more than a million articles found that those which made use of an image once every 75-100 words managed to more than double the number of social media shares they achieved.
- Add influencer links: If you want to underline the authority of your blog post then try adding some links to prominent influencers are known in the field. This shows your readers that the blog is part of a bigger picture, rather than just a lone voice. As an added bonus, your content may even end up being noticed by these very influencers, since there’s a chance they make use of tools designed to pick up mentions of their names.
- Include content links: Always place links within your blog across to other content you’ve created, as well as external content which backs up the point your blog is making. This will add value to the individual blog and if cross-linking within your own website is great for SEO.
2. Share Your Blog on Social Media
Don’t only rely on readers of your blog to share it.
Make sure you share it on social media yourself. People who might never naturally browse to your website could still spot your targeted social media posts – and if interested click through to take a look at what your blog has to say.
To create a noticeable social post, use the most striking and important facts, statistics and conclusions from your blog, add a powerful image and you’ll have something that will attract a target reader, divert them away from their social browsing and draw them on to your website.
Think about when your target audience is likely to be online, and the kind of platform they’re going to be using.
Also remember that you can create multiple different posts from a single blog, picking and choosing different points to highlight each time.
Finally, to assist with time management, consider using a social media management tool such as Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule multiple posts on different platforms and also gather analytical data on the impact you’re having.
3. Promote Your Blog Using Email Marketing
One of your wider marketing goals is to build an opt-in list of prospects and potential buyers who are interested in reading your advice and tips. Your blogs represent a way for you to position yourself and your business as an ‘expert authority’ in your field, so use all means necessary (GDPR and data protection laws permitting) to communicate with your list.
Emails represent a quick and simple means of reaching out to your opted in audience either via a dedicated email or through a ‘newsletter’ style communication.
To prove the point, email marketing statistics attest to the impact it can have:
- 69% of B2B marketers report a return of £6 for every £1 invested in email marketing
- Amongst B2C marketers this figure rose to £61 for every £1 invested in email marketing
- 30% of all digital revenues are driven, at least in part, by email marketing.
4. Replicate Your Blog With Other Media
Your blog post represents your expertise, and whether you are offering an opinion, a sales pitch or something more educational such as a White Paper or ‘How To’ guide, if it’s worth saying in a blog, it’s worth promoting via other channels and media.
Its impact can therefore be amplified if you reframe it via other media, for example by turning it into a video, slide show or infographic.
In so doing, your message has the potential to attract a new (but similarly targeted) audience which prefers to consume information in other ways and places, thereby greatly increasing both reach and engagement.
According to a range of studies, the human brain is far better at processing information which is visual in nature, and this biological fact means that in using videos and graphics, your message is more likely to make an impact.
Need help to come up with a good content plan for your blog, or help with writing it? Contact the C4B Media team at hello@c4bmedia.com or call us on 01763 877110.