24 May, 2024

These days, most websites for businesses – whether large or small – feature a blog page. As brands seek to build their audience base and connect with customers on a more meaningful level, blog articles are recognised as an enduringly valuable tool. 

One of the questions we ask during the user experience (UX) stage of a web project is: do you plan to have a blog? And if so, who will be responsible for maintaining it? How many hours a week will be dedicated to creating content? These are important questions because if you can give it the time and resources it deserves, a blog will pay you back tenfold. 

Good reasons to have a blog

1. Forming a connection

Blog posts are an opportunity to engage with your audiences by sharing content that will interest them. They’re the start of an important dialogue; a chance to introduce the topics that you and your readers are both passionate about.

2. Showcasing your expertise

Well informed and well-crafted blog posts also help to build your authority and position you as a brand with expertise. Articles provide the opportunity to show what you know, which in turns generates trust among your audiences. This might even mean “giving away” knowledge, rather than preserving it behind a paywall. 

3. Giving a face to your brand

Posts also help you show personality and (if you’d like to) introduce readers to the members of your team. This shapes a face for your brand, as well as showing all the reasons why it’s an attractive place to work, if you’re hiring. Our client Jacksons is particularly good at this. 

4. Building internal links

Your posts allow you to build internal links and keep people on your site for longer by leading them onto other posts and ultimately onto a conversion. For instance, if you’re a holiday lettings company, you might use posts to direct people to your properties. 

5. Supplying fresh content 

Blog posts can become a great source of content for your other marketing channels, such as social media and newsletters. Once you’ve put in the hard work of writing them, blogs are easily repurposed to make your life easier in other areas. A fresh stream of content also signals to search engines that your site is lively and relevant, which improves your search engine quality rating (which in turn improves your SEO).

6. Improving your SEO

Blog posts can improve SEO in other ways, too. Including keywords will increase your web traffic and bolster your search position. This improves your overall ranking but also allows blog posts to become landing pages for certain specific topics or terms, making it easier for new audiences to “discover” you for themselves. This works well because most people prefer to engage with a brand in this way, rather than feeling that they’ve been directly targeted. 

Making the most of your blog

All these points are true, but only if your blog is well written and well managed. This can be a challenge when time is short and your team is busy, which is why – as mentioned earlier – we ask clients how many hours they can realistically dedicate to it each week. A blog shouldn’t feel like a burden, but the greatest success will always come from greater investment.

So, if you’re giving time to blogging, here are some simple tips to make the most of it…

Champion good quality

Your blog should reflect your overall commitment to quality and the customer experience; after all, this is another extension of your brand. Creative copywriting, proofreading, fact checking and regular upkeep (such as testing for broken links) are all important parts of this. 

Make posts long enough to be valuable

There’s an awful lot written about the “ideal” length for blog posts. Length isn’t everything, but posts that are too short won’t make much of an impact on SEO or the reader. Quality content means sharing an original viewpoint at a reasonable amount of depth – so a 200-word post doesn’t really cut it. We always advise that blog posts are the length they naturally need to be in order to do a subject justice without repeating yourself or veering from your original point. 

Create a plan and try to stick to it

Think about your overall goals and key messages and create a calendar for your blog posts that supports this. For instance, if you’re a destination that struggles to attract visitors during winter months, scheduling a blog post for late autumn on the topic of winter wellness events could help. Posting consistently will also help to keep up momentum and aid conversion – blogging is typically a long game, as it can take months to convert, so regularity matters. 

Don’t hide it away 

Too often, a blog landing page is tucked away in the footer of a site, half in the shadows. Instead, favour a website design that has featured posts as cross sells, or an interesting grid that can be added to relevant pages. Use interesting categories so that people can browse posts by themes. This all makes the most of your content and empowers users to discover it and enjoy it. 

Consider what people really want to know

If you’re struggling to think of ideas, consider which questions people commonly ask you, and what people respond to well on other channels such as your social media. We can also help by hosting a creative planning session to generate ideas for future posts, based on your audiences and goals. 

And finally… have some fun!

This is a chance to be slightly more informal (within reason), to highlight your differences, and to let your brand voice shine through. Some of the best blogs are those that really open a window onto the world of the brands curating them, so stay true to your roots and have fun with it.