Blogs…are they dead or alive?
A very quick answer to the above would be that we hope that blogs are still very much alive – otherwise why are we writing this particular one?
The fact that it’s here shows that blog articles should still be considered as an important element of any marketing plan. That said, while we champion the use of them we’re fully aware that in recent times the very nature of how they are used has evolved.
Whereas in the past a blog would most likely be a standalone item most are now integrated into a main website. Individual blog articles now take the form of advanced web pages and, in addition to text, easily showcase images, infographics, videos and other types of interactive content.
Why we love blogs
We personally love a blog because their articles are very different to the other types of content found across a website. They allow you to use a real conversational tone to engage a reader and they are a subtle way to impress your brand or organisational personality onto an audience.
In addition to being great for the human reader they are also important for grabbing the attention of search engines. Fresh, optimised content can be really important for giving your website an SEO boost so having a blog can even help you in the all-important Google rankings.
If you’ve made the effort to produce a well-researched, well-written article then you shouldn’t simply wait for people to find it. Having an article to hand gives you a great reason to tell people all about it so you really should be sharing it via things such as email newsletters and social media posts. In fact, how many of you landed here today from our very such thing?
So blogs are alive…but what are our tips for a good one?
We might have convinced you that blogs are still very much alive but it’s important to make sure that you are using good practice when producing them…as a bad blog could end up being worse than no blog at all. Our top tips are as follows:
- Whatever you do, don’t clickbait! For those of you unsure as to what clickbait is it typically refers to the practice of writing sensationalised or misleading headlines in order to attract clicks on a piece of content. It often relies on exaggerating claims or leaving out key information in order to encourage traffic. There are no gains from either an SEO or reader enjoyment point of view – lots of visits driven by a clickbait headline, which then immediately leave once the true content has been discovered, have zero benefits for anyone.
- Don’t post blog articles all the time. The famous saying of quality over quantity certainly applies here and more blog articles doesn’t mean more traffic. More success will be achieved if you’ve spent time thoroughly thinking about the topic of your blog and researching and writing it well than simply churning out rushed articles one after the other.
- Optimise the length of your blog articles. Yes it ideally needs to meet the word count requirements to start ticking SEO boxes but you must also remember the reader who is time poor and unlikely to sit for an eternity reading a very long piece – no matter how well it is written! This is a good way to think of it…your article should be long enough to offer value but short enough to be to the point. Concise and concentrated is the key.
- Pay attention to presentation. The words are important but so is how you show them. Readers struggle with large walls of text on screen so break up the article with short paragraphs and sub-headings. Where possible use images and illustrations to keep the reader visually stimulated whilst they continue to read.
Do you need a blog? Or do you have one but need help with it?
It can be a struggle to find the time to plan and write regular articles and then when you do it’s not always easy to come up with ideas for the theme or topic. Also, some of us just don’t enjoy trying to write content that’s going to be published for all to read.
That’s where an agency such as Mondo can help. By collaborating with a professional blog writer you get the expertise of someone who understands everything we’ve talked about here today – both the ability to write interesting and engaging content whilst keeping an eye on the ever-important SEO and technical know-how.
If you’d like us to review your current blog and find out a bit more about how we can get a blog working harder for you or if you don’t currently have a blog in your marketing armoury and are interested in exploring the idea, then please get in touch.