If a blog is published online and nobody finds it, does it make a sound? That’s a silly rip-off of a classic unanswerable question, but it brings up an issue worth considering: if you write great content for your inbound marketing strategy, how useful is it if nobody reads it?
I’m going to let you in on a little secret of inbound marketing – whether or not anyone reads your content is kind of irrelevant. How you fill the space between the headline and the end of the blog article should provide legitimate value to the reader, but it does not matter how much they read. Because the sole purpose of your content is to attract visitors to your website; once they get there, it makes no difference if they read 5 or 5,000 words that you’ve written, because the mission has already been accomplished. All that matters is that you now try to turn that visitor into a lead.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you can simply blow off the writing process and type 500 words worth of gibberish. You still need to make an effort to inform your audience, and your content needs to be relevant enough to help boost your article’s relevance for Google’s algorithms. And just because you don’t have to write good stuff doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If you provide quality, informative content, you’ll prove your value to visitors and elevate your business’ credibility in their eyes. But the bottom line is, your content’s primary objective is to bring those visitors in – and if it’s not doing that, you’re going about this inbound marketing thing all wrong.
If you find that your traffic is mediocre and not rising to the levels you want it to be at, here are some possible explanations for your troubles:
You’re not publishing often enough – how often are you updating your blog? If you’re only posting new articles once a week, that’s not going to cut it. Aim to update your blog at least three times per week, although daily is ideal. Also, posting more blog articles increases the size of your online footprint – this helps your site appear more relevant in the eyes of Google.
Your topics aren’t relevant – are you writing about topics your potential customers would be interested in? Remember, they have to be interested in what you’re writing, otherwise they’re never going to find it. Consider common problems or inquiries your customers have, then write about topics related to them.
Your keywords are lacking – before you started writing blogs, you should have determined which keywords your potential customers use most often in Google searches for your products/services. Did you choose the right keywords? Are you using them often enough? Put at least one keyword in every blog headline, and use them regularly in the body of the article.
You’re not promoting your content – social media sites are a vital part of a successful inbound marketing strategy; are you putting yours to good use? You should be posting links to new content across all of your social media accounts, and be sure to spend some time cultivating your social media following. Ensure your social media pages look professional and appealing, and respond to any inquiries you receive via social media.
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