6 Ways To Increase The Impact Of Every Blog Post
I’ve been writing blog content for businesses for several years now, and I've timed myself with toggl.com since the beginning—and every blog post I write for clients takes at least 5 hours or more depending on the length.
And it’s not just me. I once had a chat with a lovely copywriting client, and she wailed to me (understandably) that she spent a whole week writing one blog post, and it felt like wasted time.
That's a lot of time to invest in writing. But blogging is still incredibly popular. According to Hubspot Marketing Statistics, 89% of content marketers used blog posts in their content creation strategy in 2020. Why? Because it’s useful, that’s why!
More specifically, it can serve to:
Bring targeted traffic to your site
Demonstrate your expertise
Share value (and build goodwill) with your readers
So, here are my favourite ways to get the most bang for your buck from every blog post you write.
1) Optimise your post for an SEO keyword
Content marketing is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. In fact, per the same Marketing Statistic report in Hubspot search is the number one traffic source to blogs across all industries.
Research relevant keywords
Decide which you want to target
Put it in your heading and first 100 words of your body copy
Put it in your URL
Not every single post can be optimised for a keyword, but if you can create SEO-driven content more often than not, you’re giving yourself a boost.
2) Link to other relevant blog posts
Doing so keeps people reading on your website, which Google loves, and is supportive for your readers to keep learning.
On a selfish level, this shows you know what you're doing, and on an unselfish level, you're helping your people get the information they need.
You can link to relevant posts within the copy itself; and also at the end by embedding a ‘Related Posts’ section and pulling blog posts from the same content category.
3) Add a CTA to each blog post & link to your services within it where appropriate
This is essential because, as Tim Cameron-Kitchen, founder of SEO and marketing agency Exposure Ninja, said in his (epic) book "How to get to Top of Google in 2021", “content without conversion is just charity.”
We love to help our clients and prospects, and that gives a lovely glow and feeling of fulfilment—but we also want to be sharing our services too and nudging them in that direction.
4) Share your content to your Google Business Profile
For two reasons—trust and visibility.
Let’s stat with visibility. If you want your business to be found on Google—and who wouldn’t?! >>> being on page one, or even better, in the top 3 spots, of the Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) can be absolutely transformative for your traffic—signing up for a Google Business Profile (f.k.a Google My Business) is a great thing you can do to give your SEO a little bit of a boost. Then, with one set up, you can push your blog content to it.
This is just a suggestion, but it's a solid one—when you use the Google Business Profile platform, and keep it updated, it could help you be more visible. (As long as you’re following SEO best practices on your website, of course.)
But beyond leveraging Google to the fullest? It also looks good to leads or referrals who are looking you up online, since they can see your business is active.
(Don't take this at face value, but my husband says he hates going to things like websites or Google profiles if they look unused or out for date—just like forgetting to change the year at the bottom of your website, it is something people take note of, even unconsciously…and not in a good way. First impressions count, and all that jazz! 🤪)
So, if it looks like you're active and established on Google My Business, with regular content posted there (and of course, reviews!), it can a good trust marker for your prospective clients or customers.
5) Repurpose the content on social platforms
After pouring all that knowledge, research and time into crafting a blog post, you don't want to just dump it on your site and run. Yes, that SEO juice will build over time, but there's more you can do. Good content is nothing without distribution—I learned this years ago in the Digital Marketers Content Marketing Course, and it's stuck in my head ever since!
SHARE TO LINKED IN
I occasionally moonlight at a marketing agency as a conversion copywriter, and the founder just celebrated in the Slack column that she got a client inquiry from sharing the latest blog on LinkedIn. Granted, it was a very strategic, conversion-focused blog, but it shows, it helps! Don't just post your blog on your site and leave it at that—make that one piece of content work harder for your business by sharing it further afield. 😊
CREATE GRID POSTS ON INSTAGRAM
Pulling elements from the copy to create a few individual posts, or condensing it into a smaller post. It's important to share high-value content on social media, but it can be time-consuming, so this is a shortcut! There's no click through on Instagram grid so no point asking people to, but why not repurpose that content into some smaller posts. You can link to it in your Instagram Stories if you have that functionality!
Take one point from your post and turn it into a social media post. Or create a carousel image with all your tips in one post. Turn your blog post into a video or a reel, almost using it as a script. There are lots of ways to repurpose the content you took time making (or that you invested in getting written by a professional copywriter).
6) Push it out to your email list!
Nurture your email list with this valuable content to drive traffic to your website and keep you top of mind for when they need what you sell/offer/provide.
Boom! Harder working content.
TL;DR version?
Optimise for an SEO keyword
Link to relevant blog posts
Add CTA to it (and link to your products/services)
Push to Google my Business for additional visibility and trust
Share it! Post to LinkedIn and repurpose on other socials like Instagram
Push it out to your email list
Need some top-notch blogs for your business?
Of course, all of these things will yield the best results if you’re sharing high-quality, strategic content. But if you don’t have the time, the capacity, or the in-house team to create it for your business? Then why not hire me to create a blog post bundle of 2-5 pieces of content in addition to your website copy? Each woven with strategic links to your products/services, optimised for search engines (where relevant), and with a conversion-focused slant (so your content is working for your business, not just your readers). A blog bundle can include case study content to showcase client/customer stories and successes; educational content to demonstrate your expertise and support prospects—or it can be strategised and written to support an upcoming launch or SEO strategy.
Interest officially piqued? Contact me here.
