The 21st century has brought with it a massive influx of digital creators, using the internet as a vehicle to advertise and communicate. While information sharing is great, the more than 600 million blogs currently available on the internet can make it difficult for your business to gain recognition.
In the midst of a rapidly changing and highly saturated blogging environment, you’ll need a strategy to stand out and become profitable. We’re here to help you develop your digital presence through statistical data, actionable steps for creating a better blog and an informative infographic on the state of blogging in 2021.
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Do Blogs Really Matter?
If you’re struggling to decide if you should create a website to begin with or place greater focus on your company’s largely untouched blog, the answer is almost always yes.
These days, an effective blogging strategy translates to profitability. If you’re wondering how much of an impact blogs can have, remember that 77 percent of internet users read blogs. That’s a lot of eyes (and clicks) that could be on your content.
While it’s essential to pay close attention to consumer trends, it’s also a good idea to be mindful of the activities of marketers. 89 percent of B2B marketers claim that their company’s blog is their top distribution channel and 50 percent of B2C marketers rely heavily on their blogs to achieve objectives.
With so much confidence placed in blogs by other marketers, it can be assumed that this channel is highly effective at driving traffic and conversions.
What Makes a Good Blog Strategy?
While the ideal blog varies from business to business, there are some best practices to keep in mind when building out your blog strategy that hold true in every industry.
Effective SEO
According to 75 percent of marketers, search engine optimization (SEO) is the most effective content marketing tactic. But don’t just take their word for it—SEMrush reports that organic search is the number one source of blog traffic for all industries. SEO practices are essential for blog visibility, and marketers know it.
SEO is complex, demanding extensive keyword research, strategic keyword placement, attention to changing trends and link-building campaigns to master. That said, it is well worth the investment, as this practice is key to directing organic traffic to your site.
Blog post length & genre
Certain industries have specific norms regarding average blog post length, so it’s important to keep your industry and target market in mind as you start writing. That said, content over 2,500 words tends to consistently perform better than content under 2,000 words. Long-form copy tends to go much deeper into a subject matter and has a better chance of answering a user’s inquiry.
Likewise, the type of posts you make will largely depend on what your target market is expecting. From a bird’s eye view of blogs from every industry, however, 23.6 percent of the highest performing articles on marketing blogs were lists, followed by how-to articles at 13 percent.
You may be wondering why these formats are so popular. When in doubt, remember to think like a user—remember the times you’ve been curious about something in your daily life. Lists and how-to guides are great ways to present valuable information in a simple, straightforward way.
Engaging multimedia
Text is great—it provides us with the details we need to understand topics in-depth. However, you don’t want to solely rely on walls of text in your blog posts. Not only does this create a rather dull user experience, but it also harms your SEO rankings—even the robots at Google are dozing off trying to read it.
Marketing professionals tend to agree with the importance of mixing up your content. Nearly half of marketers say that visual content is critical to their marketing strategy.
Luckily, there are several forms of engaging multimedia that can mitigate the chances of a user feeling disengaged and ditching your post for a competitor’s. Consider conceptualizing data in creative infographics, providing interactive elements on your posts, or even just inserting photos and videos where appropriate.
Of course, not everyone is a graphic designer or has a design team at their disposal—that’s okay! While original content tends to best level up blog posts, it’s fine to use stock photos for the time being. Your readers will be grateful for the break-in text.
Blogs have changed drastically over the years—they’re no longer just virtual pages to share your thoughts and accomplishments. They’re valuable tools that could have a huge impact on your company’s marketing strategy as long as you take the steps to make them stand out.
Related posts:
- How to Make Your Business Stand Out In a Sea of Blogs - May 6, 2021
Hi Stacey and Anthony,
More and more every single day, I experience how simplifying things may feel uncomfortable sometimes – because my ego wants complex strategies LOL – but it makes blogging easier. Stand out by keeping things simple, by not overthinking and by persisting to see the journey through. Great chat!
I agree, Ryan. I think I overcomplicate things sometimes without realizing it. Keep it simple, stay focused, produce awesome content, and it will all come together!
Thanks for your comment, Ryan! Completely agree that having a strong framework of best practices is key for successful content creation. Trends come and go, but understanding how to best serve your readers is always great insight!
What an incredible post. Love the value-packed infographic.
I also really like the point on long content – as it’s important to dive into topics deeper than surface level. That being said, I also see some 3,000 word posts occasionally where it’s not detailed at all, and just fluff – which isn’t ideal either.
But yeah amazing job on this post, so much value.
Thanks for the comment, Sam! I like to look at the SERP and use that as my guide. Before writing a 3,000-word post, decide whether long from content will best serve the user or if capturing a quick answer box (with a shorter but more direct blog post) would be better. You can also compare top-ranking posts and go off the average word count.
You’re right, Sam. Sometimes writers just try to cram in a ton of words thinking it’ll boost their post in search. That’s not the case. Google looks for content that truly solves problems and adds value. Most site visitors will bounce from a poorly written, word-stuffed post after not finding value, and they won’t come back. Only long-form content that truly has substance will thrive.
So much of successful blogging in addition to these tips is not panicking, persisting, doing simple things daily for 5, 10 then 15 years. I am at year 13 of my blogging career. Doing simple things for that 13 year stretch is the only reason why I am where I am. Keep it simple, never over complicate stuff and hold a vision for the long haul. Success finds generous, simple-thinking, persistent bloggers who serve their readers.
Thanks for your comment, Ryan! Completely agree that having a strong framework of best practices is key for successful content creation. Trends come and go, but understanding how to best serve your readers is always great insight!
There are so many ways you can complicate things. So many distractions and directions you can go off in. It’s easy to do too much and that can lead to failure. Your advice is spot on, Ryan! More bloggers should follow your lead and look to simplify things.