6 Actionable Tips for Improving Your Business Blog

Are you a small business owner struggling to make your blog stand out? Don't worry, you're not alone!

Content marketing, particularly blogging, is a powerful tool that can have a massive impact on your business. If done correctly, you can expect a big boost in your online presence, all while attracting more qualified leads.

If you want to know just how much it can help, consider this: businesses that blog receive a whopping 67% more leads than their non-blogging counterparts. Pretty shocking, right?

Despite the clear benefits, blogging can be overwhelming, especially for new business owners. You have to compete with countless blogs vying for attention, create original content, and keep people coming back for more.

Today, I hope to make growing your business blog easy and effective. Below, you'll find six actionable strategies that will help you take your content to the next level.

Put Your Target Audience First

The first step to optimizing your blog is to ensure you're writing with your target audience in mind. It's easy to get caught up in promoting a specific product or event, but if your content doesn't resonate with your readers, they'll likely bounce off your site without a second thought.

Put plainly, people want to read about things that align with their interests and goals.

Imagine being a pet owner visiting a website filled with fashion articles -- confusing, right? That's exactly how your readers will feel if your content doesn't align with their expectations when they visit your site.

My advice for avoiding this situation is to regularly review your analytics and gather customer feedback. Combine demographic data from Google Analytics with customer surveys to create detailed reader personas that represent your ideal audience.

These personas will serve as your compass, ensuring that every blog post you create is tailored to your target audience's specific goals, needs, and pain points. Before publishing a new post, ask yourself who it will appeal to. If you can't identify at least one group, the article might not be a good fit for your site.

Incorporate Visual Content

Did you know that people remember 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read? This is why visual content is a must for bloggers. It makes their posts more engaging and increases their chances of being shared across social media platforms.

We found that infographics, videos, and images can help you explain complex topics so that they are easy to understand and memorable.

And since visuals can make your content stick in your readers' minds, they increase the likelihood of people returning to your site and eventually becoming customers.

You should also know that incorporating videos into your blog posts can work wonders for your search engine visibility. Research shows that posts with videos are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of search results! Imagine the brand awareness and potential customer reach you could achieve by simply uploading your videos to YouTube.

Let Visitors Search for Content

Another simple yet powerful addition to your blog is a search bar. This handy feature allows your readers to quickly find the content they're looking for, which eliminates the need to sift through pages of articles.

When you respect your audience's time, they're more likely to stick around and potentially become customers.

There are two solid options for adding a search bar: at the top of the page or in the sidebar. Either way, users can easily find relevant products and articles by typing in a keyword or phrase.

This feature is so simple but can have a tremendous impact on engagement and accessibility, so don't skip it!

Make Your Content Shareable

With billions of people using social media platforms every month(over 4.74 billion, to be exact), there's an obvious goldmine of potential readers and customers. If you want to tap into this vast audience, make sure your content is shareable across various social networks.

My first piece of advice is to include share buttons on your blog posts. This step makes it easy for readers to share your content. If enough people share a post, you can expect a surge of new traffic and followers.

It's also very important to actively promote your content across your social channels. You'll want to share new posts as they go live and set up a schedule for previously published posts. The latter strategy is an excellent way to get more value from your content since you're not abandoning it one week after it's published.

We generally share 2 to 3 pieces of content a day with a few key points in the description so people who are interested can click through and check out our site.

Gather User Feedback

Without your audience, your blog would be a ghost town. That's why it's crucial to listen to your readers and use their feedback to inspire new content. Reach out to your subscribers and customers through surveys, polls, and feedback forms.

When you know what people like on your site, it's easier to create more content in that same vein. For instance, if over half of all feedback forms ask for more posts about a very specific topic, we know that prioritizing this subject and giving readers helpful information will keep them engaged with our brand.

When gathering feedback, ask people about their goals, pain points, and needs. Use this invaluable insight to refine your readers personas and create content that truly resonates with them. The important thing to remember here is peoples' opinions will change over time. Make sure you consistently ask readers to share their thoughts so you can ensure your content is relevant to their lives.

Monitor Engagement and Adjust Accordingly

Improving your business blog is an ongoing process. As you implement these strategies, monitor your analytics to determine what's working and what's not. Experiment with different approaches and be open to adjusting your tactics based on your audience's response.

One of the things we do is track our most popular posts so we can better understand what content resonates with our audience.

It's important to remember that every audience is unique, so what works for one blog might not work for yours. Stay flexible, keep an open mind, and don't be afraid to try new things.

Final Thoughts

By following these six powerful strategies, you'll be well on your way to creating a blog that not only engages your audience but also drives real business results. Your blog will become a hub of valuable information, which will help you attrach more qualified leads and potentially convert them into loyal customers.