Your company’s blog has huge potential as a marketing tool, but it’s likely that you’re not making the most of it.
Many brands understand that they probably should have a blog on their company website, but not all know what to do with one. Too many are neglected or misused, when they could be a vital tool in boosting lead generation activities.
Some marketers believe that blogging isn’t worth their time, despite the fact that 10% of marketers who blog believe it delivers the biggest return on investment.
Establishing your brand as an expert in your field
Your blog is the perfect place to showcase your expertise. You can use it to offer your audience valuable advice and insight, to help further their knowledge and solve their problems.
Do it right and you’ll start to build credibility, becoming the go-to resource for your niche within the industry. Your content will be seen as valuable, which means your blogs are more likely to be shared and commented upon. It should lead to more people getting in touch to enquire about your services.
Attracting more visitors
By producing informative, insightful and interesting content, you can also attract more visitors to your site. This is because your valuable content is more favourably ranked by search engines such as Google. There are also referrals from other sites to consider, with research showing that companies that blog receive a huge 97% more inbound links to their site.
And of course, the more people who end up on your site, the more chances you have to convert them into customers.
How your blog can become a lead generation tool
Before you start publishing, it’s important to understand exactly how your blog can support your lead generation efforts.
Here are just a few tips for supercharging your blog, to turn it into a lead generating machine for your website:
- Always use CTAs. You may be providing useful, value-adding content to the reader, but never forget the purpose of your blog. It needs to compel the reader to take action, whether it’s clicking a product link, signing up to a mailing list or getting in touch.
- Hold a little back. Your blog generously offers free insights to all, but you can always hold some valuable content in reserve. You can offer this exclusive content to interested visitors in exchange for a little more information. Think of it as a ‘freemium’ model, where most content is free but there’s always the option to ‘pay’ for more in-depth content.
- Offer downloadable summaries for long pieces. Not everyone has the time to digest a 2,000-word piece, but some readers will still want the key takeaways. You could provide just the thing, in exchange for a name and email to add to your mailing list.
- Make use of the comments section. If readers are commenting on your blogs, make sure to answer their questions. But you can go further still, providing a CTA to have a chat with one of your team or direct them to a landing page with more information on the topic.
- Share your content on social media. Your blog won’t do much as a lead generation tool if no one is reading it, so make use of your social media accounts to share your content far and wide. This is also great for engagement, so keep an eye on comments, likes and shares for more opportunities to generate leads.
For expert help with your lead generation strategy, get in touch with IT Focus – call 0330 058 0100 or email info@itfocus-tm.com.
