Is this you? You’ve heard all the craze about content being king online and it will help you to increase sales and stay ahead of the competition, so you did what any savvy small business owner would do and decided to start a blog. You’ve been blogging pretty regularly and consistently providing excellent content but no one seems to care. You aren’t getting comments or other feedback from the internet universe and you feel like your blog is standing all alone. You automatically thought if you built it they would come because content rules, but now you are left scratching your head thinking it was all a bunch of hype and you’ve been wasting valuable time blogging instead of building your business in other more effective ways. If this is you, I have news for you —continue to blog at all costs, as often as possible. Small business owners MUST have a blog in order to remain competitive in today’s marketplace. Blogging is not an overnight marketing solution, it is more a long-term task that will pay off over time as long as the content is great and you blog consistently. But I am doing that! Good keep it up. What your quality content is missing is muscles. In order to get your target audience to notice your blog it is important to get rid that flabby quality content and do exercises that will turn that flab into fab quality content muscles that you can flex {and they WILL notice}! Try these exercises to bulk up your content muscles, in order to increase sales and awareness about your brand:
Use images
Always use an image in your blog posts. People are very visual by nature so it is important to use images that will capture their attention. It is also important to use images that correlate with your headline to increase your chances of getting your post read. When posting images on your posts be sure to include keywords and/or your headline with your image, this helps with search engine optimization (SEO). Use captions with your images, in the event the images are unable to be seen due to problems with the end users browsers. Sum up your post utilizing a few words in the caption. Be careful to post only images that you have the permission to reuse in order to avoid litigation. Search for images with Creative Commons licensing. Personally, I use FreeDigitalPhotos.net. Some of the more commonly used sites are; Flickr, stock.xchng, Dreamstime, and iStockPhoto. For more detailed instructions about using images check out TopRank blog post, 6 Tips on Image SEO.
Use videos
Get rid of quality content flab with the use of video. Video has become one of the most powerful content formats on the internet. When using video content there are a few ways to make the content more search engine friendly. Be sure to use keywords that your customers and target audience are using to find information within your niche. Consider using text transcription underneath the video, where you transcribe the video into text. This is great for search engines to find your post. It also works for users that are having technical difficulties with the video’s sound or viewing it altogether. Consider adding screenshots of the video file to the transcribed text in order to have images to support the transcription. Encourage comments from readers/viewers by posting a videos that are controversial, informative, funny, or strange and unusual. More comments create more traffic to your blog and entice readers to return to view and comment on what others are saying.
Guest post
Have a really great idea for a blog post? Guest post on other blogs that are more established within your niche. Writing articles for other blogs is an excellent way to attract a larger audience, quickly. In order to be really effective with guest posting consider writing for other blogs often and you will be able to build quality traffic in a relatively short amount of time.
Syndicate your blog
Share your content on reputable sites within your niche to maximize exposure. I share my content on BizSugar, Business 2 Community (here and here), and sometimes on Boss Chicks. It is important to monitor comments and reply on sites that your blog is syndicated on, because there is no point in starting a conversation that you will not be participating in. Also connect with other authors on the sites that you syndicate on and share their posts as well. On syndication sites, when possible add original content as well (similar to guest posting on other blogs). In your profile include links that will guide readers to your website and blog.
Enter contests
Entering contest can really give your content muscles. Not only do you have a chance to win some really great prizes but you can also reach a larger audience with your message. I recently entered BizSugar’s ‘Rock Your Biz’ blogging contest and placed 2nd and 3rd with the help of Kimberly Crossland, The Savvy Copywriter. Not only did we reach a large audience, but the exposure was very desirable. I also was recently nominated as a 2012 Small Business Influencer via Small Business Trends and so was Small Biz Diamonds. I wasn’t expecting a nomination because I just started writing about small business less than a year ago, and Small Biz Diamonds is only five months old! As a result Small Biz Diamonds has been named a 2012 Community Choice Winner. Again the exposure of something so highly received within my niche has been very beneficial to my content.
Get social
Leverage blog content by sharing posts across the popular social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linked In, etc. Social sharing is a great way to share content and giving it the ability to go viral. Social Media Examiner has two excellent articles about social sharing here and here.
Geo-target content
When possible market blog content to local customers by geo-targeting. Geo-targeting is adding a location before or after keywords. So a chiropractor might use “Atlanta chiropractor” or get even more specific and use “Buckhead chiropractor” (Buckhead is a town within Atlanta, GA, USA). The purpose of this is to have less competition ranking on popular search engines, and local customers can find you more easily.
Go mobile
Blog on a platform like Tumblr that has mobile compatibility. More and more people are accessing their web via smart phone, tablets, and other mobile. Be sure that you can reach them.
The above exercises are sure to get your blog content toned up and in shape, ultimately increases traffic which in turn increases sales.
What techniques are you using to turn your blog content from flab to muscles? Leave your small biz diamonds in the comments section below.
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