Bitesize Blog: 5 Blogging Mistakes Most People Make
Jul 17, 2017
A business blog is so important in showcasing to potential clients that you are the expert in your field and also keeping your website fresh with new quality content! They are a cheap and effective promotional tool for small businesses! We’ve put together a few mistakes that some people make when they first start out.
1. Not promoting products and services
Your blog is another tool to use as a platform to promote your products and services in a less obvious way. Educating users about your area of the industry shows your expertise and experience, which can help create sales. However, it’ll be for nothing if you don’t mention your product or service. Adding links into your sidebar or integrating them into your writing can be a subtle way of promoting certain products or services that you offer. Adding a call-to-action at the end of each post can also help in promoting.
2. The Blog isn’t integrated with the main website
You want your users to spend as much time on your site without being navigated elsewhere, which is why having your blog integrated on your site is important. You don’t want your blog on an outsourced site, as the user may become distracted and completely forget they came from your site in the first place.
Your blog should mirror your branding and message in order to be effective in further promoting your products and services.
3. Clutter
A web visitor takes only 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about your website, so you need to make it count. Overly busy sites can become really overwhelming for visitors as they can’t quickly navigate to find what they are looking for.
Keeping your blog clean and simple is key! You want each component to have space to breathe, so stick to one side bar containing only a few items. Too many choices can confuse and distract.
4. No consistency
Being consistent is key, not only to satisfy your readers but also Google. Google has four algorithms that help it rank sites on their pages; the algorithm Panda loves quality content but also how often your site is updated. The Internet can’t be static, it has to be in a constant rotation and a blog is a great way to update your site frequently to help boost its ranking on Google. Here, at The Creation Lab, we always post one blog post on Monday and Friday at 10am every week, clearing up any confusion with readers. Also, having a plan in terms of when you will upload is great for you to help plan your content in advance.
5. Wrong Timing- Forgetting to Revise
Relevancy of your content is probably one of the most important points that a business will need to consider when writing a blog post. Topic selection can be helped by making an editorial calendar specific to your brand. For example, if you work in the gardening world, you may want to add RHS Chelsea Flower Show to your calendar, that way you won’t miss out on the conversation surrounding the event and also you may want to write in advance to allow time to collect images or store promotions. (We’ll be writing a post on editorial calendars soon…so, follow us on Twitter for an update @thecreationlab).
I’m sure everyone was told at school, if not University, to always reread your work before handing it in to be marked. However, a lot of people do get out of the habit resulting in misspelt words and commas in all the wrong places. Checking and cleaning your post of grammatical errors can really help the flow of your content. This is essential if, like us, you offer your clients a service that involves writing on behalf of their brand; they need to know you can write to the highest quality. So, allow yourself 30 minutes after writing each post to edit and really reread the post. Alternatively, send the piece to a colleague to double check and offer a fresh pair of eyes.
RECAP:
- Keep your blog on site
- Simple and Clean is the best layout
- Keep each post timely
- Promote your products
- Reread every blog post!
Still in need of some assistance with blog writing? We've written a Simple Guide to...Blogging over on our blog! Alternatively, here at The Creation Lab, we offer content writing for all types of businesses, so, if you feel it's something you want to look into further don't hesitate to call on 0800 644 7070.
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