Content Marketing, Guest Post, SEO

6 New Rules of Business Blogging

Note: This is a guest post by Nina of Spiralytics. The author’s views are entirely her own and may not reflect the views...

Written by Deepanshu Gahlaut · 4 min read >
new-way-of-blogging

Note: This is a guest post by Nina of Spiralytics. The author’s views are entirely her own and may not reflect the views of Deepanshu Gahlaut’s Blog.

The age of big data is such an exciting time for content marketers. Today, technologies are making it easy for digital marketers to collect valuable customer information and use it to influence the behavior of their target audience, not only as far as their buying preferences are concerned but also in the way they consume content.

With highly targeted and relevant content served up to them, consumers are showing increasing interest in various content types delivered to them across multimedia channels.

This evolving behavior among content consumers creates a need for your marketing team to develop relevant techniques that can help you provide the content that your audience needs in the form or way they want it.

Here, we identify a number of rules that you could adapt to your digital content and blogging strategy. These guidelines are aligned with key statistics in content marketing, which makes it critical for you to focus your blog campaigns around these trends.

1. Being available on mobile is not an option anymore

  • 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when searching on their smartphone. (Google, 2018)
  • 65% of smartphone users agree that when searching on their smartphones, they look for the most relevant information regardless of the company providing the information. (Google, 2015)
  • 82% of smartphone users say they consult their phones on purchases they’re about to make in a store. (Google, 2016)

Based on these statistics, it’s easy to see that mobile gadgets such as smartphones and tablets are fast becoming the primary device that digital consumers use to access product info on the internet.

With that said, you could have a wider market reach if you leverage mobile in your blogging strategy.

Posting links to your blog site on social is one way of promoting your content since many smartphone users are spending a lot of time on social sites including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

You could also consider sending push notifications to your customers every time you’re publishing new content via mobile, text, or messenger app notifications.

2. Prioritize helping your audience with their problems

  • 71% of B2B researchers start their research with a generic search. (Google, 2015) (Source: Hubspot)

Blogging is a powerful marketing strategy in itself, especially if you provide content that addresses the pain points of your audience. However, it also means you have to know how to choose and use the right keywords in your blog posts.

Since content consumers are using the generic or organic search method to look for information online, you need to include keywords that allow people to find what they want easily.

It might be helpful for you to use long-tail keywords in your content, especially since data shows that it’s common for people to type longer phrases in their search. This is to help them narrow the search results for when they can’t find what they need with shorter search terms.

3. Formulate titles based on how people do voice search

  • 37% use Siri, 23% use Microsoft’s Cortana AI, and 19% use Amazon’s Alexa AI at least monthly. (HubSpot, 2015)
  • 20% of search queries on Google’s mobile app and Android devices are voice searches. (Search Engine Land, 2016) 
  • 43% of mobile voice search users do so because they say it is quicker than going to a website or using an app. (Statista, 2015)

Voice search is a technology that’s increasing in adoption among users who don’t like typing search terms on their mobile browser. Instead, they use mobile personal assistants like Siri and Alexa to search for information.

You could do great service to your blogs if you could optimize them based on this search trend so that people can find your content easily. This means using language that you commonly reserve for casual conversations in your titles and choosing simpler terms over the more complicated ones.

For example, just say “disadvantages” instead of “stumbling block.”

Plus, your title could use question phrases that consumers use to describe your brand, products, or services to increase the chances of your blog to rank higher in search results.

To become effective in this area, you should develop the habit of tracking your customers’ commonly asked questions so that you could develop content for them.

4. Deliver your message right away

  • The average reader only spends 37 seconds reading an article or blog post. (NewsCred Insights)

Digital consumers are dealing with many distractions online, as they simultaneously switch between work-related or personal mobile apps and check their news feed on social. Needless to say, you can’t leave anything to chance and think that you can keep your audience on your site long enough for them to read through a lengthy blog post.

Incidentally, Google now takes word count as a yardstick for depth and quality.

You could work around this disconnect to help you catch the attention of content consumers within the span of time that they are in an attentive state. For one, you could use meta tags, which are descriptions of contents of a particular web page using keywords, to give people a quick preview of what your content is about.

You could also use formatting styles to make your content more easily digestible for your audience. Rendering text in bold or italic font or using bullet points to list key ideas can help in driving users’ attention to the most important part of your content.

5. Boring content is out

  • 93% said interactive content is somewhat or very effective at educating the buyer, compared to 70% for static content. (Inc)
  • Interactive content generates 2x more conversions than passive content. (Kapost)
  • 91% of B2B buyers prefer to consume interactive and visual content. (DemandGen)

Competition in the content marketing department is stiff, as audiences are becoming pickier with the content that they consume. It’s not enough anymore to provide traditional content pieces to your audience, blogs included.

Amid all the noise in the digital landscape, content consumers are looking for more unique and interactive content—the kind that provides more value for them.

For example, polls or surveys give your customers an opportunity to voice out their feedback, opinions, and insights in a fun yet purposeful manner. As you incorporate your audience’s answers into your content strategy, you get to offer a more personalized experience to your customers in their content journey.

Regardless of the form of interactive content that you use – assessments, infographics, calculators, trivia – your content needs to have educational value in it, too.

This puts your brand a step ahead in the competition, as you establish yourself as an industry expert who can engage and educate your audience at the same time.

6. Video is the king of content

  • 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video. (HubSpot, 2019)
  • Almost 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. (Google, 2016)
  • 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week. (HubSpot, 2016)
  • Shoppers who view video are 1.81X more likely to purchase than non-viewers. (Animoto, 2015)

Video is one of the most in-demand types of content nowadays for young and old generations alike. The visual elements of the video make it easy for you to deliver your message in less time but with the same or even higher impact than non-video content.

The fact that more and more consumers are watching than reading content online should help you choose where you should allocate your content marketing spend.

Video content can buy you more time as you try to keep your audience on your page, which gives you more chances to educate, engage, and convert your viewers with your branding message.

A fast-changing consumer behavior needs the implementation of strategies that are in sync with your target audience’s expectations.

These six rules in business blogging can help you keep up with the high demand for quality content in your niche market and bring your content within easy reach of your audience.

Author Bio: Nina launched her career as a web copywriter but eventually jumped into SEO and Online PR out of curiosity. Don’t let the petite physique fool you; She has a big heart wherein her other half, 2 little daughters, family, and friends fit in.  

Written by Deepanshu Gahlaut
I write on SEO, content marketing, latest technologies, and social media. You can find me online, or at home watching sci-fi movies, listening songs, or sleeping. In addition, my latest obsession is creating, collecting and organizing visual content on my new blog - Infopixi, to help bloggers, marketers, and businesses. Profile

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