Blogging is a great way to generate organic traffic, particularly for those prospects who have not reached a purchasing decision yet. In addition, it can establish credibility in your space and position you as a thought leader.

But, if done incorrectly, it can be a giant waste of time—for the writer, the reader and your business as a whole.

As someone who blogs for a living, I wanted to share some of my favorite blogging tips and copywriting techniques to help you decide if starting a blog is the right decision for your business and how to do it efficiently.

What To Prioritize When Starting a Blog

The thing about starting a blog is that it takes a lot of work.

From setting up a sustainable system to creating a list of ideas to actually implementing them, a lot of work goes into the forefront of the effort. Not to mention the fact that it can take Google months (or longer) to start recognizing and rewarding your website for its newest content strategy.

Because of this, you must have a plan in place based on industry best practices so that your hard work doesn’t just go into the massive void that is the internet.

Here are five things to prioritize when starting your business blog.

Focus on providing value

There are more than 6 million blogs posted every day, meaning you can’t just post whatever you want anymore, hoping that it sticks. There’s simply too much competition.

Instead, you need to look for opportunities to create valuable content for both current and
prospective customers. Refocusing your efforts toward generating leads through valuable
content, instead of the highest number of impressions, will give you the most bang for your buck
in your blogging efforts.

What I mean by valuable is:

• It tells a full, complete story.
• It fills a need for your audience.
• It provides a new point of view.
• It goes beyond the basics.

Not sure what your readers may find valuable? Ask them.

Don’t be afraid to ask your readers what they want to see from you because your initial
assumptions might not always be correct. Consider a survey or poll in your social media
channels, email channels, or pop up at the end of the blog. Use their interests and feedback to
guide the type of content you create next.

Be consistent

The best way to keep people coming back and continuing to consider purchasing from your
businesses is to consistently create value that entices them to return to you.

Blogging on a regular cadence (and with an active marketing strategy to back up your efforts and
maximize your reach) gives your customers repeatable and predictable ways to interact with your
business.

Consistently publishing new content gives potential consumers a reason to come back, keeps
you top of mind, continues to add value—making it more likely that your consumers will purchase
from you when it comes time to do so.

Don’t be spammy

If you’ve taken one or two online SEO courses, you might think that the best way to get eyes on
your content is to drop in as many relevant and high-value keywords as possible. The truth is:
Google doesn’t work like that anymore.

If it thinks you’re trying to beat the system with SEO-stuffed articles, it’s actually going to devalue
your site and your blog.

Instead, write about topics that are ancillary to your business and considered relevant to your
industry. For example, think industry best practices, common questions, tips and tricks, hot takes
or secrets, advice, etc.

As mentioned above, it’s not about getting all the page views; it’s about getting the right views.
And the best way to do that is to be valuable, not spammy and hard-to-read.

Plan ahead

The hardest part of blogging is coming up with ideas regularly. I like to brainstorm six-months
worth of content at a time (I call it a blog content calendar), taking into account what’s
happening seasonally and what types of things are relevant to the business during that time.

If your industry or niche doesn’t have logical or seasonal topics that make sense, you can use
tools like Google Trends to figure out when a subject is the most popular throughout the year.

If you leave this ideation to a game-time decision, you’ll be less likely to commit to writing. If you
have a plan and a purpose, you’ll be more likely to stick with it.

Crosslink, crosslink, crosslink!

Blogs are powerful SEO traffic generators, and cross-linking (linking between two separate pages
on your website) builds credibility within your site, not only for search engines but for your
customers as well.

If a potential consumer is exposed to your brand for the first time through a blog that is valuable
to their needs, don’t let them read your content and then bounce from your site. Hand them
practical tools within your blogs that will lead them to explore more of your site, further connect
with your brand and drive consideration for purchasing.

Bottom line: Write good content

Most importantly, make sure your content is good. Optimize your headlines, write a compelling
introduction, check (and triple-check) for spelling or grammatical mistakes and make sure your
point is made clearly and completely.

While Google might tell you that longer is better, I’m here to tell you that better is better. So
instead of focusing on checking all the boxes on an SEO/content checklist, just focus on one
thing: Writing good content that your audience wants to read. The rest will work itself out.

Evan Kirsch is CEO of MAKE Digital Group, an innovative digital marketing agency that specializes in forward-thinking marketing strategies for small businesses. For 12 years, Evan has navigated clients from coast-to-coast along in their pursuit of marketing excellence. To schedule a free analysis of your marketing strategy, you can email Evan at evan@makedigitalgroup.com.