Blogs are probably the best low-cost tool for advertising and generating organic traffic that you can have.
They are relatively easy to create and customize so they can satisfy the needs of any kind of blogger. There are many tools and features you can use to create your unique blog such as pictures, videos, animations, links, buttons, banners, interactive content, lists, polls, calendars, event countdowns, donations, and much more!
To make the blog magic work you need to have specific content, provide relevant information on a regular basis, and most importantly – have a target audience. When creating your blog, have in mind that people visit a site with intent, looking for information or entertainment, and they do not want to waste time on things they are not interested in.
Why owning a well-designed blog is a huge advantage if you are working online? Maybe you own a blog for some time now and if you have used it properly you know the advantages. If not – here are 10 things you should know:
1. Owning a well-designed and compact blog is essential for any kind of business because through it you present your business and yourself professionally, without exposing yourself to face-to-face promotions. What’s even better the blog does that once or twice a week (assuming you write new content weekly). The blog does the job for you and it can serve significantly more people than you can if you do ”face to face” promotions.
Also, it is available 24/7.
2. The blog can contain several topics/pages/discussions at once and you can interact with your visitors, present your business, and advertise whichever products or services you want – for free! Or you can focus on just one topic and create posts related to that topic only.
3. Make the blog interesting. Offer something new, different, and exciting! Even if your blog is focused on something that many other bloggers do (cooking or fitness, for example) you can still be different. Maybe in the way you present your recipes, your images, the wording, or maybe the recipes themselves. Just be innovative and explore your options on a daily basis.
4. GRAPHICS!! Having stunning graphics and pictures that visually and psychologically affect the viewers increases your chances for more views, shares, comments…which directly affects your website traffic which consequently increases your popularity and sales!! You can use your photos and videos or use free stock items. It is best if you can create your content. If you can’t, please provide credits and links to the original poster/s.
*Do not use copyrighted pictures and videos! Just search for copyright-free content or ask permission from the owner/s. Always make sure you name the author and insert a link to the original (watermarked content has to be purchased).
5. Don’t copy the content of other articles! People can easily copy/paste parts or your whole post and find the source material and report you. Not only that, but they will also most likely stop visiting you and unsubscribe. Plus, the original author can demand that you delete what you’ve posted without permission and the platform you are using to post can delete it. Be careful, you might end up banned from the site.
*You can refer to an article if you like but put the author’s name and link to the original article/source.
6. You can use your blog to share various types of content. Starting from your personal thoughts, art, recipes, and products, to banners, testimonials, reviews, freebies, contests, rewards, inspirational pictures/quotes, ads, promotions, discounts…whatever suits your needs! Just make sure you have separate categories and use tags, so your visitors won’t get lost in all that amazing content.
7. The blog makes exposure and advertising easier. How? Instead of individually posting the things you usually post (products for sale, posts that you have made on a certain topic, your latest video, images of your new chocolate cake) on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. separately, you can post them on your blog and then share that link on the social media without the need to upload everything again and again. Once your social media visitors come to your blog, they can easily navigate through it and enjoy the rest of your content.
Note: For Instagram, it may be a little difficult because that platform doesn’t allow posting links on your posts, but you can put a link to your blog on your Instagram Bio.
8. You can use some of the following features and tools to boost your traffic: meta description, traffic exchange, banner exchange, shareable social media links, comments section, SEO, backlinks, interactive content, guest blogging, start social media pages, chats, and groups. Most of these are free options but of course, you can use paid ads too.
To be able to do all of this, you need to know a bit more about blogs, advertising, and social platforms. It won’t hurt if you start learning these things right now or you can hire experts in the area to help you out…because:
No traffic –> No sales, No sales —> No business.
9. If your blog is doing well, you can earn money from Google AdSense or advertising companies that will pay you to put their advertisement on your blog.
10. Add a subscriber feature and start email and SMS marketing. With that, you can get subscribers and send weekly/monthly newsletters and updates about your blog/services/products to those interested in what you have to offer.
*Extra tip: For all this to work, you must give a “soul” to your blog. If it doesn’t have good content updated regularly it will fall on the dusty shelves of the Internet, even if you pay for traffic. This means that you have to post relevant and interesting posts; dedicate a few hours working on your blog once or twice a week; share it; update it; live with it, breathe with it, give it original thoughts, experiences, and unique content; invite guest authors; start discussions on relevant topics; use all the tools you can to promote it to get more visitors.
Go the extra mile.
Don’t just create your blog and forget about it! None of these things are complicated or difficult to learn. If you need help, you can always find the answers online – just use keywords in the search engine, ask a friend or join groups and forums. To excel at anything, you have to put time and effort into it. This means learning, exploring, reading, searching, testing, changing, evolving…
I wish you a fun and fruitful journey on your blog quest 🙂
Sincerely,
Stef
credenceknows.com 