Most business owners understand the importance of having a blog on their website.
Blog posts help to illustrate their expertise, drive traffic to your site and, if done correctly, can help convert visitors into leads and leads into sales.
Dutifully writing and uploading blog posts to your site is one thing – but how do you make the most of those blog posts?
The importance of CTA’s
The number one thing a blog post needs to have is a clear call to action. Writing about what you know and giving your visitors that information is one thing but, to make the most of that blog post, you need to let them know what to after they’ve read that information.
This is where call to actions (or CTA’s) come in. A call to action is informing readers what they need to do next. A CTA can be encouraging them to:
- Leave a comment under your blog post
- Opt-in for your freebie (tip sheet, checklist etc.)
- Subscribe to your newsletter or mailing list
- Join you on social media
- Read more blogs on that subject
- Book a complementary call with you
- Email you with any questions
As you can see, a CTA can be as varied as you’d like it to be!
Utilise your existing blog content more efficiently
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make with their blog posts, is using the content only once. They create a great blog post and that’s it; they then have to think up more ideas for future posts. Coming up with a never-ending supply of new blog post ideas takes time and energy – and it’s something you can cut back on, if you learn to utilise the content you’ve already come up with, in a more efficient way.
When you first come up with a new blog post idea, look at how you can create 4 or 5 different pieces of content from it. Can you create a video or audio post, going in to further detail? How about a checklist or survey? Take a look at your analytics and see what posts and topics are getting the most views. Look at what posts are getting the most interaction, in terms of comments and shares. These show you what your viewers are interested in – so give them more of what they want. Use the content to create audios or videos. Create opt-ins such as tip sheets or mini courses on those topics. Pull snippets out of the blog to create social media posts and image quotes.
Share your blog posts
Failing to adequately share completed blog posts is another way business owners miss out making the most of what they’ve written. If you want to gain more followers and have more readers on your site, you need to let people know about your blog posts! This means sharing each blog post on social media and letting your mailing list know there’s a new post to read.
One of the big worries business owners have is alienating their audience, so they hold back on how often they share valuable content, such as blog posts and freebies. The only time this is a real problem, is if you’re only sharing links to your content on social media. Ideally, you need to also be interacting on there – asking questions, sharing snippets of your day and work in progress, giving them glimpses behind the scenes and responding to all comments and messages. – otherwise your content links will just look spammy and overused.
So, make sure you’re sharing your content on all social media channels, as well as with your mailing list. Look to post links on social media several times a week – on different days and at different times – to catch those people who are on different time zones, as well as those who may not have seen it the first time.
Follow the easy tips above, to save yourself time and effort, when writing your next blog posts. But also remember, making the most of your blog posts isn’t just about being efficient with your time and energy, it’s about keeping your name and business at the front of your ideal client’s minds too. So, what are your best tips for making the most out of your blog posts and content? Why not share your best ideas, in the comments section below!