How to create blog posts that will drive traffic to your website

You have probably heard that blogging is an essential marketing tool for your business — but why is it important? We will be covering what blog posts are, why they are an important element in online marketing, what makes a good blog post, and how to know what to write. Whether you are new at blogging or you want to see better results for your existing blog, there are a lot of ways to drive traffic to your website!

What are blog posts?

If you have spent any time on the internet, chances are you have come across a blog — like this blog post! A blog (short for “weblog”) is a regularly updated online journal for business or personal use. The typical composition of a blog is text along with pictures, videos, or gifs. Bloggers will write about advice, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and information on a particular topic, or they may keep a record of activities. The purpose of a business blog is to drive more traffic to your website in order to close more deals.

Benefits of blog posts

When you are busy running a business, blogging may seem like it’s not worth the time and effort. It may also seem daunting to publish your writing for the public eye. Let’s dive into why blogging is an essential marketing tool you don’t want to pass up.

• Drive traffic to your website: If you have a business website, how are people currently finding it? Without blogging, the majority of viewers already know who you are and are interested in your business. This won’t help you gain more customers. Your website probably only has a few pages and you rarely update it. Sound about right? Blogging will help solve both of those problems. Business-to-business (B2B) marketers that use blogs get 67% more leads. Companies that have more than 16 blog posts get 3.5 times more traffic to their website. The more content you have published, the more your website will show up in search results and drive more traffic from an organic search. The increase in web traffic will lead to more opportunities for you to close business and your reputation will grow.

• Promote your products and services: Those that visit your website will be exposed to what you offer as a business. You have the opportunity to promote the value of your products and services in great detail, however, don’t write about all the features of your offerings. This will bore your readers. Instead, explain how your products and services can improve their daily lives. Write about what your customers are most interested in about your business. Blogs help you control the message about your business and explain how similar consumers have benefitted from your services. Providing valuable information will bring back former viewers and generate new leads.

• Build credibility with customers: The greatest asset for your business is building loyal customers. This takes consistent effort to prove that you are a high-quality and reliable brand. Your writing will prove that you are an expert in your field and build solid online rapport.

• Repurpose content for social media: The information that you blog about can easily be reformatted for social media posts. Don’t reinvent the wheel every time! Your social media posts can provide snippets of information that you cover on your blog. You can even direct your social media followers to related blog posts to learn more.

What makes a good blog post that drives website traffic?

As with all marketing, there are more effective approaches than others. Anyone can write about their business, but some brands drive more traffic to their blogs than others. Let’s talk about what makes a strong blog post.

• Be consistent: Consistency in marketing is key to your success. You want to stay top-of-mind with your customers. The more consistent you are with publishing blogs, the more exposure your potential customers have to your brand. This will build credibility for your business, and ultimately, will help you reach your goals. 

  Be consistent in the small details of your blogs. By creating a template in line with your company’s style (font type, terms, grammar, etc.), your content will be more professional and easier to create.

• Search engine optimization (SEO): Strengthening your SEO will generate more leads and close more deals. Google processes over 8.5 billion searches a day. Google Trends will show you the past and current volume of the keywords and phrases your niche target audience is searching for online. Adding these to your blogs will strengthen your footprint, making you more visible and easier to find.

• Concise blog topic: The subject of your blog needs to be clear and compelling. Readers want to know if it’s worth their time reading your blog. Make the subject matter direct so they can anticipate what they will be learning. Construct a punchy title loaded with keywords to create interest and optimize your website.

• Headings: Most readers will skim through the headings of blogs to find what is most interesting to them. Clear and concise headings help guide readers to what they are searching for. Take SEO into account by including keywords and phrases to create strong titles and headings.

• Offer solutions: Readers are searching your blog to find answers to problems or questions. Offer your distinct take on a matter and what you believe the best solution is. Readers that return to your blog have built a connection with you and rely on your insight for solving related issues.

How to generate new ideas for your blog to generate website traffic

Whether you are a novice or already have experience writing blogs, coming up with new blog ideas can be a challenge. The good news is that there are several avenues to generate topics so that you don’t feel like you are running out of ideas. Here are 5 ways to get you started:

1. Ask customers what they want to hear. 

2. Send online surveys to find out what questions or issues your target audience has.

3. Read the topics that your competitors address on their social media and blogs. 

4. Share what your company is learning. 

5. Research Google autocomplete results — Google search a list of industry-related topics in an “incognito window” to see what people are already searching.

Blogging will get easier and flow more naturally the more you do it. Make a plan for what content you want to share and how often you want to share it. It’s time to start writing! If you still don’t know how to get started, we are happy to help you reach your marketing goals here at Jamias Creative. Let us know by filling out the form below!

TikTok vs. Instagram: What's the difference?

Today, about seven-in-ten Americans use social media. TikTok and Instagram are the leading social media platforms and they play significant roles in marketing. Businesses use both platforms to reach their target audience, build brand awareness, and ultimately, close deals. TikTok and Instagram are competitive with similar features and marketing tools. Let’s explore their differences and how they can help your business.

What is TikTok?

TikTok is used to create and share short videos. What began as a platform to upload fun dance videos has now transformed into a massive digital landscape for crafts, vlogging, cooking tutorials, and so much more. It is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the last six years. Since its creation, TikTok already has over 1 billion users. If your brand’s target audience is between the ages of 13 to 60, you should join. TikTok encourages users, known as “creators,” to share their passions and creativity through entertaining, easy to produce videos.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is a photo and video sharing social media platform founded in 2010. The focus of the platform is to upload photos from a mobile device. Users can upload and edit media with filters and organize it by geographical locations and hashtags. It allows users to connect with friends, family, celebrities, and brands.

Instagram has been embraced quickly from its beginning. When the app launched, more than 25,000 signed up on the first day. Roughly two months later, the platform had more than 1 million users. The timing of the app’s release was fortunate because the iPhone 4 — with improved camera features — had just been released a few months before. Since then, Instagram has continued to grow in popularity across the world. For more information on Instagram, check out our blog post here.

Key differences between TikTok and Instagram

Instagram has been the leading social media platform for over a decade. Since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, TikTok has taken the world by storm. Beginning 2021, TikTok has been the most downloaded app across smartphone users. The short-term video features on TikTok are a major factor for its success. Instagram can’t seem to slow down TikTok’s growth. To compete, Instagram has added short videos called Instagram Reels and other features.

TikTok and Instagram continue to go head-to-head with competing features, so what makes them different? Here are three major differences to know as a marketer:

1. Style of content: TikTok media tends to have a more creative, spontaneous, “homemade” feel to its videos. There are many easy-to-use editing features on the app to improve the look of your videos, but there are a lot of successful TikTokers that upload raw videos without any touch ups.

   Instagram is known for polished creative content. There are not as many editing features on Instagram, so you need to rely on professional editing software outside of the app. You can also publish more types of media than just short videos. 

2. User demographics: TikTok has a strong influence on the younger age groups with half of the Gen-Z population accessing the platform compared to 22% of millenials and 14% of 50–64 year-olds. 
   Instagram has a wider range of users with 71% of the Gen-Z, half of millenials and about a third of the 50–64 age range. Overall, Instagram users have more buying power due to the older demographics.

3. Number of Influencers: TikTok has not been saturated with influencers yet, but the numbers are growing rapidly. Due to its newness, there are more opportunities to grow mass followings. TikTokers want to see more original content so influencers need to be more subtle in marketing. 
   Instagram has millions of influencers which makes it easier to be picky when choosing which influencers you want to partner with. More than 70% of marketers favor Instagram for influencer marketing. Partnering with an influencer doesn’t necessarily mean you will go viral, but it’s worth a shot! However, there are proven Instagram influencer marketing methods to successfully reach new people in your niche target audience.

How each platform can help your business grow

Both platforms can create unparalleled marketing opportunities for the growth of your business. Different factors regarding your business and marketing goals will determine if you want to use one or both platforms. Both platforms provide free marketing tools and resources and fast ways to reach millions of your target audience. In addition, let’s take a quick look at their unique features which are geared to help your business:  

TikTok: 

• Business online community: Small business conversations are already happening on TikTok. You can find communities of small business owners through different hashtags like #smallbusiness, #entrepreneur, or #sidehustle. These communities hold conversations on tips, tricks, and branding strategies to build your brand online.

• TikTok partners with Shopify: As an e-commerce business, you can set up a TikTok Ads Manager Account that helps you find customers and provide a seamless shopping experience. Many TikTok users join the platform to discover new things. 67% of TikTok users agree that they were inspired to shop even when they weren’t looking to do so. With this mindset, users are ready to buy and the shopping experience is made easy with Shopify. 

Check out TikTok’s business page to learn more about what they can do for your business.

Instagram:

• Advertising: You can have more precise targeting for your paid advertising. Instagram users expect to see advertising, influencer marketing, and promotional content. This expectation makes it easier to start building brand awareness and promoting your products and services. 

• Insights and analytics: Instagram keeps track of what your followers like and are most engaged in. The data provided can help you when making decisions for your Instagram marketing strategy. 

• Connect to a scheduling app: Online marketing can quickly feel overwhelming to stay on top of. With an Instagram business account, you can schedule your posts. Check out Meta’s page to learn how to do so. 

You can learn more about what Instagram can do on their business page. 

What questions do you have? Let us know by filling out the form below. We are happy to help you here at Jamias Creative!

3 Instagram benefits you're missing out on right now

You don’t have to wonder if Instagram marketing is right for your business! There are a handful of clear benefits you can receive by promoting your brand on Instagram. This article will cover 3 Instagram benefits you’re missing out on right now and more.

What is Instagram?

Instagram has been embraced quickly from its beginning. When the app launched in 2010, more than 25,000 signed up on the first day. Roughly two months later, the platform had more than 1 million users. The timing of the app’s release was fortunate because the iPhone 4 — with improved camera features — had just been released a few months before. Since then, Instagram has continued to grow in popularity across the world.

Stats about Instagram

Since its initial success, Instagram has been a prominent social media leader. If you are still on the fence about using Instagram for your business, take a look at these current statistics:

• Instagram has been around for twelve years — it is not going anywhere anytime soon. 

• It is the ninth most visited site worldwide with 1.3 billion annual users. 

• The term “Instagram” is the 10th most Google-searched word. 

• It is the fourth most-used social media platform, following Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. 

• There are roughly 1 billion monthly active users and over 200 million business profiles. 

• 18–34 year-olds make up the largest Instagram audience. However, other generations continue to join. Last year, the number of males between 55–64 years old grew by 63.6%. 

• 73% of U.S. 18–29 year-olds use Instagram daily, and 53% of those users get on multiple times per day.

• Users spend an average of 30 minutes a day on the app.

3 Instagram benefits you’re missing out on right now

Instagram is more than uploading nice photos and videos. It can be a great marketing tool for your business. Here are three major benefits:

1. Global reach: Take another look above at the statistics about Instagram, and you’ll see how many opportunities there are to reach new people. Social media platforms, like Instagram, are made to help you meet others and build relationships. Instagram does a remarkable job of exposing your brand to people that otherwise would have never learned about you. 

   Instagram continues to build marketing-friendly features to help you reach your niche target audience. Like, comment, follow new people, use hashtags, and frequently create valuable content to grow your following.

2. Personal touch: People love to see authenticity and learn more about the face behind a business. Instagram allows you to show who you are — a real person that works with great people. Provide valuable and engaging content to build loyalty to you and your brand. Share your business story, show your customers a behind-the-scenes look at how you run your business, display a sneak peek of a product, and express your passion for what you do.

   The various features on Instagram (Instagram Stories, Reels, Instagram Guides, etc.) give you the power to communicate and influence your target audiences’ opinions of your brand. You can learn what questions, concerns, and desires your customers have by running an Instagram Live Q&A session or taking polls on your Instagram Stories. As you address those needs, you will create loyal customers and build credibility as an expert in your field.

3. Shopping made easy: Use Instagram Shopping if you are an e-commerce business. Instagram Shopping is a set of features that make it easy for potential customers to shop your products the moment they discover them through your posts, stories, and ad campaigns. A potential customer can watch your Instagram Story about your new baking tools and proceed to checkout in-app in just a few steps. This will improve your sales and bring more traffic to your business. A recent study shares that 82% of surveyors discovered a product on social media and bought it directly on their phones. The study also found that 42% prefer to checkout directly in-app instead of using third-party websites. Instagram Shopping provides these conveniences for you. 

   For visuals and a more in-depth explanation of Instagram Shopping, click here.

How you can start reaping the benefits of Instagram this week

Optimize your Instagram profile: Your profile will be the first impression to your viewers. Take the time to create a clean, professional look that appeals to your brand.

1. Profile picture: Your Instagram profile picture will be confined to a small circular frame. Make sure that your photo is clear to see within those parameters.

2. Bio: All Instagram bios are limited to 150 words, so be concise and make every word count. Share your mission and goals as a business but don’t be afraid to use emojis or quotes to add to your brand’s personality.

3. Link to your online store: Add your business’s website, blog, or e-commerce store URL in your bio. Traffic to your website will increase and provide more leads.

Plan the next month of marketing: Decide what content you want to create and schedule when you will publish it on Instagram. Planning photos, videos, Reels, and captions ahead of time will ensure that you can produce quality content that your followers will love. Organizing your month will also help you see what content you need to create and how much time you need so that you aren’t rushing the process.

Make your Instagram feed “shoppable”: Add links to your products on your Instagram stories and posts. Show your customers the quality of your products, how to use them, why they need your product, and who is using it. Customers love to see how they can adopt your product into their lifestyle.

Instagram is a powerful marketing tool. If you are not already using it, now is the time! What questions do you have about marketing on Instagram? Let us know by filling out the form below. Jamias Creative is happy to help!