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!

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!

Can content marketing help my business?

How do you make sure that you are marketing your business effectively? The world is continually changing and so should your marketing strategies. It is essential to make sure that your marketing strategies are up-to-date. To stay competitive today, you need to be using content marketing. More than half of all marketers are involved in some form of content marketing. Let’s talk about what content marketing is, its benefits, and how to begin applying it to your business.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a marketing strategy focused on creating and distributing valuable content to your target audience to drive new traffic to your business. This can be done in the form of blog posts, infographics, email marketing, pictures, or videos that provide solutions to your consumers' problems. The key to content marketing is to consistently provide solutions to your consumers’ problems that are educational, entertaining, and useful to your target audience. The content you share is information that is relevant to your business industry that can improve the life of your target audience. Providing valuable, relevant, and consistent content will strengthen your customers' trust and loyalty in your brand.

What are the benefits of content marketing?

Content marketing has become such an integral part of marketing today that nine out of ten consumers expect brands to provide content. This expectation is a great advantage for you to build on! Here are a few benefits of using content marketing:

• Generates leads: There are so many businesses advertising their products online that consumers will choose products based off of content. 72% of marketers say that content marketing boosts engagement and leads. When you market your businesses with engaging content, consumers are drawn to your brand. Plus, the leads that come from your content marketing have already been well-educated about what you have to offer and will be higher-quality leads. 

• Build brand credibility: Consumers are more aware than ever about their purchasing decisions. The more consumers are exposed to your content, the more loyal they will be to your brand. In fact, 88% of marketers have reached their goals of creating brand awareness and building trust and credibility through content marketing. You can shape consumers’ opinions and promote your brand’s values, goals and passions. Content marketing not only increases lead generation but it creates life-long customers. 

• Content can have a high ROI: Creating original content has the potential to multiply itself. If you created a video for your website, you can also upload that video to social media, include it in a blog post, share it in a marketing email, or convert it into a podcast. People are more likely to stay engaged with what you are sharing because it’s original and helps them solve the problems your business is best at solving.

How to start a content marketing plan

Most businesses are eager to begin content marketing but many feel like they aren’t approaching their strategies effectively. These 10 steps will help you create an effective content marketing plan:

1. Create goals: Decide why you want to create content. Is it to increase traffic to your website? Do you want to build the credibility of your brand? How will you know when you have accomplished these goals?

2. Choose your target audience: Knowing your target audience is crucial for content marketing. Identify who will want your goods or services. What age, sex, income, occupation, location, pains, problems, obstacles, habits, interests, motivations, and lifestyle does your target audience have? What other characteristics create the profile of your target audience? By knowing who your target audience is, you will have better direction in knowing what type of content will appeal to them.

3. Learn about your competition: Learn about your brand’s competition. Your competitors can be other businesses in your industry, or news that cover the same topics you do. What content are they sharing and what seems to be the most successful?

4. Research keywords: Investigate what your target audience is searching for online. What keywords or phrases are they using on Google and other search engines? Start by going to Google Trends and searching keywords or phrases that you think your target audience would use. Google Trends will show you the past and current volume of those keywords, shares other related topics, and maps out geographical areas that have the most interest in those keywords. Your findings may give you more ideas of content to create.

5. Review your existing content: Review old content you have already published to know what type of content to continue creating. What topics have generated the most interest?

6. Build your strategy: A marketing strategy is a detailed plan of activities to accomplish in order to reach your target audience and accomplish your goals. Your previous research will help you make decisions. What type of content will you focus on creating? How often will you publish content? How will you distribute your content?

   There are many ways to distribute your content. Keep in mind which channels will best reach your target audience. Here is a list of common channels:

   • Podcasts

   • Videos

   • Blogs

   • Email newsletters

   • Social media posts

   • Webinars

   • Ebooks

7. Choose who will run your content marketing: Are you going to create your content yourself or hire someone else to create your content? Who is going to be in charge of your marketing campaign? Who is going to respond to the comments and questions that your content gets? How much time can you realistically give to your content marketing?

8. Schedule your marketing calendar: Plan what days you will publish your content and who is in charge of publishing it. It is important to publish consistently and frequently.

9. Create and publish your content: Make sure that your content is always high quality and not rushed to meet a deadline.

10. Refine your strategy: Your strategy will evolve in time as you learn what content is more successful than others. It’s important to remain flexible in your approach to the content you create.

Still have questions about how to begin content marketing? Let us know which questions you have by filling out the form below! We want to help you achieve your goals!