Face it, your company blog sucks; its boring, monotonous, too business-focused,way too technical and talks only about you. When it comes to your companys blog, it should not necessarily communicate your business or shouldnt always be the same. As for writers, they are often faced by a bloggers block when curating something for their companys blog. You build a blog, in order to get more traffic/leads/conversions through that but you see people arent quite interested in your blog posts, why? The answer to that may vary from company to company and your overall marketing strategy but mostly,it depends on the type of content. You see your blog and the first thought that comes to your mind is: Dude, this sucks! Even I wouldnt want to revisit, read or let alone share it. A good rule of thumb to generate a loyal online following is to curate content which is simple, useful and interesting; something your users can consume and cant resist to share. So here are a few ideas for saving your blog from dying (you seriously dont want people ignoring all that youve spent so much time on, do you?)
- TIPS FOR ENGAGING CONTENT:
1. Rules to stick by:
When it comes to keeping your blog fresh, be it about anything, the one thing that shouldnt be compromised in any case is the quality. It is understandable how you have to manage quantity where you are bound to at least post one blog post every week, but that shouldnt in any way affect the quality of your content. Thankfully, we are no more stuck with the biggest bloggers pet peeveyes, the excessiveuse of keywords (ugh, I hated forcefully fitting and repeating words which wouldnt even make sense at times). If you want to win now, you should have a well-researched blog post, presented to the audience in a manner they find it entertaining, unique and informative, at the same time. I believe, these three characteristics should be on a writers fingertips when he/she writes anything. I call it the golden UEI rule of writing or a writers mantra. So basically you have to strike a decent balance among quality and quantity, never compromising one for the other. The more you post unique content on your blog, the more visibility and exposure you get, by people discovering you or your business through search and sharing. For businesses, big or small, frequent blogging or sharing content can bring in more traffic to their website.
2. Attention Grabbing Titles:
So tell me, are you more likely to read a blog post titled: Benefits of buying a big car or would you be more intrigued to read a blog post titled: 5 reasons youll choose big cars over small? I would definitely go for the latter. Your titles are somewhat the first impression and you know what they say about first impressions. Yes, the first impression adage is rather clichd but fits best here because the title is what further decides the fate of your blog post. I can extensively post blogs, filled with accurate information and everything and then give it a boring titleboo;nobodys going to read that! Your titles should be enticing, relevant and yet optimized to appear in search engines for improved search engine ranking. There has to a perfect description for the search engine to pick and show in the search results (also, on the first page).
Similarly, your headlines and subheads should be comprehensive and stimulating enough to keep your readers hooked. To curate content for your particular audience it is extremely important for the writer to have an idea about what your readers are looking/searching for. You can learn this by the type of communication, engagement or interaction you have with your audience on social media or from your websites FAQs section; the queries you receive are can be perfectly answered in the form of a blog post. If youre out of ideas, ask your readers; after all, its them you are writing and creating content for. You may know about what youre writing but your readers dont, so keep it real, personalized and super simple for them to understand. While reading a blog post, if your reader feels like the writer is actually talking to him/her then you are winning.
3. BREAK
IT
DOWN:
Seriously, are you going to write a blog post like an essay? Thats like the biggest blogger sin, presenting all the information like you threw up words on to your computer and just posted that word vomit on your blog. NEVER.DO.THAT!
Its easier to read and understand content that is presented in bullet points, broken through subheads and pointers. Even when your reader is not in a mood to read it all, he/she will get an idea by just taking a good look at the overall content. This makes blogging for even the most boring businesses, a whole lot appealing and will get traction no matter how dull your business is.
4. Let Images communicate:
We know how our brain works in mysterious ways, when it can process images, visuals, videos, anything with music 60,000 times faster than plain boring text. So you know the drill, you can communicate extremely boring ideas through pictures or multimedia content. Just make sure you dont go overboard with the images. Increasing the visual appeal is important but textual content is still needed to optimize your blog for search engines.
5. Be funny
Humor is that one magical element which can even add life to the most lifeless of businesses. You might be a company selling something like coffins (well, thats seriously dead and boring). But there is no rule that stops you from adding an element of humor. So what, if you sell something like used trucks you can lighten up your blog with something lighthearted and boring. Some people are good at handling controversy, so they create marketing content that can lead people to talk about their blog post or content (Caution: Do not try this unless you know how to handle the heat).
- IDEAS FOR YOUR BORING BUSINESS BLOG:
Let me list down a few ideas that can work for just any business. But before you go scrolling down the list make sure you have ideas to cater to those ideas. Not that Ill be giving you a list of topics but just some newly found jewels of blogging.
Quick tip: You may or may not have you own writers, who have been doing a tremendous job in curating quality content overtime but every blog dies a brutal death because of monotony. In order to save your blog from going down the boring road I suggest you invite in guest writers for a change of voice.
1. Infographics are the new black:
Like I said, images and visual content is not just pleasing to the eye but also drives in more traffic and increased engagement. They are also a great way to build your brand recognition and improve your google ranking. People are more likely to read and share as compared to an article with nothing but words.
2. How tos, Listicles and Video Tutorials sell like hot cakes:
Yes, all of these have been done to death but they still are effective. I personally dont like writing down something like 99 questions you need ask to your doctor or how to live forever but a quick search on google and thats all I see. So yeah they do sell like hot cakes and (I hate to admit but) you can just play around with the stupidest of idea or dreariest of topics through these. I believe video tutorials are the blogging-gold which is never going to disappoint you or your audience (still, be creative, very creative).
3. Interviews are a real charm:
Who says your blog posts should only be wordy articles, you can always try interviewing experts from the industry or anyone. Interviews can add more value to your blog. If youve adapted to podcasting then you can even feature interviews in the form of a podcast (thats actually even better because they are working now if not before).
4. Make them feel valued:
So yes, your business is all things boring but do you really think your readers always want to read lengthy articles, with jargon spilled all over the place? The answer is, NO! They need something they can relate to and it does not necessarily have to be about you and your business. Add transparency to your blog and connect with your audience as a person rather than just a business. Show them they are a part of a family blog about things that value to you. No youre not breaking any rules by getting personal or straying from the cold corporate blogging. Show them what happens around and how human you are by some behind the scenes kind of posts. You can share your success secrets with your readers (no, they are not going to steal that away from you like the secret crabby patty recipe). Talk about things you found difficult to handle, your weaknesses and all that makes you trustable. You can ask every employee on board to contribute to the companys blog since they are a part of your business, might as well, talk about talk about their experience. Thats the thing about blogging, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO ABIDE BY LAW AND RULES!!
Never bore your reader, unless you dont want them to visit your blog. So, do you have any other ideas to spice up a boring companys boring blog? Share with us, wed love to add more to this list.