Ever wondered what blog posts can actually do for your business? Simply put, blogs are online publications where anyone can publish and share content on a vast array of topics. Follow our expert guide, which explains why business blogs are important from driving traffic to your site to promoting industry thought leadership.
Key points to consider
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Blogs have evolved from personal diaries to become vital marketing platforms, and a typical company blog has a structured layout with headers, content, sidebars and footers to ensure readability
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Creating engaging blog content requires a consistent writing style, inspiration, and structured posts with visuals and subheadings for easy digestibility
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Blogs enhance digital marketing by increasing brand visibility and SEO, fostering community engagement, and staying current with trends like micro-niche focus and strategic promotion through social media and email marketing
Understanding blogs
Blogs started as personal online diaries where somebody shared stories, interests and thoughts. But over time, they’ve grown into powerful online marketing platforms for businesses and profitable channels for individuals. It’s a lot easier to create blogs these days thanks to platforms, like WordPress, which have contributed to their surge in popularity.
The typical company blog
A typical company blog includes:
- A header with navigation
- A main content body
- A sidebar with various features
- A footer
These tend to be filled with articles or entries that often include other forms of content, like images. The posts should be designed to be easily readable and understandable, offering a comprehensive overview of the subject matter for the online community it’s aimed at.
Personal blogs vs. company blogs
Personal lifestyle blogs allow individuals to share personal experiences, thoughts, and hobbies on their own blogs, serving as a platform for the blogger to share updates with friends and family, such as travel experiences, photos, and personal milestones. You might consider starting a personal blog to document these moments and connect with others who share similar interests.
Sarah’s own blog – Style & Decor
Our director, Sarah, has her own blog, Style & Decor, which is a lifestyle journal aimed at affluent ladies, aged from 30s to 50s, who want to enjoy their lives and love their homes. Her personal web pages are found by a variety of search engines, which help to increase her website traffic, reaching 18K regular readers every month. Sarah is writing blog posts, on a regular basis, with a focus on interiors and wellbeing.
On the other hand, a blog can instead be created to promote a company’s offerings, boost brand awareness, and attract visitors and leads through industry-related content. One example of this is our company blog on our Christchurch Creative website. We recently redesigned the site from scratch, so you will see we don’t have many blogs yet however, we are working on a blog post format which will ultimately increase our website’s online visibility.
Business blog owners
On our Christchurch Creative blog, our topics focus on copywriting and digital marketing – these cover our key offering. New ideas are carefully curated and we publish each piece of content in the form of an informative article with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind.
We know this content serves as an essential online marketing strategy. The more high-quality blog pages we add, the more views we’ll achieve on what is essentially an informational website for brands who are looking for creative copywriting and digital marketing expertise. You can find our latest blog posts in a clear blog category at the top of the menu on our company website.
Crafting compelling content to make each blog post digestible
Writing captivating blog material requires an expert touch, so it can seem daunting if you want to start a blog. It involves maintaining a consistent writing style and tone, which is essential for reader retention. It’s also important to use consistent terminology to avoid discrepancies and strengthen the reliability of a blog’s content.
At Christchurch Creative, we are experts at coming up with innovative content ideas with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind. With extensive research, we gather insights into competitors’ content and highlight top-performing articles to inspire innovative blog post ideas. We can also design and publish this content on your behalf – the choice is yours.
Structuring your posts for maximum impact
The structure of your posts plays a key role in their success. Subheadings, lists, and bullet points help organise your content, making it easier for readers to scan and digest the information presented. And don’t forget custom graphics, if you have them, and other interactive elements – they can enhance branding and ensure audience engagement in an era of short attention spans.
The role of blogs in digital marketing
Company blogs play a crucial role in increasing brand awareness and encouraging customer conversions by focusing on industry-related content. You will find that a regularly updated blog can:
- Gain authority
- Increase visibility for websites
- Lead to higher organic traffic
- Generate potential for more leads
The importance of SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is critical for a blog’s visibility as it helps a website appear closer to the top of search engine results, becoming more visible to internet users.
Also, posting at optimised times can significantly encourage email traffic and social shares, increasing the blog’s visibility and engagement.
Your typical blog
Blogs are more than just information hubs — each time you write a blog post, this adds to what is essentially a platform for building relationships. Engagement through blog comments and social media platforms can cultivate a loyal reader community and enhance the relationship between the audience and the brand.
Social media is a particularly potent tool for promoting this content and driving traffic to a blog. Your blog section also provides your website with a constant flow of fresh, new content, As a result, your site is more likely to be picked up by search engines, such as Google, and will therefore rank more highly.
Blogging trends and the future outlook
Blogging is not a static field. It’s continuously evolving, with trends coming and going. In 2024, originality and new post ideas are paramount. This is where unique insights or research can be key to differentiating a blog and asserting thought leadership.
Micro-niche blogging is also becoming more prevalent, focusing on highly specific audience interests to provide targeted and personalised content. In short, this is a specialised section which concentrates on a very specific or narrow topic within a broader niche.
Designing your company blog: creating an appealing online space
Creating a personal touch in blog design is important to resonate with the target audience. We experiment with website design elements to make the blog stand out. However, we also consider the entire website when making these design choices to ensure a cohesive user experience.
We are happy to work with customisable templates provided by your web hosting service as a foundation to infuse your personal style into your blog design. If not, we simply produce your first page from scratch then use this as a template.
Navigating blogging: tips for success
Establishing professional expertise by providing practical information and guides can present you as an authority in the field. Successful blogs are just that for a reason and it’s always good to look at the quality of your competitor’s content. We find this helps us to navigate your blog content more effectively.
Our areas of expertise include starting with a subtopic and expanding into broader topics later as this can also build authority within a niche topic.
Maintaining a dynamic blogging schedule
Consistency is key in blogging. Having a consistent posting schedule is important for attracting and retaining an audience, ultimately contributing to the blog’s success.
The content creation you require will probably come down to your budget. At Christchurch Creative, we produce regular SEO blog posts for a variety of clients. For one, we produce one blog post on a monthly basis and four for another client.
If you are just starting your blog, in an ideal world content should be written regularly from the outset. Then your goal should be to increase this content with more blog posts to enable your blog to grow.
Growing your audience with strategic promotion
Promoting your blog is just as important as creating high-quality content. Using social media platforms strategically has become critical for promoting content and differentiating blogs. Other effective methods for promoting a blog include:
- Email marketing
- Guest blogging
- SEO
- Paid advertising
It’s clear to see that blogging is powerful and evolving. From understanding how to craft compelling content and leveraging the power of SEO to maintaining a regular blogging schedule, there’s a lot that goes into running a successful company blog. But, with the right strategies, plenty of creativity and journalists who will carefully curate top-quality, unique posts, you too can benefit from a successful blog.