As the best content marketing strategy for lead generation and awareness building, blogging is an extremely effective tool in todayโs internet-based world. However, it can be frustrating to witness little to no growth in spite of continuous content publishing on your blog. Blogging, as a digitized platform, carries immense potential in terms of content marketing - according to a 2017 survey, 89% of bloggers earned positive results, whereas 30% secured strong results. Considering these statistics, if your blogging strategies are failing, you must be doing something wrong. Here are 4 content marketing mistakes to avoid so as to achieve strong results from your marketing campaigns.
1. Not Sticking to a Publishing Schedule
Use an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a template you can use to define and control the process of content creation. The entire process of brainstorming, editing, and publishing can be planned by utilizing this tool, and it helps create a consistent blogging schedule for a more engaged audience. Most businesses make the mistake of avoiding this crucial step and publish blog posts whenever they feel like. Envision your blog as a weekly or monthly magazine - consistency, along with quality is the key. Hence, plan your blog posts ahead of time and stick to it, as this will also aid Google to crawl your website better.
2. Writing for Search Engines Instead of Target Audiences
Optimizing blog posts for search engines is a top-notch strategy for driving traffic to your website. However, most bloggers incorporate keywords and SEO without considering the desires of the target audience. As per inbound marketing methodology, you should personalize your content marketing in accordance with your buyer persona, which is a profile you create for the ideal customer. Using this profile as a point of reference, you can craft better content that targets your ideal customer to attract the right kind of audience to your website. While you should definitely optimize your blog posts with keywords for better Google rankings, try not to create blog posts solely around keywords.
3. Publishing Content Without A Set Goal
Ask yourself this question - why do you have a business blog? This will help you figure out the reasons why you blog. Set one realistic goal, like becoming more discoverable on Google, building brand awareness, or strategizing against your competitor. Almost every business has a blog these days, but they don't know why exactly they have one. Blogging without a goal is as pointless as archery without knowing how to aim for the bullseye. Hence, whether it is to expand your email list, sell products, or shape your personal brand, you should always post each and every one of your blog posts with a set goal in mind.
4. Tracking the Wrong Metrics
To capitalize upon and expand your business and marketing efforts, it is best to track metrics and gather data. If you don't do so, you will not be able to gauge which blog posts work best. The number of likes generated by a blog post or the amount of traffic on your website is not a comprehensive indicator of the metrics you are tracking. The traffic will prove to be futile if the visitors do not subscribe to your email list or immediately exit your site after reading a few lines. Strategize towards tracking the right metrics - for instance, the time spent on site, shares on social media, email subscription rates, and the number of clicks on call-to-action.
Therefore, aim for content marketing with a purpose, and build peripheral strategies around it. With proper planning, blogging can take you to greater heights!