One of the best marketing tactics for startups, as well as larger companies, is to have a company blog.
The benefits of a startup blog include helping to demonstrate subject matter leadership, improving your website Search Engine Optimization, and to drive inbound leads. The great thing about a blog in terms of a startup is that blogging is relatively inexpensive – its only cost is time. At VA Partners, we’ve found that many companies want to blog, but simply don’t know where to start. There is lots of great information available from people like Natalie MacNeil and companies like Hubspot, but this post will highlight what we at VA Partners have learned throughout our 3 year blogging adventure.
In the beginning, we had an inconsistent blog, but by adding some structure and a well-defined process, we were to make blogging an integral component of our marketing efforts. We have increased our web traffic by 400% since we started and that has helped to drive numerous inbound leads. Here are the keys that have helped our blogging success.
1. Create a Template
For people new to writing a blog it is often hard to know what it should look like. We created a template that includes suggested length, category targets, meta tag descriptions (for SEO purposes), images, and many more items that help make it easy to get started and provides much needed structure.
2. Split Up The Work
Writing frequent blogs can be daunting. Splitting the work between team members is an excellent way to generate a consistent amount of blogs without killing any one member. Have team members write about things they have insight into, as this is an excellent way to incorporate different perspectives, writing styles, and viewpoints into your blog.
3. Great Ideas
For a lot of people, generating ideas can sometimes be tough. We have team members write about areas that they can be subject matter experts on. When stuck for content, we write about 3rd party blog posts, presentations, events we attend, webinars, and/or books.
4. Create a Schedule
Using a content calendar to plan your blogging activity is an excellent way to stay on track. This will help to balance out what the topics should be and also to set expectations on when blogs are due. At VA Partners, we post blogs every Tuesday and Thursday.
5. Have a Coordinator
There is a team member at VA Partners that is responsible for our blog. This person helps us stay on track, proof reads, posts blogs, and ensures all content is published out through a number of different social media channels.
Blogging does take time and a plan to be successful, but the return on investment can be well worth it. Good luck with your blog! If you need help getting your blog started, are looking for content, or need assistance with other marketing tasks, please contact us about our part-time marketing services.
