12 Mistakes IT Support Companies Make When Blogging

Blogging isn’t new. But the way many IT support companies go about it, you wouldn’t know it!

When it comes to blogging, if you don’t have a plan of attack, results will suffer. In this post, we’ll look at a dozen mistakes that IT support firms frequently make when blogging:

1. No Goals – Chances are, your business has goals. But does your blog? For most, thought leadership and lead generation are pretty close to the top of the priority list. Better yet, make it a SMART goal, which HubSpot defines as specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound.

2. No Attention to Buyer Personas – Novices wing it with their blogs and try to pretend that all readers are identical. Savvy bloggers, that understand inbound marketing, take time to research the behaviors, goals, and pain points of their ideal buyers.

3. Skipped Keyword Research – Too many IT support outfits chase after keywords that are just plain unrealistic relative to their amount and quality of inbound links. It’s not enough to just confirm that there are the right number of monthly searches. Check the degree of competition before setting off on battles that might be unwinnable.

4. On-Page SEO Malpractice – Just as important as keyword research, make sure you know where your single targeted keyword phrase must go within each post, such as in the title, body, and ALT tags for example.

5. Over Optimized Content –It’s not 1999 anymore. So stop paying attention to keyword density. Over-optimized blog posts make you sound like an idiot, repulse readers, drive up your bounce rate, and put your entire website at risk of a Google penalty.

6. Boring Title – Like the subject line of an e-mail message, the title is your “ad” for the entire blog post. If your title sucks, no one will click on the link and even contemplate reading your post. Spend some serious time writing compelling titles that resonate with the intended buyer personas.

7. No Picture – Readers are attracted to eye candy. Blog posts without an above-the-fold image miss this opportunity.

8. No Formatting – Imagine how this blog post would look without a numbered list and without bolding. Many readers skim before deciding if they want to read your post. Without formatting, your blog posts will chase away all but the most dedicated readers.

9. Too Infrequent – In the old days, you could get away with blogging sporadically. Perhaps a few times a month. Not anymore! But the good news:  92% of those who blog more than once daily get clients from their blogs (HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing Report).

10. No Offers – Most IT support companies have exactly one, and only one, place on their entire website where a lead can be generated. If your “Contact Us” page is the only location where you can convert a website visitor into a lead, you have a lot of work to do (assuming you care about using your blog to attract potential clients.)

11. No Promotion Elsewhere – Your blog is not an island. It needs to be connected to the rest of your online and offline ecosystem. This includes business cards, email signatures, social media profiles and status updates, website navigation, related website pages, email newsletters and other email marketing, trade show booths (if you must!), outbound and inbound phone calls, just to name a few.

12. Inattention to Metrics – The good news and the bad news. Which would you like first? When you follow through on correcting the other 11 mistakes listed above, your blog will become a prized marketing asset for your business. Now the bad news: only some of what you try with your blog will work right out of the gate. Your IT support company’s blog will need care, tweaking, and optimization over time. But how will you know which efforts are wildly successful and which aren’t? Pay very close attention to key metrics so you can double-down on the winners and fire the losers.

In this post, you’ve been introduced to 12 of the most common blogging mistakes that IT support companies make.

What have you found most frustrating about blogging? What’s been the most enjoyable and the key to your success? Please add your voice to this post in the Comments area below.

And to start implementing key best practices into you blogging plan, be sure to download our free IT Channel Inbound Marketing Planning Guide. 

Creative Commons Image Source: flickr woodleywonderworks