Lots of people blog. But are your managed services blogs done the right way? Is your IT company getting found online by the right decision makers, at the right time, and in the right places?
With 57% of the typical B2B sales cycle over before most decision makers contact any vendor (source: CEB), it’s critical for your business to get found in that initial search.
Many companies are simply not blogging the right way.
Do You Publish Infrequently and Inconsistently?
If you have a blog, but you don’t publish regularly, you don’t publish enough to make your blog effective. Taking a laid back attitude towards your blog simply won’t move the needle. A blog that generates leads for your website takes time and effort. According to HubSpot, there is a direct correlation between the frequency of your blog post and the increase in your website traffic and leads.
So what do you need to do to make it right? It’s simple. Blog more. If you don’t blog at all, blog once a week. If you blog once a week, blog twice a week. If you blog three times a week, blog daily. And so on. Once you get into a regular routine, it’s really not that hard. You can even try to sit down and write a couple of blog posts in one sitting once or twice a week.
Do You Fail to Engage Your Readers?
Blogging essentially is a one-way platform; a way for you to get your ideas across. But you can change this by allowing your readers to comment on your articles. Ask for comments at the end of your blog posts. Encourage your readers to write in and express their own ideas and share their own experiences on the topic at hand.
Keep comments open. Don’t moderate comments because you’re afraid of negative feedback. Simply be ready to reply and accept all comments. Engage your readers. Get them talking to you and to each other. Listen to their feedback and let them help you shape future content.
Did You Forget to Share Your Post on Social Media?
After writing your blog post, share it on your personal social media and business social media accounts. Facebook. Twitter. Google+. LinkedIn. Pinterest. When you promote your post this way, you increase your readership and blog subscribers.
But remember, don’t share only your content on social media. It’s not all about you. Nobody, except maybe your mom, wants to read about you all the time. For every blog post you share, you should share three or four other pieces of content not related to your business.
Are You Repurposing Your Blog Content?
If you have a new blog without a lot of inbound links, don’t expect that you’re just going to get them automatically overnight. To get greater reach in a short amount of time, try repurposing blog posts using SlideShare presentations, YouTube videos, and news releases.
Check out the HubSpot blog post where our Co-Founder and Chief Inbound Marketing Officer, Joshua Feinberg, talked about this tip.
Use the tips in this article to start blogging better, for greater reach, and to get found online. Do you have any tips on best practices for managed services blogging? Please share them in the Comments section below.
Creative Commons Image Source: flickr toprankonlinemarketing
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