Blogging and Email for Better Results
Wondering why your website isn’t getting traffic? Let’s start from the beginning of a Google search. If I am looking for a camera from my granddaughter, I might type in camera for kids in the search field. Google will search the content of relevant websites and return a result for your search.
90% of websites get Zero Traffic from Google… research by ahrefs.com
Content
Notice the #1 result is a blog recommendation and not a product page. If you are not getting enough traffic, you are probably not posting enough blog content. In 2019, Hubspot found that companies who put their marketing efforts into writing blogs were 13x likely to see positive Return on their Investment (ROI).
B2B companies who write more blogs receive more traffic than companies who don’t. Because of this research, Affinity for Design primary strategy for increasing traffic has been to provide blogging services for our customers so they can get more content out on a regular basis.
Here are a few examples:
- Tile Flooring in Rental Properties, Commercial Cleaning and Restoration
- Is the Landlord or Tenant Responsible for Pest Control?, Conquistador Pest and Termite
Blogging and Email for Better Results
The most powerful asset any business can build is their email list. Both blogging and email are great by themselves, but when combined create a best-selling synergy. Consider using an email marketing tool like MailChimp to send a few teaser sentences with a link to your website to the full blog. We use MailChimp analytics to determine if the content is something the clients are interested in reading.
You might be saying, “I hate email newsletters”. If the information is useful and interesting to the client, it is read.
Tips for Getting Started on Your Blog
The best advice I ever heard for blogging, just write the first one. The rest will get better with practice. However, the majority of Affinity’s customers are so busy running their businesses, the opted to hire us to create a blogging system for their website and to write the articles.
Blog Tip #1 for the DIY: How long should a blog be?
An increasing number of studies are showing that long content performs better in search engine results. I have tried reading super long articles and I have found that I don’t finish reading them. Many readers don’t have the time to read longer content. The minimum size you should consider is 500 words, however, 2019 research is suggesting over 1,000 words. Note: our customers are asking us to write 500-650 word lengths.
Blog Tip #2 for the DIY: How often should you blog?
There are a lot of suggestions from publishing a blog three times a week. Recently we went to a WordPress Camp, where top bloggers were mentioning that their highest traffic blogs took 6 months to create. The blogs had high quality content and informative research. I believe the quality of the blog is more important than the number of times a blog is published. Note: our customers budget for one blog a month, sometimes two.
Tip #3 for the DIY”: What should my blog be about?
A customer once emphatically told me that a blog needed to be about who they were as person with their favorite recipes, vacation plans, etc. NO! Relevant content keeps your customers reading. Writing about your customers’ struggles and how you can help creates value. That value is what keeps them coming back. One of my customer’s mentioned once that it was the free advice / strategies that we did together that made Affinity an invaluable source.
Tips for Your Email Campaigns
There are anti-spam laws that affect email marketing:
- Customers must provide consent to receive email marketing messages
- Unsubscribing must be easy.
Email Tip #1 for the DIY: What email program should I use?
Affinity for Design uses MailChimp for most of our customers – a few use Constant Contact. We always worry about our customer’s budget and MailChimp offers a lot for free. When your email list approaches 2,000 people, you will have to trim your list or start an affordable subscription plan. MailChimp and Constant Contact provide an easy unsubscribing method that complies of the law.
Email Tip #2 for the DIY: How often should I email?
If you have great content, regular promotions, or changing offers, you could send emails twice a month. Our strategy is to send an email once a month with a teaser portion of the blog and a link back to the website. We also monitor the email for how many times the email was opened and how many people clicked through to the website.
Email Tip #3 for the DIY: How do I develop an email list?
Your website should have some useful content that you can offer to your customer for free in exchange for their email address. Once of our customer’s has a free drawing video, another has a money personality profile test. There are lots of things you can do.
What if I don’t want to do it for myself?
Affinity for Design can help you take the guesswork out of your marketing so your business can grow. We are here to help you with everything from writing and posting blogs to developing your email list. Just give us a call at 520-721-5776 or use our email contact form.
