In 2020, nearly every business has a blog. Whether you’ve started one to share company news, comment on interesting industry updates, or even just to elaborate on what your product or service has to offer, chances are that you started it with one goal in mind - to create more leads.
However, it’s not enough to just start writing - when beginning a B2B blog, you need to make sure that you’re writing with a clear, defined strategy in mind. That’s why we’ve put together ten vital tips to turn your blog into a lead generation machine - and we’ve even thrown in a free template to get you started.
We often talk about the importance of creating buyer personas, but there’s no time that this is ever more important than when starting a new B2B blog. Think about who you want to reach and why, and what you can offer to solve specific issues or pains that they are facing. Creating a persona (or two) means that you can tailor your content to the needs of the reader - a vital part of making your content enjoyable.
If you want leads, you need traffic. If you want traffic, then the best way to get it is to have a great SEO strategy. This isn’t a simple task, and involves a fair bit of website optimisation, but you can make your posts a lot easier to find with some clever use of your main keywords. Try to use keywords throughout your text in an organic way, and in the blog title, for the best results.
No one wants to read a blog that sounds like a computer could have auto-generated it. Without injecting some personality, your blog runs the risk of boring your readers, and isn’t one that they’ll be likely to visit. We mentioned that you should be writing foryour personas, and this should inform the way that you write - not just the content you choose. Work on creating a company tone of voice that your writers can stick to, and if you can, put it together in a document so that your blog style stays consistent.
Okay, so your readers find a post, they read the post, they love the post and want more - but wait, there’s no subscribe button. Shouting into the void is all well and good, but adding a subscription option for your readers means that you can build an audience of readers relatively quickly. This is essential for the success of your B2B blog - regular readers can feedback on content, share to a wider audience, and inform future posts. Build your subscriber list, and the leads will start coming in.
SEO isn’t all about keywords. When you’re putting together your blog posts, remember to include meta titles, meta descriptions and alt tags to your images so that they’re easier to find. It may seem like a pain at first, but they can make a big impact to your SEO, and can attract a much higher volume of traffic.
Chances are that if someone lands on your blog post, they’re going to want to read more, similar content. There are two ways that you can provide this - one popular way is through using tags to organise your content. Alternatively, you can add a ‘further reading’ option to your posts. Just mentioned a specific feature of your product? Link to further information in the content! It will help inform your readers, drive down your bounce rate, and establish your business as a thought leader in your industry.
Your blog is on your website, sure, but the only way to broaden your audience and attract more potential leads is
to make sure that you’re sharing it elsewhere, too. Utilise social media, email marketing and even guest posting to make sure that your content is reaching as many people as possible.
This is inbound marketing 101: make sure that your website visitors have a conversion option. If you have a useful asset that might provide further information, you can offer this, or alternatively you can provide a form for readers to organise a consultation, demo, or friendly chat with your team. A CTA is about more than just capturing lead data - you can use it to brighten up your blog, offer a valuable content piece, and keep readers engaged.
There’s nothing more frustrating than being on a website and having no idea how to find the rest of it. Fun, quirky menus may be all the rage, but make sure that your B2B blog layout is easy to navigate for your readers. Keeping user experience (or UX) in mind means that you think more about how your content is presented, and the journey of your readers. Someone reading about one of your products or services is naturally going to want to progress from the blog to a pricing page - why deny them this? Keep your menu visible, and not too complex - your leads will thank you.
Do not start a blog if you have nothing new or interesting to say. Millions of B2B companies start blogs without considering that every other business in their industry is writing the exact same thing. Sure, having a unique company voice can combat this, but it’s also important to consistently bring new ideas to the table. Doing so means that you not only bring in more leads using your blog but also that you establish your business as a leader within your industry. Readers who find new ideas in your content are more likely to return to you when they’re ready to purchase.