Do you hate writing blog posts?
We certainly do. At least we did about three years ago.
But over time we have come to learn the expert tactics, tools, and resources that go into writing a killer blog post.
Now we gained an understanding and an appreciation for the art form that is blogging.
It’s similar to when you gain an appreciation for taking good care of your car with consistent oil changes and car washes.
Blogging is a thing of beauty and can become your biggest lead generation source when done correctly.
Top 5 Blogging Tips to Drive New Business Leads [Video]
Blogging Tip #1 – Scout Your Competition
Don’t you dare reinvent the wheel young sir or miss.
Unless you are a rocket scientist releasing new findings regarding your travels to outer space or are truly the #1 industry leader; we recommend you scout your competition and re-write the best blog posts on the web.
Of course we advise our clients to make new additions, insights, or add take-aways to any content they rewrite but it’s always best to rewrite content that is already proven to be popular, interesting, and share worthy on the web.
Be sure to use http://buzzsumo.com/ to find out what blog post topics are trending in your industry.
Updated: We now highly recommend using, Ninja OutReach, as the best prospecting and automated outreach tool; to help you connect with industry influencers, gain digital PR, social shares, build links, and more!
Blogging Tip #2 – Write a Killer Title
Spend an extra five minutes before you begin writing to make sure you have the absolute best title possible for your blog post.
Do a Google search for a similar topic and take note of the titles of blog posts that are on page 1 of Google.
These are the titles that have performed the best, warranted the most social shares, and natural links. (hint hint… You may want to have a similar title. )
Finally ask yourself, would I want to read this article if I just read the title alone?
Here’s an example blog post we wrote for an international fitness model client.
Now if you were a mom, would this interest you?
Blogging Tip #3 – Add A YouTube Video
One of the absolute best ways to differentiate your brand online is with video. People love people and absolutely love video. Thus a video is the perfect combination.
Whatever it is you’re discussing or showcasing within your blog post content can be turned into a video.
Use http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ if you need to do any type of screen recording and have a professional video intro done online at fiverr for 5 bucks.
Finally make sure to give your YouTube video a keyword rich title that is similar to your blog post title and embed it within your blog post! You’ll instantly enjoy an organic search engine ranking boost from this trick.
As a bonus tip add Youtube cards to drive leads directly from your YouTube channel!
Blogging Tip #4 – Include Inspiring Photos
Adding the right photos to your blog post can make a major difference in terms of the traffic, social shares, and links that your post receives.
Start by going to canva.com to create an incredible looking and free blog post cover image for your post. Include the title of your post and use relevant imagery.
This cover image will become the image people see on Facebook and Pinterest so be sure it is attractive and also warrants interest in reading your article.
Here’s an example of a few graphics we made on Canva in a matter of minutes.
You can click on them too!*
Blogging Tip #5 – Include A Relevant Offer
Before you ever write a new blog post you should have a marketing or sales goal in mind. Ask yourself what do you want to accomplish with this post?
Then be sure that you include a call to action, relevant offer, or introduction to the product or service you are ultimately looking to promote.
It is often times most strategic to provide a lead capture, free download, or other complimentary information in exchange for a lead towards the bottom of your blog post.
