Blogging has the power to drive customers to your website. When done right, it is a highly effective form of inbound marketing that can attract leads and turn them into potential customers.
According to Codeless and DemandMetric, companies with blogs produce 67% more leads per month than those that do not blog. A blog can help your business rank higher on Google and ensure that it’s visible to your target audience.
It can be difficult to come up with ideas for business blog posts, however. If you’re struggling with generating captivating topics to write about, here are some ideas, as well as tips on how to go about writing your posts.
1. Make a list of your most important keyword phrases
Think about the keywords that will drive potential leads to your business. What keywords are they putting into Google? Perhaps these keywords include, “outsourced recruiting service” or “inbound marketing agency,” depending upon what type of business you run.
Make sure your customers are searching for your list of keywords you come up with by doing your research on sites like Moz and SEMrush. Compare monthly search volume and competition, and then add the keywords into your blog posts in the appropriate places like the introduction, H2s, URL and photo captions. Always use the keywords naturally so that your content is as valuable as possible to your audience, and doesn’t just exist for keyword-stuffing purposes.
2. Discover the questions your customers are asking about topics
Along with keywords, you’ll need to target the questions your customers are asking. Aside from doing research on the kinds of questions your current customers are asking you, you can look up common questions asked on Quora. Another free tool is Answer the Public, where all you have to do is enter a keyword and see what questions people are asking using this keyword. Then, incorporate the questions into your blog posts to ensure you’re going to rank for them.
3. Reassure your customers that you can answer their questions
Next, write down five questions your customers have regarding your business. For example, if you had an outsourced recruiting services company, your customers might ask:
1. “What do you need to consider when onboarding large numbers of staff?”
2. “What industry experience do you have?”
3. “Do you have any references of clients you did something similar for?”
4. “How can you help my other departments, like HR, absorb the change?”
5. “What do you offer that is similar or different to the other RPO vendors?”
These questions can help you come up with a possible blog post pretty quickly. You could answer the question, “What do you need to consider when onboarding large numbers of staff?” in a blog post. The post could speak directly to the actual problem that your blog reader is facing, establish your expertise on this topic by addressing the problem thoroughly and back it up with proof that you are an authority in this field.
4. Create your outline
Once you know what topic you’re going to write about, question(s) you’re going to address and keywords you’re using, you can write your outline. Your outline should look something like this:
Blog Post Title
“What Do You Need to Consider When Onboarding Large Numbers of Staff?”
Introduction
Present the problem to the reader, and then establish that you’re going to solve it for them with this blog post.
H2: Finding the Right Training Staff
Include tips on hiring the right people to take on training the new workers.
H2: Hiring in a Short Period of Time
Include strategies for interviewing and hiring multiple people in a short period of time.
CTA
Encourage the reader to download a case study that dives deeper into this topic and shows that you have successfully onboarded staff in a short period of time for a client in the past. Include your company’s contact information as well.
By doing keyword research, coming up with customer questions and writing an outline, you can generate new blog article ideas for your business’ blog while at the same time drawing invaluable leads.
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About the author
Brian Whalley
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bawhalley/
Brian was a Director of Marketing – Inbound Sales at HubSpot. Brian is now a Director of Growth at Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps growth-focused e-commerce brands drive more sales with super-targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook and Instagram marketing campaigns.
