We believe there are five core components to any good online marketing strategy, in order of importance:
- Have a website that works – a website that works acts as a Google trap, driving traffic to your website. Your site should then encourage users to take your desired action. Desired actions could include picking up the phone, walking into your store, etc.
- Blog on your website – to market your products and services and increase your website’s visibility in Google’s search results.
- Send eNewsletters – to stay front and centre in your existing customers minds by arriving in their inbox once a month or so. Inform them about your other products and services, did you know we also do this…?
- Social media – for brand awareness and connecting with your audience.
- Video – namely YouTube. Videos add credibility to your brand by demonstrating products and/or services in action or adding testimonials.
We always say if you are falling down at step one or two, you shouldn’t be focusing on steps three, four or five! Your website is your asset and you own it, so blogging on your website should be your priority.
Having a blog strategy helps you market each of your products and services online and increases your website’s visibility in Google.
Our top five tips for creating a blog strategy:
Blog strategy tip 1
Here at GOOP we have our own comprehensive 12-month blog strategy so we can cover off our main products and services throughout the year on our blog. It sounds daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
Your blog strategy should include at least 12 topics so you have one topic to blog about per month throughout the year. Write down the months from January – December in a vertical list on a piece of paper, in a notebook, on your iPad – wherever you will find it again! Of course different things crop up throughout the year, you might start stocking a new product, alter one of your services or host an event. However, if you are a plumber, you will have core products and services you provide for your residential or commercial clients which rarely change, such as the installation of hot water systems.
We recommend adding a minimum of one strategic, planned blog post per month for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Blog strategy tip 2
So, which topics to choose? If you are a GOOP client take a look at your website. What are the core products and services represented on the pages of your website? If you have a product list, use that too. If you have fewer than 12 products and/or services you can do the same topic more than once, but put a different spin on it. For example, if you are a plumber providing hot water system installation, one topic could be residential hot water system installation and another topic could be hot water system brands you install and trust.
Trust us, once you start writing down ideas for topics you’ll find 12 months isn’t enough to cover everything you want to!
Blog strategy tip 3
Have a blogging calendar! Determine which time of month suits you best to sit down and write your monthly blog post. If the end of month is always an unavoidable mad rush, the first week of each month might suit you best. If you sit down at the end of each month to do bookwork perhaps it would make sense to schedule time in then.
We KNOW how difficult it can be to make time for your own business when clients come first. However, you need to schedule time in just once a month and dedicate one hour to your website.
Blog strategy tip 4
Be mindful of TIMING. Google can take six to eight weeks to read and index fresh content on your website. Therefore if you want to promote Christmas products and services such as layby, ideally you should blog about them in August/September. That way the content will be visible in Google’s search results before Christmas when you want people to engage with your products/services. The same principle applies to seasonal products/services and events, blog about them at least two months before the fact in order to be visible in Google when it counts – not after!
This is one of the core reasons why we recommend having a 12-month strategy. It gives you control of how you market your business and WHEN.
Blog strategy tip 5
Identify GAPS in your Google rankings. Do a quick search of each of your products and/or services combined with your geographic location, i.e. “baby photographer Geelong” and see where you come up in Google’s search results.
You should also check your Google Analytics and look at “Landing Pages” to see which pages are performing best. This will help you with your planning so you can blog about products/services which are lagging behind. It gives you control of what you actually want to promote the most. Which jobs do you enjoy doing most? What makes you the most money? If you identify your gaps you can close them by blogging about them.
Contact GOOP to find out how we can help you with your online marketing strategy. We specialise in building websites that work and then creating strategies to boost your online presence.