How to Keep Your Blog Fresh With Content
At Silo88, one of the first things we recommend for small businesses online is to start and maintain a company blog. It’s great for SEO, establishing yourself as an expert in your industry, and keeping potential and current customers engaged in your site — just to name a few of the many perks. And yet, one of the biggest pitfalls of a blog is a neglected one. If your last blog entry was posted over six months ago, your customers may see some red flags and even wonder if you’ve closed your doors. So it’s important to maintain your blog with up-to-date content and ideas in order to keep people coming back. Here’s a few tips to help you with a case of writer’s block:
Stay in the know
Keep up with industry trends and new information. You can share these things directly on your blog. Read news sites, articles on respected industry leaders, and any other material related to your business for inspiration. You can even get ideas on what to write about from your competitor’s blogs too.
Keep a list
Sometimes the best ideas for a blog post come to you when you’re not blogging. Convenient, huh? Keep a pad of paper or even loose scrap paper by your computer, on your nightstand, or wherever you tend to get your best ideas. We’ve even heard of people putting a memo board by the shower. Do what ya gotta do, I guess.
Invite a few guests
Do you frequent another industry professionals blog? Do you have a well-spoken customer who’d love to talk about her experiences with your product? Invite them to submit a guest post on your blog! Whenever you get burned out on blogging or have a severe case of writer’s block, it can be helpful to ask someone else to step in. It gives readers a new perspective and gives you a break.
Hire a pro
Sometimes writing just doesn’t come naturally to people. If this is the case for you, it may be beneficial to hire a professional writer for blog posts. You can even dictate which topics you want covered and the voice in which you want the piece written. There are many freelance writers around the web who will write for reasonable rates. It may be worth the penny to avoid the stress of writing for non-writers.
Recycle your posts
Have you had your blog up and running a while? Consider revisiting some of your old blog posts to provide readers with updated information, a new take on things, or a refresher course. You can even combine a “best of” list to give readers a resource for finding their favorite posts. Another great idea is to rewrite articles or other content you’ve written for your company and use it for blog material.
Teach them something
People love a good how to. (Just look at the title of this post!) Do you own a hometown restaurant that’s famous for its steaks? Post a tutorial on how to perfectly cook a ribeye. Are you the owner of a self-serve frozen yogurt shop? Post a blog on how to create a staff favorite, like the Snickery Cheesecake Blast (or whatever that kid on your staff made up). The great part about this is that you’re talking about something you already know and it gets the customer anxious to try your product. It’s a win-win.
