Being a marketer, you always need to stay updated with the current happenings and adjust to the ever-changing marketing landscape.
Similar is the case when it comes to blogging. All business owners need to build a solid online presence, communicate with the audience, and increase awareness about their products or services.
Blogging is considered one of the affordable ways to increase traffic to your website. But it can be pretty tricky at times!
This is why, in this session of #ChampsTalk, we talk about the significance of blogging for small businesses with Mudassir Ahmed.
Mudassir is the founder of blogging explained and a content writer. He has spent several years in the marketing industry. He is passionate about blogging and enjoys financial freedom.
We are Live! on #ChampsTalk 📢 – Chat Session with @Mudassir9s | Founder Blogging Explained 🤩
Topic of discussion: Blogging for Small Businesses ✍️ pic.twitter.com/RJbYQ58IGw
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
Thank you @Mudassir9s for joining us today 🙏
Let begin with our first question: How can a blog help a small business? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/GHyjiGXqa6
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A1:1 It can be challenging to present ample information about your brand, incorporate your personality with merely a website.
This is where a blog will help your small business grow to lucrative levels by pushing insightful content in the form of dynamic blog posts. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A1:2: A Blog for a small business is like a library of valuable content that talks to its prospects and search engines and helps deliver business results.
It really can act as a cornerstone of all your content marketing efforts. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A1:3: A Blog can
1) Attract potential leads (prospects)
2) Educate and convert them into buyers,
3) Helps build trust, authority, and community of like-minded
4) Grow your email list, and
5) Make a stellar difference to your SEO efforts. #ChampsTalk— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A1:4 Best of all, a blog is a proven, cost-effective marketing strategy and generates higher ROI over traditional. #ChampsTalk Agree?
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A1. A blog for a small business can answer questions and help you to engage with potential customers as well. #ChampsTalk
— Lisa Sicard 👩💻 (@Lisapatb) September 23, 2021
Yes, driving engagement and revenue while helping your prospects. Great point, Lisa. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q2.What goals should one set when starting with blogging? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/yAtAXuyK8U
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A2: Be precise about what you wish to attain.
1) If it is traffic, you'll want to focus on creating SEO-optimized content, guest posting, link building, notably, get your technical SEO done right. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A2:
2) If it is about growing your email subscribers, keep offering helpful resources (sometimes for free) with irresistible CTAs.
3) If it is brand value, create content that appeals to the audience's emotions and be the voice of your brand. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A2: 4) If it is thought leadership, do your ground research and produce authentic content based on credibility, above all, build trust. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A2:
5) If it is income, be ready to carry along by passion despite earnings until you grow a decent readership.
Finally, you should set blogging goals that are measurable, viable, and are not too vague – both in the short term and long term.#ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q3. How to write an effective blog that captures your reader’s attention? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/SUtnvYzomE
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A3:
1) Know user intent; It helps layout the exact outline (not more to make them boring and not less to leave them unanswered).
2) Title – Must be intriguing and promising one benefit (likely a CTA). #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A3:
3) Hook your reader with a captivating intro. Ask a related question that makes them ponder an answer.
4) You can also set up the problem they’re facing and assure you will solve it with your blog post. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A3:
5) Make your content easy to read. Break it into paragraphs with subheadings and sections (bullet points and quotes), and use visuals if needed.
6) Use Grammarly to be concise, move smoothly from point to point, and stay on the topic. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A3:
7) Conclude with a 'Takeaway' or 'FAQs,' give one clear CTA, and end with a question to encourage engagement via a social share or comment. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q4. How important is it to keep the target audience in mind when writing a blog? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/3kALx0uRDR
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A4: Focus on serving a distinct audience with one blog.
It allows you to narrow down your writing efforts to connect with the people most likely to buy from you, hire you, and engage with you, saving you time understanding factors influencing their purchase decision. #ChampsTalk— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q5. How can we analyze a blog’s performance and optimize it for better search engine rankings? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/HmqY0uD7vK
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A5: Communicating with search engines is as equally as important as helping people.
This is why you need to measure factors that influence your blog performance so you can optimize it for better organic rankings. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A5: Here are some factors:
1) Use G.S.C to identify keywords generating traffic and analyze how you can optimize content targeting more LSI keywords and improve CTR tweaking titles and meta descriptions. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A5:
2) Use Ahrefs/SEMrush to audit your website and fix issues like 404s, canonical, orphan pages, crawling, indexing, security, speed, etc.
3) Identify high bounce rate posts/pages and make them more appealing to your audience. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A5:
4) Go back to your money pages and check if all the images, meta titles and descriptions, h1/h2/h3 tags, and images are optimized with target keywords.
5) Monitor backlinks (new, lost, and broken) with Ahrefs, disavow bad links, and evaluate progress. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A5:
6) Optimize your blog for mobile readability.
7) Track your website’s authority using factors like Domain Authority (D.A) and Domain Rating (D.R) through Ahrefs. Seeing this improve is a prompt that your efforts are paying off. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q6. How can a blog help in lead generation? Is including a call to action button in your blog a good practice, and why? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/I1hJkYR1fu
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A6: A blog that offers insightful and compelling content will likely rank well on search engines, drive potential traffic, and eventually convert it into customers. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A6:
There are many ways a blog can help with lead generation; what you must do is publish helpful content and generate relevant traffic through SEO, guest posting, social media, Influencer marketing, or even paid ads.
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A6:
Yes, adding a clear, relevant, and intriguing CTA to your blog is a must-do and recommended practice. The key is to offer great value to your readers and navigate them to your product or inquiry page. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A6: Specific CTAs can drive instant results, and others direct readers to associate with you somehow.
For example, CTA like "Buy now" can help you generate an instant sale, whereas CTA like "Subscribe our newsletter" or "Enquiry" can result in a long-term conversion. #ChampsTalk— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A6: Some of the popular CTAs are Learn more, Contact us, Download the free report, Join our mail list, Book a call, Claim your %10 OFF, Register now, etc.
Two best practices to present CTAs are via in-content and exit popup. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A6: Two tips to succeed with the CTA tactic:
1) Don't overdo it and make your prospect confused and leave.
2) Persuade them with helpful content, social proof, and authority. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q7. What are different ways through which you can redistribute your content? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/jJ2BW9WQOc
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
A7:1:
1) Use ‘Click-To-Tweet’ that tweets out specific quotes or parts from your blog.
2) Pick a sentence, create a visual and post it to Instagram and Pinterest.
3) Narrow down the blog into subsets and publish an Infographic. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A7:2:
4) Push a glimpse of your blog to Facebook and Twitter.
5) Create a YouTube video about the blog.
6) Publish a micro post on platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, and Quora.#ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A7:3:
7) Syndicating your content with content aggregators.
8) Create into a Pdf and make it downloadable.
9) Publish an eBook around the topic and sell it.
What can you add? #SocialChamp— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
A newsletter would be a nice addition. 🌟
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
Yes, it's an excellent way to get some love for your content.
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q8. Lastly, who do you think we should invite next for ChampsTalk? #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/rXGrUg3sAi
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
There are many, actually. But my top-favorites are @HennekeD @MosClement @SueAnnBubacz @shoutmeloud @bloggerspassion @NikolaRoza @donna_tribe @ArfaNazeer3 @CoriWriterBWP @RyanBiddulph
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Thank you @Mudassir9s for the awesome recommendations 🙏We would love to have them on our #ChampsTalk 😇
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
Excellent, some of them got great writing advice, some got SEO, and some got blogging. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
That's it for today folks, we would like to thank you @Mudassir9s for your knowledgeable insights. 🙏
We loved having you and hope that the audience enjoyed today’s session of #ChampsTalk pic.twitter.com/pjQwEWjrK6
— Social Champ (@SocialChampSays) September 23, 2021
Thanks much for having me @SocialChampSays team. Loved your questions, especially Q4.
And thanks to everyone for coming and adding value to the discussion @Lisapatb @NikolaRoza!
Great conversation today! #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Well put Mudassir, do you have any idea how many blog posts you need to see results?
Is it niche specific?— Nikola Roza (@NikolaRoza) September 23, 2021
Hi Nikola, It really depends on the topic and its competition.
Some blogs need topical authority and a good amount of links to compete on page #1 for their keywords. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Does a local SEO effort make a difference? #ChampsTalk
— Lisa Sicard 👩💻 (@Lisapatb) September 23, 2021
Yes, it does. According to SocialMediaToday, most Google searches are local ones. So it is crucial one must incorporate a blog strategy to grow their local business digitally. #ChampsTalk,
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
What are a few of the best ways to monetize a blog?@Mudassir9s @SocialChampSays #ChampsTalk
— Marium Fahim Khan (@marium_fahim) September 23, 2021
Depends on your niche and expertise. Some of the best ways to monetize a blog could be affiliate marketing, creating digital products like eBooks, courses, etc. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
What kind of offers work best Mudassir (dollar value?) #ChampsTalk
— Lisa Sicard 👩💻 (@Lisapatb) September 23, 2021
If it's local biz, Google My Business offer post can drive good results. Also, special coupon codes for special customers, limited time offer sales, a freebie are some of the best offers I'm aware of @Lisapatb #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
How frequently should we update a blog post?@Mudassir9s @SocialChampSays
#ChampsTalk— Syed Hamza (@kepler31b) September 23, 2021
Depends on the topic. If the trend is updating and the post is not performing well, then updating it on a regular basis (like every month) should drive better SEO results. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
Q5. What are the visual elements that make a blog enjoyable?@Mudassir9s @SocialChampSays #ChampsTalk
— Tom Andrew Maguire (@tomdrewmag) September 23, 2021
High-quality images, importantly. And then comes well-structured paragraph with bolding, quotes, Click-to-tweet, bullet points, whitespace, and so on. #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
What are the essential characteristics of a successful blog? @Mudassir9s @SocialChampSays #ChampsTalk
— Tahniat Alam (@tahniatalam) September 23, 2021
Good question.
A blog that is focused on a specific niche, well-organized (navigation and menu), the design that goes easy on eyes, well-optimized for mobile, visuals, and essential pages like 'About', 'customized home.' #ChampsTalk
— Mudassir (@Mudassir9s) September 23, 2021
And with this, we bid farewell to this chat session. Thank you, Mudassir, for taking out time and sharing some amazing responses.
Lastly, we would like to ask our readers who they would like to see in our next chat session. Let us know in the comment section below.
