The reality is this: the more followers you got on your company blog, the more sales you could generate. This is a fact for anyone who wants to do business online, whether they are a solopreneur, or a business to business ( B2B) or business to consumer (B2C). It is simple : A blog follower or subscriber leads to brand awareness and what you got to offer.
Every content you create and publish gives an opportunity to your subscribers to take one more step in their buyers journey and finally become your client. Congratulations to you if you have already managed to get some followers.
For most companies, it takes a long time to build a solid subscribers list. The will try hard to produce content but they are not really connecting with their potential buyers.
Here are some simple solutions to get 1000 blog subscribers that makes your content to be "worth reading" and subsequently to be worth following regardless of the number of your existing followers.
1. Do you know your website visitors?
Understanding who your visitors are and what exactly they need is fundamental. When a potential client visits your website they are generally trying to find answers for their question or solve a problem. Ask yourself this question; what make them to visit your website and how your company would be able to help? By acknowledging these first, you will be able to adjust your content more efficiently.
2. Are your blog contents interesting?
More than 80% of businesses have a corporate blog. But their content is often to dry and bears no interest for the visitor. If your blog is a mere sales pitch for your products and services without any other relevant useful tips and info, your content will most probably lose its efficiency.
3. Do you have different contents to cover multiple situations?
People enter your website for many different purposes. Crafting different contents to cover multiple types of users will make your content look more personalized and valuable. For example, there are different types of users for Adobe Photoshop. Some users are professionals, hobbyists or some work for a major movie companies. You should have different content that would speak to each one of those users.
4. Are you consistent with your blogging?
When someone finally starts following your blog, it implies that they are anticipating to get value from your on a long-term basis. You should publish a piece of content consistently, at least 1-2 per week to give your followers a reason to keep coming back and stay engaged, .
5. Are you giving your visitors incentives to subscribe?
Getting visitors is the first step. But you need to offer attractive incentives to make these convert into followers. It’s not as impactful as driving more sales but it is a great conversion step towards your ultimate goals. You have to convince visitors to give you their e-mails first. That is a part of the buyer's journey process in inbound marketing terms. One such incentive would be to offer free e-book or a small giveaway of products or services.
6. Are you giving your e-mail subscriber new reasons to engage with you?
As soon as they open their e-mail, you have a great chance to foster further engagement with your subscribers or you could lose it for good. Offer your subscribers special insider info, early product launches, special offers, and discounts to maintain their interest.
7. Are you making your subscribers part of the process
Most people are truly fond of participating in something good. After you have managed to earn the trust of your subscribers, you can engage them in the building of your brand. For instance, you can offer them the opportunity to try out new products or services or ask for their feedback so they are more engaged towards your good fortune. They will often also give you valuable insights of their likes so you can develop buyer personas.
8. Are you rewarding them for being your subscribers?
Offering special discounts is really good but these are tied to a purchase and some people may still feel reluctant to proceed. For people who need more action, offer special product or service giveaways or contests so that they have a more active and substantial relationship with your brand. And those who haven’t yet subscribed, make them feel like they are missing out on some great stuff.
9. Which social media is right for your business?
As a rule of thumb, Facebook & twitter are very good for Business to Consumer approach but for a B2B approach LinkedIn is the best. Twitter can also be valuable for developing authority content snaps in any professional niche. Regardless of your pick, you need to boost your blog’s voice. That is done with sharing your fresh content posts in the channels where users await to see them.
10. Are you using visual content that makes your blog shareable?
Post that look easy on the eye and catchy, have more viral sharing power than those who don’t. Of course adding a relevant image helps but what makes content viral is infographics with catchy headlines.Their advantage is that they are much easier to develop compared to videos.
11. Is your blog part of your branding plan?
You already have enough space and channels to display your blog. Make sure your corporate website is featured in all letters and other means. That means a direct link to your business blog as we well as the latest posts to social media and e-mail schedules. You can also go more traditional and include a link to your leaflets or business cards.
12. Is your published content throughout the Web link back to your blog?
Aim to link your content in every online channel posted back to your blog. This could be something as fast and easy as posting a headline and a relevant image with your address and CTA (Call to Action). Keep in mind that a great blog has multiple uses these include video scripts, guides, presentations, infographics, videos and many more.
13. Does your blog stand out from the rest?
Keep in mind that there countless of blogs out there and only those that stand out from the rest will survive. Sure, you may think your content is good enough but it must be different from the rest to make readers keep coming back to read what you posted.
Even if you do all the above to increase the readability of your blog, there will always be room for improvement so don’t stop in constantly adjusting and improving your blog. It is vital that you use fresh yet proven inbound marketing methods to drive success.
The first aim of your blog would be to foster a strong relationship with your leads and potential clients. By giving them unique value, you already establish yourself as the authority amongst a sea of competitors.
Good luck!
