Unfortunately, business blogs are only as good as the effort you put into them. And the secret to keeping your business blog healthy, active and vital to your online marketing strategy is a content plan.
It’s a simple answer, but it takes a bit of thought to create your content plan. It helps to have an external perspective facilitate the process with you. Then you can create a content plan that you feel confident in committing the time to develop.
Asking the right questions is often a key element in fostering learning. So use this article as a guide to facilitate the learning process for you.
A three-step process – How to create your content plan:
The main focus of your business blog is to help prospects trust you to solve the problems they are experiencing. You can do this by planning your content around the following three points. Write down your answers to these questions and you’ll be on your way to creating your business blogging content plan:
- What problems are your prospects actively searching for online? (Aim for a list of 5-10 problems).
- Edit your list so that it only shows the problems you know how to solve.
- Underneath each of the problems you outlined, make a list of three ways to solve that problem. ‘Client success stories’ will provide handy evidence.
After creating your content plan with this 3-step process you will have 15-30 ideas of blog posts all focused around problems to which your prospects are actively seeking answers online. The key benefit for your company is that you can position yourself as the expert at solving these problems.
By relieving your prospects’ problems with solutions, you have a chance to position yourself as an expert in your field. When you know the answers and can illustrate proof you solve that problem, you start to position yourself as an expert.
After all, an expert is simply someone who knows the answer when you don’t
People love experts when they’re in need of an answer, because their solutions bring relief. When you’re giving great advice that helps someone else out, your content will be shared online more readily.
In fact, giving great advice that can solve someone’s problems quickly is likely what inspired Google to create their search engine. Google’s focus on quickly satisfying user cravings is what has made them industry leaders. You only have to jump on board by integrating keywords into your great content and you too can benefit.
The more content on your blog, the stronger your online presence. Each of your three points under the various problems will make great single blog posts. Blog posts only need to be 150 words for most major search engines to recognize your efforts.