Blogging is still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website and attract new customers, but are you making the most of your local business blog? Maybe not.
If you’re not, the big question is what should you be doing? The answer starts with numbers and ends with specific advice. So, let’s dig into some statistics, and then we’ll look at 5 tips you can use to put your blog to work for you.
Blogging by the Numbers
A massive blog study, which reviewed 912 million blog posts, revealed some helpful information that can help you improve the performance of your business blog. Here are some key findings:
BACKLINKS are still one of the most important ranking factors for Google. The blogging study found that long-form content get 77.2% more links than short-form content. That’s a huge difference, but it also has its limits.
The study also found that there was a sharp drop-off in links once a post crept over 2,000 words, but, that said, 94% of all the posts analyzed had no backlinks at all.
It is also worth noting that some post formats and titles get more backlinks than others. The three most popular post types for backlinks were:
– “What” posts
– “Why” posts
– Infographics
Those three formats got 25.8% more backlinks than “how-to” and video posts.
Social Sharing
You might think that blogging can help you out on social media, but the numbers don’t bear that out. For example, there’s no correlation between social sharing and backlinks.
It’s also interesting to note that very few blog posts perform well on social media. The study found that 1.3% of “power” posts generate 75% of all social shares.
There were some specific findings about the length of headlines (longer headlines get more shares) and questions (blog posts with questions in the headline get more shares than those without questions.)
List posts are more likely to be shared than other posts, too — and by a significant amount. They get 218% more shares than “how-to” posts and 203% more shares than infographics.
The so-called “sweet spot” for getting your blog content shared on social media is between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
One final statistic to inspire you: one study found that blogging can improve your chances of getting a high rank on Google by as much as 434%. How’s that for an impressive number?
Tips to Improve Your Local Business Blog
The data from that study is useful because it can provide you with a framework to improve your business blog. Of course, there’s more to worry about than backlinks and social media, but other bits of data from the study point in a direction that may be useful.
With that in mind, here are 5 tips to improve your blog.
#1: Create (and Stick to) a Blogging Schedule
The first tip is to blog regularly and stick to a schedule. There’s some evidence to suggest that blogging four times a week is optimal. In fact, companies that blog at least 16 times per month get 3.5 times as much traffic as companies that blog between 0-4 times per month.
Sixteen blog posts may seem like a lot, but what you may find is that creating a blogging schedule will help you be more disciplined about coming up with blog ideas and getting those posts written. Remember, you can always hire a writer to create blog posts for you if you don’t have the time or inclination to do that much writing.
#2: Give Your Posts Compelling Titles
It turns out that the titles make a big difference when it comes to generating traffic, social shares, and backlinks. Here are some pointers:
#3: Check Your Word Count
Earlier, we mentioned that the “sweet spot” for blog length is between 1,000 and 2,000 words, with longer posts getting more engagement, backlinks, and sharing than shorter posts. Does that mean every post you write must be long? Of course not! But, if you’re in the habit of cranking out 300-500 word blog posts, it can help you to write a long post occasionally. It might turn into one of those so-called power posts that generates traffic on social media and Google
The good news here is that it’s not hard to improve your business blog. It’s mostly about being aware of what the numbers say and figuring out a blogging schedule and strategy that will work for you! If you do that, the clicks, shares, and likes will follow.
#4: Add Compelling Images
This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how many businesses don’t bother adding images to their blog posts. There’s research that shows that people retain far more information when it’s presented with visual aid than they do without visuals.
PRO TIP: Pixabay.com and Pexels.com are both great, no-cost options.
#5: Add Social Sharing Buttons and Widgets
People are far more likely to share your blog posts if you make it easy for them to do it. That’s why it’s a good idea to add social sharing buttons to your posts.
Be smart about it, though. If you offer a full menu of social sharing buttons, you may find that it has the opposite effect to the one you want. Where’s your social media audience? If they’re mostly on Twitter, put a Twitter button, and use the “tweet this” widget to allow people to share key quotes from your blog. If you’re marketing business to business, put a LinkedIn button on your blog.