Are You Making These 7 Mistakes When Writing Blogs?

Blog writing can be an incredibly effective

digital marketing strategy when the creator pays close attention to all the

markers of quality. These markers include both technical and artistic elements

as well as the context your blog plays within your overall marketing funnel.

Ignoring any part of this equation will leave

you with a less-than-satisfactory result. Your audience will either disregard

your content outright or any audiences you successfully build will fail to

enter your marketing funnel as intended.

Luckily, plenty of companies out there are

doing it right. 78% of B2C companies using content marketing say they are “moderately” to “extremely” successful

with their content marketing efforts. 2 out of every 3 also say that their

performance is better now than a year ago.

So what are they getting right? Most likely,

they are avoiding the following seven common business blog mistakes that can

hurt performance. Read the list below to ensure that you can find success and

avoid the common pitfalls that hold content performance back.

Using Outdated SEO Techniques That Hurt Readability

If you find yourself demanding that your blogs

include exact match keywords listed within a certain saturation limit, take a

step back and look at the data.

According to the Google themselves, keyword stuffing is strongly discouraged.

Instead, include keywords naturally within the text, and don’t be afraid to

vary how they are used or arranged. Google emphasizes that keywords should

match up with user intent, giving the example that a long-time soccer fan will

know to refer to important world matches under the “FIFA” acronym, while

less-knowledgeable viewers may search for “football playoffs” instead.

Having your keywords appear naturally is key!

Google recommends that you avoid “inserting numerous unnecessary keywords aimed

at search engines but are annoying or nonsensical to users.” Try to write your

content in a style that could get published on a popular industry blog instead,

where any bizarre keyword use would be distracting and likely cause an editor

to send your piece back.

If you find it hard to let go of bad keyword

habits, recognize that search engine algorithm tendencies have changed.

According to an extensive study and comparison-based research from SEMrush, 18%

of domains that rank for high-volume keywords [don’t\\

even have an exact match keyword appear anywhere in the body of the text](https://www.semrush.com/ranking-factors/ "Link: https://www.semrush.com/ranking-factors/")!

You can therefore rank without having to

desperately overuse keywords. Instead, create keyword groups centered around your

concept. You can use the AdWords keyword planner

for suggestions. Your

audience — and the search engines — will thank you!

Not Picking Topics That Have Value or Interest for Your Audience

Your company blog is not another place for

ads! People will visit it only if it provides the same quality of content they

would expect to find on a publication site. If they see that your “article” is

actually a glorified pitch for a product, they will most likely hit the back

button.

Ensure that your topics could meet the

interest of a casual reader. Your own website visitor data can tell you this by

revealing which articles get the most views and lead to the most time spent on

site. You can also look to industry publications, mentions of your market niche

in mass media, or your own competitors’ blog views for guidance.

Social listening is another useful tool.

Social media can be your best source of new blog ideas, in fact. Looking for

terms like “can I get a recommendation for…?” and other questions related to

your product/service area is a great start. You can also source common

questions your sales reps and customer service employees field.

Missing Out on Opportunities to Engage

If you have a comment on your blog or someone

sharing it with their added input, recognize that this is an opportunity!

Someone who was interested enough to comment or share took time and effort to

interact with your materials. Continue the conversation, address their

thoughts, and at the very least offer a “thank you!” for their effort.

This tactic is especially important if your

typical engagement rate is slim. If you regularly get comments and other

feedback on your posts, then choose 3-4 of the most interesting or valuable

takes to interact with.

Responding to comments rewards these

interactions, but ignoring them can feel like a punishment! People may

eventually stop responding or even reading, but you have the power to encourage

engagement instead. People love attention online, even if it’s just a brief nod

from a brand they care about.

Being Too Scattered With Your Topic Choices

News moves fast these days, and we are often

inspired in the moment to cover a certain topic on our blogs. However, you

should balance out these improvisationally chosen subjects with a regular body

of ongoing themed, evergreen content.

For example, does your blog have a “101”

series for your industry? If you are a lawyer, for instance, does your blog

take the time to cover the basics of your area of practice? Then, does it answer

common questions people have regarding a typical case?

Articles like these have evergreen appeal,

meaning they can continue getting traffic long after their publish date. You

can also link to this content within your other pieces, building strength for

your SEO and domain authority. Using the lawyer example, a law blog can

highlight the word “negligence” the first time it is used in each related blog

and link that term to a “What Is Negligence?” intro post.

You can also structure your foundational knowledge

posts into a useful section of your website. Intuitive navigation encourages

additional page views per visit, and it can strengthen your domain authority to

help you rank higher, according to Google.

Not Planning Out Careful Customer Journeys

Every blog you write should not only cover a

relevant, interesting topic but also lead the reader to a logical next step —

or a choice of next steps.

A strong example of a bad way to do this is

writing an article that tells someone everything they need to know about your

profession. Let’s say you are a pool maintenance company, and you exhaustively

list every chemical test and piece of equipment you use in a comprehensive

blog.

This article will no doubt get a lot of views,

but then what would they need your company for? Instead, the company can give

an example of pool treatments and note that “every pool is different” or that

“doing it yourself is time consuming and can lead to mistakes!” That way, the

audience knows that even though they _could_

DIY, they’ll get better results from you.

You never want to shoot your own value

proposition in the foot, so to speak.

Similarly, guide the reader intuitively from

their content view to the next step in their journey. That could be to

“download our guide to winterizing your pool” by submitting their email, which

gets them on your marketing list. Or, you can encourage them to “get a free

estimate and assessment for what we can do to _your_

pool” as a wrap-up call to action (CTA).

Steps in between your journey should be

tempting and effortless to take. Keep your audience needs and expectations in

mind, and when in doubt A/B test to find the most effective conversion methods.

Writing a Boring Headline

Your audience won’t want to click if your

blog’s headline is too uninteresting or confusing. Focus a lot of your writing

efforts on your headline, and regularly review data on article performance to

see which headlines draw the most clicks.

You can also reference guides to writing

better headlines, such as this data from Buzz Sumo

and this recommended process from Moz’s Rand Fishkin.