Blogging is a cornerstone of content marketing and can be highly effective at attracting prospects and building relationships with them. But not every company is seeing success from their blogging efforts and there are some common issues that are likely to blame.
Many companies have a blog but are not seeing the results they had hoped for or expected. And while there are many reasons why business blogs fail, there are a handful that seem to be the most prominent. Here’s a list of 6 common reasons your business blog could be failing and some steps you can take to remedy the issues.
1. It’s not focused on prospects and customers.
One of the most common reasons for a failing blog is that it doesn’t focus on the very people companies are trying to reach. A blog should be a platform for educating, informing and engaging prospects and customers with content that is focused on their wants, needs and interests. Many blogs feature little more than repurposed press releases, company news or posts that discuss topics that are irrelevant to prospects and customers. A business blog is not the place to talk about your company or accolades, nor should it be a platform for glorified advertising copy. The purpose of your blog should be to educate and inform buyers through every stage of the customer lifecycle, not to sell your services or products.
Remedy this issue by:
• Developing buyer personas to better understand your audience
• Focusing on the issues, questions, concerns and pain points of prospects
• Demonstrating your company’s expertise and building thought leadership
2. It lacks strategy and goals.
Many companies make the mistake of launching a blog without the proper strategic considerations. Without a roadmap that dictates who you’re writing for, what messages you’re trying to convey and what you’re trying to accomplish, your blog is much less likely to achieve success. Understanding how your blog fits into a larger content marketing strategy is crucial and will greatly impact everything you do on your blog. Additionally, without setting goals, objective and metrics, you’ll never know how well you’re doing and what you can do to improve.
Remedy this issue by:
• Tying your blog to a documented content marketing strategy
• Setting specific goals and objectives for your blog
• Identifying key performance indicators (KPIs)
3. It lacks substance and quality.
One of the aspirations of content marketing is to create remarkable content that people find valuable and helpful and are willing to spend time reading and sharing. However, many business blogs simply lack substance. While the topics and titles might drive interest, the actual blog posts fall short of delivering tangible knowledge and benefit to the readers. And lackluster writing, spelling errors and keyword abuse also plague many blogs, and therefore erode the credibility of the blog (and your company) and keep visitors from returning.
Remedy this issue by:
• Focusing on writing quality, share-worthy blog posts
• Not just teasing a topic, but giving substantial insight
• Having your blog articles edited and proofread by a solid writer
4. It’s not updated regularly.
We’ve all seen blogs that haven’t been updated in weeks, months or even years. But one of the keys to successful blogging (and content marketing, SEO and online marketing) is consistent and regular content creation. When a blog is rarely updated, or goes through phases of frequency and infrequency, it’s simply not going to attract and build an audience, nor help you achieve any of the goals you’ve outlined for your content marketing program. In fact, an outdated blog will prevent you from gaining loyal readers and turn away any new visitors as well.
Remedy this issue by:
• Prioritizing the creation of fresh, regular content on your blog
• Aiming to post at least once per week; ideally 2-3 times per week
• Maintaining consistency in publishing even during the holidays, vacation season, etc.
5. It’s doesn’t drive website traffic or generate leads.
If any of the other issues we’ve previously discussed are present, it’s highly unlikely that your blog is going to drive substantial website traffic or generate leads. With the evolution of SEO and search algorithms, it’s not about stuffing your posts with keywords, but rather posting regular, high-quality content that answers questions and provides the information your target audience is looking for. But in addition to getting the content right, many companies do not adequately promote their blogs on social media channels or make it easy for readers to share posts on their social networks. Lastly, while generating leads is the end goal of content marketing, many blogs fail to include calls-to-action or provide readers a way to subscribe to the blog to receive ongoing updates and communication.
Remedy this issue by:
• Focusing less on keywords and more on overall content and context
• Adding share buttons to each blog post and promote on social media
• Including calls-to-action and linking to other pages of your website
• Offering a subscription sign-up for readers to opt-in
6. It lacks corporate buy-in.
At the end of the day, blogging (and content marketing in general) absolutely requires top-down support in order to be successful. While the concept of blogging for business is quite simple, the execution isn’t. Blogging at a high level takes a lot of time, resources and energy, in addition to subject-matter expertise, good writing and strong visuals. So everyone from the CEO down to the marketing department needs to buy into not just the benefits of blogging, but the understanding that it’s going to demand persistence and patience to do it successfully.
Remedy this issue by:
• Viewing your blog as an ongoing program, not a short-term campaign
• Devoting the necessary resources (internal and external)
• Helping everyone in the company understand the goals and objectives
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When executed properly, blogging can be a powerful tool for companies to use as a cornerstone of their content marketing program. By avoiding these common issues and being both persistent and patient, you’ll have a solid foundation on which to grow your audience and start building relationships online.
