How To Create A Blog Content Strategy That Will Grow Your Business

What is a content strategy and why do you need one?

Now that you have a blog and are ready to start sharing all of your great ideas with your audience, you’ll want to start thinking about developing a strategy to share your content.

Why? Having a solid and consistent content strategy is the best way to connect with your audience and is key to growing a successful blog. So what is a content strategy and why do you need one?

A content strategy is simply a plan that you create, document, and use as a guide when publishing content to your blog. A solid content strategy is what separates a hobby blog from a high-ranking, popular, moneymaking blog. Here’s how to get started.

Have clear goals when creating a content strategy

Having clear goals for your business blog is so important to the success of your blog.

Think of your blog as a journey that you are taking your readers on. A journey needs a beginning, middle, and an end. You want to create a clear path for your readers to follow that tells the story of your brand and business.

When you are creating content ask yourself what part of your business’s story a post or content tells. Does it speak to where you started, where you are in the present, or where you would like to go? If the answer is yes to one of these questions, you can be pretty confident that your content strategy is clearly designed and well-focused.

Know your audience

Knowing who you are talking to is probably one of the most important things to keep in mind when you are creating content.

Make it a habit to check in on whom your audience is, who is procuring your services, or buying your products, who is following you on social media, and who is reading your blog. Use what you find to keep your content relevant and useful to potential clients.

Ask yourself what problems you want to solve for your audience

If you think about it, the most popular blogs have achieved their success by offering real solutions to their readers.

Here are a few things to ask yourself when you are thinking about what problems your audience most often presents and what you can offer them to help solve them:

• What problems do your audience often present?
• How can you give them a solution to these problems?
• What is unique about your solution that other businesses are not offering?
• How easy are these solutions for them to access and implement?

Once you ask yourself these questions, you will be able to fine-tune the content you are offering your readers so they consistently come back to your blog.

What type of Content can you create?

Now that you have the focus of your blog content, you can start to think about the different types of consent you can create. Here are a few of the most popular types of consent.

• Blog posts
• Downloadable content
• Freebies
• Courses
• Video and images

It is a good strategy to create and share a wide variety of content to your readers so that your blog feels fresh each time they visit.

Consider where you will publish your content

Once you have created your content, you will want to consider how and where you can share it to get the most bang for your buck.

• What social media channels are best for your content– depending on what your business is, different social media channels will be more effective places for you to share your content. Check out other businesses in your field and see where they are sharing their content, and which channels seem to be the most receptive and engaged with their content.
• Guest posting– Guest posting is a great way to grow a community and make connections while getting your content out there. When you have a great post or an idea for a post, send out a few inquiries to other blogs in your niche that you admire and ask them if they would be willing to let you guest post. Offer to link to their blog and always do your best to follow their requirements for guest posting.

Develop a plan to create, schedule, and share your content on a regular basis

Once you create great content, the next step is sharing it. By creating a real strategy for sharing your content, you will make your content go the extra mile and reach more people who may be interested in your business. So what are the most important aspects of sharing your content?

• Consistency is key– be sure to share your content on a consistent schedule. Research the times that are best for each channel, and post during these times each week.
• Make a schedule for each social media channel you plan to use– Every channel has its own rules for popular times to post, as well as how many times a day to post. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest all favor different days, time of the day, and frequency, so make sure to do a little research before you create your posting and sharing schedule.
• Choose planning tools– Planning tools are a blogger’s best friend. Depending on what social media channel you are posting to, you may want to use different scheduling tools. Some tools are good for general scheduling across many channels, while others are more specific in their use.
• Make it easy for your readers and followers to share your content – We use Social Warfare (affiliate link) here on the blog and it has been a great tool to help us spread the word about our work and help people get organized through our tips and posts.

Growing Your Blog and Your Business

As the digital marketing world continues to expand, blogs remain one of the best ways to advertise.

Blogs are a key component of any business marketing strategy and are one of the most effective ways to give your business a strong online presence.

Having a solid and intentional blog content strategy enhances your blog by giving readers something they can count on and making your business a go-to in your industry. With a consistent and quality content plan in place, your blog will continue to be a success and grow your business.