We tell our clients regularly about the importance of blogging on a regular basis. But why is this important?
It’s important for many reasons, including search engine optimization, answering questions your audience is looking for answers to, building trust, and becoming a valued resource.
Here are four common obstacles to blogging consistently, and tips for how to overcome each roadblock:
You don’t know what to write about.
- Connect with your why — what is the goal of your blog? What value will it add? What’s at stake?
- We don’t recommend writing just to write; it’s important to have a goal, and to know how you will measure the success of your goal. If you want to become a valued resource and improve your brand recognition, set specific goals for how you can accomplish this via a blogging program, and create a strategy that allows you to meet these goals.
You don’t know how often to post.
- Set a minimum posting goal, and make it realistic. Once you get into a pattern, you can increase the number of posts per month.
- Once you determine the number of posts you want to produce, take the time to plan the topics out for each of those posts. If you take the time to brainstorm these ideas upfront, when it’s time to write, it’s much easier to jump right in and start writing.
- According to HubSpot, Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more traffic than companies that published between 0 – 4 monthly posts.
You don’t think you’re a great writer.
- One of the biggest mistakes is thinking that writing isn’t your strong suit, so you should avoid it completely. You don’t have to be an aspiring novelist — you only need to communicate your point well. You have expertise, and you can share it via your blog.
- There is something to be said for proofing your work. No matter how great of a writer you are, build time into your plan for a proofing process, and take care to use proper grammar and avoid typos.
- Don’t worry about having a different writing style than another team member who will also be posting content. At Haley, we have over 30 team members, with varying knowledge and writing styles, that all contribute to the blog. Some team members use more statistics, others more visuals, and others strictly text. This variety helps to give your blog personality.
You don’t have a blog, or don’t know how to use it.
- If it’s the blogging platform itself that is holding you back, we recommend using WordPress. WordPress is a simple-to-use content management platform that allows you to easily share your content.
- If you don’t want to tackle this step, consider outsourcing. Our Haley team has experience in designing, building and managing blogs for hundreds of clients in the staffing and recruiting industry, and we’re happy to share what we have learned with you!
Still not sure what to do?
Check out our eBook, Blogging for Placements, for more information on the importance of blogging and how to launch a successful program in the staffing industry.