You’ve developed a blog for your business, and now you’re waiting for results. Blogs draw results slowly, building an online presence over time, but you should be able to tie your keywords, topics, and content back to your products; and services’ performance. Sometimes, it may feel like your blog isn’t working, but you should always look at the details before making a change. Which posts have drawn the most traffic? Did they draw readers deeper into your website? As you investigate, take notes, because you can use this information to enhance your blog’s future performance.
Where to look for change
- Pay Attention to Keywords – Look for changes in parts of your business that you can directly tie to recent keywords. If your keywords have focused on budgeting rather than tax services lately, then you shouldn’t expect your blog to help your tax services department at all. You should look over your budgeting services very carefully, however, and see how much traffic you’ve drawn through your blog.
- Look Beyond the Budget – Everyone wants to see a sudden influx of revenue after starting a new blog. Since a blog often begins as part of a marketing campaign, that’s perfectly understandable, but always keep in mind what a blog actually does. Besides using clever SEO tricks to lure new customers onto your website, blogs establish your internet presence. Do people enjoy your content or find it useful? Have any of your articles been shared? A blog generates lots of little seeds that you can spread, and if the content sticks in a person’s mind, when that person has questions now or in the distant future, your website will be first in their thoughts. So consider what new contacts you’ve made and how your blog is performing on its own before considering revenue.
When to look for change
- Note Shifting Trends – Keep an eye on the news and trending tags. While your blog as a whole may continue on, you should reevaluate topical content frequently. Trends and areas of general interest change over time, and you may be using outdated keywords and titles to catch readers. You may see increased traffic and then a dramatic decrease in visitors over a short period of time as new trends overshadow your topics. This is simply a sign that it’s time to adapt your strategy, not a death knell for your blog. The Internet demands vigilance and flexibility.
- Analyze Your Product and Topics – Plan your blog’s future based on past performance. What topics drew the most traffic, and when did they draw it? Just as trends change, so can the peak time for specific products or services. You wouldn’t push bathing suits in November in a storefront, so why do that online? You also wouldn’t put your worst-selling items in the display window, so as tempting as it may be, try not to use your blog to push unpopular products. If you use popular products in your blog, they will attract more customers to your blog, and in turn to your website. It’s a perfect circle of cause and effect.
Figuring out when and where to look for a change in your blog’s performance may seem like a frustrating task, but remember that blogs work slowly, and the details will show you how to improve. Where and when should you look for a change? Look at the details, such as keywords and trending topics. You can start looking on the first day of your blog, and you should keep looking until the last.