Insider Secrets to Killer Website Content: 7 Steps to Building a Better Blog

As important as good website design is, let’s face it, it’s not what brings visitors to your site. They come for the content, and if that content is sufficiently compelling, then they’ll take the action you desire, whether that’s making a purchase, completing a registration form or even just picking up the phone to contact you for more information. In short, the success of your website begins and ends with quality content.

That’s why in this series of articles – Insider Secrets to Killer Website Content – we’re taking a look at types of content that are common to many websites and exploring ways that they can be redesigned and improved. So far, we’ve covered customer testimonials and “About Us” pages. In this third installment of the series, we tackle the ever-popular but often poorly executed business blog.

The promise of blog content has always been the ability to easily add fresh content to your website on a regular basis. In practice, however, that’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

While the tools available to us today allow blogsto be updated very easily, authoring content that is relevant and unique is a much greater challenge – one that proves to be the downfall of many a blog.

The challenges of maintaining and sustaining a blog

Every new blog is launched with the loftiest of goals and expectations. Plans are laid to write articles chock-full of insight on the latest industry trends, and anticipation is high for the proliferation of inbound links to come along with the resulting boost in search engine rankings.

The road to realizing those dreams starts with quality content, but being able to produce that content on a regular basis is where the rubber meets the road – which often proves to be a much greater obstacle than many realize when they initially decide to launch a blog.

At the outset of blogging, enthusiasm is high and ideas flow like honey. But all too often, after a few months or even weeks, the content begins to falter. The frequency between updates grows, and the quality wanes as articles begin to read more like standard press releases or company news updates.

For any blog to succeed, it must have regularly published content that is timely and relevant. If you can also make that content unique, then you have achieved the trifecta of excellent blog content.

So how do you ensure that the enthusiasm and quality that you have at launch can be sustained past the first handful of posts? Here are seven steps to turn your blog into a powerful traffic-boosting, sales-generating machine:

1. Answer questions you are being asked.

Every writer’s biggest challenge is coming up with a topic – and blogging is no different.

Staring at a blank screen and trying to get started on a new article is a daunting task indeed. But one way you can generate some topic ideas is to think about questions that often come up in your day-to-day conversations with your customers.

Whenever I begin brainstorming ideas for a new article, I start by reflecting on these conversations. Typically, I can identify a few topics that I’ve recently been asked about, and I can also recall the answers I gave and the discussion that ensued. More often than not, these provide the perfect foundation for a new article.

By coming up with a list of common client questions, you’ll provide yourself with excellent potential blog topics. Better yet, you’ll also create content that people are actually interested in and actively looking for – because you can bet that if these questions are being asked of you, then there are others out there who are looking for those same answers too.

2. Write about what others are not writing about.

Answering common questions is a great start, but you can really take your blog to the next level if the articles you publish – and the answers you provide – are unique.

Think about your own experiences in searching for answers online. If you search for a topic and find very few relevant articles addressing that topic, then that article – and its source – become gold to you. If it’s a really great article that does indeed answer your questions, you will tell others about it via social media or by posting links on message boards and forums where you are an active participant. A unique article succeeds because it addresses a topic that no one else effectively has.

The value of an article with little competition increases exponentially. So anytime you’re brainstorming new blog content topics, be sure to do a search for articles that may be similar in nature. If you do find similar content, make sure yours offers a different perspective or creative spin. If you do not find similar articles, this is your golden opportunity to publish something truly unique.

3. Keep to a schedule and plan ahead.

A schedule is critical when it comes to sustaining your blog over the long term. The frequency with which you update your blog with new content – whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly – will be different depending the nature of your industry and your audience. However, sticking to that schedule is what’s important, because it is all too easy to miss a deadline and brush it off as no big deal. But once you miss one deadline, it’s that much easier to miss another and another and another – until the gap between articles becomes substantial, and getting back on track becomes a grueling uphill battle.

One way to ensure that you keep to a schedule is to plan ahead, and planning ahead starts with ideas. If you dedicate time for you and your team to brainstorm article topics (whether individually or in a group session), you’ll inevitably find that one great idea leads to another and another.

When you have a handful of great article concepts to work on, it’s often tempting to publish these articles in quick succession. However, it’s important to avoid this temptation. Instead, make the most of your brainstorming momentum and plan out exactly when each of these articles will be published based on a regular, sustainable rhythm.

By having a handful of quality articles in queue, you can more easily keep to your schedule. And, of course, while you are waiting to publish those new articles, you can brainstorm new ideas and write those articles so that you always have fresh content at the ready.

Maintaining a schedule helps ensure that you do not publish new articles either too infrequently or too frequently but instead maintain a steady stream of quality content so that your readers know when to expect new articles and remain engaged with your blog.

4. Keep it short and sweet.

One concern I often hear voiced when I speak with clients about blogging is that they fear they will not be able to maintain a regular rhythm of publishing because of the time it takes to do so.

Yes, writing blog content takes time, but if you’re doing it right, it’s not as much as you might think. Blog articles do not need to be lengthy to be effective. In fact, short articles that are very sharply focused and easy to read are often the most effective and popular articles you can write.

By keeping articles short in length but high in quality, you can publish great content with much less of a demand on resources than you may have initially expected while still realizing the value that fresh blog content brings to your site.

5. Enlist help.

Another way to minimize the time impact of creating new blog content is to spread the workload around. If only one individual in your organization is tasked with authoring articles for your blog, then the entire burden of maintaining your publishing schedule falls on their shoulders, which means you also have a single point of failure if their other job responsibilities start encroaching on their available time for blogging. If you have a team of authors, however, then the impact on any one individual is minimized.

In addition to the benefits of sharing the responsibilities, having multiple voices represented on your blog also brings much needed variety to its content. Different authors bring different ideas, expertise and perspectives to the table, helping to create a more well‐rounded blog. Plus, if your organization offers a variety of services, then having experts who can cover a wide array of subjects will give your blog relevance to a broader audience.

When enlisting authors for your blog, look for those with distinct voices that will bring something new to the site as well as those who are enthusiastic about writing and eager to contribute.

You should also seek out those aforementioned subject matter experts in your organization. Many people are hesitant to recruit these experts to write – often because they are so valuable to an organization that pulling them away from their “real work” is seen as counterproductive. This could not be further from the truth. The reality is that these subject matter experts have a perspective that others do not. Remember, you want unique, relevant content that will resonate with your audience. What better way to achieve that goal than by turning to those who know it best? As an added bonus, when your readers see that you have true experts at work behind the scenes, your business and your brand as a whole will benefit from a boost in reputation.

6. Embrace current events.

Timeliness can be important in blog articles. When a topic is current, it is often relevant and being actively sought out by interested readers. Therefore, creating blog content that addresses those current events and latest development can be a great way to add articles to your site with information that others are talking about and looking for right now.

If you are consistently on the lookout for relevant current events that you can build content around, and you are also answering frequently asked client questions as covered earlier in this article, then you are well on your way to ensuring you never run out of possible ideas for new blog content.

7. Get ready to share.

If publishing timely, relevant and unique blog content is step one in building and maintaining a successful blog for your website, then promoting that blog content is a logical step two.

Great content will get found, but can do a lot to facilitate this process by promoting it. Yes, this means letting your connections on social media know about a new article once it is published, but just posting a link on your company’s Facebook page is not enough. You also need to also look for more targeted situations where you can share this content.

One example would be to include a link an email exchange you are having with a current client or prospect as a reference point when they ask a question that your post helps to answer. Furthermore, you and your team should become active participants on other websites and forums where the members of your tribe live day in and day out and where you can post links to your articles when appropriate to the conversation (don’t overdo it, of course, or you’ll become a community pariah). Also, by featuring related articles within each post in your blog, you can introduce readers to other content that they may not have been looking for at that moment, but which they will find valuable, too.

Whatever avenues of promotion you use – and you should use a number of different methods – the goal is to spread the word to readers who are looking for the content you are creating.

Watch your hard work pay off.

There’s no doubt about it – maintaining an effective blog is hard work. But with strategic planning and a solid team behind you, you can publish quality content on a regular basis – content that will serve as a powerful catalyst for bringing new visitors to your website and new customers through your doors.

Right from the Start: The Secrets to a Successful Website Redesign

Your website should be your number one salesman 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But if your site has lost its luster and isn’t performing as it should, a redesign might be just the right prescription to boost its ability to capture and convert new leads.

Redesign your website is an exciting prospect filled with so many possibilities. It is, quite literally, the dawn of a new day for your company’s web presence, but how and where do you start?

Here’s a website redesign road map that will put you on the track to success right from the start.

Start with your “wish list.”

Naturally, when you’re embarking on a website redesign project, your first inclination is to make an exhaustive list of all the features and functionality you want to incorporate in the new site.

Having a wish list is helpful, but clinging insistently to executing every single one of those items can be a recipe for a budget-busting project.

Go ahead and create your wish list, but once you’re done, the next step in the process is to put on your editor’s hat. Strike through every single feature that is not essential to success. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive in your editing. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Keep only the mission-critical features that will create a better, more value-packed user experience. Shed the “nice-to-have” features that will appeal to only a very small sub‐segment of your audience or that represent a personal “pet project.” These will only clutter your site and make it harder for the majority of your customers to find what they need quickly and easily.

If you can maintain a critical, objective eye through this editing process, your wish list will be substantially reduced, and you will have a much more solid foundation for a successful project.

Fight the “now-or-never” mentality.

One of the obstacles you’ll face when trying to pare down your wish list is the thinking that if you don’t do something now, you won’t get the chance to do it again in the near future. After all, how often do you redesign your website?

Instead, take a phase-based approach to the project. With your long-term goals and objectives in mind, decide what you must have now and what can wait until your company and your customers’ needs have reached the next plateau.

By mapping out anticipated future iterations and additions at the outset, you can make sure that your new site is built with the underpinnings it needs to support later growth and expansion.

Also, by breaking your redesign project into phases, you can launch the first version more quickly and without blowing your entire budget. This will give you time to gather feedback on the site and shape your future development plans accordingly.

The responses you receive from your customers after your new site launches may reinforce your decision to shed certain unnecessary features, or you may discover that they’re asking for another feature you had not previously considered. By breaking your project into smaller phases, you can take action on this valuable feedback quickly, instead of waiting until the next big redesign project. In this way, you can show your customers that you’re listening to them and that you care deeply about what they have to say – a great way to continue to build customer loyalty.

So now that you have your wish list and your phase-based approach nailed down, what’s next? It’s time for the big “d” – design.

Never cut corners on design.

Many redesign projects center around the need for a new look and feel for the website. Maybe your site’s current design isn’t a good reflection of your brand, or perhaps your company has simply outgrown a site that was launched early on in its history. Or you may just feel that your site is tired and outdated and in desperate need of modernization.

Regardless of the reasons driving your redesign, creating a Class-A look and feel with a user experience to match is a critical, yet often undervalued, piece of your website redevelopment project.

Adding new features or functionality will be pointless if the look of the site or the experience it creates is not up to par. Success starts with great design, and quality design should never take a backseat to fancy bells and whistles.

Consider this scenario: Let’s say you have a website with an outdated look that’s lacking the helpful features your customers want. If you were to update it with a strong modernized design but include none of those new features, you would still realize some measure of success. You’d have an attractive new design and a quality user experience, and that alone is an improvement that you can then build upon in later phases. If, however, you go the opposite route by trying to shoehorn new features into a bad existing design, your site will still suffer from that outdated look and poor user experience, and your investment will be for naught.

Great features supported by bad design have a very steep hill to climb. By investing in good design early on, you’ll ensure that all future investment in the website – when you do add those extra features – will have the best chance for success instead of being forced to fight a losing battle against a poorly designed user interface.

Design with the future in mind.

Deploying a website that is streamlined, efficient and customer-focused is a great start. But the feedback you receive after launch and the desire to continually improve the site will ultimately drive what comes next – those subsequent phases that you have already planned for. To this end, you will need to make sure that the new design and platform will support future growth.

As you edit aggressively early on in this process, you should also continually ask yourself if the plans that you’re making will scale appropriately. How will the site grow with your company over the next 6 months? How about the next 12 or 24 months? How will this mesh with the future phases you have planned as well as the unexpected feedback you may get along the way?

Whether you are hiring a web development firm for your redesign project or are working with an in‐house team, ask them about the technologies that are being used on the new site, from HTML5 to CSS3 to responsive design to the content management system (CMS), and think about how those technologies will work for you today and tomorrow. When it comes to the foundation behind the scenes, never make a choice to save money in the short term that isn’t the best choice for the long term, or else you’ll ultimately end up shelling out a lot more money over time.

A successful website redesign project can start small and focused on critical elements, but to achieve long-term success, that streamlined approach must allow for future scalability so your website will grow with your company, evolve along with emerging technologies and continue to fuel your success.

Take the plunge.

There are many different ways to get from point A to point B when building a website, but regardless of the process you and your team follow, the fundamental principal of starting small and focused on critical elements for success and adding improvements over time is one that will never steer you wrong. Instead of trying to do everything at once, taking this approach will allow you to launch a new website that is a visual and functional improvement without getting bogged down by “nice-to-have” features that will ultimately add very little value but potentially cause very big headaches.

A great design bolstered by key usability features and an eye towards future growth and scalability are the keys to creating a website that will serve as a catalyst for the growth of your business today, tomorrow and beyond.