Let’s crunch some numbers:
- Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average 1,200 new leads per month. (Source)
- B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not blog.
I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but blogging is the best way to attract new visitors to your website, and should be the nexus of your social media strategy. Without great content, how can you have great social media? What are you going to be tweeting or Facebooking that people will care about? Content comes first.
I absolutely love this graphic from Hubspot:
This basically shows what “inbound marketing” is—as opposed to the old style of “outbound marketing,” which includes buying ads, buying email lists, and praying for leads.
You’ll see that blogging is the first and most basic step in this (very smart) marketing plan.
Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound marketing. (Source)
Bottom line? You gotta be blogging.
But you have to be blogging about the right things in the right way to make this whole funnel work. If your blog is boring, uninformative, not useful, or not serving your customer in some way, they’re not going to read it—which pretty much makes all that work you’re putting into the rest of your marketing moot.
It all starts with a brilliant blog.
People spend more than 50% of their time online looking at content. (Source)
But, only 32% of marketers say they are effectively creating enough content.
Believe me, I understand that for small businesses and solopreneurs, making the time to create the kind of content that gets read, shared, talked about is time consuming.
As a small business owner, you know that sometimes you need to do things yourself, and sometimes you need to delegate things out to others.
You just can’t do it all. And you shouldn’t have to.
You’re passionate about your business, but that passion may not include writing blog posts, updating social media, and creating newsletters for your customers.
You’ve tried writing your own blogs, but it seemed like you were just throwing words out into an empty universe. Zero comments. Zero likes. Digital crickets.
Blogging every week feels like pulling teeth, getting blood from a stone, and all those other terrible clichés you know you’re supposed to avoid.
Or, maybe you kind of like to write. But it just takes so. Damn. Long.
You’re feeling stuck, frustrated, ready to chuck the whole thing.
Take a deep breath. Because:
- You are not alone.
- I actually love this brave new world called content marketing, and I know how to make it easy, efficient, and effective for you.
- And I love working with people who know how to delegate. (That’s you, right?)
Whether you want to just brainstorm and strategize some goals or have me take over your entire content strategy, I can help.
I KNOW how to create a blog that supports your business because I’ve done it.
After countless hours spent researching and testing all the blogging and social media advice floating around out there, I know which methods WORK and which ones don’t.
I know which ones will attract your ideal reader…
…the ones that will turn into your ideal customer…
…the customers you love to work with (even if you weren’t getting paid—which you will be!).
I’m ready to rock your blog so you don’t have to.
Ready to release your boring blog forever?
I’m opening up a (very) limited number of slots in my calendar for VIP ghost blogging clients.
My Ghost Blogging service is the ultimate in “done-for-you” convenience. You get an award-winning journalist and professional blogger (me) to not only brainstorm your blog topics for you, but write, edit, and publish them as well. We can even talk about a social media strategy on your preferred platforms to get your content out into the world. Oh, and it will be all optimized for SEO. Done.
- Up to a six months of blog topics, planned in advance, with sales tie-in strategies in place.
- Profile your ideal readers so that you know your website is speaking directly to potential customers.
- Blogs are written for you—you decide if you’d like to add personal touches or post them as-is.
- Content with a purpose: you know exactly when, where, and how to promote your blog.
- Everything naturally optimized for SEO—no panic attacks when Google changes something.
- Peace of mind that your blog is actually working for your business.
The whole kit and kaboodle!
Lacy~ thanks for the nudge! It was great to see it all laid out: Must blog more. 🙂 I would add, “must also video blog moe” into the mix. 🙂
You’re absolutely right! The data totally supports video blogging as an excellent traffic driver, too!
thank you for this – it’s a powerful reminder of what we need to routinely do! 15 blog posts per month (the first statistic) seems like a crazy goal…for me, one per week is just about right. Have you seen success with blogging much more frequently than that?
If you look at the history of this blog, you can CLEARLY see that I’m lucky to be doing 1–2 posts per week! 😉 I think that statistic was actually referring to much bigger brands than most of us are or desire to be, but I thought it was just such a staggering number… Even if you divide it down to our level, I think you would still see a big increase in leads based on strategic blogging.
Thanks for the research on blogging. My goal for 2014 is to blog 42 weeks out of the year (the rest are vacation and guest blogging). I get so thrilled to think about 42 pieces of amazing content representing me, my work and my brand at the end of 1 year! And I love writing so I probably won’t hire a ghost blogger anytime soon, but I can see how you can be a lifesaver for someone who doesn’t love writing or wants to learn new ways to get more exposure!
Awesome goal, Lana! You’re lucky that you love blogging! (I do too!) 🙂
This is great Lacy. I have been consistent about content, but I don’t feel like my exposure and email list is rising as fast as it should be. That is the part that I feel like I am falling down in.
Hi Lorna. Sounds like you could use a solid promotional strategy, as well as maybe a new opt-in or opt-in offer. The first thing I would try is testing your opt-in—because you don’t want to go out and get a ton of new traffic that isn’t going to convert! 🙂 Try tweaking your offer copy, run an A/B test, or even survey some of your potential customers to see if it really resonates with them. Once you’re pretty sure it’s converting well, you can go out and work on getting more exposure. Let me know if I can help you with either of those!
This is awesome, Lacy! I make it a rule to blog once per week for my own website and write one guest post for big sites. This really helps a lot to generate traffic and it is true – when you’ve got great content, people will find you and susbcribe to your newsletter.
Wow, that’s awesome Nathalie! I need to practice more of what I preach and do some more guest blogs!
The stats in this post are mind-blowing Lacy! I love your style! You whipped me good. I’m going to do a better job of keeping up my blog. Thanks for dropping knowledge bombs. 🙂
BOOM. Knowledge bombs. Love it!
Lacy I think your service is amazing and much needed. And this post really hits home the importance of blogging. I love to write and have been blogging since 2004, but only once a month until August of this year when I started blogging once a week. I’ve also been guest blogging once a week (until very recently because I’m launching my first product) since August. I know a ton of writing…but like I said, I love it. As a result I’ve been getting an average of 200 new subscribers a month and my old subscribers have been with me for years. Love that! However, with that said I know in the near future I’ll need to do better with getting these posts on social media and possibly an editor. Are any of your services a la carte?
Silvia, can I just say BRAVO for increasing your blogging and for those impressive subscriber numbers?! BRAVO!!
As for your question: Yes, I do offer a la carte services at a simple hourly rate, and I also offer a package of 10 hours that you can use over time (and nets you a nice discount). Drop me a line if you’re interested in hearing more, or schedule a chat with me! 🙂