How to Blog Like a Pro

Much has been written about how your blog content has become a key element in connecting to and interacting with your prospects and customers. However good your content may be, one vital fact remains - your headline is the gateway to your content and if you don’t understand what works, few people are likely to click on it.

Your blog is the crock pot of your branding. There's a combination of ingredients that when combined results in a scrumptious recipe for your unique brand identity. It's this unique recipe that will build brand recognition and foster that signature visual calling card visitors need to instantly recognize your content when they're not on your blog.

What do you do when you start a blog? Most people jump right in. They choose a theme, browse around for awesome plugins, set up Mailchimp and do all this other... stuff, before they sit down and think it through. I've learned that when you do this, it's easy to end up with a really pretty blog....with very few readers.

Whether you're a local business owner, entrepreneur, or brand - finding new ways to generate business can be a challenge. Especially in the highly competitive online world where content is King and differentiation is the fine line between success and failure. That's where blogging comes in.

Do you wish you had the time to overhaul your blog? Often when you're trying to keep up with writing enough content, it's hard to find the time to do anything extra. But that definitely doesn't mean you should give up. If you split your tasks into small chunks, you will be surprised what you can accomplish.

Are you always agonizing over your headlines? You spend days crafting the perfect blog post - from generating a topic you're sure your readers will love to pouring over facts and resources for days. You do all this to ensure your post will get the social media attention it deserves.

Bringing in new readers is an integral part of blog marketing: It's not enough to create awesome content - You need to spread the word for more people to discover your site. However attracting new readers is not enough: You need to bring your current readers back too.

Today's savvy website visitors will not wait around for web pages to load. If it takes more than a few seconds for a page to appear before their eyes, visitors will move on. 57% of online shoppers will wait three seconds or less before abandoning a site.

In the last 2 years at BuzzSumo we have crawled and analyzed over 1.6m 'how to' posts. The top posts were shared many hundreds of thousands of times. The posts ranged from 'how to hide your house from Google maps' and 'how to paint furniture' to 'how to be a great lover'.

There are lots of things you need to do to have a successful blog. Not only do your posts need to be well-written, helpful, and relevant to your target audience, but you've also got to make sure you're promoting them correctly so they get in front of people who could become your fans -- and maybe even your customers.