Step 1: Establish a Plan of Action for Creating and Publishing Content
You probably will not regularly update the content of basic pages on your website (for example, the ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact Us’ pages). However, adding a blog to your website provides you with an opportunity to regularly create freshly indexed pages, which we all know is something that Google and other search engines want to see.
While we all have the best intentions of regularly creating and publishing new blog content, life will inevitably get in the way, making it difficult for you to follow through with your grand plans of publishing new blog content several times a week. This is why it is absolutely critical that you establish a clear plan of action for creating and publishing new blog content.
The most effective content specialists will create a content calendar from the gecko. This will allow you to plan your content for weeks (or even months) in advance and can help to eliminate some of the frustration that frequently happens when you sit down to brainstorm new content ideas. Having an easily accessible content calendar in front of you will help to hold you (and other contributing writers) accountable to publishing fresh content. Also, organizing your content ideas into a calendar will help to ensure that you are covering a variety of topics that are of interest to your audience versus repeating the same ideas.
Fortunately, there are a number of free tools at your disposal to create a content calendar that works well for you and your team. Most people are already familiar with Google Docs, and you can use this resource to build your own content calendar that can be accessed globally by your specified users. Another free online tool that is trusted by content specialists is Trello, which allows users to easily put together an organized content calendar, set deadlines, add attachments, and much more.
Regardless of the tool that you choose to build your content calendar, you’ll want to make sure that it can be easily accessed by all of the contributors to your blog and that there is a system in place to hold you accountable to your publishing dates. Also, remember the importance of establishing a realistic content publishing goal. By doing this, you will be much more likely to stick with your goal of publishing quality content on a regular basis.
Step 2: Consider Enlisting the Help of a Content Marketing Agency
Without a doubt, there will come many times when your hectic workday prevents you from creating content. When you’re busy, you want to make sure that you have a plan in place that still allows you to publish quality content. That is why many businesses are choosing to either engage a contract writer or content marketing agency to fill in these gaps. A website design can quickly fall in rankings and search visibility when content is not regularly being produced, and a contract writer or content marketing agency can take some of this pressure off of you.
Step 3: Circulate Your Content
Many people think that once they publish a blog post, it’s time to move on to creating the next post. While this is true in part, the success of your blog posts are heavily dependent on how you promote them. There are two key ways to promote your blog content: via email marketing and social media.
Promoting Content Via Email Marketing
Your goal is naturally to get as many people as possible to read your content. Considering that email marketing is still viewed as the most effective form of digital marketing, it only makes sense to send an email to your audience to promote your blog post. As a best practice, try sending one email a month recapping the four most popular posts from your blog.
Promoting Content Via Social Media
Taking the time to promote your blog posts on social media is a highly effective way to create awareness for your brand and build an audience for your blog. It’s important to remember, however, that social media is not a forum for tooting your own horn and should rather be viewed as a conversation starter. When promoting your content on social media, find a way to position your blog post as a way to help the reader out or to offer a source of entertainment.
As you can see, through you’ve launched your website design, you’re just getting started. By embracing these 3 steps that should follow your website’s launch, you will be much more effective and successful with your online marketing efforts.