Blog writing is no longer optional for most companies. If you have a business with an internet presence you need to be blogging on a regular basis. No doubt you’ve heard all this before, but if you’re still not convinced, just look at the stats:
- Blog writing increases indexed pages by 434 per cent and inbound links by 97 per cent
- Just one to two blogs per month can increase your leads by 70 per cent
- Blogs have been rated as one of the most reliable and trusted sources of information
- Of the businesses who blog regularly, 92 per cent have acquired at least one customer
- 77 per cent of internet users regularly read a blog
The facts are clear to see; if you want to keep up with the competition, you need to write blogs. But for many marketing managers, it’s hard to find the time to devote to creating fresh, useful content on a regular basis. With all the other marketing activities and responsibilities you have taking precedence, blog writing slips all too easily to the bottom of the to-do list.
Of course, there is another way. If you’re struggling to keep up with your blogging obligations, should you be considering outsourcing this task?
Here are some signs that suggest you absolutely should:
- Your deadlines are slipping
Regular content is crucial to a successful blog, but it can be hard to build up momentum when you have countless other activities to prioritise too. Content marketers should be able to produce a professional level blog post of about 700 words in around 1 – 2 hours, but sometimes even that amount of time is hard to find.
- You just can’t get it done
Worse than not having the time to blog is when you’ve set aside a couple of hours to dedicate to blog writing, but at the end of that allotted time you’re still fretting over the first paragraph. If you can’t hone your blogging obligations into a normal work process with a predictable time allocation, you should probably consider passing it over to someone who can.
- You’re not much of a writer
It’s all too easy to see blog writing as a junior level job that pretty much anyone can do, but actually it’s a little more complicated than that. Successful blogs need to hook the reader from the title onwards, and need to cater for the time poor, short attention span reader from start to finish. A rubbish headline will sink the entire article, and poor quality content will reflect badly on your organisation.
- You lack the relevant skills
Successful blog writing is about more than just writing engaging articles. You need to be able to include the right SEO keywords to drive traffic to your site; you need to A/B test your titles to get the maximum click through rates; and you will want to illicit an action out of the reader, such as downloading your lead gen or contacting you direct. Then there’s social media sharing, PR outreach and other opportunities to promote your content. Coding skills don’t hurt either, as that’ll mean you can create a great looking blog as well as one that reads well. Sounds like a lot of effort? Think about calling in the professionals.
- It’s just not working
When you’ve put in the effort and brushed up on your SEO and social skills but you’re STILL not getting the traffic, it’s definitely time to talk to the experts. It could be a basic problem that’s relatively simple to fix, or it might require an overhaul of your blog format or SEO strategy. Whatever is going wrong, a professional will pick it up and correct it fast, saving you time and wasted effort in the process.
If these issues sound all too familiar to you, make this year the year you finally outsource your blog writing. With a small investment you could be enjoying more traffic, more leads and more sales.
