By now, blogging is far from a fringe marketing activity. 65% of B2B marketers used blogging last year, the third most popular tactic, according to the Content Marketing Institute.
Blogging may be a preferred means of communicating with and engaging leads through the entire – often lengthy – sales cycle, but many in the B2B space struggle with it. They struggle with how to write a good post, one that will get read. As a result, the world gets another abandoned blog.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
As Mark Schaefer, the author the hugely popular Grow blog, wrote the just published “Grande Guide to B2B Blogging“, he detailed his formula for crafting the perfect B2B marketing blog post. Here’s his four steps.
1. An Eyeball-Grabbing Headline
This is the first thing your readers see when it pops up in search results, their email inbox, on social and their RSS feeds. It should be short, sweet and make the person want to click on it.
2. Illustrative Photos and Video
We’re visual people by nature. (The meteoric rise of Pinterest confirms this.) To grab and keep your readers engaged, provide visual elements like video or photos. Just make sure they actually tie to what the post is about. Spend a little for stock photography or add some Instagram flair.
3. Keep it Short
Remember, your audience is full of business folks. They’re pressed for time. So keep your posts short and to the point. 600 words or less is a good measure. Bullet points and subheadings help organize the post in a business-friendly manner.
4. Make it Shareable
If you want to expand the reach of your content, you need to make it easy to share. Social sharing and email buttons allow readers to quickly push your blog to their network. Plus, widgets like tweet counts and Facebook “likes” provide social validation.
Follow these tips, you’ll be on your way to B2B blogging perfection. Of course, this isn’t all the wisdom Mark shared. There are pages more in the Grande Guide to B2B Blogging, which is free by the way.
