Blog Your Way to Success

Here are 10 tips to get you started:

1. Talk to your compliance team and find out what you can or cannot do while blogging. (Remember that archiving your content is a must.)
2. Plan out a solid content strategy (unique and valuable content that speaks to your target market).
3. Be passionate. Nobody talks about boring businesses.
4. Focus on content that is actionable (i.e., “How to…”). Your readers want to be educated and learn something new.
5. Encourage conversation by responding to every comment, good or bad.
6. Empower your readers to share your articles on social media. (Use social-media buttons such as “Share,” “Tweet,” etc.)
7. Promote it constantly using social media.
8. Be consistent and update frequently (at least once a week). Businesses that blog at least 20 times per month generate five times more traffic than those that blog fewer than four times per month (according to a HubSpot study).
9. Have a solid SEO strategy. (Research which keywords are important to target and focus on long-tail keyword phrases, which are less competitive.)
10. Review your analytics and write content accordingly. (Learn what content people respond to.)

A blog is a simple, cost-effective marketing tool and a great way to raise your profile. Follow these guidelines and start blogging your way to success today.

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• The Thorny Issue of Price
• Do You Speak Your Prospect’s Language?

Loic Jeanjean is the Online Marketing Manager at Advisor Websites where he helps financial services professionals grow their market share by leveraging online marketing and social media. Go to www.advisorwebsites.com/blog for more information.