Did you know that companies who blog generate 67% more leads per month than their non-blogging counterparts? That’s right, the content you publish on your blog can play a huge role in turning around your business.
That is if you get it right of course!
Yet, for all the potential that blogging can deliver, getting to the heart of what people want is essential to any success you hope to achieve. And there’s always room for improvement and reevaluation – especially if you feel you are not getting the results you deserve.
So how does a small business, on a shoestring budget go about it? You might not have a blog yet, and it doesn’t matter! But you’ll most certainly have material you can use and re-purpose.
The only question left to answer here is what can you do to improve your current and future content that delivers the results you want.
How to improve your content in less than 14 minutes?
Keep calm and do less!
You will be tempted to try and cover as many topics as you possibly can. However you’re better off sticking to what you know best in the beginning.
Focus your attention on content that helps you achieve your business goals and satisfies your audience’s needs.
Here are a couple of benefits to focusing on the essentials:
- Content is easier to manage
- It delivers a better user experience
- Content costs less to create
Take stock of your content
Like we mentioned earlier, you probably have some material you can re-purpose, such as:
- PowerPoint presentations
- News articles
- Interviews
- Videos
Take stock of what you already have, and assess how it all fits into your strategy. You might be surprised to find that with a little imagination, you don’t really need to throw it all away.
Listen!
To get to the root of what your audience wants, it’s important you ask the right questions. But more importantly, you have to listen to what your users answer and make sure they do most of the talking.
Besides asking them directly, follow discussions online to determine what they find important that is relevant for your content.
Assign a content manager
Somebody needs to take ownership of the content. Making sure it’s up to date, is still relevant, meets the needs of your audience and achieves business objectives.
Typically, a content manager is charged with the creation of online content, its delivery and editing. They provide the oversight needed for the processes involved in maintaining an active online presence.
Here are a couple of things you should look for in a content manager:
- Good writing skills and excellent communicator
- Strong attention to detail
- A social media wizard
- Good proofreading skills
- Creative and passionate
Get started, right away
You have to start somewhere, and if you want to do it in less than 14 minutes, you better get started… immediately!
The easiest way to start is to simply ask your colleagues and find out what bugs them the most about your current content. And from then on out, just get on with implementing the changes you need to make.
You might already have played with the thought of starting a blog, but wrote one or two posts that yielded no results. Perhaps, it’s something you haven’t started yet and you need some guidance – in which case you should check out How To Develop A Content Strategy That Rocks!
