Blogging isn’t as easy as it sounds. You can’t just sit down, write content, put it on your blog, and hope it explodes. It takes networking, interactions, and strategy to get it in front of a larger audience. Here are five best blogging practices for marketing and growing your business blog:

1. Post Consistently

It’s okay if you aren’t blasting out 5-10 posts per week. That can be hard to do, especially if there’s only one person writing the posts. Set a posting schedule that you can keep up with. Maybe it’s twice a week – Mondays and Thursdays. If you can push more content out, great! The key is to post consistently so your readers know what to expect.

You should aim to post at least once per week though so that readers can find fresh content on your site frequently.

2. Quality over Quantity

There’s not much point in posting content if nobody is going to read it. For the sake of quality, post less often if necessary so that the content you do send out is read. Google likes quality and unique content. Taking the time to write solid posts will not only make your readers love you but will likely rank your posts higher in organic searches on Google!

“When creating content, keep the 80/20 rule in mind at all times – 80% of your content should be helpful and educative, while the other 20% can be greater related to product and company promotion.”

3. SEO is Key

Not only in the title and meta description of your post but throughout your post as well. Specifically at the top since that’s what Google reads first. Don’t spam your post with keywords, but bring up the key points of your post at the top and try to include relevant keywords where they fit. Utilizing SEO throughout each post will help Google pick them up.

4. Share, Share, Share

What good is your content if nobody sees it? It’s up to you to share the content of your blog! Social media is a great way to reach out to your customers and let them know about it. Commenting on other blogs, and sometimes linking them to relevant posts on your page can bring traffic as well. Don’t become that guy that links to their blog with every comment though. It hurts your credibility.

You can also try to make blogging agreements with other bloggers, mentioning their company in your blog and vice versa. This puts you in front of new email lists.

5. Guest Posts

You can write guest posts for other blogs, big or small, and have the potential to capture some of that audience. Accepting guest posts for your blog is great too as that motivates the guest to share the post as well! Just make sure those guest posts align with the content of your blog, and that you make sure the quality is consistent with the content you've already put out there (or better!). 

Blogging has proven to be an effective way to raise brand awareness and gather a following for your business. If you’re providing your audience with quality content on a consistent basis and doing your part in making sure they see it, it will be beneficial to you.