10 BLOGGING BEST PRACTICES THAT IMPROVE B2B LEAD GENERATION

If you’re a marketer looking to improve lead generation, adding a blog to your website is one of the best investments you can make.

But blogging only produces lead generation results when it’s planned and executed properly. Here are ten blogging best practices sure to improve lead generation for B2B companies.

1. Blog Regularly

If you’re going to have a blog for your brand, you need to commit to a regular blogging rhythm.

If your organization can’t commit to blogging regularly, you are better off not having a blog. Not only is a poorly maintained blog a bad experience for your most engaged website visitors, but search engines will drop both your blog and website in search rankings if they crawl your site and determine your blog is not regularly updated.

2. Blog At Least Weekly, More If You Can

Blogging at least weekly is a good rhythm to get search engine crawlers regularly returning to and indexing your site. Weekly blogging is also a good starting rhythm for your audience, who may have subscribed to your blogs or who may be following your brand on social media.

Blogging gets exponentially more powerful if you increase your frequency to more than once a week.

Consider the following statistics on blogging:

• B2B marketers who use blogs generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not. Source.
• Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors. Source.
• Once you write 21-54 blog posts, blog traffic increases by up to 30%. Source.
• Once you write 52 or more blog posts, blog traffic generation increases by up to 77%. Source.
• Companies that blog 20 or more times in a month see the most return on investment in traffic and leads. Source.

3. Include A CTA

The best tip we have for improving lead generation through blogging is to always include a call-to-action (CTA) in every blog post. The blog post draws people into your funnel who are interested about the topic you’ve written about, and the CTA should send them to a landing page for a related offer with an opportunity to convert.

If you’re not including a CTA in each of your blog posts, you’re losing obvious, valuable opportunities for lead generation.

4. Include At Least 2 Images

Articles with images get 94% more views than those without. Adding more than one image to a blog post increases user engagement and average time-on-page. Be sure any images you use are relevant to the copy and that you use no more than one image for every 350 words.

5. Write For How People Read Online

People read copy on the internet differently than they do when copy is on a page that is physically in front of them. Most people skim online content, especially blogs. When you are writing a blog, it needs to be written in an easily digestible, visually appealing way that creates a good user experience. Otherwise, you risk losing the reader’s attention.

Break up your blog content into short paragraphs and bulleted or numbered lists and include whitespace often. Add visuals (images) and conversion opportunities (CTAs) to further organize your post.

6. Promote, Promote, Promote

The very best content-based lead generation programs have a ratio of about 20% content creation, 80% content promotion. If you are spending the time to create blog content for your brand, it is vital that you invest significant thought and effort into distributing it.

Your blog content should be distributed through a variety of channels and individuals - your website pages, LinkedIn, Facebook, emails, events, or lead nurturing campaigns, for example.

7. Write As Part Of A Content Strategy

The most common mistake businesses make when trying to generate leads through blogging is putting tactics ahead of strategy. When you decide to launch a lead generation campaign, it’s exciting, and it can truly be tempting to just start publishing blogs. But, if you don’t have a cohesive content strategy connecting your blog content and marketing and sales strategies, you’re unlikely to be successful generating good leads.

8. Invite Others To Contribute

Varying perspectives from experts inside of your company is incredibly valuable and amplifies the effectiveness of blogging for lead gen. When you can tap expertise from within your organization and collect a library of thought leadership pieces, you’ve set yourself up for success. Although not everyone may want to participate, those who do will enjoy the opportunity to showcase their expertise and build their personal brand.

9. Use Keywords That Your Prospects Use

Another common mistake of underperforming inbound programs is “self speak,” or using language that is familiar and common only within the writer’s organization. Unfortunately, this practice actually alienates your target audience.

To connect with your target audience, you need to communicate in the words your prospects use. This is so simple, yet so many businesses fall into this trap.

10. Write About Problems and Pains (Not What You Do!)

Our final tip is strongly connected to another common cause of lackluster lead generation results. When developing your content strategy and creating your blog content, write about things that matter to your target audience and explain how to solve a problem or pain point they are experiencing.

Don’t give into the urge or pressure to write about your company and the benefits of working with you. Blog posts are meant to be educational, not salesy. Once you convert a lead through a related offer, and when the prospect is ready, you can chat with them about how your business might help them. The result is a warmer lead who has developed trust in your brand throughout their sales journey, and, therefore, higher close rates.

Want to learn more about maximizing lead generation for your organization? Click below to download 5 Questions To Ask To Maximize Lead Gen For B2B Companies.