In today’s digital landscape, consumers want to be educated first before making a purchasing decision, and one of the best ways to share your company’s expertise and build credibility with your prospects is to have a strong blogging strategy.  According to a recent Inbound Marketing Report, 81% of B2B companies use blogging as a content marketing tactic. However, there are a few important best practices companies overlook when developing content for their websites.

There’s so much going on in the financial services industry today. From data breaches, to new technologies and changing regulations, there are many topics to choose from to engage your readers. But before choosing a direction and title for a blog post, it’s important to understand your audience and define your buyer personas.

The key is to understand who your target audience is and develop content that addresses their main challenges and pain points, educates them on the topic, and encourages them to engage with your company. When you develop content that resonates with your audience, it's easier to build up your credibility and position your company as a thought leader in the industry.

The number one goal of having a company blog is to increase visitors to your website. When your prospects have questions or are looking for solutions to their business challenges, one of the first places they go for research is the internet. But with so much content online, it can be difficult to stand out in a sea of search engine results. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a key part of blogging because you want to optimize your content around keywords that describe your company, your solutions and the key issues your prospects need help with.

The first step is to do thorough keyword research and choose 1  or 2 long-tail keywords to focus on in the post. Website visitors searching long-tail keywords, or question-based terms, are more likely to read the whole post and are usually more qualified prospects for your business.

Be sure to include your chosen keyword in the title of the blog post, one to two times in the body and in the meta description. Optimization is key, but don’t overdo it! Adding too many keywords in your posts hurts your SEO because search engines consider this keyword stuffing.  This also disrupts the reader’s experience, making the post read choppy and unnatural.

When you’re pushing out the same type of content each week, your readers can easily get bored if your new blog post follows the same format as the last five blogs they’ve read on your site. Mixing up your content to include longer and shorter blog posts will help to keep your prospects engaged. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind:

One way to share more thought-provoking content with your readers is to develop a pillar blog, which is a long form piece of content that serves as a broad, foundational resource and references existing blog articles that delve deeper into specific subtopics. This type of post is also a great SEO tool to build internal links to previous blogs and increase your authority on a specific keyword that’s critical to your business goals.

Shorter pieces of content are useful for current event topics that need to be published quickly to remain timely and still pique your reader’s interests. New technology updates, industry news or the latest data breach can be great topics to jump in and share your company’s expertise.

Evergreen content is relevant, optimized content that can be published at any time. Creating evergreen content like listicles, tips, and how to articles or explaining common industry concepts helps you produce fresh and interesting content that continues to engage readers long after its publish date.

When you post a new blog to your website, it’s just another page out there in cyberspace unless you tell people about it. It’s important to use your marketing channels to boost the visibility of your blog posts and get the word out. Make sure you have an RSS email set up to send new blog posts to your subscribers and include a blog subscription form on your blog page to encourage new visitors to join your community.

Social media is another great tool to promote your content. Post your new blog on your company social profiles and encourage your internal staff to share with their professional networks to expand your reach.

To keep your prospects on your site and engaging with more content, adding call-to-action buttons to each blog post you write shows the reader the next step you’d like them to take.  Within each blog post, share more helpful content that pushes visitors further along in the buyer’s journey to learn more about topics they’re interested in and how your company helps address their top challenges. You can link to another related blog post, share a downloadable piece of content (white paper, e-book, product sheet), or encourage them to reach out and have a conversation with your team. The goal is to keep your prospects engaged and show them exactly what you have to offer.

Blogging is a big commitment, and it takes time to develop the best strategy that resonates well with your audience. Focusing on more educational content and incorporating these best practices can help you attract new visitors to your site, keep them engaged with your content, and build strong relationships that are mutually beneficial for your customers and your business.