If you had someone build a web site for your business in the past few years, they have probably approached you about adding a blog to the site. The reason they suggested a blog is the benefit it adds in terms of SEO. The more times you are changing content, the more search engines such as Google take notice and ranks you higher in searches. However, most corporate blogs go dormant (or dead) just a few months after a new web site is launched. The reason for this is pretty clear: it is hard work to come up with content for a blog post on a regular basis. And if you are talking about your products and services, there is only so much that can be said before you run out of content and stop posting anything at all. When this happens, not only does it hinder the search engine boost that it was supposed to help, it will kill any engagement you have with your customers. People won’t read your old material again and again. So what works? Let me explain some content marketing strategies that will help you keep your blog from the mothballs.

Get past trying to describe what you produce on your blog. That sounds too much like an advertising pitch. Instead, tell how your products or services solved a problem. Content marketing is the opposite of advertising. It is sharing information from your expertise. There is no better way to do that than by showing how you resolved an issue for a customer.

Focus it on your customer’s success

One strategy that works well with the problem-resolving blog post is to tell the story of your customers and their success using your product/service. Really good blogs pat their customers on the back and, in turn, get two things in return – a back door endorsement and a customer who is likely to come back for another purchase.

Keep it short

Blogs should not be confused with novels. People simply will not read a blog post that is longer than about 1,000 words (we shoot for 500-700 with our posts). We live in an instant info society. Your content needs to reflect the reading time tolerance of your audience or you are wasting the effort.

Use video

Not all communication needs to be written. Tell your story with short videos. It is easy to upload digital footage to YouTube and then put a link on your web site, social media and e-blasts.

Use graphics

Don’t post blogs without some sort of visual. Using charts, photos and other graphics will help engage your visitors.

Post your social involvement

Today’s customers are more inclined to read your content if you are including more than just work related material. Try posting photos of your employees helping out others in need. I know businesses where a few employees have started riding their bikes after work. They decided they would ride in a hundred mile race and raise funds for an African village that needed a well. While you might not want to post every cause your employees support, this is the kind of thing that everyone can get behind – who is against clean water in a poor village in Africa? Show your heart. We have found that there is more engagement with a blog that throws in a good human interest story every now and then.

Make it easy to like

Whatever you post, make it easy to like. Especially on social media, the more people who like what you’ve posted the more exposure it will receive. Stay away from controversial topics. Stay away from boring content. Stay away from what your competition is posting. Think outside the box a bit. Keep in mind that you are competing for the attention of your target market and they are getting bombarded with a lot of information. Make yours appealing and likeable.

Come up with a plan

The best piece of advice I can give you about blogging is to come up with a plan. Outline the topics you believe will garner the attention of your customers. Look for other content on the same topics. Link to them. Think through what you need to do to keep variety from one post to another. If you have neither the time nor the patience to write your own content, hire a writer who can help you.

Blogs are great when they change out often, are well written, and engage your target market. But dormant blogs will drag down your online marketing efforts. Better to be without a blog than to let it go dormant.