Return on Investment (ROI) is an important aspect in measuring the effectiveness of your blog. It’s important to understand that how it’s measured depends a lot on what your campaign objectives are. What are the results you are looking for? Is it conversions you are after? Is increasing revenue is your primary objective? Or maybe you are simply seeking to increase brand recognition or social awareness? Let’s look at some ideas for how you might increase the return on your investment.
1. Identifying the right audience
Most campaigns begin by researching your audience. If you don’t know who your audience is, how can you expect to reach them? Before you do anything else, ask yourself the following questions about your audience:
- what age range(s) do they fall into?
- what social networks do they use?
- are they more likely to be using laptops or mobile phones?
- are they students or professionals?
- what are their interests?
- where do they live?
- what is their income level?
If you can’t answer these questions easily, spend some time getting to know your audience more before proceeding further with trying to maximise the return on investment of your blog.
2. Producing the right content
Once you know who your target audience is you can go about developing content to meet their needs and expectations. Your blog articles need to be well-written, well-presented, informative and relevant. Try to provide answers or solutions to the kinds of questions your audience might be asking. Try to create different types of content: for example you might post content that relates to an upcoming event or holiday, but try also to create content that will have long-term value. You can maximise your time investment by developing blog content that remains relevant for a long time. For example, if you produce a really good purchasing guide for a particular product it is likely to be useful for a couple of years before you need to update it.
3. Aim to satisfy multiple marketing objectives
It’s likely that your blog objectives won’t be one dimensional—you’ll likely have several goals that you want to achieve. Therefore, you need to ensure that your content serves multiple purposes. For example, if you are just starting out then brand awareness is just as important as sales. If you are already well-established then focusing on re-engagement with existing customers will be important. The more clearly you define your goals at the outset, the more successful your blog will be.
4. Integrate and network with other platforms
One of the best ways to increase your return on investment is to make sure your content gets noticed. You can do a lot of things to increase your integration and online networking:
- link to content provided by industry leaders and influencers in your niche
- produce content for social booking marking sites like Reddit and StumbleUpon
- establish your presence on all relevant social networks
- register your business with Google My Business to get direct inclusion in Google Search and Google Maps
- add your business to any relevant local online directories
- use email campaigns where effective
5. Encourage participation
Your audience plays a big role in developing your online presence. The more often you are mentioned the higher your relevance. Look for ways to encourage audience participation:
- include a moderated comments section on product and service ages where appropriate
- include share buttons in your blog post
6. Explore different formats
People might not always have time to sit down and read your blog article. Mixing up the types and formats of content you produce can help maintain interest:
- have a go at producing some streamable video content
- try incorporating an audio podcast
- use infographics
- include special offers and add incentives for people who introduce new customers to your blog.
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Luke Chaffey is a Digital Marketing Specialist with KBB Digital. The Professional Services Marketing Conference is pleased to have Luke as our Closing Keynote speaker who is going to be detailing. lots of valuable information about Digital Marketing. For advice on Digital Marketing, including SEO services and Digital Strategy, visit www.kbbdigital.com.au