In 1994, a then-young student of Swarthmore College – Justin Hall – created Links.net, the world’s very first blog. Although Justin’s post was just considered part of his personal website, it was retroactively named weblog in 1997.
Today, blogs are one of the most popular forms of media to consume on the Internet. Most bloggers use sites like WordPress, Squarespace, and Tumblr to publish their blogs. Seemingly every business worth its salt maintains a blog on their corporate websites for customers to read for their own education, entertainment, and information.
As of late last year, the Internet was home to roughly 440 million blogs; it’s important to note that this doesn’t mean 440 million individual blog posts, but rather 440 websites that are operated in the form of blogs.
Despite the World Wide Web being so packed with stiff competition fighting for search engine rankings, the top spots on Google AdSense, the largest social media followings, and much more, there are, in fact, a handful of simple, solid, effective ways to hack the growth of your business-related blog.
Consider giving away free stuff
Why do customers turn to particular businesses before they turn the other way to be taken care of by competitors? The answer is because they most likely have relationships with such businesses that were birthed from good experiences customers felt they had with such businesses.
How is a business supposed to gain traction when first starting their businesses? One way is to give away free things. Just think – social media is plastered with giveaways that ask Facebook users to like, share, comment, and tag. If other businesses, blogs, and individuals pitch in by giving your post publicity by liking, sharing, commenting, and tagging, you can certainly come up with a solid idea for a giveaway to bring initial interest in.
Testimonials really do work
Testimonials say a lot in business, especially in blogging. If one can prove that others recommend something, new customers are likely to hop on the proverbial bandwagon.
Analysing competitors’ keywords does, too
In order to beat out competitors on search engines, one first must figure out what keywords they’re targeting through keyword analysis. After a blog has found these words, build that blog around the competitor’s and try to beat it at its own game.