Hubspot’s guide on 15 business blogging mistakes

Posted on: June 16, 2012

Hubspot is a source of excellent material on most digital marketing topics and this guide is no different – it is available from: http://www.hubspot.com/15-business-blogging-mistakes-and-easy-fixes/ – although there were a couple of the 15 points which appeared to duplicate information.

One of the most valuable elements of the ebook is the statistics:

• Hubspot research indicates that companies that blog generate 55% more web site visitors, 97% more inbound links and have 434% more indexed pages than companies that don’t blog.
• Businesses that blog at least 20 times a month generate over five times more traffic than those that blog fewer than four times a month and nearly four times more leads than those that don’t blog
• 57% of companies that publish a blog have acquired a customer from a blog-generated lead

I produced the “at a glance” table below to save you time and help you decide whether to download the full document for closer inspection:

Issue	Problems	Fixes
1. Blog not integrated with web site	Missed SEO opportunity Potential for brand/design dilution Send visitors away from your site	Sub domain Web site folder Separate domain
2. Too much product centric information	Users expect educational content Users unlikely to value/return	More time on educational, data driven and thought provoking content relevant to your sector Make it a thought leadership resource
3. Infrequent or inconsistent posts	Clients lose interest and/or go elsewhere for regular information Creates negative impression	Try to blog each week Encourage all employees to blog Develop an editorial calendar Plan topics to be covered (My idea here is to “spark” posts by scanning for topics)
4. Off-topic content published	Blog lacks a theme – so unclear for the audience Community not built	Decide on a focus for the blog – set goals Generate a list of key words Adopt a specific industry related issue Consider your target clients
5. No content variety	Boring Fails to attract attention	Consider charts, audio content, cartoons, infographics, guest blogs, curated lists, industry related book reviews, Q&As and videos
6. Failing to encourage engagement	One way interaction only (broadcasting stuff without interacting) Not very social	Keep comments open Monitor and reply to comments Don’t moderate comments Ask questions Listen (and respond to) feedback
7. Failing to optimise for search	Missing opportunities to increase search performance and increase web traffic	Develop an SEO strategy Identify key words Optimise blog content for those key words (page title, URL, H1 (header tag) and blog title
8. Implementing poor blog design	Missing graphic elements Diluting branding	Include a Call to Action (CTA) in every post Subscription facilities Clear connection to the web site Social media follow and sharing buttons Post previews Sort content Headline formatting Images Fast page load times Clean sidebar Search box
9. Rushing blog titles	Missed readership Reduced SEO performance	Actionable Keyword conscious Brief and clear Definitive Intrigue
10. Not sourcing content	Lacks fresh content Uninteresting blog	Select and curate quality content Welcome guest bloggers Encourage employee contributions
11. Not optimising for lead generation	Not enough Calls to Action (CTAs)	Revise old blog posts and add CTAs Ensure all new posts have CTAs – content focused offers, product focused offers, free trials, downloads, demos, top and side bar ads, anchor text links
12. Failing to promote content in social media	Failing to get blog out to wider audience	Create a social media presence Share links to blog content in social media (Integrated marketing, PR, social media and selling strategy) Make social sharing easy
13. Ignoring blog analytics	Fail to learn what works and what doesn’t Risk of continuing to invest in unproductive blogs	Monthly visitors Traffic driving key words Blog subscribers Comments generated Page views Leads and conversion rate Inbound links Social media shares
14. Not testing blog elements	Lack of confidence in what works and what doesn’t	Test alternative blog titles, calls to action and design/layout
15. Expecting overnight success	Risk of abandoning blog before giving it a proper chance	Invest the necessary time, effort and commitment Resource it properly