Today’s search engines are savvy. They use complex algorithms that push mediocre, unhelpful, keyword-stuffed content back to where it belongs—off page one! That’s why, if you’re paying a marketing agency for blog writing services, it’s more important than ever to make sure that investment pays off.

In this blog post about blog posts, we’ll share how to get the biggest bang for your blogging buck.

Start with “the why”

Blog articles remain among the top content channels for building brand awareness and nurturing audiences toward conversion. But, the days of just any old posts getting results are gone.

Before you start investing time and money into blog writing services, take a step back and define your reason for blogging in the first place.

Are you writing blogs to optimize your website for search? Or is the goal to write about topics your sales team can reference with prospects? Maybe your goal is to build brand awareness and become a thought leader in your market.

All of these are great examples of “whys.” The important thing is to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish going in, so you and your marketing agency partner know how to best execute blog writing services with that end goal in mind.

Choose a marketing agency that gets your brand voice

Just like how every author you read sounds a little different, every brand has its own unique style and tone.

Using a consistent brand voice across all your content feels more authentic, and it also helps your readers get a better sense of what your company is all about.

When you’re hiring a marketing agency to help with your blogging, they need to understand your company’s brand voice so they can use that same style in your posts.

One of the best ways to get them up to speed is to share some great examples of existing content you have that “sounds like you.” You can also share any other resources they can pull from for direct quotes and related information related.

What if I’m not sure what our brand voice is?

If you aren’t sure what your company’s style and tone sound like—or it’s been inconsistent up until this point—consider creating a content style guide.

Your style guide will be a document that outlines what makes your company unique and how your brand voice sounds. It may also include tactical information on content formatting preferences (e.g., whether to use title case or sentence case, how you write specific product names, etc.).

Educate your marketing agency on your audience and personas

We all want to be well-liked, but trying to appeal to everyone is rarely ever an achievable goal. Depending on your target markets, you can have multiple audience segments and unique personas within each of those segments.

You (and your readers) will get much more value from blog writing services provided by your marketing agency if their ghostwritten posts are created with a specific audience in mind. Understanding who they are and what they care about is essential to blogging that moves the needle.

There are several different avenues for getting to know your target audience, including:

  • Google analytics: Get deeper insight into the interests of people visiting your site. (Click through to Audience > Interests > Overview)
  • Social insights: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn provide demographic information about the people who engage with you.
  • Talk to your audience: Interviews can help you better understand your audience’s pain points, interests, and what type of content resonates with them most. You can do these easily via email surveys, phone calls, or online polls.

Your marketing agency will be better equipped to provide blog writing services that get results with well-researched persona information in hand.

Create a blog writing roadmap

Just like you wouldn’t go on a road trip without your GPS (or an Atlas if you’re old school), you shouldn’t embark on this blog journey without directions. You’ve decided where you’re headed and what your end goals are. Now you’ll just need a map to get there.

A great way to get where you’re going with your blog writing services partner is to use target keywords. You likely already know what your audience cares about through persona research. Use this knowledge to develop a list of keywords they may be searching for when creating blog writing assignments.

Learn how to come up with fresh ideas for blog content

Turn a keyword into a relevant blog topic

To keep with the travel theme, let’s say you run a bicycle shop in Indianapolis. Your keywords might include things like:

“best mountain bikes” or “Trek bikes in Indianapolis”

Starting with a keyword in mind can help you brainstorm relevant blog topics that you can optimize for search so customers can find the issues they care about (and your business) more easily.

For your bike shop, you might come up with some topics for your blog writing services provider to tackle, such as:

“5 Most Popular Trek Bikes in Indianapolis” or “The Best Mountain Bikes for Indianapolis Trails”

If you’re not that familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) or keyword planning, make sure you choose a digital marketing agency that understands SEO and can offer topic guidance as part of their blog writing services.

Once you have some relevant topics in mind, you can create a cadence for your posts by developing an editorial calendar to track and coordinate production deadlines.

Make a promotion plan

You don’t want to spend your precious marketing dollars on blog writing services just to let your incredible content sit and collect dust.

Make sure your blog articles see the light of day and get in front of the right eyeballs with strategic promotions. You can spread the word about new blog posts by:

What to expect when using TBH Creative for blog writing services

Strategic blogging generates qualified leads. That’s why businesses that work with an outside agency for blog writing services see 13 times the ROI of companies that don’t, according to Semrush.

Maintaining an active blog is table stakes today for companies of all sizes. That being said, not every team has the bandwidth for blogging on their own, and many need to hire a marketing agency to lend a hand.

If you’re ready to take your website content to the next level but need a digital marketing agency that knows how to get the most out of your efforts, the team at TBH Creative can help with blog writing services.