Successful Blog
If you have started up a blog associated with your shared hosting website, you have likely integrated your social media accounts so visitors can simply click to visit the associated account. But how did you do it?
Let's explore the best practices of merging blog and social media so that you are promoting your website and brand in the most useful (and more importantly legal) way possible, and some effective blogging strategies to increase traffic and ultimately customers.
Brand-Specific Logos
If you as a business have a trademarked logo, then you know this already: you cannot take a brand trademark and alter it. However, if you don't want to use the big “Facebook” logo for example, the social media site does allow you to use a square with “F” inside with text that says “Like us on Facebook” or something to that effect. You'd better make sure that button is blue with a white “F” though — you can't alter the color of the button at all. As for Twitter, it has to be the standard blue bird in a grey box. The guidelines for using these logos on your own site are available for review on their websites, consult with your attorney for any further questions.
Button Functionality
As for these buttons, you need to be careful how you post them. Why would you post a button that directs users away from your site to one of the social media giants, anyway? You're better off relying on a widget users can click to ‘like' your Facebook page and follow you on Twitter without ever having to leave the page. Now you have more eyes on your social media accounts, and your visitor remains on your cheap hosting website!
Successful Blog: Considerations
Why did you start a blog in the first place? The majority of cheap hosting website owners do it to increase site traffic. Increasing traffic means increasing sales! Sometimes, blogging can replace advertising altogether. If you maintain daily posts of roughly 500 word articles, you'll see great success. Not to mention it's cheaper than traditional advertising!
You need to figure out the type of content you'll post. And don't worry about what to say: blog posts tend to be a bit less formal than your typical news article or award winning novel. You want to come across as friendly and approachable, drawing in customers with your easy, natural, and casual language. However, you want to do so in an effective manner.
Will Your Blog Be Successful?
Well, let's see:
- Are you an expert on your topic? And by this, I mean are you intensely interested in the topic? You'll be writing about this topic daily, so you'd better come across as interested! Your readers will notice.
- Will you be able to entice people to read your posts? Basically, is your content of interest, and are you presenting it in an interesting way?
- Are you a patient person? It can take up to two years to say your blog is successful. At first, you won't receive comments, shares, or retweets. As you progress, you'll determine what posts draw in readers, and you can tweak each post to do the same. You need to stay the course to reap the benefits!
- Are you a perfectionist? Don't be! The important thing is to get the content published.
Hopefully these tips are helpful in your quest to get more traffic to your website.
Do you have any questions on starting a blog and assuring it is successful? We'd love to help!
