A key to running a successful blog is having a strategy to guide and direct all your hard work. If you’re overseeing a company blog, having a strategy is especially important. This post will outline some key areas to think through as you develop your own blog strategy.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about blog strategy. If you’re serious about blogging or run a company blog, you should too.

I started blogging about seven years ago. Although I wrote posts only about marketing and public relations (PR) topics, I was really a personal blogger.

Blogging was a hobby for me.  I maybe posted once a week, sometimes less. That’s perfectly fine. I was blogging for personal interest. I wasn’t concerned about growing the blog.

As work and family demands increased, I didn’t write a single post on my personal blog for three years.

I was, however, tasked with leading the development of my company’s new blog, for a niche health care business-to-business brand.

Thankfully, the blog grew steadily over time. Why? I believe it’s because we had a strategy, and stayed with the strategy.

Some of the benefits of the blog we realized (that you can also) were:

• Increased brand awareness and preference
• Better search engine optimization 
• More leads

So how do you create a blog strategy? What should you include? Great questions!

A word of caution for you… Don’t be anxious about the word strategy.

I believe a blog strategy should cover three areas:

1. Consistency
2. Learning
3. Implementing

Let’s take a look at each of these areas more closely.

Your Key Blog Strategy Decision: Consistency

This is a critical decision. How often will you post to your blog?

This is your call. There’s no right or wrong number. If it’s multiple posts weekly, once a week, bi-weekly or even monthly, that’s fine. The key is determining what is sustainable for you or your company and then staying committed.

I would recommend posting at least once per month to start. Anything less doesn’t build any marketing momentum.

This decision is important, because the number one reason blogs fail is due to quitting. There are just no posts going up. Or, they’re way to infrequent to gain any traction.

Whatever your frequency will be, you must stick to it.

Obviously, blogs can grow faster if content is added more frequently. As you execute on a minimum frequency level, see if you can increase it as time goes by.

You may find that your blog process and flow improves, allowing you to post more frequently.

Continuous Learning Informs Your Blog Strategy

The most successful bloggers and blog strategists have gotten to where they are because they are lifelong learners. They want to improve, and they realize the process of improvement really never ends.

Technology changes constantly. Your customers change. Trends and best practices change. Search engines change. Your business goals change.

It’s important to stay on top of what’s changing. It’s important to learn about how to improve your blog strategy.

Here are some ways to continue to learn:

• Read the latest blogging news from trusted sources
• Talk with other experienced marketers and blog leaders
• Attend related educational events and webinars
• Study your blog analytics to learn what’s working (and what’s not)
• Talk with or survey your customers to understand what content they want

Implement What You Learn

Knowledge is of no use if it’s not acted upon. So, as you uncover new insights about technology, your customers, blogging best practices or other areas, how will you use them?

This new knowledge should help shape and develop your blog strategy. So, make sure that you document what you learn and how you will act on it.

By documenting it, you’ll be more likely to hold yourself accountable for implementing what you learn.

Repeating the process of learning and implementing will have a dramatic effect on the growth of your blog.

Conclusion

A strategy for your blog, whether a personal or business blog, is very important for its growth. The strategy you use doesn’t need to be complex, but it does need to be sustainable.

Make sure you commit to reasonable timelines for updating your blog with fresh content, learning about how to improve the blog and then implementing what you learn. Following this process will go a long way in delivering some excellent marketing benefits from your blog.