The digital age has provided consumers with the ability to research products and services before buying, meaning there is a larger pool of potential customers searching for products and apps compared to before. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 80% of consumers researched products and services online before purchasing, compared to just 20% who did research offline.

This research also highlighted that the majority of consumers (62%) prefer to use digital platforms to research products and services. Furthermore, respondents cite social media platforms (50%) and review websites (40%) as the most effective tools for researching products and services.

Businesses must consider how to incorporate online research into their marketing strategies to gain valuable insights about their target audience and ensure they are presenting the right information to the right person.

Build Quality Backlinks To Your Website

The purpose of having a quality backlink is to have another site’s content (such as a news article or an article from a blog) linked to your website. When a site links to your website, it is known as a backlink or hyperlink. High-quality backlinks are proven to greatly increase a website’s visibility in the SERPs (search engine results pages). They can also be a key component in building a brand presence on the web.

There are three types of backlinks that you can develop:

• Internal: These are backlinks that point to pages on your own site. For example, if you are blogging and refer to another blog post in your own blog, you can develop an internal backlink.
• External: These are links that point to websites and content that is not associated with your business. For example, if you are running a blog about fashion and you link to an article about shoes, you can develop an external backlink.
• Social: These are links that point to social media profiles (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). You can use social media to promote your website and develop a social backlink.

To find the right type of content to reference, you can use free tools like Google Books or the Google News Archive. You can enter a keyword or phrase and get a wide variety of results from which to choose. You can also filter the results by date, or restrict it to a certain country to ensure you find local news articles.

Use Keywords In Your Link And Title Tag

When you are creating content for your website, be sure to include the appropriate keywords in your link and title tags.

For example, if you are writing an article about fashion and you want to target women aged between 25 and 35, you might want to include the keywords “fashion,” “stylish,” and “sassy” in your link and title.

Keywords in your link and title tags will help your content gain visibility in the search engines. When search engines find content that is well-written and relevant, it usually indicates that the content will be useful and interesting to the reader. The more relevant and informative the content is, the higher the search engine ranking the content will receive.

Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly

When designing your website, ensure that it is accessible on all devices (e.g. desktop, tablet, and mobile phone). This is important for ensuring that your website is aesthetically pleasing and that it can be accessed easily regardless of the device someone is using.

A well-designed and mobile-friendly site will make a positive impression on everyone visiting your website, including potential customers, but especially older generations who are more likely to use mobile phones and visit websites on small displays. A 2015 Ipsos survey revealed that Generation Z (people born between 1994 and 2020) and millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) consider responsiveness to be one of the most important factors in judging a brand or website. This generation grew up with mobile phones and using the internet on the go, meaning they are used to navigating and using websites on small screens. If you want to reach this audience, ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and optimized for small screens.

Additionally, a well-designed and mobile-friendly site will encourage website visitors to quickly find the information they are looking for and to view your site content easily on all devices. If someone is searching for information about your company, product, or service, and they find your website on the first page of the search results, you will greatly increase your chances of converting this visitor into a customer.

Get To The Point

Entering a massive amount of text into your blog post simply to provide background information or to elaborate on something that already happened can be frustrating for your readers. In most cases, readers will simply skim over long-form content unless they are specifically interested in the information presented.

To engage your audience and encourage them to read your content in its entirety, you can use short, snappy sentences and paragraphs with concrete information. This will not only make it clearer what is being said but will keep the reader interested and involved in what you have to say.

Utilize Video Content

Since video content is growing rapidly on the web, businesses must consider how to incorporate video content into their marketing strategies. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 94% of consumers now research products and services through video content, compared to just 8% who do so through traditional (i.e. text-based) content.

Additionally, 58% of respondents prefer to watch product demonstration videos before buying, compared to 19% who prefer to see how products look in person before buying. The takeaway from this information is that businesses can greatly increase their conversion rates by incorporating video content into their marketing strategies.

Fortunately, video content can be relatively inexpensive to produce compared to other forms of content, such as an article or a podcast. And, with the increase in video platforms like YouTube creating and sharing short, snappy videos at manageable prices, businesses can easily produce more content to incorporate into their marketing strategies.

Avoid Free Blogging Platforms

When choosing a blogging platform, make sure that the cost of creating a blog is something you can afford. Several free blogging platforms exist, but if you want to have a successful blog, you will need to purchase a premium plan at some point. As a general rule of thumb, avoid free blogging platforms and paid blogging platforms with restrictive policies.

For instance, if you are running a business blog and you decide to use a free blogging platform, you will most likely need to verify that you are an individual or company registered to conduct business in the country you are posting in. Otherwise, your blog will be subject to being shut down at any time by the blogging platform. This can be frustrating if you are not prepared to deal with the unexpected and you want to ensure your blog continues to operate as planned.

Post Regularly

The key to having a successful blog is to consistently post new content regularly. People love to follow blogs that consistently post new content, because it shows the blogger is still active and is interested in what they are saying. Additionally, regular posts provide an opportunity to gain more readers, because it shows the reader that the blog is a place they can come back to for news and information about their favorite topic. If you want to be successful at marketing via a blog, you will need to incorporate this strategy into your plans.

Blogs are a fantastic place to build credibility and authority for your business or blog in your industry. If you want to gain more traction and have your blog recognized as an authoritative source on your favorite topic, consider incorporating the above guidelines into your blogging strategy.