10 Ways to Create An Ad Agency Blog That is Reader-Centric

A key to your agency’s blog success for new business is to put the user’s experience ahead of your own.

People don’t have time to work hard for their information. You must be prepared to do some work on their behalf if you want to grow your blog’s traffic and generate inbound leads.

Success on the Internet depends on multiplying the number of people who will visit a home page times the proportion who actually enlist your services –the percentage who become clients.

Writing for Web: it is the survival of the easiest. Giving attention to usability can greatly increase the amount of your blog’s visitors who turn into new clients.

Here are 10 ways to create an agency blog that is reader-centric and puts the user’s experience first and foremost:

  1. Write to be easily found. Create an SEO strategy so that your blog’s content is found by your intended target audience. Consistency using certain key words in your post titles that aid in the search-ability of your posts. This same tactic also helps with Twitter and identifies content specific to  your audience’s needs.
  2. Make your blog site easy to navigate. Blogs are not often read chronologically. That makes navigation from a Category section located in your blog’s sidebar a very important feature. Creating blog categories will also provide a guide for your writing keeping you focused.
  3. Provide the reader’s digest version for the information that you share. I would suggest limiting your posts to 350 to 450 words on average. Usually half the word count than you would use for print. It actually takes a bit more work to make post copy concise but your readers will love you for it.
  4. Create numbered and bullet-pointed lists when possible. Readers love it when you created this type of executive summary of information.
  5. If you want more readers focus on short, scannable content. 79 percent of Web users scan rather than read word-for-word. Highlight key words, indent quotes, etc.
  6. Write for fast comprehension. Eliminate unnecessary copy. It takes more work to be brief. Try to stay within 350 to 450 words per post. Web content must be brief and get to the point quickly, because users are likely to be on a specific mission.
  7. Write content that is evergreen to provide information that has a long and valued shelf-life.
  8. Use your analytics to sharpen your blog’s appeal. Your readership will be your guide to relevant content.
  9. Don’t think that just because you’re written it that everyone has read it. Repurpose content. Someone that found a post through SEO, might find another through your email newsletter, or through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
  10. Take the time and select images for your post that convey useful, memorable information, not just decoration.

Why is it so important to create a blog that is “reader-centric”?  To provide a great user experience with your online content, you must overcome these obstacles:

  • You are competing with hundreds of millions of other online sources.  Advertisers are  trying to break through the clutter by yelling more loudly and being more aggressive by deceptive means that hurts everyone’s credibility and raises users suspicions. Readers come to your site with their defenses engaged.
  • Online readers have a very short attention span. The average page visit lasts about 30 seconds. 10 minutes would be a long visit to a website. People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience.
  • Your competition is a click away. There is a low tolerance for poor site navigation, material that is hard to locate and sites that are slow to load.
  • Users want to construct their own experience by piecing together content from multiple sources. Many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.
  • Web users are getting more selfish when they go online. People arrive at a website with a goal in mind, and they are ruthless in pursuing their own interest and in rejecting whatever the site is trying to push.
  • Online behavior is very search-dominated which makes your content search dependent.

What are some of  the benefits for creating a “reader-centric” blog?:

  • It will improve the success rate for communicating key messages.
  • Increase your credibility.
  • Convert readers into loyal followers and advocates.
  • Generate more traffic which leads to higher conversion rates of readers to new clients.

Some additional articles that may be of interest:

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Filed Under: Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, New Business Trends, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,
About Michael Gass

Michael is an international new business consultant to advertising, digital, media and PR agencies. Since 2007, he has led in the use of social media and content marketing strategies to make agency new business EASIER.