I wrote a blog for recently giving my ten tips for a blog page. I created this list as I was (too often!) coming across recruiter blogs which just didn’t work, either technically, or content-wise. So many recruiters want to be noticed, to attract, to source – and having a blog is a crucial way to achieve this.
What is the point of creating content and not marketing it?
I often see (and am sometimes guilty of) writing content, but not marketing it enough.
THE most important goal of writing a blog is to ensure that the blog gets read – and to do this you need to ensure that you give the reader a REASON to read the blog. Few people get out of bed in the morning to read recruitment content, so you need to be clear on:
- What will they gain from reading it?
- Where will they be in their headspace?
- And what will they think of you and your brand?
We work with recruiters and their lovely marketers every day to help them attract attention and talent, and blogging is certainly one area which is pretty crucial. You may be a marketer who is fed up nagging your teams to write content for you. You may even be a recruiter who’s fed up of being asked to write content… what a mess!
8 Practical Tips for Creating Great Blog Content
- Title: Do your best to make this catchy and contain keywords. The blog should be about the reader not you, so mention their job titles and key words that attract them.
- Structure: The structure of your blog will encourage readers to continue reading, so think about headings and breaking up the content (plus Google loves formatted headings).
- Audience: Think about who you are talking to and aim the content at them – AND ensure that you mention their job titles – eg. doctors, IT managers, social care workers, accountants, directors, etc… Be sure to empathise with them too – this means drawing attention to the fact that you “get” them, you understand their issues and the blog is designed to help them with their problem or at least nod at their role / business goals.
- Anchor links: How can you keep people on the blog and glued to you (apart from great copy?) Create links to other content on your site. Bear in mind that external links can also help with SEO – ie. you point to a well-recognised web page and your own site gets a big tick from Google and that helps you with your own rankings (your marketer will love you!)
- Tone: Use your own tone! You don’t need to copy anyone in your business and you don’t need to pretend you are a newsreader and dull it down. Personality (mainstream!) works well online.
- Quotes: Perhaps you have a lovely quote style on your blog (we do and it works well). Plus we also use Click to Tweet which is a way of encouraging engagement through programming the quote to be tweetable. You don’t need to quote someone to have a quote, a sound byte will do.
- Once your blog is live, your job is to get it marketed. Sharing once is not enough – have a plan to spread it across your channels, at all times of the day and over the weekend.
- And finally, THE MOST IMPORTANT tip is to get your content seen where your talent / clients are most likely to read it, and sorry, but that may not be on your own website. Whose hair can you stroke to get your blog published in places where your community really are? Do you even know which blogs your community reads? Get cracking and find out.
Remember, your goal is to get the content read, actioned and your profile seen by more clients and talent, not simply to tick a box or get your marketing department off of your back.
