More video! Cooler graphics! No. The most brilliant thing you can do for your blog may not sound sexy, but if success is sexy, then so is this: Create and execute a blog strategy that helps you meet your goals.

Why So Blah?

I work with a lot of people who created a blog because they had a vague sense that it was an important marketing tool, but they never really put a clear plan in place for how their blog would help them meet their goals. So they just kind of post things and hope for the best, and from time to time, they get this gnawing feeling that they’re wasting their time.

They are.

Well, maybe that’s a little harsh. If it brings them pleasure to write blog posts… if the blog helps with their search engine visibility… then maybe there are benefits to what they’re doing. But if your blog feels blah, chances are it’s because it lacks focus, and/or you lack focus as its creator. When we’re working toward a clear goal, for a clearly defined audience, inspiration is more likely to flow. And we’re more likely to get the results we seek.

Cure for the Blog Blues

To take your blog from blah to brilliant, design a strategy for it that answers the following question:

“What content should I create in order to motivate my audience to take action, so I can meet my goals?”

Of course, answering this question means having a crystal-clear sense of your business goals and target audience before you dive in to creating or honing your blog strategy. On the one hand, this is no easy feat; on the other hand, if you can’t easily articulate your audience and goals, you should put your attention there before you worry about your blog.

I want to emphasize that unless you’re writing a personal blog for the fun of it, your job is to create the content that you think will move your audience to do whatever it is you want them to do – enroll in an e-course, buy your book, take your workshop, etc. This requires discipline and the ability to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. It also means that you may end up writing a few posts and then realizing, “Oh, shoot, I love this post, but it does nothing to help me get closer to my goals” – and scrapping it (or putting it aside and finding a way to use it another time).

Creating a Content Strategy

Here are some questions to consider as you create or refine a content strategy for your blog:

• What stories can you share that convey your expertise or the value of your offering and also offer some kind of additional benefit in and of themselves? For example, maybe you can share a story tied to a topic in the news that’s relevant to your audience, or maybe you can share a funny video, inspiring anecdote, or educational infographic… you get the drift. Stories are gifts. Think of each piece of content as a gift you’re giving your audience.

• Whose voices can you showcase other than your own? Not that you aren’t compelling 😉 – but variety is the spice of life, and moreover, you increase your own credibility and authority by showing readers the other quality people in your network (and helping your readers expand their own networks in the process). You also demonstrate that you are interested first and foremost in meeting your readers’ needs, not just hawking your own wares (of course, this becomes an effective way to hawk your wares!). And your guests are likely to promote their posts for you to their own audience – so, choose guests whose audiences you covet!

• What kind of content is your audience most interested in consuming, both in terms of format (video? text? something else?) and tone (funny? inspiring? “real talk”?), as well as length (30 seconds or less? long enough to keep them engaged on their commute?).

Content, Meet Audience… Audience, Meet Content

Once you have a clear content strategy, you need a marketing plan that makes it as easy as possible for your audience to find and connect with your blog. (In other words: It’s hard for your blog to be brilliant if your audience isn’t reading it!) For some people, that means making full blog posts available by email; for others, it might mean creating an active Twitter presence, or a Facebook page, or both. Just keep in mind that your social media strategy should always go beyond “Post links to my own stuff.” On Twitter, for example, make sure you’re RTing and responding to your audience, not just asking them to consume blog post after blog post; this is a way of showing them respect and also building a positive relationship for the long haul.

Measuring Your Success

Now comes the part that far too many people skip: Measuring your success. If your goal was to sell more e-books – did e-book sales go up? More to the point, can you track how much traffic your blog sent to your e-book sales page, and what percentage of those referrals ended in an actual sale? You put all this time into creating your blog, and promoting it – it’s essential that you take the time to assess whether it’s working. That means coming up with concrete metrics tied to your goals, instead of just glancing at pageview totals from time to time.

The beautiful thing about the web (well, one beautiful thing) is that you can make adjustments in real time based on results. So if one approach isn’t working, try something new. Try adding a more prominent call to action to every blog post; that minor change could have a major impact.

To be sure, brilliance is in the eye of the beholder. But when you’re building a business, or even a personal brand, brilliance means meeting your goals, financial and otherwise. Your blog can help you get there. You deserve better than blah.

{Featured image via Roll and Tumble Press}