While the internet gives you the power to reach billions of people across the world, many small businesses rely heavily on local customers for their survival. Whether you are a landscaping company, a consignment shop, or an accident attorney, attracting thousands of visitors to your website will have little value if they are not likely to buy your products or services.

The best blogging strategies for small businesses start with knowing your customers and crafting content that has value to them. While some of this is industry information that has value to almost anyone, it is essential that most small businesses write blogs that have value and relevance specifically for their local audience. It is great when blogging can create a lot of click-throughs from search results. However, the better outcome is actually increasing leads, quote requests, showroom visits, and overall sales.

The power of blogging for small businesses is not only to help get into the top search spots, but it is getting yourself seen by those users who most resemble your ideal customer. Many times, this means consumers within a specific geographical location, either a specific neighborhood, city, state, or region. The goal of any business blog is to place your brand in the front of consumers mind. Ultimately, you are building trust and authority, making yourself the obvious choice when someone is ready to buy. Does that make sense to you?

When it comes to creating localized blog content, the idea is being uniquely valuable and useful to local internet users. Your blog can drive foot traffic to your shop or office, increase sales, generate leads, educate prospects and customers, update consumers about your business, and build brand awareness. Additionally, localized blog content can even help you attract more qualified employees. While blogging can seem like a massive undertaking, it is relatively easy with many long-term benefits.

Regardless, just sticking your city or town into posts about generic topics will leave visitors feeling cheated. Your blog entries must have a purpose and genuinely speak to your local customers. Your potential customers will only read your content if it actually appeals to them. So, before starting, there are things you must do first.

1. Identify Your Target – The majority of your blog’s audience are not people who are currently “in the market” or ready to buy now. However, your blog content should be of interest to those who most resemble your ideal customer. Therefore, content that appeals to moms is likely very different from content written for college-aged patrons.
2. Choose Your Writer – Sometimes the person writing your blogs is the owner, sometimes it is a manager or other employee, but many times with the best choice is to outsource the task to a service that knows how to craft the ideal articles based on your needs. Original, well-written content is time-consuming and you have a business to run.
3. Create a Schedule – Consistency is essential for blogging success. The intent of your blog is to attract and build an audience. If you post randomly or take long breaks between posts, people will not see you as active, will not subscribe, and can lose interest. Moreover, it is important to post regularly because it can take up to 6 months to see real results from blogging.

Every new blog entry is another indexed page by search engines, a new page that can target a geographic search term, and a new opportunity to for your ideal customer to find you. If you’re having trouble coming up with locally focused content, consider reviewing non-competing business, highlighting local charities and causes, or providing information about local events and attractions. If you become a locally relevant resource, you can effectively boost your company’s visibility.

You’ve finally managed to hit the big time. You’re running a successful site, people love your content, and you’re turning a profit on what you post. The only problem is you’ve just completely run out of ideas for what to do.

Writer’s block is a painful yet inevitable part of making content, both professionally or otherwise. If you’re just writing for fun it’s not that big of a deal, but when you’ve got a website to think about with users expecting regular content, that’s where things start to get dicey. If you can’t think of something soon, who knows what might happen?

Luckily, there’s several ways you can buy time while you wait for the creative juices to get flowing again. The method we’re going to discuss today is outsourcing.

Just like people outsource the production of goods, you can outsource the content creation on your site by hiring others to write for you. It’s a simple and effective process that gives you plenty of time to catch up when you’re not able to stay on top of your posting.

How do you do it? Just follow these three easy steps to learn how to outsource your content and you’ll be back in the game in no time at all.

Step 1: Find a Writer

You’re not going to get much writing done if you don’t have someone to write for you. This is easier than it sounds given the high number of freelance writers floating around the web looking for work. It’s all a matter of finding one that suits your needs.

For starters, you can try connecting with a writer directly through a personal blog, a website, or a professional social media page. Sites like Craigslist are a great way to put up ads to let people know you’re looking for a writer to work with you, too. There’s also websites like Verblio that do the hard work of getting in contact with writers for you, potentially opening you up to loads more people than you’d otherwise find.

Regardless of the route you choose to take, having a good idea of what a writer can do either through samples, resumes, or work submitted is helpful in determining whether you want to make use of their services or not.

Step 2: Send Instructions

Once you’ve successfully gotten a writer on board, you’re already halfway there. After that, it’s all about figuring out what kind of content you want them to write for you.

The best way to get the best content out of your writers is with clear, concise instructions. Whether you have an idea of what you want them to create for you or plan to let them take the reigns and submit their own ideas, it’s necessary to provide a guideline with information on your website, topics normally covered, stylistic requirements, and any other important details you can think of to avoid wasting your and your writer’s time with sub par content.

You could also include any links you want them to put into their content, though some prefer to do that themselves with the finished product.

Step 3: Pay Them

Now you’ve got a shiny new piece of writing polished to perfection just waiting to be published. All that’s left to do is to pay your writer for the work done. While it may sound like an obvious point, it’s astounding how many people want to complicate the process.

If you contacted a writer directly, you most likely settled on a price per word during negotiation. Depending on the writer, this could range anywhere from 3 to 8 cents per word, though it entirely depends on the person you’re contracting. Websites like Verblio have a set rate per piece that’s paid to writers with the client paying slightly more than what they get due to the site itself taking a cut via a subscription plan. How much this is will depend entirely on the website you.

In general, if you’re the one making an ad requesting a writer, it’s a good idea to have an idea of how much you’re willing to spend in advance. Additionally, if you’re asking for large amounts of content, don’t act surprised when the bill ends up being similarly big.

Final Thoughts

Follow these three steps to effectively outsource your writing content. Not only is outsourcing a great way to help keep your website afloat when you can’t produce the content for it yourself, it’s also a vital tool in making connections within the world of freelance writers. People you hire to outsource could even become full time employees in the future so long as you keep your relationship good.

Business owners know that having a strong online presence is an essential part of any marketing strategy, but a website alone doesn’t always get the job done. Social media can boost your brand and get your message out there to the right people. However, with the wide variety of social networking sites available, finding the best choice for your situation might seem overwhelming. Social media doesn’t have to be something you dread! Read on to learn more about which social networking sites could benefit your business the most

Facebook

Facebook has been dominating the social media scene for well over a decade now. Millions of active users hope on the site every day to get news, talk to friends and family, and share ideas. Facebook is a great tool for raising brand awareness, directing visitors to your website, and generating leads if you know how to use it properly. Start by building a page. Fill it with accurate information in your “About section.” Use helpful keywords, post your business hours, and respond give potential customers a way to contact you if they want more information.

After your page is set up, it’s essential to post interesting and relevant content as often as you can. If you don’t have the content, don’t post! It’s better to post great content only once a week than to post boring, generic, or unhelpful content daily.

Once you get in the swing of posting great content, it’s time to advertise! Learning to leverage Facebook’s ad platform is essential. Even with only a tiny marketing budget, you can see a significant return on investment if you use Facebook advertising. You can choose your budget, and target ads at specific demographics so that you know your content is reaching the right people.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media platform for business, so if you’re an individual looking to connect with professionals, or own a business that follows a B2B model, LinkedIn is a great tool. Use a LinkedIn profile to highlight your own professional work history and give yourself a leg up on the competition. Like Facebook, you can create a business page on LinkedIn, but it’s used primarily to build professional networks and build connections. Engaging content and status updates are key here. Posting the information that potential customers are looking for can help to paint your brand as a leader in your industry, can and educate them about the products and services you offer.

Instagram

If LinkedIn and Facebook are about engaging content, Instagram is all about engaging images. Instagram is actually owned by Facebook, so the advertising element is very similar to Facebook’s, but if you don’t have a marketing budget, Instagram can be a great choice for your business. With Facebook, it can be tough to get in front of your audience without paying, but Instagram reaches followers much more organically. Memes, short videos, and niche hashtags will connect you with an audience who is interested in what you have to say.

Stunning visuals are key here though, which makes Instagram perfect for choice for businesses with a visual aspect. Artists can show off their latest piece, and real estate agents can give their followers a sneak preview into the houses that are on the market.

Dive In

If you don’t have a social media presence, you are missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers, so it’s time to get started! People are looking for fresh content that helps them, informs them, or speaks to their needs or emotions. Remember that and you’ll be on the way to building a hungry social audience.