Why Blogging is a Sustainable Marketing Strategy
A GUEST POST BY MICHELLE MILLER OF MINTY MADE AND THE GREEN MARKETING ACADEMY
Blogging is quite underrated these days with the continuous craze of everyone trying to keep up with following the latest trends on the most popular social media platforms. When educating other businesses about sustainable marketing, blogging is a much stronger channel due to its longevity and ability to keep producing organic website traffic.
For starters, blog posts generate their own SEO and are searchable, unlike the captions that we sometimes spend hours writing for social media posts. If you take away anything from this blog post, please start prioritizing blogging into your weekly marketing practices.
Blogging as Part of a Sustainable Marketing Strategy
Another business owner/friend of mine receives most of her project inquiries from a single blog post that she published over 5 years ago! She not only has to spend less time marketing on social media, but the inquiries that she is getting are already specifically interested in working with her because of the keywords she intentionally used in the title and throughout the post.
And the good news is, if you’d rather film yourself taking instead of writing a long-form blog post, vlogging is a great way to deliver sustainable content to your audience as well. However, I would recommend using a transcription service to turn this into a written blog as well so that you can take advantage of the SEO benefits that come with it.
The Anatomy of a Sustainable Blog Post
While blogging is a more sustainable form of marketing content, there are necessary guidelines to follow in order to ensure that you are structuring and writing a blog post in a way that allows you to experience the benefits that it can provide. So we’ll take a look at specific parts of a blog structure that you should focus on.
Write a Compelling Headline and Title for the Blog Post
Every great blog post starts with a headline that grabs the reader’s attention, and encourages them to keep reading to learn more. Most people visiting websites have very short attention spans—around eight seconds in length. Therefore the headline is one of the critical first elements that help readers decide if they want to continue reading. In fact, 60% of readers don’t read past the headline, which presents either a big opportunity or a big obstacle.
Brainstorm a Working Title
Start with a title in mind and brainstorm how to make the angle as interesting as possible. This is the phase of blogging where you start with a general topic and narrow down exactly what you want to write about that topic.
For example, if I want to write about the topic of “green marketing,” I need to come up with a more specific working title first. And those working titles depend on the format of my blog post. Whether you’re writing a long-form article or a how-to guide, brainstorm a few titles to determine the outline for the rest of the post.
Here are a few ideas:
- The Guide to Green Marketing
- How to Get Started with Green Marketing
- 10 Green Marketing Strategies We Love (and Why)
Once you have the angle established for the title, it’s time to conduct keyword research.
Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research will help you create a headline that will perform well on search engine results pages (SERPs). Your headline is one of many factors Google considers when ranking search results. An optimized title and headline will help people find the information they need more easily.
You can use keyword tools and plugins to determine exactly which terms people are searching for, and which will be easier or more difficult for your new blog post to rank for. A few of the tools that I would recommend checking out include Answer The Public or Keyword Surfer.
Include Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions aren’t seen in the blog post itself, however they are a very important piece of the puzzle.
The meta description refers to the HTML attribute that explains the contents of a given web page to the search engine. Basically, it’s a short description you see to “preview” what the blog is about. In this example, it would be: This article explains how blogging is a more sustainable form of marketing than social media. It also includes tips on what to include when writing blogs.
The headline, URL, and meta description work together to convince searchers to click on a link to read the entire blog post, so you’ll want to put thought into what to write for this piece of your blog post too.
In HubSpot’s analysis, they found the ideal meta description length is under 155 characters.
Include a Featured Image
Featured images usually sit at the top of a blog post and are another element to draw readers in to learn more. The image should reflect or be relevant to what the blog post is about, intrigue readers, and ideally be aesthetically pleasing to look at.
Be sure you choose featured images that you’re legally able to edit and publish on your website. Unsplash is my favorite royalty-free stock image source to use. Always be sure to credit the source as well!
Include an Introduction
The introduction needs to quickly capture your reader’s attention and convince them to continue reading the rest of your blog post. It also has to let the reader know what your post is about, so you’ll want to make sure your post actually aligns with what the headline says it is.
Whether your approach is using humor, including interesting and surprising facts or case studies, or asking a question, find a way to make the first lines of your blog posts as attention-grabbing as possible. Write an introduction that would make you want to keep reading an article—a quick few paragraphs to draw the reader in and let them know what they’re about to read.
Use Subheaders
Subheaders are another on-page SEO element that helps your blog post to rank in Google searches. Subheaders organize and break up your blog post into different sections to signal to Google (and your reader) what information the post will share.
Subheaders should always be written with H2 tags or smaller — never H1 tags, which are used for titles only. Use subheaders to split up sections of your blog post, making sure to integrate the keywords that you’ve researched and are using this post to target.
Write Valuable Body Text
The body of your blog post, which is separated by various subheaders, is where your readers will find the most value and key takeaways. In another analysis done by HubSpot, the ideal blog post length is roughly 2,100 words, but this also varies depending on your topic. Medium found that posts that took seven minutes to read had the most engagement.
Whenever possible to use data and numbers in your blog post, do so. Here’s another fun fact: numbers written as numerals (23) instead of words (twenty-three) have been shown to attract reader attention when they quickly scan what they’re reading online.
Include Images or Other Interactive Elements
Wherever it’s relevant to do so, use images or other visual content to break up the blog post and re-engage your reader. You can even use your blog post or video to promote reputable, eco-friendly brands.
Changing up the format of your blog post will provide additional value to your reader while making sure their eyes stay focused on what they’re reading and seeing.
Write a Strong Conclusion
When you’re ready to wrap up and sign off, make sure to let your reader know the article is closing. Your conclusion doesn’t need to be lengthy, but it should serve to recap the blog post the reader just finished. It can also provide more resources and guidance, if desired.
End Your Blog Post with a CTA
It’s best practice to end your blog post with a meaningful call to action (CTA) for your reader that’s relevant to the topic they just read about—whether it’s a link to another website or related blog post, an offer, or a way to engage further.
Use the last lines of your post to leave the reader feeling like they’ve learned something and like there’s even more to learn from you, your business, or the service/product that you offer.
Sustainable Marketing Goes Beyond Blogging
Blogging is one of many effective steps to crafting a sustainable, ethical, inclusive, and more accessible marketing strategy. If you’re interested in learning more about ways that you can shift your marketing to be more sustainable, check out The Green Marketing Academy. We offer educational courses, workshops, certification, and a community of like-minded business owners who are putting people and the planet before profit.
Psst: You can also read my blog post—Marketing That Aligns and Applies Your Core Values—on Michelle’s website!
About the Author
Michelle Miller is the Owner & Creative Director of Minty Made, a full-service branding and web design studio based in Seattle, Washington. She is also the Founder of The Green Marketing Academy™, an online course, certification and training program that helps businesses, marketing professionals, and teams adopt sustainable, ethical, and inclusive marketing practices.
Prior to running her branding and web design studio, Michelle spent over a decade in corporate marketing and sales. During this time, she witnessed how much waste was produced and how many unnecessary dollars were spent on ineffective marketing methods that also had a detrimental effect on the planet. Not to mention, the constant burnout that came along with this working environment.
Michelle’s mission is to share her knowledge and experience on what we can do differently to grow a profitable business, lessen our impact, and keep our own energy sustainable as professionals, marketing teams, and business owners.
