Now that your team has set content strategy goals, let’s think about how you’re actually going to meet those goals. How are you planning to promote your blog, and how will your content spread organically? An effective way to encourage your content’s reach is to encourage subscriptions. Ideally, this will lead the people who regularly interact with your content to see it, read it, and share it with people they know. Subscribers also help you communicate regularly with the same people, letting you nurture them to become leads and customers down the road.
Before launching your blog, make sure you set up the following to start getting blog subscriptions right away
Subscriber emails
Set up a workflow that
automatically sends
subscribers emails with
your latest posts. Make
an email template with
links to your posts that
curates your scheduled
content and send it on to
your subscribers. Over
time, make sure you’re
optimizing the subscriber
emails for clickthrough rate
and conversions. Check
out the anatomy of a blog
subscriber email here.
Subscriber forms
How will your site visitors
sign up for a blog subscription? Set up forms on your
main blog page and CTAs
on your blog posts to
enable people to sign up.
Subscribers must opt-in to
be emailed, so be sure
your CTAs and form copy
are compelling.
Calendar
Schedule your subscriber
emails in advance of
sending to allow time for
corrections! HubSpot’s
blog tool can help with that.
Frequency
How often will your
subscribers get emailed?
Daily? Weekly? Each time
a new post is published?
It’s important to be clear
to your subscribers about
how often they’ll be
emailed. Pro tip: The more
you email people, the more
likely they are to eventually opt-out. Keep the
frequency to a minimum!
We recommend weekly or
monthly depending on how
often you post.
Unsubscribe pages
You’re required to give
anybody you email the
option to unsubscribe from
your mailing list. Have fun
with it! Check out HubSpot’s
unsubscribe page as an
example and think of ways
to delight your audience
and perhaps even encourage
them to continue receiving
your emails.
Plan for Logistics
Subscriber pathways are only the start of blog logistics you
need to plan for. How else will you convert visitors into
leads from your blog posts or get subscribers to interact with
you elsewhere?
In Week 7, it’s time to think through some of the other logistics
of your blog — from encouraging social sharing to planning
your launch day.
Here are some logistical elements of blogging to consider
before launching.
Social sharing buttons
Attract new visitors and encourage people to share your
content by adding social sharing icons to your blog posts.
CTAs
Think about where you want visitors to go once they read
your blog posts. You probably don’t want them to leave your
site, so add CTAs and hyperlinks to other content, offers, and
site pages. Over time, test to see what works best for your
audience. Maybe it’s specific content offers, maybe it’s visual
CTAs, or maybe it’s pop ups! Here’s a CTA best practices guide
to get you started.
How to handle comments
Most content management systems enable blog commenters
on posts. Comments are a good feature because it
encourages user generated content and engagements
with your content. Make sure you plan for how to handle
comments. Will comments be allowed all the time or just
for a short period? Who will be responsible for responding
to those comments or questions? Decide on your policy
beforehand so your team knows how to handle comments
from launch day onward.
Adding dates to blog posts
Don’t forget to add publishing dates to all of your blog posts!
It’s important for visitors to know how recent and relevant
your content is for credibility. It also allows you to track
metrics over time and update posts when you need to.
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