Try to find out the Right CMS for Your Blog

 In order to successfully launch and maintain a blog, you’ll need an effective content management system (CMS) — a digital system that enables you to host digital content. While identifying your target persona and generating content ideas is the strategic side of launching a blog, these next few weeks are devoted to the equally important technical side.

So, what should you look for in a CMS?

Ease of use

 If you don’t have a lot of technical support at your company, choosing a CMS that’s easy to use is crucial. Most content management systems come with templates you can use or support to help you design it, so make sure you choose one that will work for the skills on your team. 

Key metrics you can track 

Does the CMS allow you to track metrics like conversion rates, page views, and where your traffic is coming from? Analyzing the success of your blog will be incredibly important post-launch, so make sure your CMS allows you to track the success of your efforts.

 Responsiveness

60 percent of all searches on Google come from mobile, which means it’s absolutely essential for your blog to be optimized for for any device that your user opens content on. A CMS that automatically makes your content resp onsive to device type is a must for marketers starting a blog in 2022.

Design Your Blog

 Once you’ve chosen a CMS, it’s time to make your blog come to life. You’ll want to not only make your blog look awesome, but also optimize it for lead generation and turning visitors into prospects and, ultimately, customers. So, how do you design a great blog that will be easy to access and delight visitors? It starts with the right elements and understanding user interface and user experience. If you or someone at your company knows how to custom create your blog, make sure you check off our list of essential design elements. Most content management systems will offer you free templates that you can modify and use if your team has less design experience. And, if you’re interested in the theory behind designing a great blog, you can enhance your skill set by learning user experience design with General Assembly. Need a little inspiration for designing your blog? Check out these awesome examples.  

Make sure our best practices for good blog design are checked off your list this week:

Main blog page

 The main page should tell your visitors about the blog and include links to the most recent posts. Be sure to include a search feature and/or an archive of your past posts so visitors can access both new and old content.

 Color scheme 

To make your blog’s design feels coherent, choose a color scheme and stick with it across all your pages. Trying using your brand colors as a base and adding a few accent colors to tie the whole design together. 

Branding

Make sure your blog’s design looks consistent with the rest of your site branding. While it’s important to distinguish your blog’s look from other pages on your site, your visitors should still feel as though they are on a related page.

Blog post templates

 Each blog post should have the same general layout so readers have a consistent experience across each page. A simple way to ensure this is by designing a template to use for each new blog post!

 Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

 A blog is a tool to convert buyers at the top of the funnel, so linking to pieces of content that will nurture your visitors down the funnel is important.

Focus On Your Content Strategy

For the past few weeks, you’ve focused your energy on the logistics of setting up your blog — from getting started on your CMS to designing and optimizing blog pages. There’s still more technical room to grow, but now let’s focus on your content strategy. Before launching your blog, it’s essential to think about an internal content strategy — both short-term and long-term. Your team needs to answer a few questions about how much time and bandwidth you’re willing to devote to blogging.

How often should you blog?

 How often and when to post will largely depend on what your company does, how big your company is, and how much of an audience you’re looking to attract. That being said, the more you blog, the more traffic you’ll attract over time. And more traffic means more leads and more customers. As a team, it’s your job to decide how much time you’re willing to invest in your blog. But as a general rule of thumb, once a day or a few times a week is a good place to start.

What types of content are you going to write and post? 

When it comes to content matter and post style, blogs are extremely versatile. You can post infographics, how-to posts, list posts, newsjacking posts, slide shares, editorials, etc. Decide what types of formats you want to try and how many resources you can put behind each. Over time, analyze which format performs best to tailor your content strategy toward your audience. The more formats you try out from the beginning, the better your data will be over time. 

What are your goals for launch and post-launch?

 How much website traffic do you want to generate within the first weeks of launch versus six months out from launch? How will you track those metrics, and how will you promote your blog in order to hit your goals? While some of these questions will depend on your current follower base, your CMS, and your promotional strategy, it’s good to have an internal discussion about these goals well before launch so your team can align on their expectations. Setting expectations internally while planning your content strategy is key. Does planning ahead mean your content strategy won’t change over time? Not at all. But laying this groundwork will make you more flexible down the road and allow you to be more focused in the meantime.