Digital marketing hacks: how to build a blog

With so many opportunities in digital marketing, it’s an exciting time for those with a knack for social media or a passion for paid media. There may be loads of jobs, but there’s also a hell of a lot of competition.  

Practically anyone can masquerade as a digital enthusiast these days. And no folks, posting constant Instagram stories and Snapchats of all the cool parties and festivals you attend doesn’t cut it. Employers are looking for individuals who fully immerse themselves in all things digital, in all the right ways. You need the full mix of weapons in your digital marketing arsenal.

Enter the sledgehammer of digital marketing weapons, the blog – or web log as they called it in the olden days. Not only is it an excellent way of showing off your creativity, a blog can help you to build authority as a digital marketing expert. You can showcase your knowledge of the industry to prospective employers and make it clear that you are an exceptional candidate.

Quit procrastinating and telling yourself that starting a blog is too hard and takes up too much time. It will be 100% worth the time you put into it – because you can’t spend every evening binging on Game of Thrones.

You may as well put your spare time to good use, and you never know, you might be able to mastermind your blog into a digital marketing resource that gets a decent amount of traffic and followers. Both of which are excellent for your digital marketing CV. So how do you start a blog anyway? If you really want to impress, you’re probably going to have to do a bit more than sign up for a free WordPress blog. Although at least it’s a start. Here are some handy tips on how to start your first blog…

Related blog: How to stop procrastinating

Decide on a niche/topic area

Yeah yeah, we know, you’re crazy about all things digital. But your blog strategy needs to be a bit more focused than that. Before you even think about starting your blog, spend some time seriously pondering over what exactly you want to tell the world about. So, if it is digital marketing, are there any areas in particular you could focus in on? Social media? SEO? Content? Think how many generic digital marketing blogs there are out there – how will yours be different?

 

Picking a stand out URL

Next up, it’s time to pick a stand out URL. If at all possible choose one with relevant keywords, but the most important thing is that your blog name is memorable and catchy. www.kevinsblog.co.uk probably won’t stick in people’s minds.

Don’t be afraid to go for something a bit more quirky that reflects your personality and the type of content you will be producing. Coming up with an uber cool blog name can be really fun – pinkiguanadigital anyone? Or how about digitalthronedaily? Get brainstorming.

 

Hosting

Ah the technical less fun part. Many of those who set up a website get excited about picking their URL then put off sorting out hosting for a while. Whilst it may not be as fun as choosing your uber cool blog name, it’s essential. Do your research and find a reasonably priced hosting provider. You will probably find cheap deals for the first year which increases in the second year of hosting. £10 per month including an email address is about what you should expect to pay.

Blog design

And now the most important part, creating your blog. Now, you can go down the free Wix or WordPress type avenue and build your own website, which is fine. But if you’re going to stick at this blogging thing for some time, then it’s definitely worth investing in a swish blog designer. Many web designers now use WordPress to build their sites, as it is recognised has having the most user friendly CMS, so you can easily publish your blogs. 

Remember, when you direct prospective employers to your website, the homepage is the first thing they’ll see and use to get an idea of who you are. It’s basically your shop window, so make it count. Get in touch with a web designer and ask them to create a blog design that reflects your vision perfectly. If you’re on a budget, look for someone training to be a web designer, who wants to add to their portfolio. They’ll normally work for a fraction of the price, or for free. However, investing in a website is worth every penny, so shop around.

 

Content

Next up? Juicy content.

The last thing you want to do is build a beautiful digital marketing blog platform, and not make the most of it. Which means getting a solid content plan together, and if you’re as nuts about digital marketing as you say you are, this should be a welcomed challenge.

Plan out what topics you want to write about over the next three to six months – or year if you’ve got time – and schedule when you are going to write blog posts. This will help ensure you post regularly and your blog doesn’t turn into a ghost town. Tools like Answerthepublic, Google Keyword Tool and Buzz Sumo can help you come up with some ideas. You’ll want to cover some digital marketing news as well as general tips, advance and digital marketing discussion points.

 

How to optimise your digital marketing blog for SEO

You may send your blog link to the odd recruiter or potential employee, but if you’re not careful, these are the only people who will see it. You should aim to gradually build up some natural search traffic so that, over time, your blog gets a decent amount of monthly visitors. This means making sure you include relevant keywords and phrases into digital marketing blog posts, and ensuring you are writing about content that people might be searching for.

For example, Keyword Tool reveals that a fair amount of people search for ‘digital marketing strategy’, so you might want to plan some content around this. Utilise your meta tags such as the H1 and meta title as well as labeling any images you use properly in the alt text.

We could go on for days about how to optimise your blog for natural search traffic, but sticking to these basics should get you off to a good start at least. Armed with all the above info, there’s no reason why you can’t start your own blog today and show the digital marketing world what you’ve got.

You’ll defo be more desirable than those candidates who simply post on social media every so often – #whocares. You may also want to brush up on your digital marketing skills in general so you know what you’re talking about in your blog posts. Our digital marketing courses can help with that.  

Related blog: SEO, How to stay abreast of Google’s algorithms