On the surface, it might feel like adding a blog to your business website is a simple enough idea.
After all, you just have to write about a few topics that make sense for your niche, post them, and hope for the best, right?
Wrong.
Effective blog management means having complete control of the type of content you post when you post it, and the way it fits into your overall content marketing strategy.
In this guide, we’ll go over what blog management is and why it is so important. Plus, we’ll offer a few of our best tips for getting it right.
Let’s dive in.
What is Blog Management?
Blog management is the process of ensuring that your content marketing is in line with your bigger marketing strategy.
It includes elements like finding new and exciting topics to cover and doing keyword research to discover the best search words to include in each piece.
However, it also includes elements like getting to know your target audience, brainstorming each post’s value, and selecting the right promotion tools to bring in readers.
While it is somewhat of a broad scope, blog management is a crucial part of the whole process. It’s essentially the road map that keeps everything on track.
How Does Blog Management Help Your Content Marketing Strategy?
Delegate tasks more effectively
A well-run blog needs a steady stream of amazing content to succeed and experienced content creators on staff who are up to the task of creating it. But it also needs a blog manager to delegate tasks and oversee the workload.
When individual tasks are assigned to the right people, everybody wins. Key examples of signs of a well-run blog management system include:
- Tasks are assigned to content creators according to their strengths and experience
- Smooth communication between managers and the content team and vice versa
- Great content briefs are clear and make content creators’ jobs easier
Create more compelling content
According to recent research, there are over 600 million blogs on the web, so your blog has competition. That means your content needs to be exceptional to stand out and be noticed by your prospective customers to give you a real chance at beating your competitors.
A blog management routine that consistently yields compelling, effective content involves:
- Staying on top of industry trends and creating content to match them
- Paying attention to post headlines and making sure they command attention
- Incorporating visuals like original graphics and videos into posts
- Keeping an eye on what the competition is doing and planning accordingly
- Repurposing content when it makes sense and keeping top-performing pieces updated
Keep a consistent posting schedule
Remember, incredible blogs that keep audiences returning don’t happen by accident. They’re meticulously planned according to a cohesive blog management schedule. A schedule helps a blog manager to keep the content flowing, even when the unexpected arises.
Examples of how to maintain an effective schedule include:
- Planning and creating content well in advance to avoid delays
- Attaching faster turnaround times to time-sensitive stories and trendy content
- Including social media posts, email blasts, etc., in the schedule
- Making sure regular readers know when to expect upcoming posts
Improve Search Engine Optimization
Search engines favor websites that are updated frequently and consistently. Therefore, solid search engine optimization isn’t the kind of thing a blog manager handles just once. It’s an ongoing part of effective content management.
An effective blog management routine involves ongoing tasks like the following:
- Performing regular SEO audits to scan for potential issues
- Promptly addressing snags that could hurt SEO, like broken links and duplicate content
- Regular keyword research sessions to zero in on new key terms to target
- Watching the competition and incorporating what you learn into content planning
Best Practices for Effective Blog Management
Like any other aspect of digital marketing, there are certain best practices that you should try to stick to when it comes to blog management.
While these certainly are a few of the most important areas to pay attention to, this list is certainly not exhaustive.
Here are a few expert tips on how to effectively manage your blog.
1. Know Your Audience
The first step in any blog management plan is to know your audience.
In fact, you could probably relate this to any digital marketing strategy in general — it’s that important.
When it comes to determining who you’re writing for, you’ll want to take the time to get to know what they prefer in terms of likes, dislikes, and content.
One way to do this is by creating individual buyer personas that give you a bit of background on how certain types of individuals react to the information you’re posting to your website.
You can also ask your current audience what they enjoy most about your blog by doing a survey or just flat-out inquiring with those who embody the group you’re most interested in resonating with.
The main point?
You want to find out who you’re writing blog posts for and try to match their needs as accurately as possible.
2. Develop a Laser Focus on Your Niche
When you have a blog, it can be easy to try to cram as much information as you can about a wide variety of topics to try to increase your overall organic traffic.
The problem with this is that posting about too many things that stray from your target niche can overwhelm your audience with stuff they might not care about.
Thus, it is always a good idea to develop a laser focus on your niche.
What do we mean by this? Only blog about things that relate to that industry or topic.
For example, a personal injury attorney probably wouldn’t want to post content about how to repair a refrigerator.
However, the audience of a DIY blog would love this — more than they would want to hear about how to file a bodily injury claim after a car accident.
So, keep your topics on point and stay as close to your intended topic as possible.
3. Produce Only Quality Content
Let’s face it.
There’s a lot of content out there these days, which means your audience has a choice as to where they get their information from.
If you’re only writing short posts that have very little informative value, then they’re likely to go elsewhere.
Likewise, longer content that is hard to read or filled with typos and grammar errors is apt to annoy people.
That means you need to only post quality content that offers informative value and fulfills a need for your audience.
Skip the fluff and keep each post as on-point as you possibly can. Use different services like Grammarly or Essay Writing Service.
What if the topic is a little deeper and the post is getting to be too long? Consider breaking it up into multiple content pieces, effectively creating a small series.
Not only is this better for your audience, but it also gives you multiple pages in which you can rank in the SERPs, too.
4. Keep a Solid Editorial Schedule
Perhaps the biggest downfall of most blogs is that they simply stop posting.
Maybe they began with a strong intent to always add new content three days per week.
But then a member of the team was out ill or it was the holidays. Or a certain topic just took longer to write.
Once there is a gap, it can be incredibly difficult to try to get back on track, which then leads to delays, less content, and a reduced audience.
Instead, it is better to keep a solid editorial schedule.
This means literally getting out a calendar and deciding which days in the next month or quarter your team plans to post, deciding on topics or keywords, and sticking to that publication date, no matter what.
It is also an ideal way to keep your team in the loop about various deadlines and when posts are expected for completion.
Remember, the more everything is organized and everyone is on the same page, the easier it is to remain consistent.
5. Use a Blog Management Tool Like Studio
When organizing your approach, it is also a wise idea to use a blog management tool.
While there are plenty of them on the market, our favorite is Studio.
What is this?
Studio helps agencies and marketing teams manage their projects and campaigns by streamlining tasks, encouraging collaboration, and providing insightful reports.
It can be used to control projects for an internal team or orchestrate the activities of external teams, in one central location, effectively eliminating hard-to-follow email threads.
From a blogging perspective, it is a great way to always see where each post is in the content creation process and determine what is necessary to push it to the completion finish line.
If you utilize freelancers or remote employees for your content creation, it is an exceptionally helpful way to keep everything on track.
6. Always Provide Value
Another tip when it comes to blog management is to always provide value.
While this goes hand-in-hand with always creating quality content, this tip dives a little deeper.
Simply put, you should find the main point that solves a specific pain point for your readers within each blog post.
By narrowing down the reason why someone would find that piece of content useful, you can then decide the best way to get it in front of them.
For example, maybe that’s a paid ad on social media or simply an email sent to your list with basics on why this post is helpful.
Either way, the main goal of your entire blog should be to give your target audience the engaging and informative content they’re looking for.
7. Find Opportunities for More Content
There’s an old saying in the digital marketing world that content breeds new content.
This is certainly true when it comes to blogging.
Each new post should give you at least one new idea for a follow-up piece of content. In some cases, you might even touch on a topic that leads to six or seven other posts, too.
After your team writes a new post, it is important to look back and decide if there are areas where you can clarify a certain topic or provide additional important information.
Then add these items to your content calendar.
Once the new posts go live, you can link to them from the original blog content, which can help with search optimization.
Some digital marketers refer to this as content siloing, but it is really up to you if you want to use a more formal content structure like a silo or just go from one topic to the next organically.
8. Remember Keyword Research
A big part of blog management is knowing what keywords to target within your posts.
While this probably sounds like a no-brainer to someone well-versed in how content marketing and SEO work, it is an area where a lot of new bloggers struggle.
So, why do you need keyword research?
Well, it is important to understand what people are actually searching for online.
When you can figure out the actual terms and phrases they’re using to find the information they’re looking for, you can start to aim to be that resource by including those terms in your copy.
However, it is important to then determine the amount of traffic each keyword is getting and who the competition is on Google or Bing for those terms.
Keyword research is essentially the tool that you can use to ensure your content gets in front of the right audience looking for answers to the topic you’re writing about.
9. Avoid Content Cannibalism
Another important aspect of blog management to remember is to avoid content cannibalism.
What this means is competing with yourself for the same search position on Google.
This is usually only a problem after you’ve grown your blog to include a large number of posts, but it can still happen at any time.
Instead, make sure you’re only creating content around topics that you haven’t covered yet.
If there’s something that’s changed or you need to update the information, then go back and add to the existing post instead of making a new one.
In addition, it is always a good idea to look at your existing blog to find topics that could be combined for better effectiveness.
If necessary, eliminate one and redirect it to the other that you’ve updated.
10. Don’t be afraid to delegate your content
Probably, you will find yourself with a lot of articles to do. And this is part of blog management.
That’s why we understand that a big volume of content to write can be scary. The silver lighting is that you can delegate this task, so you can focus on strategy and management.
Ghostwriters can help you a lot with these, you can give directions to your audience and the type of content you need, and they will deliver.
Creating a Blog Management Workflow
Establishing and sticking to a workflow that works is essential to a blog management system that truly serves you. Here are some key steps to start with when putting together your own workflow.
Zero in on the goal
Your audience and industry are constantly changing, as are the topics that are important to them. Great blog management means riding the wave with a steady stream of compelling blog posts that are always timely and relevant to the audience.
Therefore, every new round of content brainstorming should start with a simple goal reassessment. What do you hope to accomplish with this content? How will each piece move you forward toward that goal?
Brainstorm a variety of ideas
Every content creation goal typically has many ways a blog manager could take to get there. It’s worthwhile to consider all of them, as you never know which idea could turn out to be your next big hit.
And don’t forget that successful blog content is about more than just the blog itself. Is there guest blogging or influencer partnership opportunities to consider here? Where do your social media feeds and audiences fit into the mix?
Break large tasks down into smaller steps
Making a content creation goal a reality is about properly timing the journey. Here are some tips for doing this effectively:
- Assign priority levels to each task involved
- Break down large tasks into approachable mini steps
- Schedule each step accordingly
- Delegate tasks to team members, freelance talent, etc., where it makes sense
- Communicate with all team members frequently to keep everyone on the same page
Set clear deadlines and milestones
Deadlines help keep people on task, help them focus, and give them something to shoot for. They also ensure that tasks get done promptly. Every task on a blog manager’s to-do list, big or small, should have a deadline attached to it, whether it is necessary or not.
For best results, always plan deadlines so tasks get done ahead of schedule. Leave some wiggle room for unforeseen circumstances, so you don’t ruin your publishing schedule.
3 Best Blog Management Services
A blog management routine is ultimately only as good as the resources behind it, so a go-to list of blog management services is a must. Here are a few to try in 2023 and beyond.
1. WordPress
WordPress is more of a content management system than a service, but it’s a game-changer for any company’s blog management routine. Not only is WordPress easy to use and set up, but it’s SEO-friendly and gives content managers an incredible degree of control over their material. The downside is that you have to create all the content yourself.
2. WriterAccess
Ultimately, you’ll want to build a team of reliable, knowledgeable content writers you can count on. WriterAccess is home to thousands of experienced, passionate writers and content creators who hold themselves to the highest possible standards.
3. Upwork
Upwork is one of the largest, most widely used freelance marketplaces today, so it’s a great place to connect with a wide pool of talented creators in a pinch. It’s home to copywriters, graphic designers, web developers, voiceover artists, and many more. However, the quality of talent is not always reliable there.
Wrap-Up: Succeed with These Blog Management Tips
Effective blog management is all about careful planning, creative idea generation, airtight scheduling, and stellar content that turns heads.
WriterAccess can help you meet your content goals by connecting you with the best possible writers for your team. Get a free 14-day WriterAccess trial today and experience the difference firsthand!
