10 Characteristics of Great Blogs: Dos and Don'ts

Blogging can be a somewhat arduous endeavor; for one thing, you have to find good content to write about and pair it with good images. Also, you have to have a blog that has pleasing design, a good purpose, and connections.

To make things a little easier, here are 10 tips for making your blog even better. Or, if you are just getting started, here are 10 tips for getting off on the right foot. These tips are courtesy of our Los Angeles marketing company copywriting team.

1. Do make sure your blog platform is mobile responsive. Or, if your blog is hosted on your website, then make sure that your site is mobile responsive. With more and more smartphones and tablets being used these days, especially out of the home, more web searches and navigating is being done away from desktops & laptops. If you are not sure, then contact our Los Angeles web design team, they can help you figure out if your site is responsive, if not, what can be done about it. 
2. Do have a purpose for the blog. This purpose is not just so you have a place to write your thoughts but the content always needs to circle around a specific theme. A visitor to your blog should know what the subject matter/purpose of the blog should be apparent within a few seconds. 
3. Do watch spacing. Have some whitespace, don't pack everything in so tightly, like a can of sardines. Let the text, the images, and the reader breathe! 
4. Don't clutter. Sure, there is the sidebar for things like widgets and other links but avoid filling it so much that it becomes crowded and aesthetically displeasing. 
5. Do watch the header heights. Avoid making your headers so tall that it takes a couple scrolls for viewers to see your content. 
6. Do make sure your site has great navigation. If your blog is on your website, then your website needs to have good navigation. If it does not, then visitors to your site will find the site frustrating and that will lead to visitors leaving. You want your web visitors to stick around! This is important for good blogging, web design, and search engine optimization.
7. Don't have auto-play music or videos on the blog. As soon as the sound starts to play, the visitor will either get scared or annoyed; whichever is the result of the auto-play sound, the person will hit the mute button on their keyboard and your song or video will be rendered useless. 
8. Do have contact buttons or links on your blog. Make it easy to move over to your site and specifically, the contact page. It makes your blog much friendlier and engaging. 
9. Do be focused on your reader. Is your blog welcoming and helpful? Make it look and feel trusting. 
10. Don't use bad background or font colors. One poor choice of blogs is to have a light text on a dark background. Another mistake is to have too many colors with the fonts. 

Enjoy your blogging. Make it great! If your business needs helping getting a blog started or want someone to manage your blog, then email Integraphix about blogging services, SEO, or social media! 

6 Marketing Lessons About Getting Through to Female Millennials

Is it possible to create curate content for millennial women when everyone has smartphones and tablets that give them constant news?

Well, it all starts with analysis and good research. A good company will look at A/B Tests, reports (seasonal, annual, quarterly, etc.), and professional copywriters and editors who know what to produce that will generate buzz and traffic.

Trends for what is liked and not liked with content marketing and native advertising change all the time, however, there are certain guidelines that behoove brands to adhere to.

Here are six guidelines for brands to adhere to: 

1. Don't just focus on center content. Be willing to look at the content topics that might be on the fringes of your brand's scope-- maybe they are not directly correlated to topics from your products or services. For example, if you sell haircare products to women, then creating content that discusses hair accessories would be wise; this opens up a related avenue and overall idea that women can have the perfect hairstyle (between your haircare products and the accessories). 
2. Make it appealing but not click-bait. Click-bait is everywhere, any time we check our social media accounts, especially Facebook, we see titles like, "This man sat on a bench, what happened next blew me away…" Topics that are humorous, relatable, and cute tend to be topics that people like to read and share-- you can create stories that talk about these but are not click-bait. 
3. Don't be afraid to appeal to your fringe audience. Appealing to your target consumers is something every good Los Angeles marketing company will tell you to do; a great one will tell you to go a step further now and then. Consider the group that lies beyond the immediate audience. Making your content mass-appealing can mean getting more shares and more followers in your target audience. 
4. Make people feel happy! Content that makes people feel good is content that is going to be read, and more importantly, shared. Our LA marketing agency copywriters will tell you that the best content (according to shares) is content that is upbeat, positive, and uplifting. One way to do this is to encourage your readers to make a change, for the better. 
5. Evergreen is lovely. Evergreen content, often educational and informational, may not be content that is screaming to be shared like trendy topics but it has its own perk(s). This is content that has a much longer shelf life; so while it may take more time for the readership and shares to build, it has more time to do so. It never goes out of style. 
6. Analyze the success, such as the shares. The important things to look at include your visitors (especially unique), page views (again, especially unique), but especially the number of shares a post gets. The number of shares is the true number of success. Think about the keywords and images, along with the copy, to put in a post so it will succeed on social. 

Great content is a major contributor to having successful marketing, especially digital marketing. Does your business need better writing for blogs, social media, or advertising? Then email Integraphix and see how we can help you! 

Content Marketing Tip: Appeal to the Reader's [Blank]

When it comes to getting through to readers and making your content memorable for content marketing, you have to appeal to the reader's [blank].

Why is it important to appeal to their [blank]? Well, if you do it right, you get that connection to the story that is only generated when [blank] is brought into it. The stories you can publish to stir the [blanks] can be simple funny lists that kids say, insights into a tragic event that will stir the [blank] of sadness, a story about an injustice that will stir the reader's [blank] of anger, frustration, or pity.

Not every story your professional copywriters write has to be a long, essay-like piece of writing; you can utilize list formats, a brief story with paragraphs, or it can be in fun formats like tweets or photos.

The bottom line is that you just have to appeal to the reader's emotions. 

(In case you didn't figure it out yet) 

The things we get caught up in, the things we want to have connections with, the things we get passionate about are things that appeal to our emotions. 

Have you heard of someone who enjoyed something because it made them sit there and think, "Meh."? Chances are the answer is no. Our Los Angeles creative marketing team responsible for ad copy and other forms of copy always look to appeal to some emotion because those are the words that people will remember.

You do have to be careful about what you post and what emotions you appeal to, however.

Get copy for blogs, advertisements, or other marketing materials that is worth reading. Hire Integraphix, a LA marketing company.