New York event planners are always keen on finding new ways to engage their target audiences. One of the most influential methods of content is a business blog. But blogging isn’t for the faint of heart. In fact, if you jump in without a proper plan, content strategy, and schedule, your event planner blog won’t gain much traction. The best, more inspirational blogs out there are those that offer a few key things. And for your event planner blog to be successful in growing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, and even generating a few leads, you’ll need to know these blogging insights for success.
Start with the Blog Process
Before you take another step toward writing or developing a blog, you need to make a commitment. A blog is a living, breathing thing that needs to be fed and watered regularly to be healthy. This means time, dedicated writing, and thoughtful topic development. You’ll need to establish goals for the blog and metrics for accountability. And you’ll need to have a month’s worth of content in the bank before you start posting anything because falling behind will cause you to lose momentum and effectiveness.
Delegate Content Contributors
Before you start your blog, decide who’s going to be contributing and managing the posts. If you’re writing your own, have a backup writer. If you’re posting blogs to your site and cross-posting to social media, have a backup colleague handle those posting duties in your absence.
Set a Schedule
There are different camps of thought on how frequently you need to post blogs to be effective. But there are no rules about starting slow and ramping up or hitting it hard and then tapering off to a more consistent pace. Just know what schedule you need to have, and then make sure you have the resources to stick to it.
Know Your Topics
Don’t fly blind with an event planner blog that doesn’t have thoughtful topics and content. If you’re rushed to “crank something out real quick,” your blog will suffer. Instead, plan a content outline for several months, if possible. Make sure those topics all flow well and support each other in a sensible way for readers visiting your blog or going back to read older posts.
Data-Driven Keywords and SEO
Sit down with your digital metrics for your event planning website, social profiles, and online presence. Use those metrics to develop SEO guidelines for your blogs and keywords rooted in target audience search strength. These details can be put into a content brief to outline consistent best practices and guidelines for every blog you plan to write and post.
Developing and Writing Blogs
With your blog plan and process itemized, you can then get into the nitty-gritty of writing. New York event planners are creative and polished by nature, so you’re writing may be top-notch. But it won’t hurt to keep a few rules handy as you take to the keyboard. And if you’re not as confident in your writing, surround yourself with tools and resources to help you craft your most compelling content.
Engaging Titles
Most of your audience will be consuming content on a mobile device. They’re probably on the go, too. So, any long-winded or ho-hum titles will be passed over in the never-ending scroll. To gain their attention, you need attention-grabbing headlines and titles that also signify “a brief and important read.” If it’s interesting and quick to read, they’ll stop scrolling.
Lots of Links
The SEO gurus will all tell you to have an internal linking strategy that involves links to other blog posts or landing pages within your website. Aim for two to three of these for every blog. External links are important, as well, only if they’re from reputable sites. Don’t link to sources you're unfamiliar with, competitors (of course,) or sites with broken page links.
Grammar and Plagiarism
Blogs are meant to be conversational. So, read them out loud and make sure the content flows well. It’s entirely ok to be a little loose with your style and personality. But no one wants to read a blog that’s chock-full of terrible grammar, poor spelling, or inconsistent punctuation. Get the tools, like Grammarly or Hemmingway, and run your posts through for a quick roster of fixes and suggestions. Those tools will catch plagiarism, too, allowing you to rephrase things for 100% originality in your blog posts.
Key Takeaways
Your target audience isn’t interested in reading a book. They want nuggets of digestible information and key takeaways. Frame the important pieces of your blog as listicles, bullet points, or varied heading sizes. And always make your posts sharable, so when people love what they read, they can share your blogs with others.
Other Tips for Launching Your Event Planner Blog
Overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. There’s an awful lot that goes into developing a successful event planner blog, but you can do this. Here are a few other insights worth noting and working into your strategy.
- Frequency and consistency matter. Don’t start until you can commit to your schedule.
- Have a backup plan should topics or inspiration run dry.
- Consider guest contributors. Your voice doesn’t have to be the only one featured in your blog.
- Blog repurposing can be helpful for important topics.
- Strong calls to action are essential. But don’t always be selling something.
- Ask readers to subscribe to blogs in their inboxes or incorporate your blogs into a newsletter.
- Use your blogs as inspiration for all other marketing efforts, including social media posts.
- Do your research and document your sources every time.
When you’re ready to develop a blog for your event planning business, consider these insights as a guide. And get creative! You have lots to share, and your audience will love to hear more from you. Just be mindful of your strategy and purpose. And if you need more blog inspiration and help, you can talk to thousands of event planning professionals at The Event Planner Expo 2022 this October! Get your tickets and find your inspiration at New York’s biggest event conference of the year!
