Inspiration: The Best Brand Blogs
Brand blogs are extremely important, and only becoming more so over time as Google’s search algorithm continues to learn how to evaluate high value that users will actually enjoy. What does this mean for you? It’s time to get your rear in gear and make sure your blog is populated with interesting, educational and entertaining articles regularly.
Not sure where to start? Take a look at brand blogs that you wish yours was more like. Study not only the topics they cover, but their style, length and keywords. Start writing in a way that mimics them, and you’ll soon find your own success.
To get you started, we’ve rounded up our favorite brand blogs in a variety of industries, so you can get inspired - and get started - today!
Marketing - KISSMetrics
This may be one of the coolest blogs in the entire industry, and it’s used as a source for so many other great articles! It’s chock full of great data, insights and expert tips.
The blog attracts all of their key audiences: marketing professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs looking for a leg up on beating the competition. We use information from their blog frequently to inform our own decisions, and have yet to be led astray.
Retail - REI
If you think this blog is just going to talk about camping, you’re wrong. REI’s blog is so successful that many of their customers actually subscribe to their RSS feed! In it, they talk about everything from crazy cool fitness contests to tips on mastering the ultimate carry-on bag.
You can emulate this blog by keeping in mind that, well, it’s not all about you. Even on your own blog. Mix up your content, make sure it’s fresh, and resist the urge to croon praises about your own brand more than every once in awhile. If you can show, rather than tell, how cool your offering is, go for it, but don’t publish more than a few articles that are outright boastful.
Hiring - Glassdoor for Employers
Glassdoor made the decision early on to create separate blogs for employers and employees - after all, their concerns are markedly different. By doing so, they’re able to cater to each much more effectively.
The Glassdoor blog for employers, like all good blogs, talks about much more than just their product! They fill their blog with answers to questions and explanations of trends that their clients are likely searching for. This establishes them not only as a thought leader, but also does wonders for their SEO.
Glassdoor’s blog is a great example of staying focused on an industry - which is important if you’re in a crowded space like job boards - without being boring. It also is a great example of taking SEO tactics and using them to create high value content readers will want to consume past the headline.
Web Development - Jixee
It’s tempting, if you have a highly technical product, to focus on your own updates and how-to guides, with occasional very-in-the-weeds industry news commentary. Jixee’s blog bucks that trend by focusing on adding value to their product by discussing best practices, trends, tips and tricks, and even reviews of other (noncompetitive) products.
By doing so, they’ve created a place where web developers go for information, even if it doesn’t relate directly to the Jixee’s ticket system.
While each of these blogs is very unique, there’s a common feature that ties them together - they focus on adding value for the customer, not promoting their product. Yes, they do mention their products fairly frequently, but all four understand that the blog is not the place to push or promote; your customers are already on your site! Your blog is the place to prove that you know what you’re doing, and understand the challenges they’re facing. EndFragment
