Blogging or content marketing has become one of the most effective, sustainable and inexpensive marketing tactics to increase traffic to your website and generate new business enquiries online. For recruitment agencies, blogging can be particularly lucrative because both candidates and clients conduct a considerable amount of research online before they make a “purchase” decision. According to LinkedIn, “candidates spend 1-2 months gathering info before applying” for a job.
“80% of decision makers like to learn from articles rather than adverts.”
However, it is often difficult to know exactly why content marketing works and what, specifically, you should be writing about to reap the benefits.
3 Reasons Why Recruitment Agencies Should Write A Blog
- Attract The Right Traffic | By writing targeted blog posts, you can attract visitors who are interested in your recruitment services and more likely to become a future candidate or client.
- Increase Your Online Presence | A regular blog can increase the presence or “ranking” of your company website in search engines for relevant, industry related search terms.
- Demonstrate Expertise & Establish Authority | Writing high quality content can set you apart from your competitors, give an online brand image to your company and demonstrate your expertise within your sector.
What Should Recruitment Agencies Write About?
To achieve success with your blogs, you need to approach blog writing with a considered strategy. There’s no question that there is a place for your company news on your website, but this isn’t the content that will attract new visitors who are looking to benefit from your services. The blog posts that attract high quality visitors are, more often than not, providing a solution to a problem or answering a pertinent question. So it stands to reason that, if you can provide an accurate answer to the most frequently asked questions that your audience ask about recruitment, you will have a higher chance of ranking highly in Google for relevant searches and, therefore, attracting the right traffic.
For example, if a candidate is struggling with preparing for their first interview, they might be likely to use Google to search “How to prepare for your first interview”. By writing a blog entitled “The Complete Guide To Preparing For Your First Interview” you will have a much better chance of appearing in a search engine results page. The type of candidate who is qualified to get an interview and wants to do their best to prepare for it qualifies as a high quality visitor.
Best Practice Tips For An Effective Blog Post
- Write A Targeted Headline | Within 4 to 9 words tell the reader what your blog is about. Consider using a trigger word such as “Inspiring” or “Essential” to grab your audience’s attention.
- Choose One Topic | Focus on answering one question or solving one problem. This way, you can make your content targeted and send strong signals to Google about the meaning of the blog post.
- TL;DR (Too Long;Didn’t Read) | Don’t make it War and Peace, people are as busy as you are, give them a clear and concise answer in 400 to 700 words.
- Use Facts, Figures And Quotes | Facts and figures and quotes are a credible trust indicator and also increase the share ability of a blog post.
- Keyword Rich | Don’t jeopardise the readability of your content but make sure to let Google know what the blog post is about by using your target keywords in the blog title and body of the text.
- Include Images | Always include a main image for your blog post to tell the story visually. Images can also be added into your blog text to break up the text and make it more digestible.
- Add Relevant Links | Include relevant links to fact, figures or other blog posts within your blog as it builds your credibility and provides additional information for the reader.
By knowing your audience, their goals and challenges and writing optimised blog posts that address these specific issues, your blogs can become a hotbed for high quality visitors who have the potential to turn into future clients or candidates.
Writing quality blog posts is the engine that drives inbound marketing but it is still only one aspect. Download our free guide below and learn all you need to know about inbound marketing for recruitment agencies.
