19 Jul 3 Signs Your Blog Is Spam (and How to Fix It)
If your blog is spam, you are hurting your company’s reputation and sales. Here are three signs to look for:
Blog posts are about your products, services, or company
It is perfectly OK to write blog posts about a new product or service launch, a client success story or case study, or a new hire. But your blog cannot focus on sales-y content – that’s not how it works.
Blogs fall into the realm of content marketing. The purpose of content marketing is to be helpful and valuable so you can build trust and relationships with potential clients. Your blog is spam if it’s really pushy or sales-y, because that’s not valuable for the reader.
But there is a place for this content! Turn information about your products and services into white papers or digital brochures that people can download from your website.
Blog posts are irrelevant
Have you ever read a blog post that has no point and makes no sense? I have, and it still makes me weep quietly in my hanky.
I once read a blog post that was filled with press mentions – and nothing else. I am still scratching my head at that one! What purpose does a blog like that serve?
Unless you want to scare away potential clients, make sure your blog posts are helpful and address a question or challenge that they have.
Blog posts are filled with mistakes
Nothing is more unprofessional and trust-breaking than a blog post filled with mistakes. I’m not a perfectionist, so I do forgive the occasional errant word or spelling error. Heck, I make them!
Bad grammar, incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, repetitive words, circular logic and missing punctuation will leave your reader wondering how competent you are. And then there’s weird formatting. Different font styles and colors, every subhead size available, fuzzy images, etc., makes you look unfocused and disorganized.
The solution here is simple: I would suggest outsourcing your blog to a freelancer or agency, because it’s obvious you’re not a writer. (Sorry!)
You might be asking how mistakes signal a blog is spam. Unfortunately, sending out blog posts that are a hot mess will cause people to unsubscribe from your email list and/or flag your emails as spam. When people unsubscribe in droves, email marketing platforms could blacklist you (see more below).
You will get penalized if your blog is spam
You will lose potential clients. Imagine someone reads a super helpful blog post filled with actionable tips. They are so impressed by what they read that they look at your other blog posts. They might even think, “Wow, I think this company is the right choice!”
Then they stop dead in their tracks.
Out of the 10 blog posts they can see on one page, seven appear to be spam-my. They will exit your site, never to return.
You could get blacklisted. Consumers report spam all the time. If you get reported a certain number of times, your site and your email list could get blacklisted. That means traffic to your site will be throttled and your emails won’t be sent.
Your SEO will be damaged, because you can’t optimize spam blog posts. I mean you can, but if you try to optimize a sales-focused post for an actual keyword people search for, you’ll be reported for spam.
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