automotive blogs

Jim Smith ran an automotive repair shop called Big Jim’s Automotive. He had been in the business for 27 years. For the most part, he stuck with traditional marketing avenues. Billboards, ads in the local newspaper, and good old word of mouth. The business was doing fine. However, Jim knew he needed to accomplish more. He was ready to take the plunge into online marketing such as social media, SEO and blogging. That’s when he called NextGear Marketing and signed up for one of our web content packages.

Okay, so Jim isn’t real. We’re just trying to provide an example of how to tell a story in a blog post. Why? Most readers will be more drawn in by that approach rather than something straightforward or, even worse, “salesy.” If we just came out of the gate and said NextGear Marketing is a leading provider of marketing services and online content for automotive shop owners, blah, blah, blah, you would have stopped reading after a couple of sentences. The goal with the story is to catch your attention and build up to the sales message in a more engaging way.

There’s an old adage in advertising that you should always show and not just tell. People would rather see the product in action or feel how the service will impact their life in a positive way. If marketing is emotional, it will be more effective. Just telling facts, figures and selling points will only get you so far.

When it comes to blogging for small businesses, there is a tightrope you need to walk. You want to tell a story and engage the reader with compelling writing. However, you also need to incorporate strategic keywords and key phrases (in addition to back-end meta tags for SEO) throughout the story. You want to repeat certain things because those words and phrases are how searchers will come across your articles, yet you don’t want to overload the posts to a point where they are unreadable. Be strategic in your approach and engaging with your storytelling. If you can accomplish both, you will have a blog that will succeed.

Keywords, key phrases and meta tags will enable people to find your blog. Good writing will keep them coming back. This is what the NextGear Marketing approach to blogging is all about. To learn more, contact us today or follow our blog on Facebook.