Print Shop Blog Topics

Adding good content to your website is a crucial element for getting ranked in search engines and being found online.  Blogging is the best way to do this. A blog is simply a section on your website where you share articles, tips, tricks, case studies, pictures, videos, ideas or anything that is relevant to your print shop.  What you are reading is a blog post about blogging for print shops.  In this post I am going to share some ideas I have for generating great blog post topics for your print shop as well as go over some tips for making great blog posts that get ranked and actually bring targeted traffic to your website.

Blog post essential elements.

In order for a blog post to be effective there are certain criteria or elements that need to be covered. Here are the top components of a good blog post.

• The length needs to be substantial. The longer your blog post the better. I recommend at least 1500-2000 words.
• Internal links – If you post is about a new product or service link to the product page where it can be ordered.
• External links – I believe a good high quality external link can really help you blog post be more informative and give the reader the ability to get more supporting information.
• Media – Every blog post should have at least a couple of images or a video.  A wall of text often is intimidating and leads to people bouncing.
• Establish clear theme/topic – let readers and search engines know what your post is about right away and use words throughout that reinforce your theme.  For example you knew what this post was about after 20 seconds of reading.
• Always write your blog post for the readers not the search engines.  Search engines will find your post very quickly and if it is poorly written and spamy with keywords  it will not be ranked.
• Break up the text with different elements.  Make sure to insert pictures with captions,  have a bullet point sections or a numbered list,  High lite a quote, basically figure out a way to break the post into digestible sections and avoid the dreaded wall of text.  Remember this is a blog post note a book.
• Use sectional headings and subheading to make the post more readable and keep the theme clear and flow smooth.

Choosing blog topics for your print shop.

Coming up with good blog post topics can seem like a pain in the but, but it is easy and should not require any effort.  Print shops have a never ending stream of blog post topics.  One thing to remember is a blog post is more about informing your readers then it is selling them.  Here are my top 5 favorite blog post topic for print shops and how to use them over and over.

Product overviews and updates

Example:  You run a sign shop doing large format printing.
A great blog post would be to inform your customers of a new product.  Lets say that ABC substrates (fake company) just released a new textured wall decal material and you want to blog about it.  First come up with a great blog post title in this case I would go with something like this: “Textured wall decals and murals using (materiel name) from ABC Substrates”

Next you simply need to cover the who, what, where, when and why of this product.  Who makes it, who can benefit from it.  What make this product different.  Where can they order this product – link to the product page here.  When is this product available, how long does it last.  Why is this a great product and why will it benefit the user.

Cover these basic and throw in some specs from the supplier along with some pictures or a video and you will have yourself a great blog post.

Case studies and customer stories

These are super easy to do. Simply contact a great customer and ask if you can send over a few questions, similar to a short interview.  Make sure to tell them it is for a blog post.  Share the answer and questions and tell the story of how your company helped this customer achieve a goal by working with you. These type of posts are also a great way to share some product pictures and real world uses for your products.

Sales and promotions. 

This is a basic and easy post topic.  But can be tough to get any good post length from.  Create a sale or coupon on your website and share it with your readers (and email blast it to your customer base) Make sure to include a few great pictures and maybe a video if you have one. Also make sure to cover the who, what , where, when and why of the sale, this should also help beef up the amount of content as well.

Company culture

This type of post is more fun.  Simply tell your readers about your company, values, employees, city you work in and what make your business awesome.  Tell your customers about your company events and parties, any charitable work you have done, and any goals you have meet while in business.  Do an expose on the shop dog or cat.  This type of post is more about letting your customers know that you business has values and is run by real people.

How to and educational posts. 

Don’t give away your shops secrets, but let your readers take a peek inside your business and see how you do what you do.  If your a screen printer then create a post about separating artwork for screen printing or do a shop tour with pictures and video. If you a commercial printer then explain the finishing and cutting process or how spot UV varnish is applied.  The topics are endless and the more you write the easier it is to come up with fresh new ideas to blog about.

Why blogging and adding content is so important.

Search

Unless you are Google, Facebook or Youtube there is very little reason for people to come to your website.   Your business fills a specific need for a specific customer.  The vast majority of people looking for what you sell will start of on Google with a keyword or phrase search to find what they need.  If your website does not answer the users search intent then your website will not rank for the terms they are searching for.   For example your print shop specializes in plastic business cards and you make the best and have the lowest prices.   Sure people can order them online and you have a specific product page for that offering, but you don’t seem to rank for any relevant terms.  Adding blog posts specific to that product that are very informative and point the readers to your relevant product pages will let search engines know your website is relevant to that topic and that your page does satisfy the users search intent.

Social

Social media is huge, blogging is a form of social media.  Every time you create a post on your websites blog you should be sharing it on all your social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin. I even suggest boosting or promoting each post with a small $5.00 or so worth of ads or at least when you feel like you have written a great post.

Email marketing

Every blog post is a great reason for sending out a mass email to your clients.  Simply inform them of the post and share a link to the post.  And of course add some promotion, or a coupon code so they think they are getting some value from the email.

Link building

If you create great unique content in your blog post people will link to it and share it.  Links are an essential element in SEO and getting rankings in search engines.  Just as I am sharing a link in the sentence below good content will get people to link and share your content they way I am sharing content below.

The benefits to blogging are many and that would be a topic for another blog post all on its own so I would like to share a great post from hubspot on the top ten reasons why blogging is important for your business.

Frequency of blog posts.

There is no magic formula for how often to create blog posts, but the more the better.  I suggest a minimum of 1 per month for new sites, but a weekly blog post is best.  Another great tactic for keeping your website fresh is to occasionally go back and update old blog posts.  This can mean just elaborating further and adding a picture or doing a major update on any news or product releases you have blogged about.

Both the search engines and your readers will appreciate a steady stream of new content on your website.  If you are not a writer or hate the idea of blogging feel free to reach out to us here are Web2ink and we can create awesome blog posts for your print shop that will attract search engines and readers alike. For more info check out our marketing services for print shops.  Psst – That is the internal linking I was talking about earlier.

In Conclusion

If you want your business to be considered and authority in your field and you want more website visitors and better search ranking then blogging is a must.  Without great content you will not be making the most of your website and your business will suffer for it.  So get to blogging, Happy writing!