Auto Repair Blogs Can Bring More Customers Than Word-of-Mouth

As a mechanic, you most likely don’t know the first thing about writing a blog post. You probably also don’t think that you have extra time in the day to spend on blogging. In all honesty, it is just another thing to put on your daily to-do list, but it is extremely important for you to constantly update your website with unique content.

HubSpot, a marketing, sales and CRM software company, recently released its 2016 State of Inbound report, which surveyed over 4,500 non-HubSpot customers who deal with marketing for B2B, B2C, small and mid-sized businesses. In this report they found that of the companies surveyed, 60 percent consider blog content creation as their top marketing priority.

As an auto shop, blogging will set you apart from your competitors. You will be able to extend your online reach which will increase the amount of potential customers visiting your website.

Plan Ahead

Before you start blogging it is important to consider who your audience is. What topics are they interested in? This will help you focus your blog posts on topics that are useful and will result in high click rates.

Is writing not your strong suit? Talk to your employees and see if any of them enjoy writing. You may be surprised at who steps up to the plate. Another way to increase frequency of blog posts is to create a company schedule that assigns a post to a different employee every week.

5 Things That You Should Include in Every Post

When first learning how to blog it is important to note that every blog post should contain the following:

1. Title: Every blog should have a title that is creative and catchy, but also tells the reader what the blog is about.
2. Introduction: It is important to grab the reader’s attention in the introduction paragraph. If you lose the reader in the first few sentences, they will leave your website and sometimes it is unlikely that they will return. For this reason, you should make sure that the intro is entertaining and also explains how the rest of the blog will be beneficial for the reader.
3. Organized content: After the introduction paragraph, you will write the actual blog content. To ensure ease of reading, break up information into sections that are separated by section headlines. (Hint: If you create an outline before you actually start writing you will already have these sections created!)
4. Links: If you use research in your blog, make sure to include links back to the website where you found the information. Adding links are an easy way to build credibility for your blog.
5. Image: Did you know that articles with images get 94% more views that those without? Make sure that you include at least one image at the top of your blog post so that it is aesthetically pleasing for the reader. If appropriate, you can also embed photos throughout the article. This also makes it easier for readers to share your blog online with the included photo, which should be a goal of your website.

Now that you have published an entertaining and informative blog, don’t stop here! It is important to make your blog easily accessible to your readers. People look for information on many different sources so you want to make sure that your blog is available no matter where they are looking.

For example, post a teaser to your blog on your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Does your auto shop send out an e-newsletter to your customers? Make sure to include a link to your latest blog in the email.

If you think about where your customers are consuming content you will be able to focus on those outlets and increase the amount of clicks to your website.

Having a Hard Time Coming Up With Topics to Write About?

Here are some auto shop blog topic ideas:

• Seasonal auto care tips
• Employee milestone or anniversary
• Current events or news
• Coolest car that you ever worked on at your auto shop
• Funniest thing that ever happened at your auto shop

Do you want to grow your shop?

Scan your website today for a full report that will provide insight into how your can find more customers online!