Competition in the staffing industry is fierce, and standing out from the crowd can seem impossible. In order to create a staffing firm that you’re proud of and establish a brand worth recognition, you’ll need a comprehensive marketing strategy.
A big part of that strategy is usually content marketing and, in particular, blogging.
There’s a reason why 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing—it produces results. In fact, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates almost three times the leads.
So if you’re looking to create or expand your content marketing with a staffing industry blog, these five blog topics will help get you started.
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Why is blogging important for the staffing industry?
While visuals, videos, podcasts, and a number of other types of content are extremely important to content marketing, blogging remains the foundation of any successful digital marketing strategy. This is especially true when it’s paired with a sound search engine optimization (SEO) foundation, so readers can easily find your content through Google, Bing, and other search engines.
In fact, according to a survey from the Social Media Examiner, 58% of marketers said that “original written content” is the most important type of content they produce.
On top of that, a recent HubSpot survey revealed some 82% of marketers who blog see a positive return on investment from their inbound marketing tactics.
So not only is blogging the most important type of marketing content, but it also produces a steady return for clients—and that’s especially valuable for recruiting firms and staffing agencies who face such stiff industry competition.
The fact is the top five staffing firms account for almost 20% of total staffing industry revenue. And, the top 157 staffing companies comprise over 67% of total industry revenue, according to data from Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA). That leaves almost 20,000 staffing companies fighting over the remaining 33% of industry revenue.
That’s why blogging is so crucial for staffing firms and recruiters. In order to get ahead in recruiting, your marketing needs to be on point.
✍️ Top 5 blog topics for the staffing industry
Before you can create a blog topic that will help your digital marketing strategy, you need to do some serious research.
From competitor analysis to keyword research on tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Ahrefs, there’s a lot that goes into selecting the right blog topics. That’s because your blogs have to be optimized for search engines if you want to see any organic traffic. They should also speak to your niche and specialization in the staffing industry, such as temp or non-profit hiring.
Here are some common categories to help you start brainstorming topics specific to your firm.
How-tos
One of the best topics to feature on staffing blogs is how-tos. For example, a common question asked by people who are searching for “staffing agencies” is simply “how do recruitment agencies work?”
Smaller staffing agencies with a specialized niche can also cover topics surrounding specific job positions they often fill. Think about what hiring managers are searching for, such as job descriptions, interview questions, and job certifications. From there, you’ll have a whole list of blog topics to cover.
Filling the demand and creating “how-to” blogs related to staffing is a great way to boost website traffic. That’s probably why all the top agencies do it. Here’s an example from Allegis (the largest staffing agency in the US) called How to Retain Talent: 3 Proven Approaches.
Trends
Another blog topic that has proven results is content surrounding industry or seasonal trends. Using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or forums helps find seasonal or industry trends to write about in quality original content, producing a winning strategy.
Tips and tricks
Tips and tricks blogs are another excellent blog idea for staffing companies. Here’s an example of a tips and trick blog on remote work from another one of the big five of staffing, Randstad.
This blog not only takes advantage of the tips and tricks structure to get views, but it’s also content that is targeted at a trending topic, remote work.
Position information
Another blog topic that has seen consistent success is position information blogs.
Defining what specific positions your recruiting firm fills, how you do it, and then adding in some tips along the way is a great blog idea.
Here’s an example from a small staffing firm, Y Scouts, that shows up on Google’s first page for dozens of pages after years of staffing SEO efforts.
The blog has seen immense success in terms of organic keyword rankings (many on Google’s coveted first three positions), traffic, and more. In fact, in the past 12 months alone, there have been over 37,000 visits from Google directly to this page.
This topic category targets hiring managers and in-house recruiters who are searching for advice and expertise on hiring.
FAQs
Finally, the most common type of blog in the staffing industry is simply responding to frequently asked questions (FAQs) you get from clients or fellow recruiters in long-form blog posts.
The reality is if your clients have had the question, so might others. By helping to educate the public, you can build brand awareness and reputation while bringing in organic traffic to your website—that’s a win-win.
Here’s an example of an FAQ blog from the fourth largest staffing firm in the US, Robert Half.
You can imagine this blog is a response to a question new recruiters or hiring managers probably often have. Something like, “how do I conduct a phone screen interview?”
Answering FAQs like this is an ideal, evergreen blog topic.
So remember, before you get started just writing about any random topic, do your research and brainstorm using easily accessible tools.
Brainstorming tip: Finding staffing industry blog topics using Google Trends
Google Trends is a great tool to help staffing companies brainstorm blog topics.
The graph below illustrates searches for the keyword “staffing.” Not only can you see regional trends for the keyword, but also popularity relative to other queries and related topics to help you brainstorm blog ideas.
Google Trends is also a great tool to help you recognize changes in keyword popularity so you can produce targeted seasonal content.
For example, by using the ‘related queries’ feature, you can find the most common search queries that relate to staffing.
Even better, you can see currently trending queries and how much they have risen over the last week.
Google Trends makes producing targeted content easy.
Additionally, you can use the Trending Searches feature to find current events that relate to staffing.
Google Trends is undoubtedly one of the best tools for brainstorming, so take advantage before you start writing to have a well-informed idea of what to include in your editorial calendar.
Brainstorming tip: Finding staffing industry blog topics using Google Suggest and People Also Ask
The easiest way to brainstorm topics for blogs is by using Google Suggest, also known as autocomplete. When you type in a search query into Google, Google Suggest begins to anticipate your search by showing popular search queries from other users.
This is a great way to find blog topics for staffing agencies because it draws from common searches as well as location services.
Another great tool to help brainstorm blog ideas is the People Also Ask section of Google queries.
The People Also Ask section is either above or below organic results. In the above example of a query for “how to hire for the tech industry,” we can see some interesting questions in the PAA section that might make great topics for blogs on a staffing website.
Brainstorming topic ideas for blogs can be frustrating, especially after you’ve produced a lot of content, but with these tools, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding fresh blog topic ideas.
Once you have some great topics to write about, the next step is ensuring that what you’re putting out adds value to your brand and search engine visibility. These tips will get you started on creating a professional blog.
Best Practices for Using Recruiting Blogs as a Marketing Tool
Although we’ve already gone over a lot of recruiting blog tips, there are a few more best practices you should be aware of—if you want your blog to succeed.
Beyond focusing on originality and quality in your work, there are definitely some key best practices to keep in mind, including:
- Find a consistent brand tone throughout the blog.
- All blogs need to be formatted correctly and optimized for search engines.
Your content needs to be formatted for a human audience, so it’s easily understood. But it also needs to be formatted correctly for search engines to find and show for related search queries.
Header tags are a great example. Header tags are an HTML element used to designate page titles, and without them, it’s very difficult for search engines to evaluate and rank your page.
- Remember to share your blog posts on social media, and send them out via email.
You’ve spent the time creating the content, don’t forget to promote it! Social media and email marketing are two of the best ways to do that.
For smaller businesses, social media planning tools and email marketing are often free, so take advantage of the opportunity.
- Install tools like Google Analytics to keep track of relevant KPIs.
Google Analytics is the best way to understand your website’s performance and how your marketing efforts are impacting it. It’s one hundred percent free to set up on your website or application, and it’s a must for any serious business.
Read more: 6 Marketing Strategies for Staffing Agencies to Employ
So much to write, so little time.
At the end of the day, there’s a reason why 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing. Having a regularly updated, SEO driven blog is vital to digital marketing.
Still, blogs take a lot of time and effort, and busy staffing companies don’t always have the resources. That’s why partnering with an SEO agency is a great option.
Some professional insight and expert guidance may be just what your blog needs to take off. Your content could be perfect, but if SEO isn’t being taken into account, you’re not gaining organic traffic.
To get an idea of how your website’s SEO looks, try our free SEO audit.
Markitors is an internet marketing agency with a focus on SEO. We help small businesses rank higher on Google to draw more leads to websites and increase revenue. Explore what’s in our SEO toolbox: audits and keyword research, digital PR, technical SEO, and local SEO.
