More and more interior design professionals are adding blogging to their marketing mix — with good reason. Blog posts are the focal point of effective social media campaigns, since they can establish your expertise, enhance your online presence and get you clients.

If your blog is not building your design business, there is no single reason for that. There are many.

If your posts aren't working for you, chances are they:

Have the wrong words. Blog posts that aren't written in the language your readers understand don't get your message across. Use words the readers can comprehend to discuss topics they care about.

Have too many words. Your readers' attention span is limited, so your verbiage should be, too. Chartbeat, an analytics firm, estimates that most visitors will read no more than 50 percent of your posts. Content quality is far more important than quantity.

Have too few images. As a design professional, you're not the only one who is visual. Your readers are, too. Before-and-after photos can gain and maintain interest, as can a variety of other interesting images.

Lack focus. Who are you reaching out to? A simple question, but not enough design bloggers have an answer. Targeting the audience is a critical first step to effective blogging.

Lack a meaningful message. Readers couldn't care less that you've won a Houzz award or participated in a show house. They could care lots about your kitchen remodeling tips or home staging shortcuts.

Are underpromoted in social media. If you're not getting business from your blog posts, could be the right readers aren't aware of them. Retweets and social media shares give your content more mileage.

Are overpromoted in social media. Conversely, too much exposure on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and other channels can water down the impact of your posts. You're better off focusing on the one or two platforms on which your ideal prospects rely the most.

Lack a call to action. It's important to explain design challenges your readers' faces. It's equally important to explain how you can help them overcome those challenges. You leave money on the table when you fail to describe how you can help readers solve their problems.

Correcting these mistakes and tweaking your blog posts in other ways will take time. But it's time well spent.

After all, well-written posts boost your credibility, attract prospective buyers, establish you as a resource for the trade media and other design industry "influencers," enhance your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website.

And those posts keep you in front of prospects longer. Consider the shelf life of a tweet (five minutes at most) to that of a blog post: months, maybe years.