Want to write better blogs? Here’s a simple guide to get started.
The benefits to a business when they are blogging is enormous and can be fun.
Static websites don’t attract many new clients or customers. But a regularly updated blog can produce a constant stream of good leads from all around the world.
When you publish in-depth blog posts that help potential clients/customers solve their problems, they come to trust you and respect you as an expert in the field. If they want more help than a blog post can offer, then they’re likely to be interested in hiring your business.
Like most projects, it doesn’t deliver results over night but over time with constant writing it will be the best investment for your online traffic. When you write a series of in-depth, valuable articles around a topic, Google takes notice.
Each high-quality blog post that you publish is another opportunity to get traffic from search.
1. Speak to one target audience – the whole time: Figure out who is buying what you’re selling and write a blog post for them. Now, you may have different audiences you’re trying to reach, so you may need to change who this target audience is from post to post. But be sure each individual blog post is consistent from start to finish.
2. Be short and sweet: A good blog post is between 300 – 1,000 words; easy enough to digest during a coffee break. If you have more to say, consider breaking your post into two parts, or tightening up your ideas. And remember, just because something is short doesn’t mean it’s easy to read. Make posts easy to skim by cutting content up into sections or lists.
Would what you’re writing change the way your reader thinks about an issue? Spur an idea? Be worth emailing to a co-worker? If not, you’ve got work to do.
4. Relax: Your blog probably won’t help you win a Pulitzer Prize and that’s ok. As long as your posts are useful, readers will come back for more.
5. Be a show off and celebrate your news: Don’t tell readers your company is awesome; write great content so readers are the ones who say your company is awesome. Use concrete, specific language and examples in each post to build trust with your readers. Numerous products, services or activities occur within your business that will interest your reader.
6. Have a compelling title and leading paragraph: Make your readers want to read your post right away. But don’t promise something with your title and intro that you don’t deliver.
7. Balance SEO with good content: Especially with titles, you need to strike a balance between catchiness and SEO. Don’t flood readers with keywords.
8. Include a Call to Action (CTA): Even if it’s just a call to comment or connect on Twitter, blog posts should end with something that moves readers to a next step. Do not, however, ask people to buy something at the end of a post. Hard sells in blog posts will lose your readers’ trust.
9. Maximise Your Blog with social media. After you’ve written your blog, ensure it’s read by putting it on all your social media forums or utilise Hoot Suite as a portal for your social media.
So what’s holding you back now? Love your feedback!