A Simple Guide to Writing More Effective Blog Content

A Simple Guide to Writing More Effective Blog Content

Writing a blog post may sound easy, but so much more goes into the process. Each blog post has a job to do, whether that’s informing readers or getting them to take action. As you contribute more content to your blog, you can strengthen your brand image and become an authority in your industry. But, some marketers feel that their blog content continues to fly under the radar no matter what they do.

Below I share a simple process to help you write more effective blog content. Go through each step and make sure that you’re meeting your goals.

Define Your Audience

First and foremost, be sure that you’re writing to the right audience. It’s helpful to have buyer personas so that you know what interests appeal to your readers. If you haven’t created buyer personas yet, use this HubSpot tool to make this step quick and easy.

Knowing your audience also helps you develop the proper tone and personality for your content. Content written to millennials should sound different than content written to older adults. Don’t worry about pleasing everyone with your content. Your posts should appeal to a specific group of people.

Clarify Your Blog’s Purpose

All content published on your website should have a clear purpose that is aligned with your broader business goals. Clarify your goals and how a blog can help you achieve them. For example, are you looking to increase quality leads? Conversions and sales? Brand awareness?

Let’s say that you have a new business and you want your blog to be educational and informational. Your goal is to increase email subscribers that you can nurture into customers. To meet this goal, your content could focus on industry trends, common customer pain points and more. Each post would need a call to action that asks readers to subscribe to your email.

Incorporate the Proper Keywords

While it’s helpful to work with an SEO professional, you can get a basic understanding of the keywords to include in your content. Use a keyword research tool, such as Moz’s Keyword Explorer or Google’s Keyword Planner, to look up the most commonly used keywords in your industry. You can also discover the search volume and competitiveness of each keyword, plus get ideas for other similar words and phrases.

Keywords should be sprinkled throughout your content, including in your headlines. They should always fit naturally in the text. Again, it’s best to work with an SEO professional who can do the keyword research for you and help you develop a strong SEO strategy. But, this gives you an idea of how to make your content more targeted and effective.

Develop a Format for Your Posts

Each blog post should be uniquely written, but all posts should follow a similar format. The best thing to do is develop an outline for how you want your posts to look and read. When you sit down to create new content, you’ll have a structure to follow.

Most posts include a short and simple introduction, the main body and a conclusion that summarizes your main points. I also recommend adding bullet points to break up the content and clarify key information. Keep paragraphs short – roughly 3-4 sentences – and include headings and subheadings to organize the content.

Images and visuals are necessary additions, just be sure that they support your content and are not placed there for the sake of it. Finally, include a call to action at the bottom of your post to guide users as to what to do next. Having a format is important for you and others who may contribute to your blog.

Write and Edit Your Posts

Writing looks easier than it is. But, one thing I’ve learned is that it’s best to ease into your work and not expect perfection from the start. Begin with a first draft, and don’t worry about it being perfect. Choose a quiet, uninterrupted place to write. Let the ideas come to you and worry about organizing them later. Once you have your first draft up, you can begin the editing process.

Editing is one of the most important steps because this is where your content is actually molded into a masterpiece. Edit your post with fresh eyes so that you can catch spelling and grammar mistakes, plus make certain that you’re getting your point across effectively.

Here are a few tips for editing your work:

• Remove unnecessary words that don’t add value
• Replace industry jargon with simpler terms that your readers will understand
• Identify opportunities to add examples, diagrams and other supporting info
• Make sure your content has a natural flow
• Insert images and headings to break up your text
• Run your content through a spelling and grammar check
• Use a plugin like Yoast to optimize your content

Publish and Promote Your Work 

Once your content is approved, upload it into your content management system and start getting it in front of the right people. Promoting your content is just as important as creating it, so don’t underestimate the importance of this step.

Most of the time, you’ll send your blog to people on your subscriber list and post the blog to your social media channels. It’s recommended to write a unique post for each social channel so that you can appeal to various audiences. And, depending on how your blog is set up, your most recent posts may pull to your homepage. This way, visitors who are discovering your business for the first time can check out your content.

Additional ways to promote your blog content are:

• Add your blog URL to your email signature
• Ask influencers to read and share your blog
• Submit your blog to directories
• Join social community sites
• Use blog promotion networks
• Be active on relevant forums
• Ask and answer questions on Q&A websites
• Comment and interact with other blogs

Conclusion

Never underrate what a blog can do for your business. By contributing regular content, Google will have a reason to visit your site often and index your pages. This will help you show up in the search results and attract more relevant traffic to your site. Plus, having a blog gives you a place to show your industry expertise and develop stronger relationships with customers.

If you need help getting a blog set up for your business, or making your current blog more effective, contact WSI Net Advantage today at 510-687-9737 or fill out our contact form and we’ll get back to you right away.