Writing regular blog posts is a brilliant way to promote your business and keep your followers updated with exciting new developments. A blog can be used to promote events, offer analysis and opinions on topics relevant to your readership and ultimately provide valuable, interesting content for your customers.
When it comes to blog writing, there are a few techniques you can use to make sure your blog posts are engaging. Read on for our top 5 tips for writing the perfect blog post and prepare to put your new skills into practice….
1. Make a point
If you’re taking the time to write a blog, you need to make sure that you are providing something valuable to your readers and that you’re answering their questions. In the age of the Internet, most people are overloaded with information so it’s vital that you stick to the topic and make a point.
This is where list style articles like this one can be useful. By having a set list, you should find it easier to stay on track and the format will help you to make your point fast, in a way that’s easy to understand. Laying out your points with a numbered list or bullet points is ideal for an audience who prefers to skim read. If you have a topic that requires more detail, consider using subheadings to punctuate your writing instead.
2. Offer readers something interesting
When choosing a topic for your blog, you should also take care to find something that’s relevant to your audience. Your blog is ultimately working towards helping people understand who you are and what you do. Every blog should therefore be adding up to that overall image.
Try to offer your readers an engaging blog post on a topic they care about, not just something you felt like writing. Though you might have strong opinions on bread baking, that will not be useful to customers who want to know about caring for reptiles. It’s a strange analogy but you get the point! If you provide them with the information they need, they’re more likely to come back to you next time. This is key for building a positive image of your brand and drawing more traffic to your site.
3. Focus on formatting
With your readers always at the front of your mind, it is also worth making sure your blog post is formatted in a reader-friendly way. It’s about quality over quantity so try not to be too wordy. For SEO purposes, your blog post should be at least 500 words but don’t be tempted to add in extra paragraphs just for the sake of filling the page. Instead, concentrate on answering the question in a clear, concise way. Your audience will thank you for it.
The format of your blog will effect how readable it is. Break up long strips of text with subheadings to help your audience follow what you’re trying to say. Similarly, consider writing longer lists as bullet points to make them easier to read - you can see an example in the section below.
4. Include images
Another way to make your blog posts more readable is to include plenty of images. Pictures and diagrams generally help to make your writing more appealing, as opposed to a solid block of black and white text. If you have your own high quality photographs, these could make a fantastic addition to your blog. Otherwise, there’s plenty of images available online; sites like Shutterstock and Upsplash.com are great resources to get you started.
You could also choose to use other multimedia resources to break up your text, including:
• Graphics and diagrams
• Illustrations
• Gifs
• Video content
• Side bars or information boxes
Decide what works for you and your brand. Ideally, any images or multimedia resources you use should be in keeping with your brand image so think about what will appeal to your audience. If you are using an image, always write a short description in the Alt-text as this helps users who can’t see the image and also adds to your SEO efforts.
5. Consider your SEO
As well as offering interesting insights into topics that matter to your audience, blog posts are also an ideal way to help improve your site’s SEO. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the broad term used in digital marketing to describe how your website ranks on search engines like Google. By paying attention to your SEO and keywords, you can help your site to appear higher in searches, making it more likely that people will find you online.
We will go into this in much more detail in future blogs and in our dedicated Start Up Marketeer guides so don’t worry if this is all new to you. Just bear in mind is that every time you post a new blog on your website on a topic related to your business, your site will get a small boost in the search engine ranking. This makes it a really useful tool for improving your website and helping to increase the number of visitors.
These blog writing tips and tricks are aimed at making the most of your expertise and helping your writing shine through. By focussing on readability and answering your audience’s questions, you can quickly build up a good quality blog to improve the overall image of your brand.
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