Are you thinking about writing a business blog but don’t know where to start?
Are you worried that it won’t make sense or that people won’t like it and you or your business will be shown in a negative way?
In this article I will show you the 10 steps to create a great business blog that will showcase your knowledge and expertise and help give your brand a positive boost.
So let’s get started.
Know Your Audience
You need to be able to relate to your audience and this is impossible if you don’t know who they are. You wouldn’t stand up and speak to a room full of 9 years olds the same way as you would a room of corporate executives (on most occasions anyway), so really getting to know who you want to reach out to is the first step.
Do Your Research
Even if you have extensive knowledge of your industry, you still want to do your research.
What are your target audience struggling with right now?
What are the questions they are asking?
You can use a free website called answerthepublic.com to find out what questions are being asked online. Simply type in your keywords and see the questions people have been searching online then base your blog on answering one or two of them.
Attention Grabbing Headline
Your headline is what will sell your content and getting this right can be the difference of 1000’s of readers and hiding in a dark room.
Include keywords that you want to be ranked on Google for.
Relatable Intro
Keeping a reader’s attention is far easier if they can relate from the beginning and know what they are going to gain by reading your blog.
I always start with a pain point questions which includes the keywords I want the article ranked for on Google.
‘Are you thinking about writing a business blog but don’t know where to start?’
Then explain how you are going to answer that question in the article. This not only tells them the benefit of reading the blog, but also demonstrates that you can relate to their issue.
Create High Value Content
You’ve taken the time to research what your audience is asking, now its time to give them the answers.
Avoid being vague. Nobody wants to read a wishy-washy article that doesn’t really tell them anything.
Your blog should be both interesting and relatable. If the reader can relate to you and what you are saying, there are far more likely to share your content and follow more articles you write.
When giving statistical information, always back it up with the source and a link to a reliable source that stated it. This will give credibility and increase trust.
Make It Visually Appealing
No-one wants to open an article and see an essay with no break points to take a breather.
Segment your content into bite-sized chunks, keeping your sentences and paragraphs short. This will make the content easier to digest.
Single line paragraphs really stand out so use them with important points.
Give each section a heading, so that the reader can see how the article flow and enabling them to jump to the relevant section they are looking for.
As well as segmenting your content, adding images or font variations helps to break up the visual appearance. Use different fonts for quotes or bold for key points. But don’t go overboard or it will just look messy.
Remember – if everything is in bold, nothing is in bold
Call To Action
Every blog should have a call to action at the end. What do you want the reader to do next? Do you want them to read another article of yours or download a ‘Freebie’ in return for their email?
Adding a button or hyperlink makes this action a natural and simple step and will increase the likelihood of them doing it.
Ask For Comments & Shares
As the old saying goes ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get’ so ask readers to comment on your blog with their experiences or what point is most useful to them and ask them to share your content with their community.
Review & Edit
Once you have written your masterpiece you will want to review it and make any edits necessary.
I always leave this until the end before I click ‘Publish’ so that I don’t lose the writing flow. If you can, ask someone else to proof read it too as they will look at it from a different perspective and may notice typos or confusion statements more easily.
Repeat The Process
If you really want to dominate your industry, you will benefit from writing regular blogs, preferably at least once a week.
Adding regular blogs to your website not only helps your Google Ranking, it also acts as a showcase of your expertise and you will start to gain a regular following that look forward to your next article.
Creating an editorial calendar can help you create a proper strategy to your approach but that’s a whole separate blog (I’ve already broken my own rule regarding length of blog)
Phew – so there it is, my 10- step process I use to create a great blog. Which tip did you find most helpful? We would love to hear in the comments below.
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