Blogging is an incredibly valuable tenet in marketing, keeping in mind that people are always looking for valuable information online. The question is, how do you create and attract people to read your blog? Do people still care to read blogs in this age where content is being simplified to podcasts, infographics, and video blogs? The answer is yes, they do! Numbers don’t lie, and stats show that 72% of internet users read blogs regularly. We have compiled a quick guide that will help you know how to write compelling blog posts and grow your audience.
Do you really need a blog?
Before we delve more in-depth on how to write a blog, you are perhaps asking yourself if you really need to invest in an excellent blog. Well, if you are thinking of growing your business by establishing authority in the market, then this is one of the best ways to go. That’s not all. There many benefits of putting up blog content on your business site;
- It enables you to establish authority in your sector
- It develops and strengthens relationships with existing and new customers.
- It helps drive traffic to your website
- Blog posts are good for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
How to write a good blog-checklists and techniques
For starters, for anything to be good, you must invest time doing it. That’s why before you create blog posts for your site, you ought to research.
Create a basic outline
Now that you have possible topics from your research, choose a theme, then draft a basic outline. You need one main topic and subtopics to help your audience understand the main topic better. For example,
Theme sample: Style and fashion trends during winter
Topic sample: Cheap and creative ways to style your sweaters
Subtopics samples:
- how to style one sweater differently
- where to buy cute cheap sweaters
- how to DIY a sweater at home
Get it right in the first two lines
Most people decide whether they will finish reading the article by just skimming over the first paragraph. Remember, readers nowadays don’t have a huge attention span, and you are competing with other blogs as well. You need to capture their attention right from the intro and keep them glued to your content.
Tip: You can use tailored statistics, thought-provoking questions, or interesting facts to draw your audience into the article.
Length
Generally speaking, there is no rule for how long your post should be. However, you need to write more than 300 words to show search engines that it is a well-researched resource.
Tips:
- Use subheadings and bullet points to enhance readability
- Use images, video, infographics, or illustrations to help keep them enticed.
References
Adding a good reference will add credibility to your post. Use sources that are credible as your source of information. It will also help improve SEO. Talking of SEO, let us look at how you can now optimize your site for the search engines.
Writing for SEO
Use your keywords wisely
Part of the research you should do is to find relevant keywords in your industry. There are many tools that can help you find the right keywords to use. A good example is the Google Keyword Planner. You can also use tools to help you spy on your competitor keywords and fine-tune your content better.
Tip: Avoid putting keywords everywhere on the post to the extent that it bores the reader. Add them naturally and use them in your title tags, header tags, Alt image tags, etc.
Link to and from your posts
You want to generate traffic, and links will also help. Ensure you add links internally to other related posts on your website. You should also add links to the top reference sources you used on the post. This will help you grow your site structure and improve your SEO rankings as well.
What’s next?
Add a compelling call to action
The next step will depend on what you wish to achieve with your post. For example, are you looking for page views, page visits, or for your audience to buy a product? You can add a Call to Action (CTA) at the end of the post. Keep the CTA clear and short to the point. Don’t forget to also show some urgency to try and sell!
Go back to your headline
Most of the time, after writing a post, you might realize that you need to change the headline. No problem, go ahead. Ensure it flows and marries well with the content, and you are good to go!
Proofread your blog post
As a rule of thumb, read through for spelling mistakes, grammar punctuation, etc. It is always a good idea to have someone else also proofread if you can. You can also use tools like Grammarly and the likes to help you edit your content.
Schedule to post it
You want all the hard work to go noticed, right? Scheduling a post will do that. Timely content or news provides excellent performance in terms of traffic. So, pick the right time to publish the article.
Share your blog post
Once the article is live on your site, it is time to draw attention and generate a buzz by sharing around with your audience on platforms like social media. Ensure you also make it easy for users to share the blog posts on your site.
