Blockbuster blogs: A quick guide
Want to write engaging blog posts but don’t know where to start? Read on…
Sometimes writing blockbuster blogs can seem like a dark art, but by following these simple steps you’ll be turning out perfect posts in no time.
Identify your audience:
Before you do anything, you must first identify the audience you are writing for. Are they consumers or businesses, adults or children, male or female? Are they professionals or students, old or young, married or single? This is vital; your audience will determine the content you produce.
It is important to get a steer on what information your target audience is seeking and how you can leverage your knowledge and experience to deliver added value. Do they want to read reviews or guides, are they looking for news or analysis? It can be more than one thing.
Think about what you want to say:
Armed with an understanding of your audience and the information they desire from a blog post, you must now think about what it is you want to say. Your blog must have purpose, and it must deliver valuable information in a way that educates, engages and entertains.
You are the expert in your field, and you possess a vast amount of knowledge and understanding of the area in which you operate. The trick is putting that on paper in a way that is easy for others to access and absorb. The best thing to do is to put together a brief outline of what you want to say, and use this to structure your post.
I tend to use bullet points to outline the key topics or points I want to cover. So, for this post, I jotted down each section before I began writing. It helps to keep your mind focused on the key message you want to get across to the reader, and ensures you don’t go off on a tangent.
Use your voice:
When we speak, we all sound different and writing is the same. We all have a voice that comes through on the page and this is something you should embrace. That said, speaking and writing are two very different forms of communication, and when writing blog posts its worth thinking about the following.
· Keep it tight – don’t use six words when two will do.
· Short sentences – keep your sentences punchy to better engage readers.
· Get to the point – don’t waffle, just say what you want to say.
If you haven’t written before or lack confidence in your ability as a wordsmith, read other blog posts and look at how they have been structured. Don’t copy that particular blogger’s style or tone, but identify the tricks of the trade they have used and try to work them into your post.
Link to sources you have used:
It’s important to include links to sources you have used to write your blog – if any. This could be data you have on your own company website, or it might be a report published by an industry publication or news site. This adds credibility to your post and allows your readers to investigate further if they wish.
It’s also good practice. If someone has gone to the effort to produce content that you deem valuable and have used in your own post, linking back to them is the decent thing to do. Of course, you may find that other writers will link to you if you are able to offer something of value.
Add visuals:
Where possible, it helps to illustrate your blog post with images, graphs and infographics. It means readers aren’t hit with a wall of text, and also allows you to provide additional information without the word count getting to high – infographics are particularly good at doing this.
A couple of things to consider:
· Only use images that you hold the rights to. There are several free image sites – Pexels.com and StockSnap.io are good examples. You can also adjust search results on Google Images to show those suitable for reuse.
To do this, click Tools – Usage Rights – Labelled For Reuse.
· Only use images, graphs and infographics if they add genuine value to the post, and think carefully about where you insert them.
Check, check and check again:
Once you have written your post you need to proof read it. I always recommend printing it out, doing something else for half an hour, and then coming back to it. Read each word carefully; take your time and mark any corrections on the page with red ink – black can be hard to see when you go back through it.
Once you have read through it once and marked up any mistakes, make the corrections and print it out once again. Ask someone else if they will read through it, checking for spelling, grammar, and whether it makes sense. If they have any edits, make these and then copy and paste the text into your blog.
Before publishing, it is worth reading through one more time just to make sure you haven’t missed anything. A simple spelling mistake can seriously dent the authority of the post, even if it contains a lot of valuable information. Remember, you want your readers to become customers, so it’s important to get it right.
Share it with the world:
Once you have uploaded your post, share it with the world via social media. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the perfect platforms for sharing written content, but you may also want to experiment with Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. Try different things and see what your target audience engage with best.
One thing – don’t worry about how many “likes” or “shares” you get. Follow this guide, produce blockbuster blog posts, share it on social media and your readers will come. It just takes commitment and a little bit of patience.
