Have you ever heard the old saying about how there are only about a dozen different plots for a story, and every book and movie ever made is just reworking one of them? Well, believe it or not, the same is true for blogs. There's really a pretty simple set of “formulas” for blog writing, and if you follow them, you can be turning out plenty of content in no time!
So, if you're writing blogs for your company, read on for some tips on how to keep producing high quality content that brings in new leads!
Writing Blogs Made Easy: A Quick Guide
1. Find a topic.
Sources of inspiration are all around you. Talk about an aspect of your industry, or your manufacturing process. Answer a question you heard recently. Listen to the news for subjects relevant to your business. Read other blogs, respond to what they say. Variety is the main key here. Don't write about the exact same thing every day.
2. Decide on a Format.
Here's where those formulas really come into play. There are really only a small number of basic formats when writing blogs. Once you come up with an idea and then pair it with one of these formats, you're already halfway there.
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Problem resolution. Basically, you just present a problem, explain its causes, and then detail the solution to that problem. This format works for everything from explaining flea prevention to advocating political policy.
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Top ten (or bottom ten) lists. Go easy on these. A good Top Ten list can go viral because of its simplicity, but there are so many out there that it's become a stale format.
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Answering questions. A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a great subject for a blog, if you commonly get questions all regarding a specific area of your business.
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Prognostication. Everyone likes to slip on their fortune teller hat from time to time. Analyze trends in the industry (or the country) and explain how you think they'll affect your business down the line. These can be great for getting you noticed as a strategic thinker.
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News analysis. No matter what industry you're in, regulations constantly change, and major financial or political news can have a big impact on you. When the wind shifts, that's a great time to write a blog with your thoughts on it.
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Article response. If your industry has a friendly community, start blog-based conversations going with fellow members by writing a response to something they say.
3. Pick Keywords
Hopefully you already have a set of keywords for targeting your SEO. If not, now is definitely the time to do so. Find a couple keywords that are relevant enough to your topic that you can slip them in naturally when writing blogs. Generally, you don't want to have more than two or three different keywords. Otherwise your writing becomes about shoehorning them in, rather than actually producing good content writing.
And remember, you only need to have a keyword density of around 1%-2% for your SEO, so don't overdo it.
4. Include Some Links and Citations
Including links are great for your SEO. Just like back in school, it's best to provide links with sources on facts you're presenting, since it both legitimizes your work and gets some outbound links in there. Also, don't forget to link to yourself as well. If you mention something you covered previously, link to it so interested visitors will keep reading what you have to say.
5. Proofread!
No, seriously, proofread it before posting. Your word processor isn't going to catch all your typos or grammatical errors. When in doubt, read it aloud. You'll hear errors your eyes don't catch.
That's it! That's really all you need to know. Writing blogs really isn't that hard, once you break it down step by step.
What blog writing tips have you discovered that worked for you?