Writing a good blog is like making the perfect chocolate cake. The more love and time you put into it, the better it will be. Sure you could whip one up in 10 minutes or so, using below-average ingredients and the result would be…. ok. Or, you could lash out a little with the premium bars of cooking chocolate and cook on a slow and steady heat over the course of a couple of hours. And the result? 100% more satisfying.
Writing a good blog operates on the same philosophy. It requires a solid brief, decent research, great ideas jotted down – and that’s all before you even put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). So, I have jotted down my 8 best tips to writing a good blog. No matter what industry you are in, these tips will work – just tweak it to suit your business.
Let’s go.
How to Write a Bangin’ Blog
1. Start with a Good Idea
The #1 priority when you blog is to write about something that is relevant. I hope you are reading this because you are interested in writing your own blog right? So this blog is hopefully relevant to you! Think about the common questions you get asked in your business. What are they? Can you create a blog topic around it? Next time you field the same question, you can direct them straight to your blog that answers it for them (and more!)
2. Create a Great Title
You need a good title to have even the slightest chance someone will click your link. Make it enticing. Make people want to know more. List and how-to posts remain most popular ‘The top 10 ways…’ ‘How to xxx in under 5 minutes’ ‘Time saving hacks to xxx’. Your reader wants to feel as though they achieved something from reading your post – whether it be a new trick or hint, discovering a new product or service, or simply something that made them smile or share with a friend.
3. Write Down your Key Points
Start with a good structure of your key points you wish to cover. This will help to give you a sense of structure when you come to bulk it out with content. It will also help bring you back to topic if you start to waver. Include credible sources, examples, quotes, links to previous blogs and articles to pack some punch to your points.
4. Research your Content
Everyone loves a statistic. It gives you credibility, and we can all do with a little street cred. So, look at your topic and do some research. Find some hard-hitting facts to back up what you are saying. Did you know that the average blog is 1050 words (Orbit Media) and the average time spent reading a blog is 37 seconds? (NewsCred) See what we did there? A few cold-hard facts to back us up. What do these facts tell us though? Long posts generate more leads than short ones, BUT, with an average read time of 37 seconds, you need to grab the attention of your reader fast, or else they have flitted off to facebook.
5. Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research is essential to ensure your blog is hitting the keywords your customers are searching for. Keyword research gives you insights into the key phrases and terms relevant to your industry and blog topic. Ensuring your keyword density is sufficient and including SEO data in the backend of your website, will help your blog be seen far and wide.
6. Add Some Personality
Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. Of course, this needs to be tailored to your industry. If you are in a corporate role your personality needs to be professional. If you are in women’s health you will lean towards a more caring and open nature. Tweak your blog to your industry and clientele.
7. Proofread
Take a spare 5 minutes once you complete your blog to proofread. Send it to a trusted other (husband/wife/friend) to run their eyes over and provide feedback. Constructive criticism is always helpful (most of the time).
8. Pair with a Great Image
As much as I love writing, I love pairing it with a fantastic image even more. There are loads of free image websites around nowadays to choose from. Here are some of my favs (unsplash, pexels and PikWizard). Images are free and they may request you credit their photographer as a way of saying thank you. I hope this helps you to kickstart your next blog. If it all seems too much and you’d like to outsource, get in touch with us at [email protected].
Vanessa is the Director and lead copywriter at Chilli Frog Marketing. With over 15 years in the marketing industry, Vanessa has dominated the writing scene from all topics from real estate and financial planning to healthcare, accounting, higher education, women’s health and more. You name it – Vanessa has written about it. Contact us to see what we can do to make your copy soar. Photo by Trent Szmolnik on Unsplash
