Like bloggers, online or offline business and content writers, you have probably heard a great deal, in the past several years, about the importance of content marketing. Writing blog posts is one great way to start getting your content out there! Many people, however, find themselves wondering how to write a blog post. Do you even know where to get started?
Try some of these strategies to help you turn out not just your first blog post, but further posts that can help raise your search engine ranking and make it easier for you to reach your target audience.
Step One: Do Your Research
Before you dive in and start writing a blog post–or obsessing over how to write a blog post–do a little research. Knowing how to write a blog post is a great place to start your research, but it’s not the most important part, either! Make sure to do some keyword research.
Learn what others in your industry are writing about and what searchers in your industry are looking for. Take a look at what your closest competitors are producing.
You don’t want a blog that looks like a copy and pastes version of their efforts, but you do want to make sure that you aren’t missing out on important opportunities in the industry.
Step Two: Think About What Sets You Apart
When the time comes to choose a topic for your blog post, carefully consider what sets your business–and you–apart from others in the industry. Are you able to accomplish things that others are not?
Do you offer a different specialty or high-quality customer service? Carefully considering what makes you different from others in your industry can help you generate better content that is more likely to reach your audience.
At the same time, consider what you are passionate about. The easiest blog posts to write are the ones that you genuinely care about! What message do you have to share with your customers?
This could be anything from the answers to the questions they ask the most often to information about your favorite part of your industry or business.
Step Three: Create an Outline
Once you’ve chosen your topic, create an outline. Construct your headers and sub-headers. You should have a decent idea of how long you want your finished post to be and, therefore, approximately how many words will ultimately be in each section and subsection.
Your outline is also a great way to highlight any keywords that you want to include in specific sections of the post. Keep in mind that Google and other search engines prioritize keywords used in headers, so use those words from your keyword research and make sure that they appear in your headers where possible.
Step Four: Start Writing!
Once you put hands to keyboard, it’s time to start the writing process. There are several tips to keep in mind to streamline the writing process and make it easier to put out quality content that will benefit your customers.
- Don’t keyword stuff. While you want to use the right keywords in your writing, you also want to create natural content that flows well and answers the questions your readers have. It’s better to miss out on the use of your top keyword than it is to stuff it so full that you don’t even remember what you’re supposed to be writing about.
- Focus on one topic per post. The more you drift off-topic, the harder your readers will find it to pay attention.
- Use lots of headers, lists, and other features to help make your content easier to read. Today’s readers are more likely to skim content than they are to read it from start to finish. By adding headers and lists, you can make it easier for readers to find exactly the information they’re looking for–and increase the likelihood that they will come back to your website for their future content needs.
Step Five: Keep Producing
Every bit as important as writing the content is producing consistent, quality content that your readers can count on. You don’t want to publish a single piece of content in isolation. Instead, create a solid content library that will bring your readers back regularly.
Share your thoughts by commenting below.
