Some people are surprised to know that much of SEO is centered on blogging or article writing. When creating a website, some would focus on doing a domain lookup to see if their domain name is unique, choosing the best hosting, designing the most optimal website layout, and launching it. If this is your mindset right now, you need to understand that making content is the bread and butter of successful marketing.
This is why digital marketing articles talk at length about how you should consistently churn out articles and write guest posts for other websites. Because what will you promote on your social media channels? What type of content will your audience expect from you? More importantly, what will help you generate leads?
So for this article, we will help you write your blog posts by giving you a rundown of blogging best practices. Whether you are writing how-to guides, listicles, or master posts, you can use this guide for all kinds of blog formats.
Come up with a topic that resonates to your audience
For this, you need to understand the persona of your target demographic. This includes looking at the age range you are attracting, their online behaviours, and their interests. Not only will this help guide the language and tone you are going to use, but the topics that you can come up with. Find out what they want to know and the questions that keep coming up; then write an article addressing it.
On the other hand, you might also want to create content for a new audience, like those who have just stumbled upon your page. In that case, you can create introductory posts explaining key concepts and trends in your field of interest.
When coming up with topics and titles, follow this process:
- Choose a topic scope
- Determine the audience you are writing for (is this for your current audience or for a new one?)
- Create at least 3 working titles for it
- Do research to supplement the info you are going to provide
- Finalise your title
Create an outline
This is incredibly helpful for those who are not used to writing a lot of content. Research can be a bit overwhelming; sometimes you start out with just one idea for an article, and it will turn into three ideas after a bit of reading. To avoid dumping lots of information on your audience, and to make writing easier, create an outline that you can follow for your article. In the event that you start coming up with different ideas, save those ideas for another article.
Start writing
Now that you have references, an outline, and a working title – you can now start writing your content. The biggest hurdle you will jump is writing an enticing intro. There are many ways to do this: sharing an anecdote, telling a joke, or posting a question. Then tell them the purpose of the article and what questions will be answered towards the end.
Afterwards, just follow your outline, elaborate on important points, provide examples, and you are done!
Have it proofread
Well, not quite done. Any written work should go through an editing process, but it is important that editing is not done by you. Ask a friend or another writer to read your content and tell you points to improve.
Do not forget the call-to-action
Whether you are blogging to sell or to share personal experiences, there should always be a call-to-action towards the end of the article. Ask yourself, what would you like the reader to do next? Do you want them to subscribe? Comment? Maybe purchase an item from your store? Include that towards the end of the article; this is one effective way of generating significant leads.
Master this blog writing process and refine it based on the results you are getting from your audience. Good luck!
