Transcript:

Now I’m sure you’ve heard repeatedly that blogging as a business is one of the best ways to get people to your website.

Well, guess what? They’re right.

But if you’ve never blogged before, and especially if you don’t consider yourself a word wizard, it’s hard to know where to start.

Well, I hope you’re ready to find out because Wednesday’s and your blogs are about to get GIANT. 

Hi, my name is Dan and welcome to Giant Wednesday, the only place to be to discover the wonderful world of digital marketing. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and post your comments below.

So today we’re discussing writing content for your website. In particular, blogging.

Blogs are a great way to build trust with current and potential customers, generate leads, educate consumers and build brand awareness. 

The best blogs are engaging, deliver value, and align with your overall strategy, all helping you to deliver a consistent brand message.

But the real challenge is consistently publishing valuable and engaging content that people will actually want to read.

My job is to write content for a huge number of businesses, and along the way, through trial and error, I’ve worked out some pretty helpful tips and tricks.

Fancy picking up a few of these yourself? Here are my top 6 tips for writing blogs for your website. 

 

Number One. 

Be Audience Focused. 

You might already be a great writer, but if you’re writing about something that no-one is looking for or wants to read, then don’t expect great engagement. 

Conducting keyword research can help you to find topics that people are searching for online. You can look at topics with high search volume and use these to both inspire your content and make sure your content is optimised for search.

Use this information to focus your writing on what your audience wants. 

But also consider that you don’t necessarily want to be talking about the same things as your competitors if you’re looking to stand out. Do you?

This leads me quite nicely to my second point… cor it’s almost like I planned this!

Number Two. 

Finding that gap. 

Time to find the gap that’s not yet being filled by your competitors so you can stand out from them with your awesome content and satisfy your audience all at once. 

It’s time to seek and… fill. 

So for this, you can use tools like Answer The Public.

A very handy tool whereby entering a keyword or phrase, such as one of your services or products, will return you an array of things people have actively searched for surrounding that very topic. 

What’s more, It breaks these down into questions, prepositions, and comparisons, giving you hundreds of potential blog titles and inspiration. 

Number 3

You only get one chance at a first impression. (Handshake)

With that in mind, the same spells true for the first sentence of your blog.

People these days have AWFUL attention spans. Essentially a goldfish’s brain, in a human body chasing after likes & comments rather than fish food.

So your best bet is to make sure your first sentence is GIANT.

They’ve read your title, they’re interested enough to give your blog a go, but the first sentence is in most cases, the deciding factor as to whether they want to read on or not.

Why not try writing something quirky or maybe share a shocking statistic. Maybe you could ask an open question?

Whatever you do, keep it short and direct to the point. Promise in the first line, you’re going to give them what they came to the blog to receive.

Well, that’s your first sentence, we’re off to a good start. But let’s move on to… 

Number 4

Structure.

With a super captivating opener to your blog, you’ve now got to take them on that much-promised journey.

Where are you taking them? If you aren’t so sure yourself, then you can be sure your reader has no hope either. 

The length and format of your blog will depend on the topic. But there are a few general rules that apply throughout. 

For example, divide each section into easily digestible paragraphs. Each paragraph should have one clear point to make.

Ideally, they’d also be no longer than four sentences long. Any more than that and they get a little tricky to digest. 

As with all great pieces of writing, there should be a clear beginning, middle, and end. Storytelling is the key to success. 

Number 5

Call Them To Action

Just because you’ve called an end to your story, it doesn’t mean the reader’s journey has to end there too.

You want to make the most of the fact you’ve managed to get the reader to click your link, visit your site, read your content and stick with you to the end.

Let’s get them to do something that will benefit you.

Use a ‘call to action’ to get them to further engage with your content.

This could be getting them to sign up to a newsletter, contacting you directly, buying a specific product or sharing your blog on social media. There are loads of options to choose from but you’d be best off picking one that fits the theme of what they’ve just read. That way, they’re more likely to do what you want them to do.!

The same applies for all content. For example, subscribe to our channel to continually learn how to use digital to your advantage!

Smooth, right?

Don’t waste the opportunity to make the users feel at home with your brand.

And finally, Number 6

Check yourself!

Don’t let all your hard work down by assuming you’re some kind of grammatical wizard. We all make mistakes.

Most writing software has spell checkers, but you can’t rely on them either. Yep, even you Grammarly!

Read through the blog yourself slowly, then, if possible, get a coworker to check it too.

You might think you’ve nailed it, but another pair of eyes might just spot things you didn’t.

If you struggle to find a second pair of eyes, then try changing the font and rereading. The difference in appearance can help you spot things you may have missed before.

Just remember, mistakes in content, no matter how small, make you look unprofessional – and we wouldn’t want that, would we?

And that’s that! Congratulations, you’ve found a topic, you’ve written a killer intro and you’ve used a cleverly structured piece of writing to keep them entertained through to the end. Some of them have even clicked your CTA and continued through your website. And, as far as you know, you made no mistakes because you triple checked. Smashed it!

Wasn’t too hard, was it?

That’s a quick look through my top six tips for writing content. Hopefully, you picked up a thing or two and will now produce some smashing blogs. If you do, please comment them below and we’ll check them out.

As with anything, practice makes perfect. Don’t write one blog and give up if it doesn’t get a 100 views in the first 24 hours. Keep going. They’re great from an SEO perspective, and help build up your brand to look like the subject-matter experts you are. 

Let your blogging become one of your companies most valuable marketing tools and remember to evolve the way you do things by measuring your activity. More on this another day!