When I’m networking I encounter so many businesses who know they should be writing a blog and providing free information to clients and visitors to their website, they just don’t know where to begin!
It’s actually much easier than it seems although, understandably, if you’re not a confident copywriter it can be time-consuming, and too many conflicting thoughts can challenge your ability to write an engaging blog article.
A blog, however, is actually a great way to inform your readers and written in the right way, can keep them engaged right up to the end. It is important from the outset to remember who your target audience is – taking care not to provide too much relevant information to competitors!
Whether your information seeks to advise, inspire or purely entertain the reader, it has to stand out from the crowd. Inboxes are crammed full of newsletters, blogs, subject headings with enticing strap lines, etc. but a blog on your website, linked to your professional and social media strands is positioned just where you need this information to be found. Informing people who are looking for your products and services online and giving them information on and around that subject is what it’s all about.
Directing them to your website via social media or vice versa contributes to the credibility of this advice and enables them to read around the subject with other information on each of these additional mediums. If they like what they read, they are likely to seek out more.
Getting inside your readers head is often the hardest thing to do. What would your client want to know about your business? Choose either a product or service that you wish to talk about and try to explain it in an interesting and engaging way, detailing how it will benefit the purchaser/end user.
Sticking to the point and narrowing down your topic to just one area to ensure you don’t wander off topic is really important too. Don’t choose too many products or services to talk about at once. Giving detailed content on that one thing, might not only be just what the readers wants, but it will shorten the length of the article and increase the chance that they will read to the end.
A blog must be valuable to your audience too – will your advice help to grow their business? Chances are having sought you out on a website or keyword search and found your blog, it’s relevant to their problem or investigation. Look at common complaints and struggles in the industry, try and address them. Will your advice prompt your audience to make a positive change which will impact the growth or direction of the business? Will it help them make an informed decision about the challenge they potentially face?
Try to give an easy, quick-win tip which can be completed within moments of reading your piece. It’s important that your reader will feel they have set out on your journey of advice instantly, perhaps taking a ‘team in action’ shot or a photo of a new product just in and posting it to social media or Following a new sector of people on Twitter.
Round Up
- Be engaging
- Keep it punchy and to the point
- Make sure it will add value to their business or need
- Aim the content at the audience
- Give the reader a quick win piece of advice to follow
- If you’re looking for support with your Content Marketing, get in touch. We’d love to see how we can help.
