Writing great blog posts and marketing them effectively is an important component of running a successful online business. Writing high quality blog posts on a regular basis will help you to build your business in the following ways:
Establishes you as an authority in you area of expertise.
Increases the visibility of your business and brand.
Is an effective tool to increase traffic and leads for your business.
Increases your search engine ranking for targeted keywords.
Serves as an effective way to build links to your website.
Just sitting down and writing about any old subject isn’t smart. To be effective you need to have an article writing strategy. Here are 5 easy to use steps to write great content:
1. Who is the audience or niche that you are writing for?
Knowing who audience is essential for writing a great blog post.
You want to make sure that your content is geared towards your ideal client or particular niche that your business serves.
The whole point of blogging is to share your knowledge on a particular subject, have the reader click on your link in your resource box then head over to your website. Optimally you will have a great free offer waiting for them and they add their name to your list.
2. What should you blog about?
When you first sit down to write, brainstorm a list of ideas that you can pull article ideas from. Put yourself in your audiences shoes. Think about they are struggling to overcome. What pain is your ideal client is facing? Write down everything that comes to mind. What questions do they have, what help do they need from you? These are all great starter ideas for articles you can write for your targeted audience. Think about what should write about that can help them and/or teach them something of value.
You want to establish yourself as an expert in your area of expertise. So sharing content that is of value to your audience is a great way to gain followers and build your list.
Remember though that sharing high value content doesn’t end here. You will want to continue to share great content that is FREE with people on your list. If you go on to start selling to your list without continually sharing high value free content, you will lose your subscribers. Selling immediately is never a good way to build a loyal following.
3. Where do you find great content to help with writing a great blog post?
There are many places to find great content that you can write about. What you really want to do is first find out what your audience is interested in. Go to forums where your target audience is and see what they are talking about. What questions are they asking? Check it out and start writing down your ideas. Ideally you should create a spreadsheet for your research and keep your list there.
Another place to find good content is in Linkedin Questions and Answers. Go to the advanced answers search and type in some keywords, see what comes up and use the ideas for your article content.
4. When should you write?
Its important to create content on a consistent basis. A good rule of thumb is that you should write approximately 2 articles per week. Blocking out time in your schedule to research and write is a good practice. Look at your schedule and time block a certain amount of time for this each week.
Find a time in your schedule when you are relaxed and fresh.
If you find yourself with a writer’s block, do not force yourself. Put everything away and go do something else, come back to your writing later. As you write more often, the process will become easier and faster.
5. How do you structure and write a great blog post?
Here is a simple and easy to follow outline for you to use:
- Title/Headline
- Introduction
- Main Body/Value Content
- Conclusion
- Resource Box
Your blog post length should be 350-600 words in length to get published on most article marketing sites. Remember that you want to create content that is valuable to your target audience. Tips and Q&A type blog posts tend to get read more frequently.
Format your blog post so it is easy for the reader to read quickly and get the information they are looking for.
Put these 5 easy steps to use and you will find that writing a great blog post becomes easier, faster and you will actually enjoy the process.
