Coffee is poured. Laptop is open. Palms are sweaty. Mom’s spaghetti. But the words just aren’t coming! What should you write about? How do you get started? What if your post is terrible and you become the laughing stock of the entire internet?
These are valid questions...well, except for that last one.
By now, you’ve done your research on inbound marketing. You know that your blog posts serve three primary functions: Improve your SEO rankings, Demonstrate your expertise/provide valuable information, and promote your brand. It feels like a lot of pressure, right?
Take a deep breath and stretch out those typin’ fingers, because you’re about to learn how to write a blog post that’s effective, enjoyable, and painless to create!
Step 1: Come up with a blog topic
The best place to start is by thinking about common questions your customers ask you.
For example, family photographers are often asked about how to coordinate outfits for group photos. That’s a blog post! A fitness studio owner might receive a lot of inquiries about nutrition, stretching, or weight lifting form. Blog post, blog post, blog post!
Crowdsource your ideas by letting your customers tell YOU what they’d like to learn about.
Another great way to find topics is by studying others in your industry who are nailing this whole blogging thing.
Check out their social media pages and see which blog posts are getting tons of shares and high engagement.
Just note: It’s ok to snag a blog topic idea from someone else, but it’s not ok to plagiarize. Make sure the content is 100% your own, and put your own unique, awesome spin on it.
A third blog topic suggestion is to check out what’s trending and see if anything inspires you.
Visit Google Trends to see what the world is reading about and explore topics related to your business type. Another great resource is BuzzSumo, which shows you the blogs and articles with the most shares based on your search terms.
Step 2: Create your headline
Writing your headline first helps you focus. As a business owner, you’re very passionate AND very knowledgeable about your field. While these are great qualities, they also lead to super long, overly-complicated, rambling blog content. Write your headline FIRST and refer back to it when you start to feel like you’re in over your head.
Check out these headline tips for inspiration.
Step 3: Make an outline
An outline mostly serves to keep you on track. It’s surprisingly easy to go off on a tangent.
For example, as I was writing this blog post I hopped on Google Trends and discovered that it’s International Coffee Day. That reminded me to refill my mug. By the time I came back to my laptop, I had completely lost my train of thought.
Luckily, I had an outline to get me back in the right direction! Your outline can be as basic as this:
Heading:
Intro:
Main Topic/Key Idea:
Content:
Main Topic/Key Idea:
Content:
Main Topic/Key Idea:
Outro:
An outline might give you flashbacks to term papers and school drudgery, but it’s just too helpful to skip.
Step 4: Fill in the blanks
Once you have your headline and outline, you’re ready to go! Fill in the rest with valuable information to impart upon your potential customers. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Stick to your brand voice/personality:
If your brand is casual and relatable, write that way! If your brand is sincere and empathetic, maintain that tone in your writing. Visitors should get to know your brand as they read, before you even introduce yourself. - Keep it simple:
You may be tempted to demonstrate your expertise by using long words and complicated sentences. Instead, show your knowledge through your ability to communicate with clarity. Even highly technical fields benefit from having readable blogs. - Don’t forget your keywords:
This is inbound marketing...the days of “filler” content jammed with keywords are gone. People are really going to read this blog! Your keywords should blend in smoothly with your quality content.
Step 5: Write an effective outro
Your outro is hardly the conclusion of the reader’s visit to your website. What do you hope your reader does next? Do you want them to download your e-book, or sign up for your newsletter? Give some encouragement, then use your outro to set the reader up for the next action you’d like them to take.
That’s it! This simple guide will have you crafting killer blog posts to your heart’s content.
If you could still use some guidance on tying your inbound marketing strategy together, reach out to Tobe and get a whole squad of experts in your corner. (See what I did there? That’s an outro!) Best of luck and happy blogging.
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