Having a business blog for your company is important beyond reasons you might expect. Apart from becoming an informative source for your audience, studies show that websites housing regular blogs get more than twice the amount of traffic than those without. They boost your SEO, provide additional social media exposure, and can be incredibly useful for building an email database on customers which can be used for bulking up mailing lists. Moreover, they present your brand as an authoritative voice – showcasing you as an expert in your field and thus gaining more audience trust and recognition.
While writing blogs undoubtedly brings significant benefits, it can be time consuming and requires a level of consistency and execution. But what is the key to doing it well?
Create a strong heading
Create a heading that will immediately grab the attention and tell the audience that you have something worth saying. Try and capture the essence of your content while making the title snappy and easily readable. Distil the entire idea of your blog into the title. Highlight what new information you’re bringing, and don’t be afraid to add a bit of drama – a cliff-hanger to make the audience curious e.g., “5 Shocking Benefits Of Social Media” or some brackets e.g., “How To Be Productive (The Smart Way)”. Be sure not to be overly generous with the word count, it’s good practice to make the title of your blog less than ten words long.
Cater towards your audience
Always tailor content to your target audience. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the target audience of your whole business, but rather who you are aiming the blog at. This could be a different demographic than your normal audience if you have a new and different product or service being released soon. If your blog has a comment section, then it’s a great idea to interact with any queries or comments your readers may have.
Keep it short and frequent
With short form content dominating the internet, media consumers have shorter attention spans than ever – so keep it brief and easy to digest. Short blogs that are released more frequently have been proven to be more effective than longer blogs released every couple of weeks. Blogging a couple times a week is ideal to increase traction however, if you have fewer resources or personnel available to your company, then a weekly post is generally recommended.
Select the right tone
Remember that business blogs are different than personal or lifestyle blogs as their primary function is to promote your business. Depending on the nature of your company, choose the most appropriate tone. E.g., if you work in the legal sector you might want to opt for a more formal voice, but if you work in a field such as retail or media, you may like to select a more relaxed approach. If you’re usure of what would suit your business best, stick to a semi casual tone but keep it informative and professional.
Attach an appropriate blog image
It’s no surprise that content which contains visuals tends to perform better, but that doesn’t mean that attaching any image will do. Always use high-quality, relevant visuals with your blogs, making sure that the subject of your image is in clear focus. Use pictures or graphics which offer the best representation of your writing and don’t be afraid to edit your visuals for some additional artistic flare. Don’t forget to use alt tags and optimise them for search visibility and be sure to adhere to copyright laws. If you’re on a budget check out some of our favourite sources such as Pexels, Canva, and Pixabay which all contain good selections of free imagery.
Master your SEO keywords
Make the most of your SEO keywords and conduct some research prior to writing your article. If you want to appear at the top of those search results, you’ll need to find out what kind of words are being actively searched for by your audience. Once you have done so, utilise them to your advantage, use them as topics and include them in your blogs. However, it’s best not to go overboard, as “keyword stuffing” can sometimes make your content appear lower in quality. To combat this, make use of long-tail keywords, related keywords and synonyms. Include one main keyword/keyphrase alongside two or three keyword variations per page.
We hope you have found this read insightful. If you’d like to find out more about elevating your blog writing or require any other business support, we have the team to help! Get in touch:
T: 01903 688789 E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com