Bad news for those who dreaded English class and loathed writing essays — blogging is an essential part of your marketing strategy. No matter what kind of business you run, your website needs a blog.
In addition to your home page, product pages, and other information, you should also have a place where you can post new content regularly and interact with your visitors. A place where your audience can go for valuable information related to your services and the problems you help erase.
When you have a regularly updated blog on your site, you offer fresh content that gives your audience a reason to check back regularly. Your blog will keep people on your site. It will also help with search engine traffic, as Google loves sites that update their content often.
The only downside is that you have to post regularly, and this takes time, effort, and a wee bit of creativity. However, if you approach it strategically, blogging can be a breeze.
Figure Out What Your Audience Wants To Read
Your blog should be a go-to place for tips and tricks regarding the specific issues your audience faces. If you can offer tips to help them solve their problems, you’ll build a strong relationship with them. Your site will become a source of information in your niche — and this will result in sales.
Start by creating a customer profile and doing some target market research. Include demographic information so you can get to know your readers. Focus on problems they face and questions they have. Write your content with this ideal individual in mind.
Create An On-Going List Of Blog Post Ideas
Writing is just one part of the process. In order to blog regularly, you need a steady stream of engaging and valuable content ideas.
Create an idea file that you can add to as you brainstorm and refer back to when you’re ready to start writing. Start your list by considering things like:
- Questions people regularly ask you
- Ways you’ve helped people before
- The basics of your niche and industry
- Things you can talk endlessly on
With your customer profile in hand, brainstorm the type of information this person would be looking for.
Locate Idea Sources
You’ll need to gather more ideas as you go along. So it’s a good idea to locate a few places to search for more topics to add to your list. Here are a few places to find inspiration:
- Question and answer sites like Quora
- Social media
- Online forums
- Blog comments
- Competitors’ blogs
Go to these places to see what people are talking about and asking about. Look for topics you can address. Once you find some good places, bookmark them so you can refer to them when you’re looking for ideas.
Get Writing
Now that you’ve done all the research and content idea creation, it’s time to start writing. Don’t worry — you don’t need an English degree or impressive writing skills to create a good blog post. Here are a few tips to make the process easier:
- Create an outline before you start writing to keep your focused and on track
- Set a 15- or 30-minute timer and write. Don’t worry about what you’ve written, just get the first draft on paper.
- Write in a conversational tone like you’re talking to a friend and avoid industry jargon.
- Make sure there aren’t any typos, misspellings, or grammar mistakes by using Spellcheck or a tool like Grammarly.
- Use at least one image for each blog post. Images give people something to look at and make it more visually appealing.
- Avoid huge blocks of text. Break up your posts with subheaders and space between paragraphs so they’re skimmable.
Once you get into a routine of writing and posting to your blog regularly, you’ll quickly see results in your traffic and website conversions.
Do you want to learn more about creating content that attracts your ideal clients? Check out my Market Research Mastery System, which teaches you the A to Z of target market research and how to use it to reach your audience.
