Writing blogs isn’t easy, but with practise and perseverance you can certainly learn how to become an interesting and engaging blogger. The below information will provide you with some practical suggestions that will aid you in your quest.
SEO writing
Don’t believe everything you may have read or heard about the importance of writing blogs for SEO purposes. It is true that search engines can bring traffic to your website, but is it really the kind of traffic you want? Just because a person is brought to your site from effective search engine copy writing does not mean that these visitors will convert to being customers.
Writing an engaging blog post that will satisfy your audience should be THE number one factor in your thinking when creating the content of a blog.
Selecting a subject
The first thing to do is to select a subject that you will be writing about. The subject should be relevant to your target audience, it should be current and informative or helpful in some manner.
The best way to do this is to ask your target audience what they want to know.
Key word search
Once you have identified your target market, it is important to understand what key words they use when searching for information online. It’s possible that your audience utilise something very different than what you would expect them to.
Also, Google has a key word search tool that you can use at no cost. Equally, there are search engine optimising tools that can be used on your website to maximise your blog post suitability with key word searches (Yoast is a good example for WordPress users).
Write a compelling heading
Your blog heading should capture the reader from the very beginning. Writing a compelling blog heading can be difficult and some people may even give up before they start writing the content.
You want your title to be memorable, unique to you and your business and also something that might relate to your keywords for SEO purposes.
There are a number of online tools that can support you in your quest to develop a great blog heading, however knowing your target audience intimately will help you more than any generic blog heading generator.
Structuring your content
Like all good writing practises, a blog should always include a structure that includes an introduction, body and conclusion. Consider what messages you want to say in your blog and write them down. If you do this well, you have now formed the basis of your post or article.
Use paragraphs
Correct use of paragraphs helps to guide the reader through the article. Paragraphs should present its own content and be self-contained. Every sentence needs to have a purpose within that paragraph, otherwise it needs a new paragraph.
The first sentence in the paragraph should be your core sentence and must present the reader with the main idea of each paragraph.
Use headings
In a blog, headings are used to bring clear structure to your copy and make it easier for the reader. Readers will use the headings as a quick reference source to grasp the main concept of the blog quickly.
Google also likes the use of headings, making the posts instantly scan-able.
Call to action
Ideally the blog will have some kind of message, whether it be a call to action, buy a product or subscribe to a newsletter or something different entirely. The reader needs to be taken on a structured journey.
Editing your blog
Reading your blog over a number of times is most important. It can also help to get another person to read your blog before you send it live.
Check for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and be succinct.
Word count
Some time ago 300 words was the magic number for Google search engines to troll a blog, then it increased to 500 words. Now, the latest word is that the longer the blog word count the better. Current (2017) statistics show that 2416 words is the average word count for top ranked searches.
The rational is that longer articles are typically well researched with plenty of data to back them up. These longer blogs are seen as a more credible source of information.
My recommendation is to write blogs that are a minimum of 500 words up to 1000 words. Keep in mind people who will be reading your blog don’t have a lot of time or patience to read thousands of words of content. They are generally looking for a quick access reference tool that is informative, entertaining or solves a need.
In summary
You may not be a natural writer, but practise makes perfect. So keep writing and keep refining.
Just remember, if you want a successful website, you have to continue to produce fresh, quality content and post it regularly. Google search engines love it as will your target audience.
Remember, don’t write for search engines, write for your target market and you will reap the rewards.
