Learning how to write a blog post isn’t hard. In fact, if you sell products and services locally, you probably already have lots of content for your blog posts. That’s because if you sell products and services those products and services help people in some way. Great content for blog posts helps people is some way.
What that means is that every question potential customers may have about the products you sell or services you provide can become the subject of a blog post.
Think About Your Audience
Before you start to write any post, have a clear understanding of your target audience. What do they want to know about? What will resonate with them?
This is where a clear understanding of who your customers are and what they want or need is important. A great theme for blog about your business is focused on answering customer questions. People search online for information and answers to questions they have. A blog post that specifically answers a frequently asked customer question is a great topic and has value to customers and potential customers.
For example; if you own a pet shop and get questions about fleas on dogs, a topic for your blog post might be about getting rid of fleas on dogs.
Create a Title for Your Post
Once you have a topic for your post, pic a title for your post. It’s important to create a title before you start writing because the title will help you stay focused. The best blog posts are focused on a specific topic. If your posts aren’t focused they will likely be very generic. Posts that are too generic tend to be overwhelming for both the writer and the reader.
For example; if your topic is “fleas on pets,” you could write a blog post that goes on forever. You should consider making your title more focused and writing more blogs to cover the different subject related to “fleas on pets”. A good title might be “how to get rid of fleas on dogs.” This would be a very focused blog post and give you the opportunity to create additional posts like “how to prevent fleas from getting on your dog”.
For people selling products and services, good blog post titles are often directly associated with customers frequently asked questions.
Write an Introduction
Your blog post introduction is important. If you lose the reader in the first few sentences, they will stop reading.
Because your blog is an extension of you and your business, you can make it personal. In your introduction you can do this in a number of things: tell a story or a joke, be empathetic, or grip the reader with an interesting fact or statistic.
However, it’s very important to describe the purpose of the post. Is your post going to entertain your reader or provide information the reader wants or needs. This will give the reader a reason to keep reading.
Organize your Content
Sometimes, the amount of material can have to write your blog post is very large. This can feel overwhelming. The key to writing a good blog post with lots of information is organization. When you organize your information your readers won’t be intimidated by the length of the post or the amount of content. This will also make writing the post easier. The organization can take multiple forms — sections, lists, tips, whatever you think is most appropriate. But it must be organized!
One of the best ways to keep organized when writing posts is to make an outline. When you create an outline before you start writing you know which points you want to cover, and the best order in which to do it.
If you’re going to be writing lots of blog posts, make a generic blog outline template and then just fill in the blanks for each post you write.
Start Writing
The next step is to physically write the post.
Use your outline as a guide. Expand on points you have in your outline. Use your experience and knowledge. Marketing today is more personal than ever. It’s ok to make your posts personal. This gives you the opportunity to identify yourself as a subject matter expert. As you post more and more information through your blog, you become known as the go to person for information about whatever it is you are selling. It becomes part of your brand identity.
Do additional research if necessary and include supporting information and data from third party sources. This technique helps validate and verify your credibility as well as helps people satisfy their need or desire for more information.
If you have trouble writing, there are lots of online resources to help you. I find that it’s helpful to remember this; it’s generally considered good practice to write short sentences. Short sentences and paragraphs are easier to read and understand.
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