How to Write a Great Blog Post
Throw out your Macquarie or Oxford rule books on grammar and writing convention. Blogging isn’t like letter writing or academic writing. In fact it’s less like writing and more like speaking, thankfully without all of the annoying “umms” and “whatevers”. Just like when writing web content, creating an original and engaging blog takes effort.
It needs to speak to your audience, be succinct, scannable and easy to navigate, and depending on your purpose include a call to action. The ultimate prize though is generating interaction with readers, particularly if blogging is part of your digital marketing strategy. Don’t know where to start? iFactory has your top tips for how to write a blog post.
Choose a catchy title
You have a few short words to capture the interest of your audience and get them to read more. Starting with your topic, write a few titles and assess once you’ve re-read the final draft. All at the same time it has to be informative, intriguing and actionable. Support your SEO strategy and include keywords if you can but don’t go crazy. It depends on your audience of course but how-to guides, behind-the-scenes looks, secret tips, why questions and expert advice make for popular topics and titles.
Make it easy to navigate and scan
Remember what we said earlier about blogging being unlike conventional writing? Online readers like to scan, so make it easy to navigate and skim by using short paragraphs, simple words and short sentences. You could also use subheadings, lists, bold and italics to allow them to skip to the interesting bits.
Optimise for SEO
Google will not reward you for cramming in your keywords and compromising readability, so don’t risk it. When writing blog posts for SEO, a good tip is to optimise after you’ve finished writing. You could also include interlinking by carefully selecting which keywords you want to link to your web pages. Remember to choose pages that rank well for that keyword. Another way to optimise for SEO is to encourage readers to share through social media.
Informality over formality
Like we said earlier, blogging is conversational so your tone must reflect this. Having said that, understanding and writing for your audience is also important. Just because it isn’t exactly a journalistic medium doesn’t mean that it can’t be respectful and intelligent. The important thing is to be consistent across all of your posts.
Include a call to action
Obviously, if you’re writing a branded post you should tie in your topic with an appropriate call to action (e.g. product push or Contact Us). However, even in non-branded blogs it can be appropriate and even useful to include a call to action (e.g. invite them to share through social media, provide links to information about the author or additional resources).
Add in visuals or stats
Did you know that posts with videos attract three times more traffic than plain text posts? And did you know that including relevant statistics in your web copy builds trust and credibility? With this in mind, try to integrate images, videos, statistics or other resources to further engage your audience.
Check for formatting and correct any errors
This is a no-brainer and something you really can control. Always re-read your draft to correct any errors, make sure your formatting is consistent and fine-tune your tone and structure. Have this checklist somewhere visible and make sure you can mentally tick off each one.
Even though blogging uses an informal, conversational tone, that doesn’t mean it takes any less time or effort than other forms of writing. Remember, effective blog posts have to be original, intriguing and actionable. At iFactory our professional copywriters are on hand for busy business looking for a digital agency to create and publish their blogs as part of their digital marketing strategy. Contact iFactory today to discuss how we can drive revenue through your digital presence.
