Matt Brennan — June 5, 2020 Marketing your business online requires that you develop some skills as a business blogger…
We live in a world that prioritizes immediate results. But a blog is a steady investment that takes time to pay off.
Look at it this way. Dieters don’t meet their target weight after one day of eating healthy. You’re likely not going to see new business after a few blog posts, either. But when you can stick with a content plan for a long stretch of time, you can see better results.
Maybe blog writing doesn’t come naturally to you. Chances are, it wasn’t the reason that you decided to launch your business. But there are certain steps you can take to improve as a business blogger.
These 5 Strategies Can Make You a Better Business Blogger
Learn the Craft – You don’t have to be a master writer to be a business blogger. But it is a good idea to learn some of the basics. Proper spelling and grammar will help ensure that your content represents your business in a professional way. You don’t have to write in a formal, term paper style. In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t.
Business blogging depends on being able to convey your ideas clearly. It’s typically best done in an informal, casual manner, that’s still professional. Think back to those high school and college English classes that you took. Learn which rules need to be followed (spelling and grammar) and which can be broken (any requirements or notions of formal writing).
Provide Value – When someone clicks on your blog post they have questions. They’re a captive audience, searching out answers, and doing more research on your industry. If you can provide clear and concise answers in an easily accessible manner, you’ll grab their attention and they’ll keep reading.
There’s no shortage of information online, from other sources. The more information you give away to your audience, the more you are positioning yourself as an expert. When your audience is ready to make a purchase, it’s you that they’ll keep in mind.
Tell Stories – Your audience is conditioned to love stories. A narrative about how you helped your customer to solve their problem will always play well. Your blog is the perfect place to publish the occasional case study. You can also tell your origin story, or use anecdotes from daily life to illustrate a larger point. But mastering the art of storytelling in the written form will always play well.
Understand the Importance of Headlines – Your headline is what your audience will use to determine whether they want to click on your article or not. In other words, you can spend hours writing the perfect blog post, and if the headline is a dud, chances are no one will want to read what you have to say. This idea isn’t new to blogging.
Advertising magnate David Ogilvy had this to say about headlines:
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
I can’t understate this point enough. If you do anything at all to become a better business blogger, make it to research and practice different headline techniques to attract new readers. You won’t regret it. Read as many articles on the subject as you can get your hands on. This free book is an excellent resource, too.
Make Sure Your Readers Know What You Want Them to Do – If there’s a second piece to your blog, or any marketing writing project, it’s the call to action. Our tendency is to assume that our readers know what we want them to do. This isn’t the case. At the end of your blog post, you can ask them to fill out a form, share, download, contact you, or buy.
Just because the piece that you published is meant to be educational, doesn’t mean you can’t offer a sentence or two about your paid product or service at the same time. As long as you’re providing the expected value, there’s a complicit understanding that you are in business, and you need to make money.
When the Tactics Above Just Aren’t Enough: Hire A Blog Copywriter
For some, you didn’t start your company to become a business blogger. It’s ok. I feel the same way about accounting and bookkeeping.
The reasons to outsource the work may vary. Maybe you’re too busy and don’t have anyone else to delegate the project to. Maybe the idea of sitting down to write a weekly or monthly blog feels a bit like torture to you. Whatever the case, if the tactics above sound like more than you bargained for, you do have another option.
You can hire a blog copywriter to handle your next project. A blog copywriter can help you with everything from planning out blog posts in the form of an editorial calendar to writing these posts.
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