Writing a good blog post is like cooking a delicious meal.
There are so many different factors at play, and it’s your job to find the perfect balance between them to create something truly spectacular.
Unlike the precise science of baking, you’ve got a little more freedom when cooking up your masterpiece blogs. That said, there’s still a method and a recipe for good reason. It’s all about taking the core elements, and adding a little spice, tweaking them slightly to suit your taste.
Cooking metaphor well and truly exhausted, it’s worth noting that just like a chef, you’re going to find your own personal style as a writer – which is what makes blogging such an exciting field to step into!
Whether you’re coming at it with an interest in creative writing and a desire to apply those skills in the digital world, or you’re a thought leader in your niche feeling inspired to get your expertise out there to a wider audience – you’ve absolutely got something unique to offer.
It’s just a matter of taking the fundamentals and making them work for you so you can really hone your blogging skills and start writing Michelin-star quality content. (Ok, that’s officially the end of the cooking references. Promise!)
So, before we get into the basic principles of writing fantastic blogs, let’s first explore why you should invest your time and energy in blogging in the first place.
What are the benefits of blogging for your online business?
Have you been blogging for a while? Or maybe you’ve just gotten started and recently published your first blog post? (Congratulations, by the way!)
Wherever you are in your blogging journey, one thing’s for certain – you want to get better at your craft so you can start seeing real results worthy of the time and effort you put into each piece.
And if you’ve been struggling to attract the kind of audience you want – both in terms of size and demographic – you’re not alone. In such a content-saturated online space (in excess of 2 million blogs published every day), it’s fair to say that blogging can sometimes be a bit of a tough gig.
But don’t give up!
Once you master the art in your own unique way, all the rest falls into place.
In fact, when you’re in the swing of things, blogging can offer some incredible benefits to you as a professional and to your business.
Here are just a few:
- Get your business noticed online
- Establish your expertise
- Grow organic traffic to your website
- Expand your writing skills
- Enhance audience engagement
- Showcase your products/services
- Attract more high-quality leads
- Boost your ongoing SEO efforts
- Establish a creative practice
There’s no doubt that it’s worth investing in your writing and blogging skills.
Sure, there’s an absolute ton of content being published on a daily basis – especially now with the rise of AI-generated content.
But you know what’s missing in too much of that? Quality!
When you work towards creating high-quality content, rising to the top and reaching your goals gets a whole lot easier.
So, let’s get into the really juicy stuff, shall we?
How to write better blog posts and grow as a writer
1. Define your audience and speak to them directly
Getting into a flow and writing your stream of consciousness can be really fun and creatively gratifying. But, this style of writing isn’t going to get you very far in the blogging world.
Your audience should be central to everything you do when writing blogs.
Think about it from your own perspective as a reader. If a blog article feels like it isn’t speaking to anyone in particular, or it’s written in a way that really isn’t engaging for you to read, are you going to make it to the end of the piece?
The odds are looking fairly low on that one.
Listen, we’re all busy people with places to go and things to do. So you can’t expect your audience to sit around reading through content that doesn’t captivate them from the get-go.
Before you even sit down to write a blog post, consider who your target audience is.
Of course you’ve got to think about all the elements that make up their demographic like age, gender, location, and so on.
But you’ve also got to go deeper than this, asking yourself about their wants and needs. What are their pain points? What are they searching for online and why? All of these answers will inform how you address your readers and how you craft your blog.
When you understand what’s led your audience to your blog in the first place, you can write a genuinely valuable piece of content that offers them answers to their questions and solutions to their problems, making it easier to connect with them on a human level.
2. Nail your unique brand voice to really stand out
So, you know that you need to speak directly to your audience by addressing their pain points. Now it’s time to think about how you communicate with them. In other words, your brand voice.
Establishing your individual brand voice is your secret weapon when it comes to attracting and engaging your target audience through blogging.
It helps you showcase your unique brand personality – which is essential if you want to set your business apart from your competitors!
As you know well by now, the digital world is a competitive one. That’s why it’s never been more important to lean into what makes you so special and let that shine through in your content to draw your readers in.
If you can relate to your target audience on a personal level, they’re far more likely to stick around until the end of the piece and actually engage with you.
Find a writing style that reflects who you are as a brand, keeps readers interested, and makes them feel like part of a personal and meaningful conversation.
Want to learn more about discovering your unique brand voice? One of our talented content writers at The Content Lab has written the ultimate guide for you!
3. Understand how to write for SEO
It’s true that your audience should always take centre stage.
But it’s also important to remember that if your blogs aren’t ranking on search engine result pages, there isn’t going to be an audience to read them to begin with.
Writing your blogs with search engines in mind is an essential part of the process, and the more you integrate it into yours, the easier and more natural it becomes.
When you’re researching blog topics, make sure you do keyword research too.
Using keyword research tools, you can figure out which words and terms your audience is looking for when they perform a search online. Focusing on search intent increases the chances of your content getting discovered organically online.
Once you’ve identified keywords, it’s time to incorporate them into your content to boost your blog’s visibility.
Writing blogs for SEO is a little bit of a balancing act. You want to include enough keywords that your blog ranks high on search engines, but you don’t want them to make your blogs a total pain to read.
The best way to optimise your blog is to include plenty of relevant keywords in headings and pepper them throughout the rest of the piece in a way that’s natural to you as a writer and doesn’t disrupt your blog’s flow or readability.
4. Don’t forget about format and structure
Writing each blog is a different experience. Sometimes, you find it hard to move past the blank page, and other times, you just get lost in the flow of writing.
Either way, creating a clear structure and blog post outline before you get stuck into writing the blog content is super helpful for a number of reasons.
First of all, it helps you understand what you’re going to write about, what information to include where, and the key points you need to hit in the blog content. It’s also easier to stay focused when you have a guide and clear parameters to work within.
Not only does this make writing the blog more straightforward for you, but it’s going to make reading it easier for your audience, too. Breaking up long paragraphs into digestible sections makes it easier for the reader to scan through the piece and take in information.
Besides, no one wants to look at a big, intimidating wall of text. Reading a 2,000-word blog seems like much less of a task when everything is clearly laid out with well-crafted headings, complemented by relevant images and a few bullet points for good measure.
5. Edit, then edit again
If you’re trying to establish yourself as an expert in your field, it’s really not going to look good if your content is full of grammatical and spelling errors, is it?
Do your wonderful writing the justice it deserves by taking the time to properly review each blog. After all, writing quality blog posts is all in the detail – so make sure you’ve got your eyes open to mistakes!
Edit your work to make sure you’re saying what you need to say in the most effective way, while ensuring each sentence flows and reads seamlessly. Then, proofread the blog to make sure you haven’t missed any little mistakes that might have gone unnoticed while you were in edit-mode.
It’s even better if you can get someone else to comb through your blog posts with fresh eyes before you publish your content online. At The Content Lab, Word Witch and Editing Extraordinaire, Mia reviews all of our work with a keen eye and effortlessly elevates each project before we send it over to clients. It really makes all the difference!
You can also use online spell-check tools like Grammarly to give your blogs a once-over. While the word processing document you’re writing in will offer suggestions and spell-check for you, it’s wise to take things a step further by using a dedicated tool that really focuses on language, grammar, and sentence structure for the best effect.
6. Become obsessed with writing a great blog post
Practice makes perfect, as they say, and this absolutely rings true in blog writing.
Establishing a successful blog takes time and dedication.
It’s a fast-paced, ever-evolving digital world out there. So, it’s important to stay up-to-speed with current best practices and trends so you can stay ahead of the curve and deliver content that resonates and converts with a modern audience.
Keep learning and honing your skills so that your next blog post is always better than your last.
It’s also helpful to ask your peers for insight and feedback. Why not share your blog posts across social media platforms to encourage engagement, expand your reach, and see what others have to say about their experiences writing blogs professionally?
The more information and knowledge you can gather, the better your blogs are going to be. You’re already doing the right thing by trying to upskill and improve your craft, so stick with it and keep doing what you’re doing!
7. Preplan your blog post ideas
When you’re deep into the blogging game, it can get a little difficult to keep the ideas flowing and know what you want to write about next.
The best way to ensure you’re always writing quality content that attracts and engages your target audience is to plan future posts in advance.
Before you start writing, create a personalised content calendar outlining the next 12 months. Work out how many blogs you’re going to publish each month, and what topic you’re going to write about in each blog post.
Research trending subjects and what your ideal clients are searching for online so you can target them and offer useful solutions through your content. This way, each blog post topic is relevant and likely to resonate.
It’s also a fantastic way to strategically plan your content, posting specific topics at a time when it’s likely to be trending. For example, writing about what to do when work is slow in the summer months, or a blog about preparing a marketing campaign leading up to Cyber Monday.
8. Get The All-In-One Blogging Pack from Content Goodies
As mentioned earlier, the surest way to get yourself closer to writing that perfect blog post is through constantly learning, practising, and developing your skills.
What better way to do just that than with the support and guidance of professional copywriters at your disposal whenever you need it?
The All-In-One Blogging Pack contains a step-by-step mini-course specifically designed to help you write better blog content and improve your capabilities as a writer, along with the very same blogging templates (aka recipes!) our copywriters use at The Content Lab to make writing your own blog so much easier. Just like cooking, remember?
This course doesn’t just cover the basics of blog writing. You’ll learn about:
- How to sell blogging as a service and how much to charge
- Writing headlines that attract and engage your audience
- Blog writing checklists to help you hit the mark
- How to write blog posts using current best practices
- Researching relevant blog topic ideas for your niche
- How to do keyword research and optimise blogs
When you’re looking to improve your blogging skills, it’s always a good idea to focus on the end goal: writing better blogs that resonate with your target audience and rank higher on search engines.
And that’s precisely what The All-In-One Blogging Pack will help you do!
Writing blog posts just got a whole lot easier with The All-In-One Blogging Pack from Content Goodies
Take the stress out of your content marketing efforts. Download The All-In-One Blogging Pack from Content Goodies today!
Your content will thank you for it – and so will your readers!
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