Do you need help getting your website to the top of the SERPs? Do you need something that brings in more leads without you sending emails or being on the phone all day? You need to be writing blogs for your business.
Blog writing is essential to any successful digital marketing strategy. Blogs are incredibly beneficial to businesses, large and small, across all industries. Not only can it help you get found more easily by prospects, but it also forges more trust and authority in your industry, which makes the difference between a business that is successful for a few years and then suddenly disappears and one that lasts for generations.
Despite what Def Leppard and Neil Young say (or sing, rather), it is not better to burn out than fade away— at least, not in business.
But I'll be honest with you. It's not something you can sit down and do in 20 minutes. Creating good content takes work and a little knowledge. Luckily, I'm here to guide you through the steps of writing blog posts people actually want to read. Keep reading to learn how to write the perfect blog post for your small business.
Should You Write A Blog For Your Business?
Blogging for your small business has many benefits–no matter the business or industry. Business blogging lets you showcase your business and your products or services, gaining more leads.
Beyond that, search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important benefits. Writing blog posts can significantly boost your traffic through SEO and local SEO.
By creating a lot of high-quality and optimized content, your whole website's SEO improves, meaning you can show up to people looking for what you're offering. Even creating localized content about your town can help boost local SEO.
What To Write About For Your Small Business
Business blogging isn't like lifestyle blogging. You have to stick to writing about things related to your business. Aside from topical relevancy and SEO, being relevant and sticking to your niche helps you establish yourself as more of an expert in your readers' eyes.
But that doesn't mean you can write about both er things closely related to your business that customers might also want to know about.
For example, I commonly write blog posts for house painters, so beyond the topics involving house painting, part of my strategy involves using interior design and decorating topics that I can still point back to my clients.
If you're a local business serving a specific community or area, you can also write about some relevant events in your town. For the client I mentioned in my example, I included local event topics, like town fairs and other things that I could relate the business to while forging a deeper connection with that community.
Types Of Blog Posts
Depending on your audience's needs and the topic, there are a few different ways to format your business's blog posts. Here are some popular blog post types for businesses.
Listicles:
These are blog posts in list form. Longer lists usually just have the items, but some include more information. It all depends on the subject matter.
Example: 5 Ways To Gain Traffic To Your Website
Step By Step Guides and How-To Posts:
These are guides or how-to blog posts that break a topic down into tangible steps for a reader to follow.
Example: A Step-by-Step Guide To Optimize Your Website For SEO.
Product Reviews and Countdowns:
Product reviews and countdowns are extremely popular ways to promote products and services. They provide deeper information and, perhaps, some customer feedback.
Example: My Top 3 Website Platforms To Launch Your Website On
Informational Guide:
An informational guide is an in-depth blog post explaining everything related to a specific topic. These are usually longer-form posts that are useful as pillar pages.
Example: A Complete Guide To SEO For Small Business
Promotional Posts:
Promotional posts are articles you write about your own products, services, or the business in general. They're self-promoting posts that educate your readers about where the content comes from and what you offer.
Example: Best Graphic Design Tools For Bloggers.
FAQs:
FAQ posts can be the questions people often ask about your business, product, or service. You can also write a blog post about the most popular question about a topic in your niche.
Example: What Does An SEO Audit Include?
5 Elements Of A Stellar Blog Post
Just like a good meal, there's a recipe for the perfect post. Here are the most essential elements of a stellar blog post.
1) A Wicked Headline
Your headline is what reels in readers. It's the first spark of interest that determines whether or not they click your article or someone else's. Make a headline that captures your ideal reader at first glance. Something that will make them say, "This one's for me."
2) A Mouthwatering Intro
When you write a blog, you're into the most important piece. That's what get's people to read your blog post. Get your reader to read all the way through by having a solid intro.
3) "Triple I" Blog Content
Don't follow up a powerful intro with bland body text. The rest of the blog has to be just as entertaining or educational. Plus, you'll need to prove what you say. After all, ANYONE can write ANYTHING on the internet. Readers will trust your blog more if you back up your claims with cold, hard facts. Use data and numbers to create authority with your readers.
When I write blog posts, I use my "Triple I" formula. It basically means AAA (like really, really good), but I focus on three things content needs to be to get read. It needs to be
Informative
In-depth
Interesting
4) Organized Headings And Subheads
Nobody likes being hit by a wall of words. You need to break up your blog post into headings and subheads, covering the different subtopics. This is also important for SEO and user experience.
5) A Killer Call To Action
When you're writing a blog, end with a conclusion. It's always necessary, but it's a good way to upsell your brand, product, or services. You can't drop off and leave your readers hanging.
Things To Do Before Writing A Blog Post
Preparing and planning out a blog post is almost as important as writing one. If you plan everything out, it's also much simpler to write out when it's time. And it keeps things organized, so you're never guessing what to write about.
Let's talk about what you need to do before writing a blog post.
Pick An In-Demand or Trending Topic Within Your Niche
What is your blog about? What do you offer your clients or customers? Pick a trending topic within your industry. You can also write about things related to your niche. Anything you can naturally relate to your business is fair game.
Example: If you own a boutique, you could write a blog about clothes, trends, and some clothing hacks. If you are a financial advisor, you can talk about personal finances, give some tips, etc.
Remember to stick within your niche. If you write about everything, you're not really targeting anyone, and your blog won't get consistent traffic or build a relationship with the audience, meaning recurring visits.
Take a look at what's trending in your niche right now. What topics are people searching for related to your service or products?
Think About WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, HOW
The most important thing when writing any kind of content for a business is to understand who you're trying to target, particularly what they want and how you can deliver that in the blog post.
Here are some questions to ask yourself about each blog post:
Who are you writing for?
Your target audience for this post.
What are you trying to convey to them?
Not just the content topic but also the main messaging behind it.
Why are you writing about this to them?
The purpose behind the topic and blog post. (Ex. lead generation)
Where is this audience currently going for content?
Your competitors and how they're delivering to your target audience
How are they searching for this topic
The keywords and search queries your target audience is using to find things related to the topic.
Define Your Angle
Another thing you want to set straight is how you can present your topic differently than your competitors. This is your angle, which is a deeper definition of your content's purpose and main messaging, allowing you to bring a new look or more value to a topic than everyone else.
Researching the main search intent for the topic, more specifically, the keywords, can give you a good idea of your angle. It's essential to have an organic and unique angle. No one wants what everyone else is saying. But until you do some competitor research, it's okay to have a general idea of your angle and then tweak it once you see what everyone else is doing and how you can put a unique twist on it.
You can find search intent on Keyword Research tools like the Semrush Keyword Generator and the Moz Keyword Explorer, which leads us to our next item on the to-do list: finding the best keyword.
Keyword Research
Using one of the keyword tools I linked above, run a search of your topic. Focus on long-tail keywords (2-3 words) for the best chances at ranking. My "sweet spot" for keywords is a medium or long-tail keyword that:
Is highly relevant to your blog post and your business
Has a high search volume rate (preferably 1k and up)
Has a low competition or keyword difficulty rate
Look At Your Competitors
Take a look at the SERPs for your chosen topic. Who are the top three websites listed? Check out each page to see how they're formatting their posts, and don't forget to take note of the URLs so you can use them for research later.
Planning Our Your Blog Post
Create a document as a brief for your blog. It could be a spreadsheet, Google Doc, or Word Document—whatever you like.
In your blog brief, include information on:
Top 3 SERP Competitors
Keywords you're focusing on
Internal links you want to add
External links (sources)
A rough blog outline
What To Include In Blog Outline:
SEO Title (Also Called Title Tag) & H1 Tag (Also Called Headline)
Headings, Subheads
Call To Action Heading
How To Write A Stellar Blog Post For Your Business
Now we get to the meat and potatoes. It's time to write. Here are the steps to writing a stellar blog post for your business.
Create A Powerful Title
Here are some tips to help you write a headline that pops out to your readers:
· Ensure your headline is relevant to the article, but make it compelling!
· Include your target keyword
· Use power words to make it pop
· Don't make it too long. 65 characters is usually the sweet spot
Research And Make Notes
Always research a blog post topic, even if you know something well. You will need other resources and facts to link or use in your blog. Also, look at your competitor's pages to find any content gaps. What are they NOT covering about the topic that you CAN?
Writing The Blog Post
Now, it's time to write your blog post. Using your notes, create authentic and original content—don't just reword what someone else says. Give it your flavour by changing the angle or using a tone of voice that aligns with your brand. Plus, don't forget to back up your claims with facts and data.
Pro Blog Writing Tip:
If you have a brand persona, keep your writing in line with that tone of voice. If you don't already have a brand personality and voice, you should definitely get that started before writing your blog post. If you need help, check out this in-depth look at brand personalities on the Hubspot blog. It even comes with a free downloadable branding guide!
Step Four: Write Your Conclusion And Introduction LAST
Intro:
Your blog's introduction paragraph is the most critical part of your blog, which is why I usually write my intros last. The title gets readers to your page, but if your intro bores them, they'll leave almost as soon as they come.
To write an intro paragraph that pulls people in, ask some relevant questions or make an attention-grabbing statement. Then, lead your readers in by giving them a little snippet of what the blog is about and what they'll get out of reading it.
Conclusion:
In your conclusion, summarize what you've done, but leave your readers with something of value and a call to action. Your call to action may be to contact you, visit your product or service page, or even follow you on social media.
Never leave your readers asking more questions. You always want to make sure you've delivered what you promised way back in the introduction paragraph and that you've connected your business to the topic with a good call to action.
Optimizing Your Blog Post For SEO
No matter how well you write a blog post, you can't guarantee anyone will see it. Well, not unless you optimize it to rank high on search engines. Let's talk about SEO for blog posts and how to make sure your posts are always optimized to rank high.
Keywords
Again, make sure you've used super-relevant keywords with high search traffic and low competition. If you want to know how many times to use your keywords, try checking out the competition. You don't need a tool; all you need to do is visit the top 3 SERP listings and use Ctrl+F to find how many times the keywords have been used and even see some variations you may have missed in your original keyword research.
One thing I will say is that while it's ALWAYS better to write your keywords naturally into the blog post, it doesn't always work that way, so make sure that if you do have to add more, you're not just stuffing them in. Once placed, reread the sentence to make sure it doesn't sound forced.
Internal Links
Adding internal links to your blog post is extremely important to your website's architecture and user experience. Add links to other pages on your site wherever it fits. Just like with keywords, you want to make sure they are natural, meaning the anchor text makes sense and the link you're sending your readers to is relevant to the blog post–or at least the part you're linking.
Structure
You can have the best possible information, but if you don't package it properly, no one will take the time to read it. This is why it's so important to look at your competitors. See how the top three competitors structure their posts with headings and subheads, and try replicating that.
Editing And Proofreading Your Blog Post
Editing is tedious but absolutely necessary. Constant spelling mistakes and other errors will diminish your readers' trust in you. Editing also gives you a chance to cut out all of the fluff in your blog post, so you're giving your readers the most valuable information—not boring them.
Proofread your post with laser focus, going over one word at a time. Slowing yourself down like this helps you catch tiny mistakes like missing commas or double spaces. You can also use proofreading AI software like Grammarly to help you with proper grammar and punctuation. Just don't rely on it too much.
Pro Proofreading Tip:
Proofread TWICE. On the final round, read your blog post out loud to find any nuances or things that just don't sound right. This will help keep your blog post a little more conversational, which is best for business blogging. It should be like you or your brand's persona is actually talking to your reader face to face.
Promote Your Business Blog Posts
Even though you're finished writing a blog post for your business, you're not done quite yet. Even with good SEO, you still need to promote your blog posts. Here are a few ways to spread the word!
Social Media
Email Campaigns
Newsletters
Word Of Mouth
Link Building Campaign
Need Help Writing Stellar Blog Posts? Hire A Blog Content Writer!
Writing blogs for your business is crucial to digital marketing success. If you're having trouble coming up with good blog content, I can help with a strong strategy and high-quality blog content.
Check out my blog writing portfolio to see how my unique blend of copywriting, SEO, and content marketing skills can help launch a stellar blog for your business!
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