Regardless of whether you run a brand new small business or an established multinational company, blogging can be valuable for everyone!

Not quite convinced yet? Here are just 4 reasons why I think it is really beneficial to blog:

• It drives traffic to your website (not the type we dread on Monday mornings!)
• Increases your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation, which, trust me, sounds a lot techier than it is!)
• Can position your business at the top of its game (win!)
• Creates better customer relationships (people can really get to know us and what we’re all about)

Blogging is a crucial approach for potentially expanding your business – and who wouldn’t want that? However, something I learned very early on, is that using keyword focussed content and SEO techniques alone to drive traffic to your website, will only get you so far and just isn’t enough. Creating engaging and relatable content is the real key to producing high quality, consistent results. So, let me share with you, my top 5 tips for writing a successful blog every time and how we can make it work for you!

1.) Nail that title and opening paragraph

Compelling titles and introductions make your audience want to read your post right away. In everyday life, people make a first impression with our appearance, body language and the way we speak – sad, but true! Articles and blogs do it with a title, hence why they are so important.

You can have the most insightful post in the world, but if your title doesn’t incentivise people to click on your article, no one will ever discover the little golden nuggets of delight you took the time to write. Yes, the rhyme was deliberate before you ask!

Your blog post title is a marketing tool in itself. It is what will appear in search engine results, links, in archives, and on social media sites. This is why it is important to spend some time working on your title until one sticks. The idea is for the reader to know exactly what they will get from the blog through the title alone. I always tend to write a few potential titles down on a separate piece of paper and see which one relates most to what I have written.

2.) Understand Your Audience

Great blog posts are targeted towards a particular audience. Therefore, before you start developing your own content, decide exactly what points you want to make and who you want to make them to. This may sound obvious, but having the audience at the forefront of your mind throughout, will really guide your content and overall tone. Creating content without a clear understanding of your audience is like setting out on a boat without navigational tools. You’re out there and you’re taking action, but you’re not working toward a specific goal – a parallel that may resonate with a lot of you!

Once you know and truly understand who your core audience is, include content that your regular readers expect and want from you. It is equally important though, to keep in mind that not everyone understands the sort of industry jargon that your target audience might be well acquainted with. For example, refer to terms such as UI in their entirety first (User Interface) to give all readers as much of a level playing field as possible! This ensures you are not alienating new readers, which is key for expanding your overall audience.

 

3.) Optimise your content for search

A great blog post follows basic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) rules (there goes that techy term again…)! To break this down in simple terms, SEO is the straightforward action of ensuring a website can be found in search engines for words and phrases relevant to what the respective site (i.e. – your business) is offering.

Mastering SEO best practices, such as using keyword optimised titles and having a good, balanced keyword ratio, will make your content more relevant to targeted search engine users and bump your business up in the rankings!

It is important to remember that nowadays, people don’t just go to Google and company websites to source information; social media channels are also used to find what they’re looking for. If someone wants to check out your company, they’re just as likely to open Twitter and Facebook for example, and do a quick search to see what kind of presence you have on each channel. Therefore, the more widespread and prevalent your social media coverage is, the better all round.

4.) Engage with your Reader

You are writing for a reason – to connect with the reader and hopefully, trigger an action. Try to think about finishing your blog with something that moves the reader to perform a desired action. Whether your blog prompts people to go ahead and look at your business model or simply inspires them to question something about themselves and their lives, you have in essence, engaged with your reader.

This leads on nicely to the important point that blogging can create stronger and more personable relationships with readers through the possibility of interaction. This can either be in group form with other readers, or on an individual level, with the writer or business owner. Readers often comment at the bottom of blogs or email directly with questions, comments and critiques after they have read something that resonates in some way. Blogging is just an all-round, great way of bridging the gap.

5.) Be useful and informative

Educating your reader on some level, is important. If your posts are useful and informative, you will receive a steady stream of repeat traffic. As you develop content, try to keep in mind these two prompts: “do I find this useful or informative?” and, “will the reader find this useful or informative?” Being aware of these two questions can really help steer you in the right direction.

The best blogs are engaging, deliver value, and align with what the target audience want or need. The content you develop for your blog has the potential to place your business on top, where it belongs!

So you may be asking yourself, what now? How does this apply to me and my business? Well, as this post has established, blogging can seriously benefit you and is really important in today’s world. No one knows your business better than you do. Therefore, why not have a conversation with a blogging expert who will compose your ideas in a way that will translate to the online world? In return, you will be left with some extra time and energy to succeed in what you do best – your business. Ultimately, it comes back to one of the core values of TULIPHR: to work smarter, not harder.

So, what are you waiting for? Join the world of blogging and I promise, you will never look back!

PHOEBE OVERTON – TULIPHR EXPERT in Copywriting

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