By Manuella Hancock, MWH Copy
In the marketing world, fresh content is critical to any effective strategy to get customers to know, like, and trust you. Business blogs create content for your website, and they provide an easy subject for social media communications. A short, 300-800 word post can improve SEO, provide a knowledgeable education point for existing and potential customers, and help establish thought leadership in your industry. Writing blogs takes effort and time and not everyone is comfortable with writing. Consider these following steps to help take some of the pain out of the process.
In the marketing world, fresh content is critical to any effective strategy to get customers to know, like, and trust you. Business blogs create content for your website, and they provide an easy subject for social media communications. A short, 300-800 word post can improve SEO, provide a knowledgeable education point for existing and potential customers, and help establish thought leadership in your industry. Writing blogs takes effort and time and not everyone is comfortable with writing. Consider these following steps to help take some of the pain out of the process.
1. Brainstorm Multiple Topics
Instead of making yourself come up with new inspiration every month, have a brainstorming session – include your employees, reach out to advisors, or scan your competition’s blog. Coming up with a list of topics helps remove this pressure from cropping up each time you sit down to write a new blog. You don’t have to ask yourself, “What am I going to write about?” The topics don’t need to be too complex. You can introduce your staff, write about recent trends in the industry, or talk about a recent win. Your goal is to have 10-20 topics as a go-to resource.
2. Create an Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is marketing industry-speak for a schedule that keeps you on track with your blogging publication. You should include the various steps involved in a blog. From writing a draft, to having it edited/reviewed, to preparing social media posts to promote the blog, all the steps should have a deadline for you – or your staff – to meet. The deadlines should take into account the time needed for each step, and you should have a hard date for posting on a regular basis.
3. Create A Buyer Persona
Your website is more than a virtual business card to validate the existence of your company. Ask yourself who you want reading the blog – which clients will be more interested in learning about your thought leadership and insights into the company. Ask yourself what this reader is like, and prepare a buyer persona about this reader. When it comes time to sit down to write, imagine you are communicating directly with this person, and use language and address subjects that you believe will be more likely to engage this reader. Having this person in mind can help overcome writer’s block because you can set yourself the exercise of telling that reader what you think they should know about the topic.
4. Set Aside Quiet Time to Write
There will never be enough time in the day to get everything done. But, like all other aspects of your business, you need to set aside dedicated time to write. If you aren’t doing the writing, you should make sure your designated writer has set the time aside. Like any other skill, writing takes concentration and practice, and no one should expect it to come easy. Instead of trying to squeeze in sentences between other tasks, make sure your editorial calendar includes time to write that is blocked out for quiet focus.
Writing a blog capitalizes on an easy, effective marketing tool on your website. Following these easy steps can help overcome “writers block” and get the blog on a track for regular posts.
Instead of making yourself come up with new inspiration every month, have a brainstorming session – include your employees, reach out to advisors, or scan your competition’s blog. Coming up with a list of topics helps remove this pressure from cropping up each time you sit down to write a new blog. You don’t have to ask yourself, “What am I going to write about?” The topics don’t need to be too complex. You can introduce your staff, write about recent trends in the industry, or talk about a recent win. Your goal is to have 10-20 topics as a go-to resource.
2. Create an Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is marketing industry-speak for a schedule that keeps you on track with your blogging publication. You should include the various steps involved in a blog. From writing a draft, to having it edited/reviewed, to preparing social media posts to promote the blog, all the steps should have a deadline for you – or your staff – to meet. The deadlines should take into account the time needed for each step, and you should have a hard date for posting on a regular basis.
3. Create A Buyer Persona
Your website is more than a virtual business card to validate the existence of your company. Ask yourself who you want reading the blog – which clients will be more interested in learning about your thought leadership and insights into the company. Ask yourself what this reader is like, and prepare a buyer persona about this reader. When it comes time to sit down to write, imagine you are communicating directly with this person, and use language and address subjects that you believe will be more likely to engage this reader. Having this person in mind can help overcome writer’s block because you can set yourself the exercise of telling that reader what you think they should know about the topic.
4. Set Aside Quiet Time to Write
There will never be enough time in the day to get everything done. But, like all other aspects of your business, you need to set aside dedicated time to write. If you aren’t doing the writing, you should make sure your designated writer has set the time aside. Like any other skill, writing takes concentration and practice, and no one should expect it to come easy. Instead of trying to squeeze in sentences between other tasks, make sure your editorial calendar includes time to write that is blocked out for quiet focus.
Writing a blog capitalizes on an easy, effective marketing tool on your website. Following these easy steps can help overcome “writers block” and get the blog on a track for regular posts.
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