Top 6 tips on how to write a blog

Blog writing Copywriting Writing Tips

I recently started some pro bono communications work for a small Melbourne based NFP called Australia for Dolphins. I wrote my first blog post for them which was published today and you can read it by clicking here.

Writing blog posts for a third party follows the same principals as writing a blog for your own business; it just takes time to get familiar with the subject matter. It’s therefore essential to do some research to get yourself in the right head space before you start writing.

Here are my top 6 tips on how to write a blog for your own business or a third party. Short, sweet and easy to follow.

1. Decide what you’re going to write about
Sounds obvious but before you  write  a blog, work out what the focus is going to be, taking into account the people who will be reading your post. What do they want to know? What do you want them to take away from your post?

2. Be yourself, use your own voice or the voice and style of who you are writing for.
Writing for your own business is a bit easier because you’re using a tone and style that readers are familiar with and like. Finding the voice and style for a third party can be a bit tricky. A good starting point is to read their marketing communication material in particular their website and talk to the people that work there to gauge when they’re coming from. Your tone may need to be formal and educational or casual and conversational depending on your audience and the messages you want to get across.

3. Include images in your post
Images are great because they break up text and make the post more interesting to read. Try and include at least one image per post, two is ideal. You can find free images online but there are plenty of low cost websites where you can buy images and they’ll be better quality. I use Dollar Photo Club and download images whenever I need them.

4. Insert links in your posts – they’re great for SEO
It’s a good idea to include links in your blog post so that readers can check out other blogs or websites that contain more information on the topic you’re writing about. The ideal length of a post is around 500 words and including all the facts and figures can be challenging, particularly on more in-depth topics. Links are also great for SEO as blog posts are focused on keywords that relate to your business so including them will help boost your search engine ranking.

5. Give readers the opportunity to respond to your blog post
It’s important to connect directly with the people who are reading your posts so make sure you give them the opportunity to leave comments on each post. You don’t have to respond to all of them but make sure you do to those that have something valuable to add. You can always just enter a comment that thanks people for stopping by and reading your blog.

6. Post your blog on social media accounts
Don’t be shy! Some blog posts can take hours to write so make sure you let followers, likers and fans on social media aware of the results of your hard work. I share my blog posts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and email them to a subscriber list which is a great way of getting my posts under their nose rather than relying on them to visit my website.

If you’d like some help planning and writing blog posts, give me a call on 0411 889283 or send a message on my Contact page. My blog writing rates are very reasonable with discounts available the longer I write them for you!