Blogging has come a long way from its old MySpace days! If you want to write a good blog post to generate more leads and help your business website rank higher, you must abandon outdated practices such as keyword stuffing and writing for the sake of writing.
How to write a good blog post for your target audience
A compelling blogging plan is a beneficial asset to your SEO, content, social media and inbound marketing strategy as well as your newsletter: five birds with one stone! Here are the things that you should keep in mind when writing a good blog post in order to unlock all these juicy benefits.
Think of the bigger picture
We’ve lost track of how many companies keep dishing out inconsistent articles on their latest achievements and then complain that blogging doesn’t work.
Duh!
Instead of picking random topic ideas, think of where your next blog post fits in your content plan. If you haven’t got a blogging strategy, we recommend crafting one first.
The winning recipe?
A balance of conversion-based articles to generate leads and sales, and industry-related topics to position yourself as an expert in your field. Either way, each blog post should target a relevant keyword and appeal to your target audience. You’re not writing to brag about your achievements: you’re bringing value to your audience and solving their problems.
Do some keyword research
Each blog post is a new indexed page on your website and should therefore target a long tail keyword. Not just any keyword, though: the ones that you’re trying to rank for, those that are relevant to your industry and, most importantly, what your audience is actually googling. Do some research with useful tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner, and use the ‘People also ask’ section on Google to get valuable topic ideas.
Outline the structure of your article
Spoiler alert: nobody wants to see huge heading-less blocks of text. And, when we say nobody, we mean both your readers and search engine crawlers.
Do some brainstorming before writing the article to divide it into an introduction that hooks the reader in (which we usually recommend writing afterwards), a main heading and some smaller headings, with a little outro at the end.
This will also help you overcome the dreaded blank-page syndrome by breaking a large task into smaller, achievable steps.
Start writing a blog post for humans…
Yes, you’re writing to rank higher on search engines, but don’t forget that your articles are part of a bigger strategy to generate leads and retain your existing audience!
Ultimately, crawlers aren’t going to purchase your products or share your article on social media: human readers are. Make sure your blog post brings value to them by being entertaining, informative and compelling.
…and then make it SEO-friendly
Now that you have written your first draft, you can make it accessible to crawlers, too. Since they’re getting smarter and smarter, beware of keyword stuffing, which happens when the same keywords are used too many times and unnaturally in a text. Instead, place them strategically in titles and headings, add them to pictures’ alt-tags, and sprinkle them a few times in the article body, but in an organic way.
Don’t forget to add relevant internal links whenever possible, and write a good meta description that grabs your audience’s attention on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
Add a call to action
Unless you want your readers to forget about you for the rest of their lives after landing on your blog post, you need to tell them what to do next.
Should they click onto a specific product?
Subscribe to your newsletter?
Share the article on social media?
Don’t waste this lead-generation opportunity!
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Speak to our copywriters today and start converting clients tomorrow!
Write a good blog post title that stands out on the SERP
Now that you know exactly what your blog post covers, you can write the title and, if you haven’t already, the introduction. Remember that your article must answer your target audience’s problem: if the title doesn’t sound like it will, they are unlikely to click on it. For example, you can use numbers or a list-based approach, informational ‘a guide to’, ‘how to’ or ‘why’ articles, or something controversial like ‘nobody will tell you’ titles.
Make it catchy and quirky, but set the right expectations. Don’t forget to add the keyword that you’re targeting!
Preparing a compelling blogging strategy and writing a good blog is the key to generating more leads for your business. By ranking higher for relevant keywords and reaching a wider portion of your target audience, whilst retaining your existing prospects, your blogs will boost your online presence.
Sharing your blog posts on your accounts will also complement your social media strategy, and mentioning them in your newsletter can boost your click-through rate. Yep, that’s how powerful and versatile an excellent blog post can be!
If you’re ready to unlock the benefits of an effective blogging strategy but don’t have time to write your own blog posts consistently, check out our copywriting services.
Joanna Tracey