You’re ready to start doing some business blog writing but there’s a problem:
Writing is tough.
Even though you know it’s a huge part of successful blogging, it’s turning out much harder than you thought.
You don’t know what to write about or even where to start, but we can change that.
Business blog writing is a mystery
I’m betting this is how you feel about blogging.
If you’re like many other business owners, you probably only have a vague idea of how blogging even benefits your business.
(It’s great that you’re taking steps in the right direction though).
But at the end of the day, you not only write little, you barely understand blogging as a whole.
A basic lack of blogging knowledge
This is just one of those things you don’t understand well because you’ve never had to deal with it.
(Not exactly rocket science, right?).
But the great thing is that you at least understand that blogging for your business has lead-building potential. That means more money for you.
But it only works well if you know how to do it.
4 simple steps for better business blog writing
I’ve got everything laid out as simply as possible. It covers all basic steps in the proper order to creating great blog posts – all you’ve got to do is apply it.
1. Keep your blogging goals in mind
The first thing you should consider is what your blogging goals are.
Common reasons for business blog writing include:
- Becoming an authority in your industry
- Building awareness for your company
- Generating leads for your business
You’ve just got to pick a goal so you can aim for something. At any time your goals might change, but that’s not a problem and should be expected.
2. Know who your audience is and where they hang out online
You already run a business so you should have an idea of who your customer is.
But just in case, consider making a buyer persona to help you out.
A buyer persona is a summary of who your target customer really is. It has the key attributes about them that allow you to dissolve their hesitations, and transform them a customer.
This is essential to good blogging, so make sure to check out that link above and make one.
(It’s simple to do, don’t worry).
Next, find out where they hang out online.
This is important because you want to focus your efforts on where they are, saving you time and money in the long run. Depending on what you offer, your customers might be in different places. They could be on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest…
The list goes on.
But luckily there’s a shortcut to finding them.
3. Study and steal from your competitors blogs
The beauty of having lots of competition is that it’s easy to learn about and find your target market online.
Simply type your product/service/offer into Google and the most established people in your industry will popup immediately. These companies own the first page of Google, so most likely they can provide lots of information on your target market.
Find a popular blog or two related to your industry and start making a list of the most popular topics. In addition, read through the comments of the most popular articles and see what the readers are talking about.
What you’re looking for are pain points and controversy, both of which will be perfect for you to do some business blog writing about.
Also be sure to see which form of social media has the most buzz for you industry, that way you can make sure to focus on it when you expand your online goals. It’s as simple as seeing which social media has the most followers, likes, etc.
Once you’ve gotten several topics to write about, you’re set to write on your own blog.
4. Write using a proven template
You’ve got plenty of ideas, now you just need turn them into blog posts.
Understandably this is tough as many people don’t need to write on a regular basis, so what’s the solution?
Templates.
Templates create the skeleton of the blog post for you, all you need to do is fill it in with your thoughts.
Here’s a couple templates for you to choose from. Don’t worry too much about which is the “correct” one, as long as you focus on helping your customer solve his problems, you’re blog posts will be fine. So feel free to pick your favorite one for all your business blog writing needs.
- Derek Halpern blog post template
- Danny Iny blog post template (Scroll down till you see “The 4 sections of an awesome blog post”)
Both are simple yet formulaic, each section perfectly leads to the next and encourages smart writing; perfect for business blog writing that solves customer problems.
Over to you
When you first start blogging for your business it can be overwhelming, so the key is in starting somewhere small.
So my challenge to you is this: Pick one small thing related to business blog writing and do it.
Make a list of your competition; generate some topics to write about; create the outline to a blog post. It doesn’t matter what it is, just start somewhere… anywhere.
Image via Flickr (Håkan Dahlström)
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