These days it seems like everyone under the sun has a blog, I mean how hard can it be? But if you have ever written blogs you know that there is so much more that goes into marketing and maintaining a blog then just typing some words and throwing in aesthetic photos.
Why Do I Need a Blog?
As a business, blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost traffic through search engine optimization, brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue.
Before we jump into how to write a blog post, we need to decide what we are going to write about.
Five of the Most Common Blog Post Formats
- The "How-To" Post ex. “How to Create Engaging Social Media Posts”
- The List-Based Post ex. “5 Ways to Create Social Content”
- The "What Is" Post ex. “What is TikTok and How to Start Using it”
- The Newsjacking Post ex. “New Study Shows x% of GenZ use This Social Platform”
- The Infographic Post ex. “Creating an Intriguing Instagram Bio” (a step by step guide with photos)
Now that you have an idea of the format of your blog let’s get into the details of how to write it!
Step 1: Understand Your Audience
When deciding on a topic for your blog post, consider your audience. Ask yourself questions such as What do they want to know about? And, what will resonate with them?
Consider what you know about your buyer personas and their interests while you're coming up with a topic for your blog post. If your audience is mostly Millennials, they may not need as much advice on how to use social media but may need help with how to take a business-savvy approach to social media.
Step 2: Create a Working Title
You might come up with a few different working titles, a working title is specific and will guide your post so you can start writing.
For example, this blog is titled “How to Write a Blog Post - A Step by Step Guide” let’s break that down:
Topic - blogging
Working title - Writing Blogs for Businesses
Final Title - How to Write a Blog Post - A Step by Step Guide
Creating a working title or various titles help provide enough information so you can focus your blog post on something more specific than a generic, overwhelming topic.
Step 3: Write a Captivating Introduction
You need to grab the readers attention right out of the gates. Tell a story or a joke, be empathetic or grip the reader with an interesting fact or statistic within the first few sentences. Otherwise, they may leave before even giving your post a chance.
Then, describe the purpose of your post and explain how it will address a problem the reader may be experiencing. This will give the reader a reason to continue reading.
Step 4: Organize Your Content
Blog posts can have an overwhelming amount of information — for the reader and the writer. The trick is to organize the info in a way so readers aren't intimidated by length or amount of content — sections, lists, tips — whatever's most appealing. Organization is key!
Step 5: It’s Time to Write!
We can’t forget of course to actually write the content! Now that you have organized your content, you're ready to fill in the blanks. Use your outlined content as a guide and expand on all points as needed. Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points.
Consider using an online thesaurus for when you feel stuck on a word!
As we mentioned earlier, one of the benefits of having a blog is boosting traffic through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Consider this when writing your blog content. To strengthen your website’s SEO, you need to improve keywords. Consistent keyword research followed by the strategic implementation is critical for driving traffic to your site. Otherwise, your content won’t show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) and you’ll miss out on strong customer leads. To learn more about how to improve keywords, head over to our previous blog post here.
Step 6: Proofread and Edit Your Post
Don’t skip the editing process! The editing process is an important part of blogging.
Ask a grammar-conscious co-worker to copyedit and proofread your post. You may also consider using a free grammar checker like Grammarly.
Step 7: Featured Image
You’re almost done — yay! Now that your blog is written and proofed, you need to choose a featured image. Choose a visually appealing and relevant image for your post, this can be content you have created or you can check out places like Unsplash for some great stock imagery.
Step 8: Insert a Call to Action
The final step is to insert a call to action at the end of your blog post. Indicate what you want the reader to do next — subscribe to your blog, download an ebook, register for a webinar or event, read a related article, etc.
Ready to Blog?
Now that you’re a blogging pro, create a Shopify store with our affiliate link here!