Here’s is the Part 2 of my last article on the benefits of writing blogs and articles for your business. So we’ve figured the why, now we do the how.
Business writing can feel daunting, but anyone with a basic grasp of grammar and syntax can write a half-decent article, but capturing readers’ interests with good website content can be really challenging. Most visitors on your website will only need a few seconds before what they do next – stay or go.
Good website writing is the key to beating these odds, but if you’re not a natural writer, knowing what type of content to write is the most challenging. So here’s some suggestions:
1. Tips and tricks
A reader’s attention span is generally short, so one of the best things that you can do is write something short and simple. Queue – tips and tricks.
This piece of easily-digestible, actionable advice to readers. It’s a winning combination that’s usually the meat and potatoes of most on business blogs (i.e. “How to XYZ”, “A Guide to XYZ”, “5 Email Marketing Tips”) to great effect. This type of the content is usually a great base for all you first time writers. What’s especially great about this type of content is that it can be easily reused and recycled on social media or your email marketing.
2. Customer and in-depth product reviews
There’s no getting away from it: online reviews are crucial to small businesses. Think about it – how many times have you skipped straight to the reviews section of a website to find out if a product is worth buying? or simply skipping pass a product all together that either has no reviews or have less than 3 stars?
This type of blog is a way for you to hype you and your business up. Also, this type of article blog is easy as half the content has already been written for you! A great template to start with is:
- A high quality picture of the product or service
- The name and shop link for that product or service
- The reviews made by your customers (3-4 should be your aim)
- A little blurb from you, explaining the product USPs, the origin, and how it is a solution for your customer
3. Industry-specific guides
Without a doubt, the best way to draw visitors into a business blog is to give them valuable information. And since one of the overarching goals of a business blog is to demonstrate expertise in the field in which the business focuses, a great way to do that is to create industry-specific guides. This type of business blog content walks consumers through a particular product or service they’d commonly encounter in the target industry – even if it’s one the business itself doesn’t offer.
A great way to create these guides is to interview an expert – experts on this topic are all around you. Instead of trying to become experts in 2 hours of Googling, find a colleague, a mentor, even your friendly competitor and let their voice, thoughts, and ideas shine through. They may know the pain points better than you, they may have different solutions and a fresh point of view. If well written enough, it will act as permanent touchstone (i.e. customer bookmarking this page and visiting it every time as a point of reference).
So, there you go, there’s not secret in writing a good blog for your business. Pick a content type, have spellcheck on and write something that YOU would want to read.
With that said, it’s time to get to blogging!
About the Author:
Amy Miocevich is an Australian author of Very Good Marketing, director of her company Lumos Marketing and a mum. Amy has a plethora of business knowledge and experience helping individuals across all industries over her professional career. She has a deep and innate passion to help small businesses achieve their Big Hairy Audacious Goals, whatever they may be. When Amy isn’t busy working or waking up at 5 am to run, she is probably eating ramen or wanting to eat ramen. Say hi to Amy at amy@lumosmarketing.com.au.
