Are you unhappy with the kind of traffic you are getting on your website? Do you note little engagement, few conversions and barely any sales, despite your best SEO and content marketing efforts? Then most probably what you are doing does not match the interests and search intent of your target audience. In this article, we will discuss some of the most effective blog writing tips to attract and keep the right audience.
Blogging Should Never Be an Afterthought
“We should blog, maybe” is one of the phrases heard when businesses fail to attract visitors to their site and grow their sales. This is the first thing that is wrong with the overall approach. Let us forget for now about blog writing tips and consider the role of the blog itself.
A blog is not an appendix to your website. It is one of the most important elements. Consider the average consumer. You run a car repair shop and a person looks for one to take their car for repairs. Here you are, with your range of services and prices prominently displayed on the site.
But how can that person trust your car repair shop? What guarantee do they have that you know what you are doing? Well, they don’t trust you, implicitly. However, they trust Google. And if the search engine put your website on the first page of results, then you are a reliable business. And how does Google trust you to put your site on its first page for a relevant keyword? It is looking at your blog.
No. 1 on the List of Blog Writing Tips: Write for People, Not Google
Unfortunately, some businesses take the reasoning above literally. They believe that if they write what Google wants, they will get the right visitors and convert them to customer. So, let us reiterate one of the biggest blog writing tips: write for your audience, not for search engines.
It is true that Google looks at keywords, inbound and outbound links, meta description and other technical aspects. But first of all, Google analyses how users interact with your blog. Do they spend sufficient time to presume that they read the entire article? Did they click on a link on the page? Did they feel curious enough to check other pages on your website?
If you follow the following blog writing tips, you can maximise your chances that the answers to all these questions is “Yes”.
1. Target Keywords that Match the User Intent
One of the main reasons why you don’t get the right audience on your blog is the fact that you don’t target the right keywords. Consider these two keywords: “how to repair car” and “reliable car repair”. They will bring two different groups of visitors on your site.
The first keyword will bring DIY enthusiast who just look for instructions to fix their own cars. The second will bring people who are looking for professionals in car repair. Thus, the first item on our list of blog writing tips is this: consider what kind of words a potential client is more likely to use. Put yourself in their shoes: what would you searching for if you wanted to find a good car repair shop?
2. Do Not Put Quantity above Quality
You may have read that long form articles are preferable to shorter pieces. You can target more keywords, including long tail and LSI keywords. Google loves long form articles. And people spend more time on a page containing a long article.
This is true, with one big condition: that the respective article delivers substance, not just length. Long form articles must be packed with useful information, not fluff. If you feel that you are pulling your teeth out just to make the article longer, stop. You don’t have enough valuable information for that type of article.
3. Make Your Content Entertaining
One of the best known figures in global advertising is David Ogilvy. He founded one of the most iconic agencies – Ogilvy & Mather – and his tips on how to create effective ads still stand today, 50 years after he gave them.
One of David Ogilvy’s statements, which we include in our list of blog writing tips, is:
“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible”.
What does this mean? That even the most practical piece of advice should be entertaining and pleasant to read. People don’t want to read instruction manuals or schoolbooks when they land on your blog. They want to learn something new in a fun way.
4. Treat Your Blog as a Whole
Are you creating a narrative or just publishing articles that target keywords and hot topics? One of the biggest signals for Google is authority. And how do you prove it? You post relevant content, which focuses on topics related to your field of activity.
You do not see us writing about healthy food or how to check your computer for viruses, right? This is not our field of activity. Even if the hottest topic today would be a new superfood capable of reversing the signs of aging, we would not be covering this topic. It is not just an issue of following our blog writing tips, it is also common sense: we are not qualified to debate on this issue. And if you are interested in this topic, you will certainly find authoritative sources discussing it.
5. Optimise and Then Optimise Again
The word “optimise” makes you think of SEO. But in this context, we use it in its basic meaning: to make something better. Never stop polishing your content. Before you publish a post, proofread and edit it. After you posted it, find ways to improve it and make it stay relevant by adding newly surfaced information or updating dead outbound links.
This is not just one of our blog writing tips, but one of our principles for running a successful business. The process of making things better for your clients should never stop. Never stand back and say – this cannot be improved any further. There is always room for optimisation in everything you do.
6. Create Value with Each Blog Post
Never publish a blog article just because today is the day when you need to add a new post. Filler content stands out like a sore thumb. People can feel that you wrote an article in a hurry, without having a clear idea and just to tick off a task on your list.
This is not what they want. They expect to learn something new, find a solution to their problems or even to be entertained. If you cannot deliver any of this, do not publish. This is why we recommend keeping a stock of well written articles, which you can publish on days when you simply do not have the time or inspiration to create a good post.
7. Use Engaging Visuals
Last but not least, blogs with striking and relevant visuals (photos, illustrations, etc.) are more popular among readers than articles that do not have a strong visual element. With so many royalty free image websites available, you can certainly find high quality images to illustrate your articles.
You can also take things further and create your own unique images. Your phone and various apps are sufficient to turn you into an effective photographer and photo editor.