Writing is an art form. It takes creativity to string letters into words and then sentences. Most forms of writing have a set of rules to follow, and blogging is no different. This is where sprinkling in logic to creativity adds magic. Before you can start the creative process of writing your blogs, you must go through the reason behind why you’re blogging in the first place.
The Value of Blogging
Let’s start with the value of blogging. After all, as a business owner, you want to allocate your resources wisely. If an action doesn’t help your bottom line, is it wise to continue taking it? Here are some high-level ways blogging adds value to your customers.
- Your website stays relevant to your customer’s needs with fresh content.
- Provides new content for sharing on social media platforms and in paid advertising.
- Blogging aids your SEO strategy by using similar keywords to drive traffic to your website.
- More traffic to your website helps increase its ranking so more people can find it.
- Providing valuable information and answers helps them trust your brand more.
- Brand trust establishes the expertise you have in your industry.
- Helps close sales as you have information readily available to answer your potential customer’s questions.
- Blogs help keep visitors on your website longer as they go from page to page, increasing your website authority.
Each of these things build on one another and assist in giving you a strong presence.
Logical Foundation of Blogging
Approaching your blogging strategy from a logical viewpoint can help you define the boundaries for your creativity. This is an important first step because it makes any decisions about blogs easier. It also helps your readers know what to expect, which can, in turn, grow your blog traffic and followers. This leads to a cycle of increasing traffic, website authority, higher ranking, and strong brand awareness.
So, where do you start? Start with why you are blogging in the first place.
- What knowledge do you have to share?
- Who will benefit from your knowledge?
- What questions do you hear a lot from customers?
Your answers to these questions will form the foundation of your content strategy. They will help you move on to decide what you will or will not write about. Now to decide what topics to write about!
Building Blocks for Blogs
Choosing topics is a blend of creativity and logic. On one hand, you can be logical about where and how you find topics. On the other, you will need to be creative with how you address each topic.
An easy place to start is thinking about what your customers are asking. Are you getting the same questions over and over? Answering these questions in a blog is not only logical but creative. Such a blog will help your sales team provide fast answers through sharing links to your blog. This also drives traffic to your website, raising SERPs and brand awareness. (Many of our blogs are a result of wanting to answer client questions.)
Next, search for what people are asking about a particular topic. Go to Google and type in a topic to search, say “roof replacement near me.” Scrolling down a little bit, you will happen upon a People Also Ask section. These are some search terms people are searching for answers to in your area. Google Trends is also a great tool to use for finding trending keywords.
When done right, topics shared on your blog can become lead generators. They work to build links, which also can grow your website authority. They can answer questions, educate, share tips, and share news about significant events and awards.
Keeping Topics Fresh
When looking at keywords, it’s helpful to have a primary focus for a set amount of time (we use quarters), then look at topics related to the focus. For example, “roof replacement” could be about material choices, costs, financing, comparisons of materials, or even tips to prevent a replacement from happening too soon. Comparing similar but different things (like asphalt shingles, metal, tile, cedar shakes, or solar roofing) can help people learn more about their options. A Listicle could share many similar things at one time (like the many layers of a roof system).
Quality or Quantity?
Before we move on to the creative part of blogging, one final tip: Go for quality over quantity.
This goes for how often you post a blog and how long or short it is. Blogging is a long-term strategy to grow your business, so it’s essential to be consistent in your posting. You don’t want to post too often or not too often. As a general rule, we find posting twice a month on Monday mornings will give the best traction.
As for the length of your blog, there are several guidelines you could follow. What you decide depends on your industry and the topic. As a marketing agency, our blogs are usually longer, often going over 1,200 words. Some recent surveys say 3,000 words is a good blog length. In the roofing industry, we consider 350-400 words to be an excellent blog length. This can give readers a good, solid answer about many topics. Other blogs (like a comparison or listicle) often require more details to cover everything, so we create 750-800 word blogs, effectively merging two usual blogs into one.
Let Creativity Shine
Now that you’ve set your ‘rules’ for blogging, it’s time to get creative!
First, start by creating a general outline of what you want to cover. This directs the path your writing takes. (I enjoy using analogies and stories to make my writing enjoyable. Sometimes I use pop culture references for my H2s.) Imagine you are new to the subject at hand, so you can decipher what questions someone may ask and thereby learn the answer through this blog. Being curious really helps with this process!
When researching anything you may be fuzzy on, you’ll have to decide what information is accurate. Do multiple people say it? What do opposing views say? How does the age of the article affect its accuracy? You have to see the potential in what you’re reading.
Then, if you decide it is worth sharing, use your own words to illustrate the idea. With millions of blogs posting each day, it will be pretty hard to write an article about something which has never been covered before. But using your unique voice, you can share ideas in a way which resonates with others. Use online tools such as thesaurus.com to find new and exciting ways to write.
After the writing is done, review everything for spelling, grammar, and see if you can share additional information by adding a link. Links to pages or other blogs on your website will build your internal links. Links to reputable sources outside of your website will build external links. Both are good for SEO.
Tracking To Show Progress
Now that you’ve used logic to define how you will be creative and have some blogs live on your website, it’s time to track things. Make sure you have Google Analytics set up on your website. This will start collecting the traffic to your website. In your website settings, make sure the “/blog/” permalink is part of your URL structure. This will allow you to track your blogs over time. Now, keep writing and be patient! In time you’ll be able to track and compare year-over-year traffic to see how blogs are helping your website grow.
Art Unlimited Process
When we do your blogging for you, here are just a few things we do to help your blogs be successful.
- We build out a comprehensive content strategy, selecting topics based on a key service or product.
- We write quality, SEO-friendly content for your company based on each topic with:
- 350-400 (regular) or 750-800 (long) words of content unique to your target audience
- internal links added to drive visitors further into the website
- a call to action to help you gain leads
- Each blog gets a custom branded image from our graphic designers for social sharing.
- We program blogs into your website on a regular schedule to keep your website fresh and evolving.
- Each blog is shared on social networks when we also manage your social media.
At the end of the day, content is the foundation of a strong marketing strategy. When your content is reliable and well written, you will gain the trust of your audience. Pairing your knowledge with our creative writing will help you become a leader in your industry. Connect with us to see how we can create your content so you can focus on running your business.