Trust us, it’s a question we ask ourselves on a regular basis. Thinking up something new to write every month or, if you’re a glutton for punishment, fortnight, can be a real hurdle. We get it. That being said, blogs are a really important part of your PR and marketing activity. So, despite the pain, it’s well worth getting into the habit of writing them.
Because we love doing it as much as you, here are some tips and important points to get those juices flowing.
Set yourself as the expert and build trust
One of the most powerful things that a blog can help you to achieve is to set yourself as the expert in your field. Sharing some of your IP and helping others to do a little of what you do puts you well and truly in the leadership camp. It may seem counter-intuitive. And lots of business owners are averse to it at first. But it’s a proven and effective way to build trust with your audience. The strategy should be to regularly put out content that covers a wide range of specialist topics in your field. When the time comes that people want and need to engage the services of an expert, guess who they are most likely to come to? Give a little, get a lot.
Improve your organic and paid SEO
A major benefit, and sometime the driving factor, behind writing your own blogs is that you can seed them with SEO-rich terms and keywords. Ideally, you would have done some research in advance. What it is that your customers and prospects are searching for online and what questions they need answering? This understanding is powerful! But if not, you can make an educated guess. By ensuring your content is packed full of these words and terms, you can help your organic search rankings online. If you’re also paying for SEO services then together with your team, you can mount a strong, two-pronged approach.
Fail to plan – and all that jazz
Ok you’re now 100% on board with the fact that you need to write regular content for your website and other owned platforms. Maybe you even actually want to do it now. The best way to ensure that your activity it consistent, even when your motivation wanes – and it will – is to create a plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy but getting ideas, themes and topics down on paper will pay dividends when you’re staring at a blank page. First, have a think about the most common questions you get from customers or prospects – you can write blogs to answer those. Second, think about snippets of advice and guidance that you can give to your audience which will genuinely add value to them, be it personally or professionally. You can write blogs about those things too. Finally, check your calendar for key dates in your industry and just life in general. What can you say about those things that is either informative, valuable or entertaining? Before you know it, you’ll have six to 12 blog ideas. Which, if you’re aiming for one a month just so happens to be a year’s worth of content.
Whatever and whenever you write, always remember to keep the tone of voice and style of the content in line with your brand personality. That could be chatty and informal right through to the highest level of professionalism – you know what’s ‘you’. Stick with that.
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