As an active marketer, you probably know that you should be blogging. After all, the content marketing strategy is beneficial for both – your personal growth and business promotion. However, when it comes to actually writing the blog post, most people find it easier to make excuses.

We don’t have time!

We are not good writers!

We don’t have anything interesting to say!

Will anyone read our blog?

And the list of alibis can go on and on! 

Yes, at the end of the day, these are understandable reasons, and often even the most proficient marketers struggle with creating engaging content. However, blogging is a lucrative strategy. In fact, the content marketing technique is expected to be an industry worth $412.88 billion by the end of this year. And if you are spending more time making excuses instead of polishing your writing skills – then you are in for a significant loss. 

Luckily, we won’t let this happen to you. In this guide, we will tell you what makes a good blog post and how to craft one that brings in a lot of traffic. So without further ado, let’s dive in!
 

Research Your Audience

Brian Clark once said that “Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.”

This means that before you start writing your blog, you need to have a clear understanding of your audience and the content that will engage them. If you can’t answer the question: “why would my readers care about this topic?” then you need to continue brainstorming topics that will resonate with them. 

In this case, you need to create a buyer’s persona that will help you reflect on the interests of your readers. With a buyer’s persona in hand, you will have a better understanding of your reader, which in turn will ensure that your content is about the topics your audience wants and needs.

Explore Topic Ideas

Most aspiring writers assume that they don’t have anything new to say. And with 40 trillion gigabytes of data, this is somewhat true. However, in the World Wide Web, you just have to find a way to talk about the same topic in a better way. 

While the topic may already be covered before, you should offer something unique to the audience in order to make it more engaging.

When exploring topic ideas, think about what you want to say and find out how it has already been covered. Consider the questions that were left unanswered and how you can bring insights on the material that has not been covered by other authors. 

Organize Your Content

Often the writers are overwhelmed with the amount of information you can provide in a blog post. This is where an outline comes in handy.

Before starting to actually write the article, create an outline regarding the information you plan on offering to the readers. Do you want them to take your blog post as an:

• Inspiration?
• Narrative of your experience?
• Insight into the latest trend?
• A step-by-step tutorial?

With an end goal in mind, you will be better able to understand the points you want to cover. When writing the actual blog post, all you will have to do is expand on the points as required. 

Come Up With A Title

While most writers don’t give it much attention, remember that the title itself is your most important marketing tool. In fact, most readers take titles as the deciding factor of your blog. If the title doesn’t attract them, they usually avoid reading the rest of the article.

This means that you should give your titles some extra thought. Play around with a few alternatives that are not only attractive but also tells the readers precisely what the article is about. 

The title of your blog post should also spark curiosity in the readers. It should be suspenseful and provoke the audience to want more. 

Craft A Captivating Intro

In the internet world, you have about 10 – 20 seconds to capture the reader’s attention. In case you lose the target audience’s attention in the first few sentences, you will potentially lose out on a lot of conversions. 

This means that the introductory part of your blog post should be captivating – enough to keep the audience glued and continue reading. However, you cannot address the main query in the introduction part. Instead, open up your blog post with a joke or be empathetic about the audience’s pain points. You can also suggest relevant statistics or facts to grip the reader’s attention. 

Write the Blog Post

Now that you have finally established the nitty-gritty details of the blog post, it is finally time to write the actual blog post. Here, use the outline you drafted earlier as the blueprint and fill in the blanks. 

When writing about a particular topic, expand on the ideas that you already know about. Conduct additional research and gather more information and examples to back up the insights. 

It is also essential that you add data such as figures and statistics to establish your main points. However, make sure that you provide proper attribution to the third-party information you add to your content. It is also a good idea to use only accurate and compelling data in your blog post to establish authority. 

Don’t Forget To Tie It With A Conclusion

Similar to the introduction, the conclusion of your blog post is an essential element. With a captivating ending, you can encourage your readers to take the desired action. 

In most cases, the writer summarizes the article and lists the key takeaways to re-educate the audience. However, there are many other ways to end the blog post.

For example, you can ask the readers a question and ask them to comment below. Or you can add a call-to-action (CTA) and encourage the readers to either buy from your brand, share your blog post, or subscribe to your email newsletter. 

You can also provide links to other blog posts written by you and try to attract more readership to your website. 

Add Relevant Images

Albert Einstein once said that “One picture is worth a thousand words!” And with today’s population of visual learners, his words cannot be less authentic. 

In fact, blogs with relevant visuals get 94% more views than those that lack imagery. This means that if you neglect adding pictures to your article, you will potentially see less effective results. 

To make your blog post stand out, choose a solid and relevant feature image. The good thing is that you don’t need to go for custom images for your blog. Instead, you can easily buy stock photos and make your post visually appealing in an affordable manner.

However, when using stock photos, check their licenses and make sure they are available for commercial use. Give credit/attribution where it’s due. And don’t forget to aim for relevancy with the content of your blog post. 

Besides the featured image, look for photos to use throughout your blog post. As a general rule of thumb, go for one image every 300 words. Make sure to save the pictures using keywords of your blog post. It is also a good idea to use small-size images as large dimensional images can impact the load time of your blog post. 

Proofread And Edit

Grammar mistakes can kill your credibility as a writer, so make sure that you don’t overlook the task of proofreading your blog post. Go through your article, first manually, and secondly, using an automated grammar checking software. You can also ask a grammar-conscious friend to go through your blog post and check the readability to ensure that the content is going in the flow. 

It is also advised to check for essential SEO elements before publishing your blog post. This includes:

• Adding the main keyword at least once in your blog post.
• Internally linking your article with service pages, previous blogs, or landing pages.
• Writing a meta description of 150 characters with the main keyword included for the search results. 

Publish And Share

Once you have proofread and edited your post, it is finally time to publish your post on the relevant medium.

Be proud of your writing and share it across all the social media networks to get the word out. And don’t forget to repeat the sharing process once every few days to keep the ball rolling. Remember that the internet never forgets, so continue aiming for the targeted traffic even after moving on to the next blog post. 

Conclusion

With this article, we hope that you have understood the basics of writing a blog post. With a compelling blog, you can gain brand awareness, come out as a thorough leader, and attract more leads. So don’t let the opportunity go to waste and follow the above tips to enhance your writing and create the perfect blog post. Good luck!