So, with the sounds of Catherine Wheels and Rockets all around, we thought we’d share a few tips on how to turn your blog from a damp squib into a Roman Candle, ensuring that your content is lively, sparkly and full of surprises!
1. Make Yourself Useful
When you’re feeling uninspired, disillusioned or uncreative with your blog, look to your customers for inspiration. Your customers or clients come to you because you offer something that they need, so your social media posts should be about what your customers need too. If you’re stuck for a Facebook post, try a daily or weekly tip. Really think about your reader: What does he/she need and want? What problems can you solve? Research what customers are looking for by using the search engine. Look at search suggestions and related searches. Choose a topic that will solve one of your customers’ problems and produce an extremely useful set of practical tips, links and tools to solve that problem. Your blog then becomes an invaluable resource to your readers.
2. Keep it Straightforward and Simple.
Blog writing is all about openness, honesty, and information. It isn’t formal, so adopt a conversational tone and keep it simple. A powerful blog doesn’t contain waffle or unnecessary “noise”: it is one which can be understood without too much work.
It’s important to develop a style that sounds natural, avoiding fancy words and omitting unnecessary words. Write in a way that speaks to your readers, not down to them, and don’t confuse or bombard them with jargon and acronyms.
It’s useful to write a first draft then go back and edit out sentences and words that are unnecessary, and revise sentences that aren’t clear. Focus on your message, keep to the point and your readers will not only read your post but hopefully will return again for your next instalment.
3. Post New Material
I’m often asked how often one should post a blog, and my answer is that the best practise is to blog at a consistency you believe you can maintain – once a week/fortnight is good. Try and set a day to upload the post and stick to it; before long it’ll become part of your routine and you’ll find it easier to sit down and get it done.
Posting regularly is also likely to encourage your readers to return more often, in search of new information. Another benefit is that your blog is more likely to show up more frequently in search engine results lists as well.
But be careful not to let your quality slip in your quest to post regularly as this may drive your readers away. Quality is often better than quantity and it needs to fit in with your other business commitments.
4. Keep it Short and Sweet
Blog posts are not essays, so keep them brief. People online are more likely to scan website content so it’s important to make every single word count. Don’t make your reader dig through paragraph after paragraph to find out what your post has to offer, this will put people off. Your readers should be able to quickly glance through the post and pick up the main points without reading too deeply. Use lists, subheadings and block quotes to achieve this, and aim, as a guide, for between 250 and 500 words per post. This is just a guideline and not a rule. Some posts will require 1000 words or more to get a message across.
5. Choose an Effective Title
Don’t underestimate the power of a good blog title: the first thing a potential reader looks at is the title, and it impacts on how a blog post is found in the search engine. Use a long tail keyword headline that draws readers in and indicates what the post is about. Long tail key words consist of longer phrases that internet users enter in search engines in order to find out more specific information. Using action verbs and questions are good ways to grab readers’attention.
6. Be Visual
Photos, graphs, infographics and videos have the power to communicate in a different, more instant, way than words. Images draw an audience in and provide an additional point of interest to your posts.
So, if like a good fireworks display you want to keep your readers entertained and coming back for more, put a little sparkle into your posts and create content they’ll remember. After all, ‘tis the 5th of November………
