How to write a blog post, fast
When I’m talking to my clients about blogging, one of the greatest reservations they have is that they don’t have time to keep up with writing regular posts. In this blog post, I share with you a fail safe formula for producing blog posts in the least amount of time possible – because we all suffer from a lack of time, right?
Research is key
Before we start, take a few minutes to have a good think about two crucial questions:
- Who is your audience for your blog? – try to be as specific as you can at this stage. It might seem counter intuitive but imagine one single ideal customer and get used to writing your posts to appeal to him or her, alone. This will help you to write posts that appeal on a personal level rather than adopting a ‘scatter gun approach’ and trying to appeal to everyone.
- What are the benefits of your post, to your ideal customer? – remember, it’s crucial not to harp on about the features of your whizz-bang product or service because your customers just want to know how that product or service will help them. What problem will it solve? How will it save them time or money?
OK, so now we’ve nailed down the audience and the benefits, it’s time to sit down and write…
And now the dread happens. Fear of the blank page, not knowing where to start… Don’t worry, it happens to us all.
Try this simple checklist:
- Headline
- Attract
attention
- Plan
your sub-headings
- Relevant
photographs or images
- Helpful
links
- Call
to action
Headline
A good headline is always important for blog posts. And I don’t mean a headline like you’d see on the front of the Sunday tabloids – avoid those, at all costs! I mean, keep it relevant.
If you’re writing about newborn photography, indicate that in the headline:
Newborn photography: how to book a professional photoshoot
Don’t try to be clever. Search engines are looking for relevant keywords throughout your blog post and your headline is no different. It’s also the first part of your post that someone will read. Make it relevant to what they’re looking for, or your whole post will be overlooked.
Attract attention
Use your first paragraph to attract attention . State the problem you’re hoping to solve in your opening sentence, then go on to explain why it’s important that the problem is solved. Promising a solution to the problem here will draw your readers in to read the rest of the post.
Sub-headings
When I was studying Public Relations in my past life, I was taught how to write a press release. The key to a successful release is to provide the answers to five key questions: Who? What? Where? Why? How?
This is an excellent format for a blog post too, as it helps you to formulate your sub-headings and allows you to flesh out bite-sized chunks of information to form a full and helpful blog post.
Images
Choose your accompanying images carefully. Using a relevant image can help explain your blog post even more completely than just using words. And people love a good image.
Helpful links
Links can be internal and external. This means they can link to other articles on your blog, or to relevant web pages outside of your own.
Once you’ve built up a good library of blog posts, it’s simple to add links between posts to signpost other helpful articles to your readers. For example, your readers might be interested in the post you wrote a few weeks ago about how often you should blog …
Call to action
Finally, make sure you ask your readers to actually DO something before they leave your site. Perhaps you want them to sign up to your newsletter? Share your blog post? Comment on the topic to start a discussion?
Want to know how often you should blog? Find out in my blog about blogging frequency.
👍How do you save time when it comes to writing your business blog?
