How to Write a Blog
Meta, isn’t it? Reading a blog…about how to write a blog. In marketing, brands often underestimate just how impactful adding a frequently updated blog to their website can be. Not only does it provide another opportunity to convey and solidify your brand voice, but it can play an important part in search engine optimization (SEO).
If you’re interested in beginning a blog - whether for your business or personal pleasure - let us guide you through everything you need to know to ensure your blog is successful.
What is a Blog?
For starters, let's go over the basics. According to HubSpot, a blog is a regularly updated website or web page and can either be used for personal use or to fulfill a business need. Think of the blog itself as a folder, and each of your blog posts, or individual web pages that dive into particular sub-topics of your blog, as the files inside the folder.
Why Start a Blog?
Now you may be wondering, why do I need to start a blog? Especially, if your website is currently ranking well with search engines for your target keywords, it may feel like a blog is not necessary. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. HubSpot reports that B2B marketers who use blogs receive 67% more leads than those who do not because blog posts allow you to rank on search engines for a variety of keywords. Blogs have also been rated the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.
Blogs are also a crucial part of branding, allowing you to strongly convey your brand voice through writing, and connect with your audience on a level that feels more personal. Additionally, thanks to the comment feature on many blogs, a space is created where an online community can form within your website.
What Makes a Good Blog?
While having a decent blog is better than having no blog, if you’re going to do it… do it right! Forbes recently published a list of 8 essential elements that make a successful blog post, and we couldn’t agree more. We’ve summarized those eight elements here:
A strong headline - Your headline should immediately motivate your audience to read and engage with your blog, without using “clickbait.”
A compelling lead - Your blog should always start off strong with a lead opening that hooks readers and informs them of what the blog will be about.
Helpful subheadings - Subheadings are a great way to keep your readers engaged and organized. It also allows readers to skim your blog more easily to find the information they are looking for.
Engaging and informative body paragraphs - Your blog should start off strong, but also remain strong throughout. Losing the momentum halfway through your article can cause readers to exit early.
Appealing graphics or images - Relevant graphics and images are a great way to break up the text in your piece to help keep readers interested and avoid overwhelming them with large chunks of text.
Powerful call-to-actions - Your blog should always end with a call-to-action that directly benefits your company and mission.
Relevant internal linking - Internal linking is a great way to boost SEO. Linking to not only your own website pages but also including a link (maybe two) to reputable outside sources can greatly increase the blog posts’ ranking.
Good meta descriptions - Meta descriptions are the first thing individuals will read when your blog post appears in the search engine results. You want it to be compelling and informative, and inspire them to navigate to your post. Check out Yoast’s tips on writing meta descriptions.
Our Favorite Blog Examples
Before we get into our step-by-step guide for writing a blog, we wanted to share some of our favorites to provide some real-world inspiration.
Marie Forelo is an entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, who runs a fantastic blog on her site (she also offers the Copy Cure, which we highly recommend!). When navigating through her blog it’s easy to see that each of her posts contains the 8 essential elements for a successful blog that Forbes recommends.
From her fun and catchy headlines to her engaging images and subheadlines, her blogs are a perfect example of how to ensure your audience is captivated.
For inspiration for those in leadership positions within their agency, our CEO, Karen, recommends checking out the Sakas and Company blog. This well-thought-out and organized blog is a great example of knowing your audience and getting more niche with your content to match their needs.
Sakas and Company writes blog posts geared towards those in leadership roles, while still remaining broad enough for the average reader to enjoy.
Of course, our own Radiant Marketing blog is another great source to check out for inspiration before beginning your own blog. Our Content Strategist, Lauren, and CEO, Karen, work together to publish a variety of informative blog posts, and company-related news posts that feature great examples of internal linking, and the use of helpful graphics.
8 Steps to Writing a Blog
Now that you’ve seen some examples of successful blogs, it’s time to create your own! With a little help from MasterClass, we’ve assembled 8 steps to help you start the blog writing process:
Pick a compelling and relevant topic - Your topic should be something you are knowledgeable on and can offer insight or advice to readers about. Don’t be afraid to take a stance on something. Your readers will appreciate your honesty and authenticity.
Brainstorm and outline the structure of your post - Before you begin writing it’s important to create a clear outline to help guide you as you work.
Write from the heart and don’t be afraid to let your brand voice shine - Write in a way that feels authentic to you and your brand.
Explain your connection or knowledge on the subject and propose solutions - Let your audience know that you are educated to be speaking on the subject and how you can help them.
Pick a captivating title and equally strong meta description - The meta description and meta title are truly the backbones of your blog post and will help determine the engagement it receives.
Proofread and peer-edit your work - One of the easiest ways to have your work discredited is by having typos and errors. Using platforms like Grammarly to ensure your work is ready to be published is a great way to ensure your writing is in perfect condition.
Take time to focus on keyword and search engine optimization - We suggest taking a look at HubSpot’s SEO blog recommendations to ensure your blog ranks well and helps bring new leads to your company.
Publish and promote your writing - Once your blog is ready to go you can publish it and begin to promote it on social media to help start immediately attracting visitors.
How The Google Helpful Content Update Affects Your Blog
Something we’ve mentioned multiple times now is the importance of keyword and search engine optimization to ensure your blog’s success. However, just as our digital world is ever-changing, so is SEO strategy!
On August 25th, 2022, Google released the Google Helpful Content Update. This update’s goal is to better reward content where visitors feel they've had a satisfying experience, and ensure content that doesn't meet a visitor's expectations doesn’t perform as well.
So, what does this mean for your blog? To make sure your blog works with the Google Helpful Content Update, you need to ensure your content is high-quality and adds value to your readers lives. As long as you follow all of our recommendations and write in a way that is geared towards the human experience and not just ranking well online, your blog should continue to be successful. Here are some more tips to make certain this update doesn’t negatively impact your blog.
Let HSV MARKETING Help You
Although worth it, we know that writing a blog and keeping it frequently updated can be extremely time-consuming. This is where we can help! We have years of experience creating original, engaging, and creative blog content for our clients that are tailored to their specific brand voice and audience and can help your brand shine! Book your free consultation with Huntsville Marketing today!