Whether you are starting a brand-new blogging website to make passive income
through advertising or affiliate marketing, or you are looking to bolster your onsite
SEO and attract more relevant, ‘ready to spend’ traffic to your website, you’re going to
want to make sure that each individual post is as impactful as it possibly can be. In this
article, we’ll take you through all the basics for writing engaging blog posts to help get
you started!
1. Find your niche
The first step is to decide what it is that you are actually going to cover on your blog.
Do you want to write sports articles? Cover new technology? Help single mothers
cope with the overwhelming workload?
Once you have established your niche, you’ll have a much easier time of attracting the
right readers to your website.
2. Know your audience
Just as it’s important to find your niche, you also need to know exactly who you are
going to be writing for. Don’t make the mistake of assuming you understand your
target demographic without doing any further research. In fact, only 42% of marketers
actually know their target audience inside and out (beyond the standard age, gender,
location basics).
The more data you have on your demographic, the better positioned you’ll be to craft
a compelling brand-voice, understand their biggest pain points, and ultimately
resonate on an emotional level.
3. Do your keyword research
The next step is to conduct extensive keyword research. This is an excellent
opportunity to determine what your prospective readers are actively searching for
online.
● Which topics are they most interested in?
● What are their most frequently asked questions?
● Which keywords are the most competitive?
● Are there any low-volume topics that could result in higher conversions?
You should be thorough in your research and put together a multitude of keywords
(both short and long-tail), and then you can start thinking about your content
development strategy.
4. Put together a content development strategy
Now it’s time to think about what kind of content you are going to write about – and in
which format. For example:
● Product / service reviews.
● “How-to” blogs.
● Listicles.
● Opinion pieces.
● Satire.
● Definitive guides.
● Evergreen content.
● Etc.
There are many, many different blog formats that you can try and it’s definitely worth
finding the optimal balance. You don’t want your blog to become too repetitive,
particularly if you are writing about one very specific niche.
Keep your readers engaged with a variety!
5. Labour over your titles
First impressions are important! While people like to say: “Don’t judge a book by its
cover”, when it comes to blogs, everybody does. As such, you need to perfect your
blog titles if you wish to get as many people to click on your posts as possible.
● Be clear and concise.
● Tell the readers exactly what to expect.
● Stick to a maximum of 60-characters.
● Use brackets for clarity (it boosts engagement).
● Use numbers and stats where applicable.
● Use simple language.
● Use your chosen keyword as naturally as possible.
The key is to make your blog titles as accessible as possible, providing value, creating
a sense of urgency, and optimising for SEO.
6. Hook your readers with a solid intro
The introduction to your blog is critical for enticing your readers into committing to the
blog and reading it to the end.
Touch on their pain points and talk about how you are going to help solve their
problems. Elicit an emotional response and then transition into the main body of the
blog as seamlessly as possible.
Try to keep your introduction fairly short. Most people don’t want to waste any time
faffing around and would rather get straight down to the juicy information they’ve
come for!
7. Include an awesome featured image
Another great way to engage your audience and attract them to click on your blog
posts is by attaching an awesome, high-res featured image.
● Don’t steal! Make sure the image is free for commercial use or create your own
using software like Canva.
● Make sure that it is relevant to the subject matter.
● Be bold and colourful!
● Customise and brand it.
● Avoid the typical clichés (e.g., cheesy stock photos).
● Optimise it for SEO (compress, image title, image alt).
● Make the image shareable.
● Don’t be afraid to use humour!
8. Avoid industry jargon
Don’t go overboard with the industry jargon otherwise you are likely to bore your
readers to sleep. Obviously, there will be times where you need to use certain terminology for clarity, but make sure that you use brackets to describe what the
words mean for further clarity.
9. Share your expert knowledge (and opinions)
It’s easy to write about what you know, so make sure you share all of your expert
knowledge – and don’t hold anything back.
Many people make the mistake of holding back some of their ‘industry secrets’
through fear of losing business. After all, if the Online Marketing Gurus tell their
audience everything there is to know about SEO, why would their readers bother
spending their money with them when they can do it all by themselves instead?
That’s the thing: by sharing your knowledge (and expert opinion) you establish your
authority, demonstrate how much work is involved, and ultimately increase the
likelihood that your readers will feel confident in paying for your services.
10. Hire the professionals
And finally, if you want to publish engaging and well-written blogs on your website but
you don’t have the time to commit to writing consistently and carrying out all of the
necessary onsite optimizations, it’s well worth hiring the professionals.
A digital marketing agency with a reputation for delivering superior results to their
clients will be able to put together an awesome content development strategy on
your behalf, allowing you to reap the rewards while saving your precious time.