Everyone talks to you about the need to have a blog for your business. For SEO, your image, lead acquisition… It's true that writing articles brings many advantages for your business.
However, you may be asking yourself the big question: "how do you write a blog post that resonates with the public?" In this article, discover the benefits of a blog for your company's visibility, as well as the 11 steps to create content that performs. Enjoy the read!
The importance of a blog for your business
Before answering the question "how to write a powerful blog post?", let's review its importance for your business. Grasping the strengths of content marketing for your activity is the first step toward writing captivating posts!
1. More traffic to your website
According to a HubSpot study, a company blog can attract 55% more visitors to its website. How can these figures be explained? By the fact that 71% customer journeys begin with an online search.
Each time you create and publish a blog post, it becomes an additional indexed page on your website. In other words: you create a new entry point for visitors searching on Google. This increases your chances of appearing at the top of search engine results pages.
2. More leads
Companies that run a blog generate 67% additional leads each month. For an SME, that figure rises to 126%.
In addition to attracting traffic to your site, the blog helps you convert it into sales leads. How? A blog post highlights the problems you solve and the solutions you offer.
You give visitors an overview of your services and they associate your business with their solutions. If you offer them the option to contact you or learn more by downloading content in exchange for their contact details, you can significantly increase your sales opportunities.
3. An edge over the competition
Writing high-value blog posts establishes your authority in the market. Sharing expert advice demonstrates authenticity and strengthens your credibility with current and potential customers.
With your blog, you go into detail on a topic. For a customer searching for a solution, it's a sign that you are the answer to their needs. If your competitors don't have a blog, you keep a head start.
4. Content for social media
Writing a blog post allows you to cover a topic in depth, provide figures, list tips, offer examples…
All of these elements can then be repurposed into micro-content for social networks. Not to mention that the article itself will be shared on your pages.
A company blog therefore remains an excellent way to regularly obtain fresh content for engage your social networks, to retain your community and attract new subscribers.
5. A real SEO asset
Search engines like websites that are updated frequently. It's hard to do that with your "About", product or service pages.
Conversely, a blog helps you regularly feed your site with fresh content. That will send a positive signal to Google. But that's not all! You can work on other keywords searched by your prospects and enrich the semantic cocoon. This ensures positioning on more queries (and therefore more potential visits).
Writing a relevant blog post gives you the opportunity to earn backlinks from other sites. By publishing interesting information, data and statistics, other web pages will not hesitate to direct their visitors to your blog.
This shows search engines that your website has strong authority in your field. Another plus for search engines!
How to write a blog post in 11 steps?
Now that you know the importance of blogging for your business, discover the 11 essential steps to write a blog post!
1. Analyze your audience
Before asking yourself how to write a blog post, you must think about your audience. Who are you writing for? If you have different profiles of buyer persona, this question becomes even more important.
To do this, analyze your audience on social networks, your current customers, and prospects in the conversion process. Identify their profiles as well as their needs and motivations.
Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself these questions:
- What prompts them to search for your content on the web?
- What queries are they likely to type?
- How does your offering meet their need?
Answering these questions will help you write a blog post that provides solutions to the reader and improves your SEO.
2. Choose the right topic
The second step concerns choosing a good topic.
You need to find the problems and goals your prospects want to solve in order to write content that will attract them. When you study your buyer personas, especially their motivations or obstacles, you will already have many topic ideas.
To continue finding inspiration, look at:
- Comments left on social media
- Frequently asked questions to your customer service
- Prospects' questions before purchase (to check with your sales team)
- Topics covered by competitors
For this last point, the goal is to spot gaps or topic opportunities to address them from a different angle.
3. Do research
Even if you master your topic from A to Z, still do some preliminary research. The purpose of this step is to identify content that has already been written on the topic so you can create a different, or even more complete, article.
Research also helps you find studies, figures, statistics, or examples to support your points.
Finally, they can help you identify new trends to update your knowledge. The key: a clean, complete, engaging article that is better than the competition!
4. Write a compelling headline
Before wondering how to write a blog post, think about how write an effective headlineIt's the first thing potential readers will see in the search results.
If it's not compelling, there's a good chance your article won't be read or shared.
There are many proven headline types:
- Lists of tips or tricks: use numbers at the start of the title. The higher the number, the greater the chance of clicks.
- How-to's: use the word "how" at the beginning of the title. Phrases that start this way are often searched for in search engines.
- Lists of errors, corrections, mistakes: like tip lists, use numbers at the start of the headline.
- Guides or checklists: these titles work better if you also use words like "ultimate" or "complete".
5. Hook the reader from the introduction
If you hook your readers with a good introduction, they are more likely to stay until the end of your article. To succeed at this, here are some tips:
- Highlight a common problem
- Tell readers what to expect in the article
- Explain how reading your article can help them solve their problem
- Ask a question
- Use a quote
- Cite a study or statistics that will support your points
6. Use a conversational tone
Don't neglect the style and tone of your writing. These two elements can make a big difference.
With a conversational tone, your readers will feel like you're speaking to them one-on-one to help solve a problem. It's an excellent way to build loyalty.
How do you create a conversational style in your articles?
- Choose simple words
- Speak in the second person
- Write short sentences
- Avoid the passive voice
- Ask questions
7. Add subheadings and short paragraphs
Formatting is very important for blog posts. Most of the time, users "scan" content before deciding to read it. They check the headings and subheadings, look at the visuals, read the first line of paragraphs…
That's why you need to space out your content and divide it into sections. Subheadings let your readers know the main ideas of your article while helping you stay organized and focused as you write.
8. Use bullet lists
Perfect complements to subheadings, bullet lists help the reader quickly scan your blog post.
To create relevant bullet lists:
- Treat them as mini-headings
- Keep them symmetrical: 1-2 lines each
- Avoid writing long paragraphs in bulleted lists
9. Add a clear call to action
Whether you're asking your readers to leave a comment, share your article, download additional content, or follow you on social media, clearly state what you want them to do.
To write a effective call to action :
- Start with an imperative
- Create a value proposition
- Create a sense of urgency
10. Use SEO techniques
For it to be relevant, your blog post must appear in search engines. You therefore need to follow the the basics of SEO writing. Note:
- Research and develop a main keyword (preferably long-tail)
- Place the keyword in the main title and in 1 or 2 subheadings
- Include it in the content, and be sure to work on synonyms
- Use it in the meta description
11. Pay attention to length
The ideal length of a blog post is a tricky question.
The content that ranks best on Google is generally more than 2,500 words. However, do articles that long keep your readers engaged? That's unlikely.
So, if your goal is to redirect them to other pages, write posts of 1,500–2,000 words maximum.
Conclusion
How to write an effective SEO blog post that captivates your readers? By following these 11 steps for every piece of content you write. Alternatively, you can also hire a freelance web copywriter on Codeur.com !
