How To Write A Blog Post
You may find it slightly ironic that you are reading a blog on how to write a blog, but we are going to get into this, nonetheless. Blogs are a unique way to showcase your expertise and background in a particular topic. For us, we write blogs on Digital Marketing. But how do you get started? What is the best way to go about writing a blog post? Well, we are here to help.
Firstly, you need a topic!
Great, so you want to write a blog. Now all you need is a topic. There are a few ways to decide on a topic. Sometimes, they fall naturally into your lap, such as a new project you have just completed or an event you have attended. However, sometimes you need to get creative.
Often, we decide to write blog posts on a question we may have got from a client. Chances are, if one client needs help with a specific project, then other clients have the same query. For example, our blog post on creating engagement on social media was created after a client asked us to boost their social engagement on Facebook and Instagram. So, it’s always good to listen to what your clients say and what they should know to make the most out of your product or service.
Other times, we write blogs based on our interests within our sector. For instance, our recent blog on NFTs was created because our Digital Marketing Executive kept seeing memes and wanted to know what they meant. If you have an interest or speciality in your sector, then write about what you know. Your blog will seem more personable and human by putting your passion into what you are writing.
If you have no clue what to write, then go to Google. Sometimes, just searching ‘Blog ideas for marketing’, you will get many ideas. You can even look at your competitors’ blogs and write around a similar topic. And if in doubt, try Ask The People. It is a tool that collates the searches from Google and gives you the exact term they searched for.
Here are a few topics to get you started:
- Case studies
- ‘How To Guides’
- Business news and updates
- Meet the team
- Where you see the sector in the next 3 years
- Debunking
- Top example lists
- Blog on an event or holiday
- What you wish you knew before….
- Your sector in numbers
After a steady flow of content, you can have a reoccurring theme. Such as a monthly update on your business or a roundup of your top social media posts. For example, you may have seen that we have a monthly roundup of our social media tips. You can read our most recent blogs here: https://marketingmanaged.agency/blog.
Planning your journey
Now that you know what you will write about, we suggest planning out the points you wish to cover. When writing this blog, we added the subtitles before we started writing. This process gives you an understanding of where you want the blog to go/the narrative.
Going back to writing essays at school, each point should have PEE, AKA. Point, Evidence, Explanation.
By going through what you want to include, you can determine the possible research you need to undertake and if you need any comments from others within your business.
It would be great if we just knew everything all the time, but sadly we don’t, so with fact-heavy blogs, you need to do some research. DON’T trust one source for information. Look at several websites, blogs, articles, videos and even books to back up your claims. Then add your sources at the bottom! Having these links in your blog will add validity to your findings and provide readers with a location to get extra information.
Get writing
It seems a bit obvious, but you have to actually sit down and write the thing. You can either boss out the blog in one go or break it down into sizeable chunks. It really depends on how much time you have. Ideally, you should set a manageable deadline for yourself based on your workload. You should always allow extra time for additional drafts, layout and proof-reading.
A great little trick to writing a blog is by speaking. You read that right! Use software, such as Word, to transcribe what you say in dictate mode. Then all you need to do is tidy up the blog and check through spelling.
We suggest keeping your audience and tone of voice in mind when writing. The ideal tone for a blog is casual so that you can include a bit of humour and even your own unique voice. But you are still representing a business and should keep the values and branding throughout.
Proof-read
Once you are happy with your blog, you need to check your spelling and grammar because people on the internet can be harsh and poor grammar will make you seem unprofessional. We know that this can be difficult, and we are all human after all, so there are tools to help you with this. The most obvious is Spell Check, but Grammarly is a great free tool to use online. The chrome extension can be downloaded here. https://app.grammarly.com/
Another tool to check your work is using the ‘Immersive Reader’ on Word. You can hear your blog read back to you. This is great for picking up words that are spelt correctly but aren’t used correctly. For example, a large boulder the size of a small boulder.
Now that you have done all you can, give the blog to someone else. We have all done it when we have read something so often that it doesn’t make sense anymore. So, give it to an extra pair of eyes for a once over.
Layout
A blog can be very word-heavy (duh!), so you need to break up the content to be engaging and easy to read. This is where the layout comes in. Break up text with bold subheadings, colours, images, videos and bullet points. Ideally, all your blogs should look similar in style to keep consistent.
Here’s what we mean:
Publish and share
Fab, you have completed your blog. All that is left to do is publish and share. When publishing, you can either post ASAP or schedule this out. Based on your marketing plan, this depends on the urgency to get out the blog or if you need this out for a specific time.
Once you are live, you can share this with the masses. You can then use this to link on other platforms, including social media and emails. Try to get this out to all your avenues and share it with as many people as possible.
You can then break down the blog into smaller versions that fit specific platforms, for example, several social posts, a podcast, a video, a newsletter or even taking this to the press. One case study can provide enough content for weeks’ worth of posts (make sure to post other topics in between).
If this is a collaborative blog you can even ask people who worked on the projects, including the businesses you worked with to share with their followers on their socials.
Need some help with your blog writing?
We can help!
We are here to optimise and add sizzle to your marketing. We are an extension to your marketing team, or your entire marketing team if you don’t have one in house.
Head over to our services page to find out how Marketing Managed (Bacon Marketing) can support your marketing and see our full range of marketing services.
We are Beyond
Marketing Managed (Bacon Marketing) provides a full review, streamlining and optimisation service that will take your marketing and advertising to the next level.
Please see our range of services or complete the form to discuss your needs with us.
Straightforward Approach
We always start by finding out about your business, its unique, then we get to work on planning, building your strategy and adding sizzle to your marketing.
Our combined backgrounds are a combination of both generalist and digital marketers, largely focused on digital marketing and also how it can be blended with offline marketing. It has meant that we have had to be hands-on and strategic.
Speak To Us
Prefer to hand this over? See how our SEO content marketing works.
