The other day I was in a meeting with a marketing team discussing corporate communications and how to write effective blogs. One of the people said “I hate it when I spend an hour writing a blog about nothing”. Can you relate?
Admit it, we have all written blogs about nothing. The deadline sneaks up on us and we need to get something sent out – quickly. A well-written and effective blog requires planning. When you are tempted to simply get something out the door – stop, don’t do it. Take 15 minutes or more to do some research – then write. Your readers will appreciate you for taking the time to plan.
How to Avoid Writing a Blog About Nothing:
- Research. Pick a topic and research it. Find a statistic or two, use the statistics in your blog and cite the reference.
- Know your Audience. Make sure you write your blog to your targeted audiences - engineers, teachers, farmers, and musicians all require a different style.
- Keep it Short. Many bloggers keep their posts to 250 to 400 words. Why? Keeping it short provides a tighter focus on your key message. Most readers don’t read online content the way they read a book – they scan, looking for the main points.
- It’s not about you. Period. Make it about your audience or one of your customers that’s aligned with your audience.
Blogging can be a fun and effective way to communicate with your key audiences. Companies that blog, and blog effectively:
- Get 55% more site visitors
- Have 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages, aiding Search Engine Optimization*
*Source: Hubspot