Writing a regular business blog should be a part of building your brand.

Providing educational content – what we call value blogs – is crucial to show your authority in your field. That’s what we are going to be talking about in this article.

Don’t think you need to be a journalist or established writer to start putting pen to paper.

You need to follow a structured, repeatable set of guidelines.

And that’s what this article is about.

After reading this, we guarantee you’ll immediately start to feel better about building a blog you can be proud of – and start positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

Step 1: Choose your target audience

Defining this is the most critical part. Before you do any writing, you need to think about who will read it.

Think about these characteristics:

• Where are they? Where do they live? How old are they (a range will do)?
• Are they male or female?
• Do they have kids?
• What kind of jobs are they in?
• What are their interests?
• How do they consume their information – and where do they get this from?
• What keeps them up at night?
• What are their frustrations or problems (related to your service or product)?

Drill down into their demographics, psychographics and geographics, and then keep this in your thoughts when you start to write.

Step 2: Create your story idea

Content is everywhere. You just need to listen for it. This is undoubtedly the case when writing value blogs for our clients.

When we create a content calendar (link to content calendar blog), we explore some of the customer’s key problems they need help with or topics they are searching for.

And you can source this information from the following:

Your existing customers (asking them about their key concerns)

Your prospective customers (during the initial conversation or via social media)

Ask Google (by typing in a question in the search bar)

Create a monthly or quarterly survey and use those results

Look at competitor’s websites and social channels for ideas

Step 3: Research

Gathering data – whether to prove your points or add weight to your article – is essential.Getting some context or some inspiration from other related articles will help you frame your information.

Google is a good start. But also jump on people’s websites, LinkedIn and social channels to see what others have written on your topic.

Step 4: Choose a headline

Writing a captivating headline is one of the most important parts about writing any content.

Why should someone read your article?

Well, if you give them a compelling reason to, they should follow through.

Some common headlines are:

• How to
• Here’s how
• Learn how to
• Ask a question
• Quick and easy
• Use numbers

Step 5 – Choose three key points

Blogs – and any good article – follow a simple format.

Decide on three key themes or points you want to make, then create headings to match.

Then write conversationally, keeping it sentences short and to the point.

Step 6: Choose images

Text, paired with photos or images, go together like milk and Weebix.

Make sure you use at least 3-4 images per blog, and they should complement each point or topic.

Try Pexels or Canva for free images. Or you can use iStock or Shutterstock for more professional photos.

Step 7: Create a call to action

What do you want you reader to do?

Decide on a simple instruction. Perhaps you want them to contact you if any of the above sounds interesting, or if you have any questions, or you’d like to discuss a related project.

Step 8: Print and proof

Leave your writing to ‘sit’ for a little while – ideally 10 or 30 minutes – then use a spell or grammar checker.

We’d encourage you to use Grammarly for this.

Once you’ve finished, you’re ready to post!

If you want help on writing a blog, then let’s talk. Otherwise – enjoy your blogging experience.