I tell all of my clients to Blog, but I always get the same question “How do I Blog?” So this blog post is my quick guidelines on where to start.
Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…
You’ll probably find it easiest to write in Word or Pages first and then transfer it to your website.
The first thing you need is a topic
Often, the hardest part of blogging is trying to decide what you are going to write about. Share your knowledge – you are the expert in what you do. Use your expertise to help people. Don’t try and sell – nobody wants to read a blog post that is obviously just trying to sell something. Care – show your reader that you care about them and are trying to help. Write about something you’re passionate about and allow that passion to shine through.
If you’re struggling, think about the frequently asked questions your clients ask and expand on one of those.
If you’re really struggling, then let’s have a chat about it and I’ll give you ten blog post ideas.
Title and headings
Start with a good title for your blog. It needs to be something compelling, something to encourage the potential reader to click to read what you’ve got to say. A blog post title such as “5 things you can do now to make your garden a riot of colour this summer” is way more interesting than “Flowers for your garden”. Titles with numbers are good, but not all of the time. Try and use adjectives in your titles and generate enthusiasm. Use sub-titles to break up the text and make it easy to digest.
Content
Ideally, your blog post needs to be about 500 to 1000 words long. Try not to “fuss” over your blog post for too long… Done and out there is better than sat on your computer waiting for perfection!
You need a featured image, but use other images to break up the text. Images should obviously relate to whatever it is you’re writing about. They should also be properly “tagged”- the featured image to match the title of your blog post and any others to relate in some way for SEO purposes (if you don’t know what this means, ask me).
Images will also need to be the correct size and optimised for your website.
Write in a “conversational way”, just as if you were sat talking to a person.
Q&A
Try and answer questions that a reader may have about your chosen subject. Aim to answer three questions.
Links
Try and link your blog to an outside source or point of reference. Ideally, this needs to be a high traffic website that is better ranked than you are. For example, our gardening blog post could link to a page on the Royal Horticultural Societies website, that talks more about what we are writing about. Make sure though, that this link is set to open in a new window so that the reader is still linked to your website.
Also, try to link to a relevant page on your own website. That way you also encourage the reader to explore a bit more about what you do.
SEO
You should consider SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), but it shouldn’t become the be-all and end-all. Try to write naturally for a real person, be helpful. You should write your blog post with a relevant keyword in mind, but don’t just try to get a keyword in as many times as you can!
It’s done!
Once you’ve written and published your blog post, that’s not the end of it…. You need to promote it so that people can find it. This is where Social Media comes in. You should post your compelling title for your blog post and a short sentence or two, along with the link to where it is, to encourage people to click through and read it.
Also finish the social media post by asking people to like and share the link to their friends, that way your blog can spread far and wide.
If you really can’t do this, but still want to get information out there, then we offer a blog writing service. If you would like to know more about this (or anything else we do) then please get in touch. Contact Page
Well, that’s it until next time.
If you have anything you’d like me to explain in a blog, drop me an email.
For more information on Blogging… Why have a Blog?
https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/blog-post-checklist/
Best wishes
We build WordPress websites primarily for local businesses in the Oxfordshire area. If you’d like to get in touch to see how I can help your business to get online or improve its online presence, then drop me an email: mail@webseoassist.co.uk
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