How to Write a Blog that People Will Read
Writing a blog can be beneficial to your website SEO and your business. Writing comes naturally to a lot of people, but not everybody is confident or comfortable enough to write and publish their own blog. I am going to give you some tips on how to write a blog that people will actually read, and the steps I use to write a blog post.
Target Audience
First, I want you to think about the things you like to read. Do you like to read things and imagine that person is talking right to you, or are you a more technical person who enjoys charts and visual guides with fact statements. This is most likely your writing style. Next, I want you to consider who you are writing for. Are you writing for people who want to envision you speaking to them, or to people who would like more technical and factual writings? This is your audience. If you enjoy reading more technical fact statements, but your target audience wants to be spoken to, you may have a harder time finding your vibe. If you like reading things the same way your target audience does, then it will be easier for you to write a blog that they will read.
Getting Ready to Write
When you are getting ready to write, sit down and brainstorm the topic of your blog post and everything you want to touch on. There doesn’t have to be any rhyme or reason to your brainstorming session. You can make a list…you can have it all over your paper with arrows pointing all over the place. This is for your eyes only and just the beginning!
Remember in school when you were required to make an outline before you wrote a paper? If not, here is a simple guide to making an outline. I loved doing this, while most of my classmates despised it! No matter which you are, it is time to give it another chance. Writing an outline is a great way to get your brain focused on the topic at hand and really think about what you want to talk about. Use your brainstorming information to pull your main ideas from. I can’t say that I use this process all of the time, but if it is a topic that I am unsure where to start or not sure where I want to go with it, outlining it really helps me focus my efforts.
Writing a Blog Post
Now you have your brainstorm, you have your outline…now what? Now you go back to your target audience. If your audience needs facts, charts, and graphics, it is time to create those. Here are some basic rules of blogging, and what to avoid so you don’t run into trouble. You can find the proper way to cite sources in this article.
It is time to get down to writing! I follow the basic style starting with an intro, your body, and then your conclusion. When you look at your outline, you may decide to use your main topics as the Header 2 setting when you post to easily break up your blog post and also take advantage of keywords. This is where your blog is going to differ greatly from writing a paper. You don’t indent paragraphs, you keep your paragraphs shorter, and your punctuation is allowed to be a little wonky as long as it makes sense!
Use your outline and write each section before you write your intro or your conclusion. You never know where your story will take you and you don’t want to have to rewrite your intro. I am constantly editing my intro after I write the blog, and it is honestly a waste of time and can easily be prevented by doing it last. Once you have each section written, citations added as needed, it is time for the introduction. It can be short and sweet, but you should use as many of your keywords in it as possible. You want to introduce the idea of your story, and if you want to, add a sentence or two describing what order everything will appear.
The important thing to remember while you are writing is to write as your target audience wants you to. I personally write almost exactly as I speak. I stick to that, unless I am writing for somebody else, because that is my comfort zone and the way I enjoy writing. I enjoy reading things that speak to me and in turn I write things that hopefully speak to others!
Not ready to take the leap and write your own blog for your podcast? I would love to save you time and write your podcast episode blogs for you. Contact me to chat about the possibilities!