Did you know that there are more than 70 million blogs published per month? So, it just goes to show that massive amounts of content are being created, but it doesn’t mean that all of that content is good. Knowing how to craft an article that is engaging, informative, showcases your expertise and builds your brand reputation that captures your audience's attention, is no easy task. It takes work, time and most importantly experience and skill.
The following guide demonstrates everything that goes into creating a great blog post that audiences will love. To get started, let’s talk about the elements and stages that make up a blog:
Research and ideation:
Before diving into writing, we have to spend some time researching your topic. Gathering relevant information ensures that we provide valuable and accurate content. Here’s how we do that:
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Figuring out and defining your target audience: Understanding their pain points, interests, and preferences
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Identifying trending topics: Using tools like Google Trends, BuzzSumo, or AnswerThePublic to see what people are talking about
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Analysing competitors: See what topics they cover and identify gaps you can fill
Compelling titles:
The title is the first thing your audience will see, so we have to make it count. A captivating title should:
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Be informative, clear, and concise
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Utilise power words or numbers for added impact (e.g., ‘5 Proven Strategies’ or ‘The Ultimate Guide’)
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Address your audience's needs or pain points.
Make the first sentence count with an engaging introduction:
The introduction should hook your readers and motivate them to keep reading. Here are some ways this works:
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Presenting a problem or question relevant to your audience
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Sharing a relatable story or anecdote
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Offering surprising facts or statistics (Like this post for example)
Break up your content:
Large blocks of text can be off-putting and difficult to read. Part of creating a narrative is ensuring that the text flows in a pleasing way.
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Utilising headings and subheadings: Breaking your content into manageable sections with clear, descriptive headings
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Using bullet points or numbered lists to make key points easy to digest
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Keeping paragraphs short by aiming for 3-5 sentences per paragraph
Be Informative and accurate:
Content should provide value to your readers. To achieve this:
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Support your claims with facts, statistics, or expert opinions
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Link to reputable sources to enhance credibility
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Update old content with the latest information to keep it relevant
Make it fun to read by incorporating visuals:
Visual elements can considerably improve a blog's readability and engagement. Some visuals to consider incorporating include:
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Relevant images, graphics, infographics, or videos
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Charts and graphs to illustrate data
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Visual breaks, such as block quotes or separators
Optimise for SEO:
Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps increase your blog's visibility on search engines. Here are some SEO checks we perform.
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Keyword research: Use tools like AHrefs and SEMrush to find relevant keywords
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Including keywords naturally: Integrating the target keywords in your title, headings, and body content without overstuffing and looking unnatural
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Optimising images: Compress image files, add descriptive file names, and use alt tags
Include a strong call-to-action (CTA):
It’s important to end your blog post with a clear CTA that encourages readers to take a specific action, such as:
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Subscribing to your newsletter
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Sharing your content on social media
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Downloading a related resource or guide
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Getting in touch and provide you with their contact details
Edit and proofread all content:
Before publishing, thoroughly edit and proofread your content to ensure it's polished and free of errors. There are plenty of tools that we use to ensure accuracies like Hemmingway editor and Grammarly to name a few.
Promoting your content:
We then need to maximise your blog post's reach by promoting it through various channels:
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Sharing it on your social media platforms
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Adding it to your newsletter
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Adding it to any banners on your homepage
Making your content stand out
The main thing that makes your content stand out, is your voice and brand! Your business personality and voice should shine through. Personalisation is key. Whether that’s an expert option or recommendation, a testimonial from clients, or a quote from an industry leader. It has to have a more human approach and showcase the people behind the words, the topic and the industry. The other thing is authenticity, people can see a repurposed post a mile off. It offers the reader nothing new, which is why staying true to your brand voice is essential when the reader is craving honesty.
I'll just use ChatGTP, right?
With so much conversation around ChatGPT recently, it’s easy to wonder if it can do as good a job as a human. The reality is no, it can’t. It cannot connect with your audience on a human level and it cannot replicate your tone of voice and branding. Content that connects, takes thorough research, time, personalisation and honesty. And that’s what your audience wants.
If you need help bringing authentic storytelling to your content, get in touch today and see how we can make your content stand out from the crowd.
