Can I make a confession? Back in the early 2000s, when I started my first business (a design agency), I decided to start blogging. I knew almost *zero* about marketing strategy at that point, but I made a promise to myself that I would blog weekly without fail.
Consistency is key, I thought.
I decided that each Thursday would be the day my blog was published. So every Wednesday night I sat in my darkened guest-room-turned-office and wrote my weekly blog post. No planning, just thoughts on a page [insert cringe here]. And every week, I would swear to myself that NEXT WEEK I was going to start earlier, be more organized, and get it done early. But of course, client work always got in the way (it paid the bills, after all) and the cycle repeated itself.
But a couple of years into my business, I figured out one thing: my blog wasn’t a chore…it played an important role in the overall customer journey–the Trail to the Sale™ and I needed to recognize it as a key player in my business. It was then that I started to realize that planning and scheduling my blog as a priority was going to be key.
That was a game-changer. Once I started planning and prioritizing my blog, it became so much easier to keep up with the writing (and even get ahead by a couple of weeks!) As the content got more focused, it became more relevant to my audience and began doing its job as a marketing tool.
Along the way, I created a process around it, and I want to share it with you too.
It’s 2022. Should I still blog?
Before I introduce my blogging system, you might be wondering…should I even bother with a blog? Is blogging dead in 2022?
The answer is a solid NO–blogs are not dead! Blogs will remain relevant for quite a while, for three reasons:
- They are powerful,
- Blogs are used as a ranking tool by search engines, and
- They are considered by readers to be reliable sources of information.
In short, people keep searching, reading, and sharing them so we should keep writing great information for them.
For you as a business owner, that means when you publish a blog, you can:
- Increase traffic to your website
- Convert visitors into leads and buyers
- Become established as an expert in your field
- Build trust with your visitors
- Keep your current customers interested and aware of you
- Give your subscribers a chance to get to know your brand
The Blogging Template
So now that you know why to blog, here’s my tried and true method for writing a blog post fast and efficiently. So let’s dig in.
1. Choose the Topic (and Don’t Forget SEO)
Start with content pillars
Use content pillars to choose topics closely related to your product and of interest to your customers. That will help you create ideas and stay relevant. A content pillar is simply a cluster of main topics and sub-topics that your business, your website, and your social media focus on. These topics can be broken into subtopics (and sometimes even into sub-sub-topics).
There are a few good reasons to use content pillars:
- Using content pillars will let search engines will know what your site (and your business) is about.
- They will keep you focused on the topics and subtopics your readers care about most.
- They will enable you to focus on keywords, since you will naturally be including niche phrases in your title, your post, etc.
- Sub-topics, which are specific, are focused on specific problems people are looking for. Those phrases will get the attention of the audience who could use your help (and are most likely to become a customer).
SEO Research
At the same time that you are thinking about your topic, you should be researching your keywords. Everything we put on the internet is for both human readers and search engines, so you need to consider both when determining what you should write.
In the early days of the internet, we would try to put as many keywords into a post as possible, hoping that would push us onto page one of Google. Fortunately for all of us, those days are over and search engines want you to write for humans. They’ve gotten better at determining the intent of the text even when we don’t stuff it with search terms. That makes the process easier for all of us.
But we still need to keep SEO in mind, especially while researching the topic. Google knows what people are looking for, which will make your blog post more widely read and keep it higher in the search rankings. Doing SEO research can give your article a leg up.
To do this research, I use these free tools:
- Ubersuggest
- Google Trends
- Moz.com
- Google Keywords Tool (available with a Google Ads account)
Once you’ve determined your topics and keywords, you need to add them in a few places on your post. Most specifically, add your keywords in:
- Your post title
- Your URL
- Subheads
- Body text
- Alt text (on images)
- Meta titles, and
- Meta descriptions
There are a lot of tools, such as the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress sites, that can help you with that too. Don’t get too hung up on SEO, but don’t ignore it either.
2. Write the Headline
The headline is the most important part of your post. Why? Because if they don’t read your headline, they won’t read your article. And 70% of people read ONLY the headline before sharing an article on social media. Online readers are skimmers–and they just want to get to the meat of the story. Keep your headlines specific and clear, and you will win the headline game.
3. Create an Outline
Once you have a topic worked out, create an outline with the major points you want to address. Those will become your subheads. Create 3-5 per post. Think of them as signposts so readers don’t get lost in your article.
Don’t worry too much about the order at this point. Once you get the outline down, you can move sections around.
4. Write Your Messy First Draft
Writing can be a sordid and haphazard affair. Even when you start with a tight outline, you’ll probably want to move things around, rework sections, and wordsmith it. That’s ok. Start with a brain dump and don’t get bogged down with editing along the way…just get it all down on the page. Trying to edit while you go will just slow you down and create frustration.
Keep your paragraphs and sentences short
As I said, people skim articles instead of reading them.
Write like you’re talking to your ideal customer
Write like you are explaining something to a friend over coffee. Not like you’re writing a term paper for your college professor. Writing in your normal tone creates an inviting, comfortable feeling. When we read something complex, we actually burn more calories than when we are reading easy-to-understand information. Even if you’re breaking down complex research, you’ll go further by writing as simply as possible.
Include a story hook
We humans are wired to be drawn in by stories. It helps the reader connect, and makes the post more memorable, personal, and engaging. These days, as more of what we read is written by AI, telling a personal story will separate you from the bots. And stories are 22 times more memorable than bare facts because they paint a word picture in the reader’s mind and evoke emotion. We buy into brands and make purchasing decisions with our emotional brains, so connecting with your customers on an emotional level is a good thing.
Include tangible wins for the reader
When people are searching to solve a problem online, they want more than just theory or a high-level understanding of a topic. They want how-tos and practical tips. If you can include a quick win in your post, that will let the reader know they can trust you for the results they’re looking for when they decide to buy too.
Wrap it up with a call-to-action
The human mind is primed to be told what to do next, or they will be left hanging. Download? Follow? Comment? Just tell them what you want them to do. A good call to action (CTA) will keep them moving down the Trail to the Sale™.
4. Edit, edit, edit.
Now that you have your messy draft done, it’s time to get out the knife and trim the fat. Cut as many words as you can. Get rid of unnecessary filler words, such as “just,” “that,” and “really.” I go through and edit my posts at least 3 times, usually more (sometimes like 50x). When I can, I have someone else proofread it as well. Ideally, your final post should be between 1500-2000 words.
Read it out loud.
That’s right, to yourself. Why? Because we catch more problems when we say the sentences out loud than when we read them in our head. Give it a try–you’ll see.
Add images & videos
I tend to wait until the end to add photos and graphics so I can see where they’d be most valuable in explaining a concept or in breaking up text. Images can also
get to the point much faster than a paragraph of text (would you prefer I try to describe the Eiffel tower or just show you a photo?). Remember…a picture really is worth a thousand words.
5. Publish it!
Woohoo! You’re done!
Actually…I’m just kidding. Now it’s time to get to really get to work.
With about 7 million blog posts published each day, people are unlikely to just stumble across your post. You’ll want to spend as much time (and probably more) sharing it with the world as you did writing it.
Of course, send it out to your subscribers with a compelling subject line (but sweet friend, please don’t have “My latest blog post” as your subject line…you know who you are.)
You can also repurpose your great content on social media both by linking it and by breaking the content down into images, graphics, and short-form videos. Or you can create a longer video or webinar around the topic. It’s a noisy world and repetition is important if you want your message to be heard. Go forth, blog, and share! •
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