As a marketer, you understand that having a business blog is a necessary part of a cohesive marketing strategy.
Blogging is a standard in marketing practices now, and blog management is a key part of internal operations.
Including blog posts in your marketing strategies delivers many benefits to your brand and keeps you relevant in the eyes of readers and search engines.
In this post, we’ll help you learn everything you need to know about blog posts and what they can bring to your brand. That includes how to write a perfect blog post, a list of different types of blog posts, the advantages that blog posts can bring to your organization, and much more.
What are Blog Posts?
A blog post is any type of article or content piece that is published in a dedicated blog section on a website or a connected secondary website.
A blog covers a specific, single topic in detail and can include other helpful content to support the written words like accompanying images or videos.
A blog post, however, needs to have some amount of written content.
Blogging is different from social media, where posts tend to be shorter.
How Do You Write a Blog Post?
Writing a blog post typically relies on the expertise of a content writer or a content specialist who knows the ins and outs of writing blog posts.
SEO writers write content that ranks high on search engines like Google and Baidu.
However, there is a formula for writing blog posts that anyone can use to get started.
1. Choose the Right Topic
While a blog can technically be about anything, you want your blog posts to be relevant to your readers and tie back into the products or services that you offer.
Picking a topic that is applicable to your brand helps establish you as a thought leader in the industry and a trustworthy and reliable source of information.
Begin by brainstorming what questions your customers might have that need answering or information that you think would help them learn more about your industry and advance through your marketing funnel.
There is an abundance of ideas, so just pick one and move forward to start creating content.
2. Pick Target Keywords
Blogs you write should have a specific keyword. Keyword research is an important part of the blogging process, and finding the best keyword for each blog is essential.
Look for keywords that have low search difficulty and are relevant to your post’s topic.
Long-tailed keyword phrases might be the best place to start in order to avoid being lost in the shuffle from other businesses with more established blogs.
As your blog gains a greater readership and ranking on Google, you can start to go after more competitive keywords.
3. Create a Powerful Headline
They might say you never judge a book by its cover, but you definitely judge a blog post by the title. You want to create a title that captures the attention of your readers, explains what you will find in the article, and fits SEO best practices.
Start by brainstorming a list of different headline options.
These different working titles help you focus your writing in the blog while giving you choices to select from when the time comes to publish your post.
4. Build a Blog Outline Template
Blogging is much easier when you have a template you can reference and use.
This is particularly helpful if you outsource content as it makes blogging easier for different writers, but it also creates consistency with your blogs and helps you establish a brand voice.
Your template should have clear expectations for length, keyword usage, and the target persona you want to reach.
You can find free templates online to get started with when you begin your blogging process, and slowly adapt them over time to match your internal brand voice and style.
The outline helps you organize your thoughts, so having one is essential to the blogging process.
5. Produce High-Quality Content
The content you create in your blogs needs to be of a high quality, which means there should be no grammatical errors, the information should be timely and relevant to readers, and it should be able to be understood by a wide range of audiences.
If your content is full of errors, irrelevant, or unreadable, you’ll have trouble reaching an audience.
Over time, you can begin to establish the tone and style of your writing to make sure that it meets the expectations of your readers and delivers the right kind of content.
6. Distribute Your Blog
A blog is no good if nobody reads it. In order to get people to your blog posts as you are beginning to establish your blog, you need to distribute them using the right marketing channels.
You can use your social media platforms, email lists, and network connections to start spreading the word about your blog.
What are the Different Types of Blog Posts?
There are many different types of blog posts that are structured very differently.
There’s no limit to the types of blog posts you can create, but here are a few common ones that your readers might expect when they come to visit your pages:
- How-Tos
- List-Based
- Interview
- News Article
- Review
- Image Blog
- Explainer
- Profiles
- Industry Article
- Checklists
- Expert Advice
- Comparisons
- Inspirational Stories
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Event Summaries
- Take-Aways
- Commentary
- Guides
- Product Overviews
- Monthly Updates
- Cheatsheets
- Open Letters
- Auto-Biographical Posts
- Customer Appreciation
- Glossaries
- Roundups
Those types of contents might sound like a lot for you, doesn’t it? Well, lucky you can do some outsourcing and delegate this to ghostwriters
How Long is a Blog Post?
There’s no length for a blog post that is set in stone. Blogs can range in length from 500 to 2000+ words, depending on the type of blog it is and the goal you have in writing it.
Some blogs, like listicles, lend themselves to shorter lengths, while other blog types like guides and how-tos might be longer.
However, most blogs tend to be around the 1500-word range.
A good rule of thumb is to focus on the quality of your content rather than the length of your blog post.
You also want to make sure your blog lengths are more or less consistent across your website.
That gives your readers an established length to expect when they read your posts and helps search engine algorithms understand your blogging patterns.
What are the Advantages of a Blog?
Blogging is a good idea for a number of reasons.
Here are a few of the main advantages that blogging can have on your brand:
It Drives Traffic to Your Site
A blog is a powerful lead-generation tool.
Your blog posts live on your website, so when a reader clicks on a blog link from a Google search or on social media, it takes them directly to your website where they can engage with your brand.
Establishes Your Brand as a Thought Leader
Finding a trusted source of information on the internet is an important goal for readers. They want a source that they can trust to have accurate, relevant, and informational content.
Blogging helps you establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry and a trusted source that readers can turn to when they have questions.
Improves SEO
By having each of your blog posts target a specific keyword, your blogging strategy ties directly into your SEO strategy.
When your blogs begin to rank higher for different keywords, it improves the overall ranking of your entire website and helps Google and other search engines view your brand as an authoritative website.
Builds Your Linking Structure
Blogging does more than just help your SEO strategy. It also helps you create a complex and comprehensive linking structure within your website.
In addition to your internal linking structure, blogging also helps you increase your backlinks.
When other brands see you have created great content, they will link to your blogs and further boost your linking strategy.
What is the Difference Between an Article and a Blog Post?
Blog posts and blog articles are terms that are often used interchangeably. For the most part, there is no discernible difference between the two words.
However, when you call a blog an article, it tends to be more informative and professional, and a basic blog post can be more casual and informal.
Wrap Up
Blog posts are a great marketing tool that should be included in winning digital marketing strategies.
Blogging helps keep your brand relevant, gives you a chance to share useful information with customers, and helps you gain more online marketing space. Using blog posts in your marketing strategy is essential to your business’ growth.
If you want to start blogging but need help getting content writers and meeting your production goals, then look no further than WriterAccess.
This online blogging platform helps to connect businesses to writers, gives you important content creation information, and offers personal attention to your account and content needs. To get started today, click on the link above.
