You’ve lost count of how many times you’ve started a blog.
You stare at the white space on your computer screen, waiting for inspiration…
…but nothing comes.
You know content creation is key to a successful digital marketing strategy. But maintaining a blog is hard work, especially for small businesses and “solopreneurs.”
Today we’re giving you our best tips for writing a killer blog post that generates leads for your business. We promise they’ll save you time too.
Before we jump to writing your next blog post, let’s talk about how you’ll decide on the topic.
Brainstorming for a Blog Post
A good blog topic accomplishes three things:
- Solves a problem your target audience is facing. You want to provide valuable content on your blog by solving a problem — for free. What blog topics can you cover that help current and future customers solve a problem today?
- Demonstrates your empathy and expertise. You have a target audience you’re trying to reach. When you help readers solve a problem, you avoid making the blog post sound like a sales pitch. You’re able to extend empathy while demonstrating your expertise in the industry.
- Can be repurposed. A blog topic that can be repurposed helps you! Need to understand a topic better than you do now? Turn your research into a blog post when you’re finished! Finding it hard to stop writing on one point in your blog post? Turn that point into its own blog down the road! Blog posts also make great lead magnets, email series, and social media posts.
Once you decide on a topic, it’s time to write!
Tips for a Killer Blog Post
Here’s some of our best advice for writing a blog post that generates leads.
1. Create an outline.
We like how Donald Miller describes this process:
Now that you’ve got your topic, it’s time to unpack it. The best way to do this is to create a simple outline. Just roughly lay out the major points you want to make… As a part of this process, create a short one-liner that describes the value your content will provide your reader… This statement is your “north star” to help you keep your writing clear and focused. Make sure everything you write lines up with this big idea.
Establish your big idea. Then create an outline so you stick to it.
2. Be consistent with your brand’s voice.
Voice is how you communicate your message. A company’s brand voice usually falls under one of four categories, but sometimes they overlap:
- Professional and informative
- Friendly and caring
- Bold and cool
- Quirky and witty
Being consistent with your brand’s voice on your blog is crucial, especially if multiple team members write marketing content. Your brand voice should be consistent across all platforms, including your blog.
3. Write “you-centric” copy.
Speak directly to your target audience. Imagine you’re having a conversation. Use “you” and “we” in your blog post.
When you write to your reader, you make them — not you — the center of the story. You’re just the guide helping them solve their problem.
You also establish trust. Conversational blog posts make your brand feel more personable and accessible to your target audience.
4. Vary your sentences.
No one wants to read a sentence that goes on and on and on…
Long sentences are sometimes necessary, but keep them at a minimum. Vary your sentence length and structure. Break up longer sentences with short ones.
Play with punctuation too. Use hyphens — like this! Add a colon before a list. See where you can eliminate commas. Punctuation is one of the most underrated ways to add diversity and interest to your writing.
5. Use active verbs.
Notice the differences in these sentences:
“This blog post was written so killer blog posts are created and leads are generated.”
“We wrote this blog post to help you create killer blog posts and generate leads.”
The first sentence is full of passive verbs. The second is full of active ones.
We’ve all slogged our way through content because we can’t figure out who’s performing the action in sentences. Filling your blog post with active verbs is one way to spare readers from that kind of drudgery.
We also recommend reading another Sigl Creative blog post: Write Copy That Saves Calories (Yes You Read That Right). We share three more tips there for writing good blog posts. If maintaining a blog is overwhelming right now, our team is here to help! Schedule a call today, and let’s talk about how our copywriters can write some killer blogs for your brand.
