Six tips for writing better blogs

The pressures of content marketing require organizations to push out a steady, regular stream of consumable material. Blogs are a handy way to do that — and when done well, they’re a great tool for improving your search engine rankings, demonstrating your thought leadership and generating more leads.

But not all blogs are created equal. What separates the good from the great? Here are six tips we've compiled from our own work developing blog content for our clients:

1. Have a clear focus for your entire blog program.

Readers look to blogs for insight, whether they want a few quick tips or deeper perspective on an issue or product. The most effective blogs explore a single subject, presenting the key points clearly. So what will that look like over the course of an entire campaign? Think carefully about the themes you want to explore through your blog program. For example, maybe your blogs will focus on customer pain points or emerging trends. Choosing themes of value to your readers provides a compass to guide you as you write and publish. It also makes your blog program more cohesive overall while setting you up as a trusted source of information on a particular topic area.

2. Organize your thoughts before writing your blogs.

Good planning is one of the best ways to ensure your blogs engage readers, support your marketing objectives and drive prospects along the buyer’s journey. That means planning both the blog program as a whole and each individual blog.

An editorial plan that maps out a program of blog entries for the coming quarter or next six months creates more opportunity to make smart choices about how to best serve up content over time in a way that builds momentum. But don't be rigid: the plan will no doubt change based on emerging topics and issues. However, having a roadmap makes it easier to be strategic about your content. It also gives you milestones to work toward, which means you're likelier to post on a regular basis.

As you begin writing, you also need to map out each blog. How many times have you reached the end of a blog and wondered what it was really about? Blogs may be informal but they still need structure and a point. A meandering blog will lose readers' interest or, worse, make them doubt your authority on a topic. Preparing a detailed content outline before you start writing will help you make sure each blog is focused and to the point.

3. Choose the right structure and format for your blogs.

Blogs may be casual in style but they need to be sharp when it comes to information flow. Few readers have the time or patience for classic “beginning-middle-end” storytelling. The journalistic inverted pyramid, which starts with the most important takeaway and works down to the least, is standard best practice for all web writing, blogs included.

The format of your blog should also support its purpose. List formats like “Top 10 Reasons” or “5 Key Things” are good for at-a-glance information-sharing. Q&A-style interviews are excellent for conveying personality if a blog’s subject is a person. “Op-ed”-style blogs provide the opportunity to explore a given topic in depth. Throughout a blog campaign, it’s useful to mix different formats for variety and to keep readers interested and engaged.

4. Convey your personality and brand when writing your blogs.

Be engaging. Think of each blog as a one-to-one conversation about a topic. That said, remember that corporate blog posts should also reflect your company’s brand voice. Be authentic to the character of your organization, and always write in a way that is confident and credible and demonstrates thought leadership.

5. Don’t make your blogs too long.

Sources like Semrush recommend that informational blogs be between 1,000 to 1,500 words, while more thorough guides be up to 2,500 words long to be properly optimized for search engines. But what matters most is the quality of your content — so write to the length your subject matter demands, in line with how much your audience wants to read. And given that only 19% of people read every single word of an article (with most people just skimming the article or reading only the headings), the more concise and focused a blog can be, the more it will be absorbed by the audience. A length of 600 to 800 words can often do the trick of delivering good information on a focused topic.

Keep things digestible for your readers. If you really want to explore something in depth, there’s where the long-term roadmap for your blog program comes into play. By planning things in advance, larger topics can be broken out across multiple blogs as part of series. This leaves readers wanting more and likelier to come back.

6. Offer something with real substance.

While it might seem that the most important thing about blogging is just having your voice out there in the mix, a flimsy blog will undermine your credibility. Blogs that are written purely to tick a box on an SEO to-do list are less likely to contribute to meaningful conversions: that is, they might draw readers but won’t necessarily lead to them taking the next step in the buyer’s journey. Saving your blogging for when you have something significant to share will boost the value of your content. And be sure to substantiate key points and tips with facts and anecdotes.

Discover the Ascribe difference

Whether it’s a blog, op-ed or advertorial, our team can help you find the story and fulfil it with engaging, on-brand copy. We take a journalistic approach, interviewing your executives or subject-matter experts and then using their insights to craft high-quality blog content that meets your strategic aims. Our experience writing across industries and sectors allows us to write an authoritative blog or article on any topic, no matter how complex or niche — from telecommunications networks to collectible coins to advice for entrepreneurs.

Contact us today to see what quality marketing communications content writing can do for your business.