3 Key Points of Blogging for SMEs

We’ve already talked about how to take your copywriting to the next level, but let’s chat about blogging for a second. Too many times, we see businesses and individuals churning out a conveyer belt of blogs, many of which hold little to no value to the site they’re published on.

To put it bluntly, writing a great blog isn’t easy. Writing one that has the potential to attract more traffic to your site is not something that can be done in half an hour, no matter how talented you are at writing. Here are some pointers to set you in the right direction when it comes to writing a great blog post, so that you can maximise the chance of seeing real results.

Get the length right

Okay so let’s start with the basics. Whilst it may seem like a trivial issue to consider, the length of your blog is quite important. I’ve seen a wide variety of blogs that are written well and have a great subject matter, but for some reason the author has thought it appropriate to say “sod it I can’t be bothered’” and end it at around 200 words.

Because that’s what it looks like when an article is too short, like the writer simply couldn’t be bothered or didn’t have the time to write the post. Either way, that’s not going to work wonders for how you come across on your blog.

However, no-one’s asking you to needlessly pad out a blog post if you can’t make up the length. Blog posts should be natural – if you’re really struggling to get your post to a decent length then it’s worth asking whether this particular article might be more at home as a Facebook post.

The perfect length for a blog post is anything from about 500 – 900 words. You want to keep it long enough to actually engage the reader, but short enough that it can easily be read in one sitting.

Address a specific audience

Before you start developing content for your blog, decide on who you will be writing for. It’s a good idea to think of a persona before you write your first post. Think of some characteristics that they’ll have – how old are they? What sort of background will they come from? What are their interests?

Obviously you can’t be 100% sure of the answers to these questions, but having an idea in your head about the type of person you think will be reading your blog will allow you to tailor your writing accordingly.

Be useful and informative

If you’re writing a blog for your small business, nobody wants to hear about how you got stuck in traffic this morning and how annoyed you are at some guy in a blue van. Keep personal opinions to your personal blog, and keep your business blog relevant and informative.

If you’re struggling to think of ideas for your blog, take a look at some recent events that have happened or are due to happen within your industry. For example, if you’re a marketer planning to attend BrightonSEO for the first time, perhaps your first blog post could be a review of your time there?

Another useful tip for discovering which questions people want to know the answers to is to conduct keyword research. Use a tool such as Moz or Google’s Keyword Planner to check the sorts of topics that people are searching for. For example, if you’re in the toys industry, you might find that people are searching for a specific toy you sell, so you could write a blog about some cool hidden features of that particular product.

To know more about how we can help your business, why not have a chat with a member of our friendly team? We’d be delighted to discuss how the use of content marketing can really make a difference to your site. Contact us today.

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