Tips For Good Blog Writing

There are many types of blogs with a wide variety of functions. For this article, let’s look at how to write blogs for your company’s website.

First off, are blogs important and are they a worthwhile use of resources? A resounding yes! Blogs are a great way to share your company’s opinion and getting your own planned publicity, if done correctly.

Blogging might be seen as the “DIY” version of publicity in the 2020s. Instead of hiring a PR agency to put together a press release (which is already, so 2010) and then send it off to various publications in the hopes that one of them will see fit to publish your piece, blogging puts your article where people can see it – instantly.

When a company puts out a compelling and informative blog on its own site and shares it on social media, it could get shared by readers and if it goes viral, could even make the news for free.

But how do you write something compelling and informative enough to go viral and have publications come to you? Here are a few tips and tricks to make that happen.

Pick a good topic

The topic is easily the most important factor to consider. The topics you pick to discuss need to be relevant to your industry, they need to be currently happening/ recent and most importantly, newsworthy. It also helps to have a strong or controversial opinion (that aligns with your brand message)

For example, a financial advisory firm won’t comment on the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard situation, but they might want to comment on the latest national fiscal report.

What do you want to achieve?

Think about what you want to achieve with the blog. Are you driving customers to your site? Are you telling them something interesting about your products? The blog should be designed to encourage your readers to do what you want them to do. It should be like giving them something for free. It should achieve one of your goals, like generating leads, answering questions customers have or building communities.

Do your research

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make in blog writing, is not checking your facts or allowing your own personal opinions to leak into your writing. Do not say it at all unless it’s a fact and you can prove it or you got the information from a reputable source.

Opinion pieces are valid for blogs too but these typically don’t go viral. They do help establish you as a thought leader over time.

Pay attention to tone and language use

The tone in which you write your blog needs to reflect the tone of voice in which your company speaks to the world. The use of language needs to emulate the way your company addresses its target audience. Decide before you begin your blog, who you’re speaking to and from what position, then use the language and tone of voice that will resonate with them.

For example, a governmental organisation, warning of an uptick in xenophobia will not use slang or colloquial language. They’ll speak as authorities and use formal language.

In the same vein, a parenting magazine for new mothers won’t use authoritative, academic language, they’ll use slightly casual language in the way they might give advice to a friend.

Tone and language determine if your audience connects with the writing or not.

Keep SEO in mind

Obviously, you also need to ensure that your blog is search engine optimised to encourage the highest amount of web traffic. Start with writing good, relevant content and make sure you’re using appropriate keywords and phrases that will drive traffic to your site. Localising content is also a good idea so you can ensure that the correct target audience is used. For example, if you’re a plumber in Johannesburg, “In Johannesburg, we find people’s pipes often burst in Winter…”

Also remember Google will look for content that answers questions, often people will use AI voice search on their mobile devices to look for information, so making your content have sentences that answer questions will help your blog to appear in search results.

Keep in mind the length of your piece

People have limited time and attention these days and as such, lengthy pieces of writing tend to go unread. Rather try to keep your blogs short and to the point and add hyperlinks to subjects a reader may wish to know more about. Also, break up your text. Impenetrable walls of copy are often just that, impenetrable.

Share, Share, Share

Be your own publicist and get maximum traction for your blog by sharing it on all relevant social media platforms.

Blog writing is a valuable form of self-promotion – if done correctly. However, the same can occur in the reverse, bad blogs can reflect badly on the company. No blog is better than old or irregular blogs. If your last blog is from 2017, it will look like your company is stagnant or defunct. It’s a bit of a science really.

Avoid the risk, let HashTag ME write your blogs for you. We can help you get your message across in the best way possible. Let us help you say what you mean.