Blogs are an important aspect for any business. They drive people to your website, help you build up your social media following, generate brand awareness, and can aid you in positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

Here’s our guide on how to write a great blog.

Identify who you’re speaking to

When writing a blog, your first step should always be to identify your audience and the topics and issues that matter to them.

To increase the likelihood of your posts being read by a big audience, write blog posts that are tailored directly to their interests. This’ll make coming up with ideas for future blog posts easier as you’ll already know what your audience is interested in. There’s no point writing a blog post on something you might be interested in, but you know your audience isn’t.

Keep your blog current but relevant
Although it might be tempting to solely post about your company in your blog, it’s also important to reach out to a wider audience. Comment on issues in your industry, the latest market trends, or discuss the topics related to your target market.

Make sure to keep your blog current and topical. Respond to breaking news stories in your industry or timely topics. This will increase the potential amount of readers going to your blog, as your blog will appear higher up in search engines as one of the first to report on the news.

Keep it current, but also ensure you keep it relevant to your target market!

Make posts readable
As most people only scan read stuff online, it’s vital to ensure your posts are readable.

To keep your blog posts readable ensure you use subheadings, as they act as signposts to guide readers through, keep paragraphs short, your writing concise, and don’t use jargon.

List posts, or ‘listicles’, are a good format for a blog post as they’re easy to read and very accessible, but also try varying your post forms to help keep your content interesting and creative.

Make it share-worthy
If you’ve made your posts readable, the next step is to make them shareable.

Posts are more attractive with the inclusion of images, and even more so when shared on social media as the posts are more likely to jump out in a user’s news feed with a colourful picture, than if it was just the boring text link.

Similarly, consider incorporating video into your blog posts. Although this may require a video-savvy person, video can tell stories in a way text cannot.

Lastly, make it as easy as possible for readers to share your content. Why not include a share button at the bottom of your posts, and also make sure to post links to your blog across your social media channels.

JAM’s other top tips
– Include keywords – pick one keyword per post, and make sure to include it in the post title and in the body of the post. Always include relevant tags as this helps readers to easily find it from search engines.

– Include call-to-actions – encourage readers to actively respond to your posts.

– Be consistent in your posting – post often as posting irregularly will discourage your readers from revisiting your blog.

The team at JAM are experts at writing blogs across all sectors for our many clients. If you’d like advice on starting a blog for your business, the Jammers would be happy to help! Contact Jaime@jampr.co.uk to find out what we can do for your brand.