Modern business owners understand the importance of an online presence when it comes to reaching out to more potential customers and growing a brand. You might even have your own page or website for your business right now.
While a social media page or website is used mainly for marketing, customer service, and placing orders online, you can use these platforms to make your business appear on search engine queries. This is done by writing blogs that are related to your business’s niche.
But writing a good blog isn’t that simple. You need to follow a set of guidelines to deliver an article that’s informative, interesting, thought-provoking, and can spark action. Here is a list of tips that enables you to do so.
1. Make writing a habit
Speaking from experience, writing a good blog is a task that cannot be done spontaneously. You need to train your mind to process large amounts of information, structure them, and put them into paper. Because if you don’t, you’re more prone to experiencing writer’s block and wasting time.
2. Don’t get distracted
Put your phone down. Don’t entertain any messages aside from emergencies. Close all the browser tabs except the ones you’re drawing ideas from. Writing requires a continuous train of thought and distractions won’t allow you to have that. Focus on the task at hand.
3. Take a break before proofreading
When you’re done writing your blog, your mind is still exhausted due to a long period of concentrating. It’s the main reason why you won’t immediately notice errors during your proofreading process. And this is also the time when procrastinators become useful.
After I write a blog, I open YouTube and lollygag for 15 minutes. Then I start proofreading my work efficiently because my mind is refreshed.
4. Relearn the basics
Take a trip down memory lane and remember everything your English instructors taught you. English language rules such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence construction are critical as they’re the main factors that hook readers into reading more of your content.
5. Ditch fillers
Use a wide vocabulary but don’t over complicate your content. If you can explain a concept within a few words then, by all means, do it. Avoid ultra-technical terminologies, especially if you know your audience isn’t that well-versed with the topic. You know what they say, “Less is more.”
6. Have your own style
Writing a blog with a formal tone and voice is good. But it’s even better to create content that sets you apart from other writers. No, I don’t mean using swear words. What I mean is you writing as if you’re just transcribing what you would say to others.
For example, imagine yourself talking to a customer in your shop. You’re explaining how a product works in a manner that you think would influence their buying decision. Now try to write a promotional blog that’s exactly like the conversation you had.
That’s what it means to have your own writing style. And if you have a sailor’s mouth, you need to remove that habit or know when to use them because not all customers like reading swear words.
7. Divide your editing process
On the topic of proofreading, you need to have at least three processes before you publish your work. The first is content editing. This is the part where you change words that don’t make immediate sense to readers.
The second is structure editing. This is the part where you rearrange the presentation of concepts, sentences, and paragraphs so that your reader won’t get confused as they read your piece.
The last is grammar editing. Yes, you can explain a concept without proper grammar but writing something so informal would really distract your readers. Take these sentences for example: “It is possible to show someone the basics of WordPress in just a few minutes. Most blogging platforms are just as easy as learn.”
Oh okay. Wait, what? Now you’ve spent a few seconds trying to decipher what the second sentence meant. If you yourself hate reading something so vague, don’t subject others to the same experience. Grammar correction only takes 10-15 minutes for 800-900 word articles.
There are plenty of tools you can find online to help you with the task.
8. Don’t overdo it
The problem with proofreading is that sometimes you become too paranoid or a perfectionist during the process. And it’s hard to know when everything is enough. What I do is that I mark all the parts that need improving in one run. Then, I do another run to apply those improvements before publishing with a sense of satisfaction.
Writing is a challenging task. I would even say that it’s a much more difficult job than physical work. But you can train your brain to write impactful blogs for your business. All you have to do is do it regularly and keep on learning. As time goes on, you’ll be efficient at it. So efficient that it’ll be a walk in the park.
