So, let’s explore 9 key elements of a good blog post. Happy blogging!
1. Update your blog frequently or don’t bother at all
I know it sounds harsh, but you must (must!) update your blog frequently.
There are two reasons to add new posts to your blog on a frequent and consistent basis. The first one is that if someone visits your blog and sees that the last article posted was 6 or more months ago, then their immediate impression will be that you are no longer in business.
Yes, it will be that drastic! They won’t assume that you’re too busy to tend to your blog. What they WILL assume is that you’ve abandoned your website, and therefore business as well.
Moreover, as we explored in our recent article on personal branding for businesswomen, people judge a book by its cover (or, in this case, by its neglected blog page).
Whether intuitively or directly, most people believe that how you do one thing is how you do everything. If your blog is haphazard, poorly written, or nonexistent, that will reflect on your business whether you want it to or not.
The other reason to update your blog frequently is for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The more you write and post successful blog articles, the more Google and other search engines will see that you are actively updating your website. And they tend to reward fresh content and websites that stay updated.
2. Provide substance over quantity
OK, maybe you think I’m contracting Tip #1 here. Yes, you should post as much as you possibly can. But you should only post quality content as much as you possibly can.
The keyword here is quality. You want your blog posts to be engaging. This isn’t your space to wax poetic or list what you had for dinner last night. This is your space to showcase your business to potential customers.
To write a blog post that converts, you must write about topics your target market wants to learn about. This is why doing your research on your ideal client is critical.
You want to write about things that potential and existing customers will find interesting, valuable, informative, entertaining, or captivating. Write for them, not just for the sake of having something posted.
So be sure to write about topics that your target market will find of interest and value. And always have a purpose in mind: what do you want your readers to get out of this article and what do you want them to do/know after reading?
3. Give them a reason to keep coming back
One of your objectives when blogging is to create a community – a place for people to keep coming back to get more of what you’re offering.
This means your blog posts must be either entertaining, informative, compelling, and/or emotionally charged to keep people engaged and wanting to come back for more.
You know you have accomplished this when you get lots of subscribers and lots of comments on each post where your followers are eager to add their two cents worth.
4. Be specific to one thought, idea, or topic on your blog posts
I get it. You’re passionate about your business. You sit down and you want to just share every thought that comes to your head.
It’s great that you’re so passionate. And it’s great that you have so many ideas. But you don’t have to squeeze them all into one post. It’s much better to stick to one topic for each one blog post.
This might turn out to be harder than you’d think. If you’re anything like me, that one specific topic will compel you to explain in more detail an idea you’ve shared and the next thing you know, you’re going down a rabbit hole.
But remember tip #1 – you want to update your blog regularly. So save all those ideas and rabbit holers for new posts!
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