6 Strategies for Writing Great Business Blogs

6 Strategies for Writing Great Business Blogs: For Agencies and Marketers

By andyroller Blogging, Content Marketing blogging, strategy, writing 1 Comment

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There are thousands of new business blogs being published online everyday. To earn a new customer from blogging as a business, it takes strategy, and attention to detail. Competition is fierce. And the “noise” is loud. Attention from readers is hard to come by. If you’re writing new blog content for an agency, or your own business, this post is for you.

Do You Care Enough?

It might seem over simplistic, but do you care enough about this content? It’s easy for hired blog writers and agencies to become careless, especially under a deadline. Or, they simply don’t feel the same commitment to business or subject matter. Either way, keeping in mind how much the client cares about how they are represented is crucial. Put yourself in their shoes. What is the most important thing in your life? How would you write the piece if you were in their position? What would you communicate differently if this was your business?

Conclusion: Put the same level of care and concern into client blogs as you would in their position.

Avoid Blogging Shortcuts

Cut out the fluff. Don’t hire a virtual assistant you’ve never met. And avoid keyword stuffing your content. If you’ve been in the marketing world for very long, you’ve seen a lot of shortcuts. The truth is, they all lead to poor content. One-size-fits-all content agencies, solopreneurs desperate to get a first client at any discount, pay-per-word bloggers, and fiver bloggers are all too common. Do you want a professional marketer surrounded by a professional team or someone who can barely speak English?

Conclusion: Don’t take shortcuts. Blogging takes hard work.

Are You Writing to the Right Person?

Keep in mind your target audience. Who do you want reading your content, and why? The target audience of a post provides the context for achieving your goal as a business blog. Decide the space and time your audience will likely be choosing to read. The reader might be needing something immediately, reading their phone in the moment, about your product. How can you leverage the subject matter to best capture the customer in their need?

Conclusion: Write to your audience in their space and time.

Do the Work of a Journalist

Most time spent writing a blog isn’t spent writing. Yes, you read that correctly. Most time is spent researching, finding sources, conducting interviews, and communicating between editorial and source contacts. Quality writing is built upon a foundation of excellent journalistic habits. It’s unrealistic to assume your next blog will come while sitting down in your office with a cup of coffee. A large part of the work is what’s done before that moment arrives. You can still have a cup of coffee. That’s the good news.

Conclusion: Blogs require strenuous research and sourcing to be great.

Keep Writing and Editing Separated

Keep writing and editing completely separate. Knock out the writing without worry. But obsess over the editing yourself before proofing it internally. Ideally, the internal editor will find very little to change, and only those things that apply to the strategy of the piece, and not grammatical errors. Changes that are made to enhance the goal of the blog are to be expected. Before the client ever sees a draft, it should be as perfect as possible, grammatically speaking, without their input. Everyone misses easy stuff occasionally. The eye can play tricks on us. Make sure things are thoroughly checked for dumb mistakes.

Conclusion: Segment writing and editing into two different tasks for best results.

Build a Bridge

Most of the time, customers are still learning about major components of your business, even if they’re current customers. Your job as a blogger is to build a bridge in your writing between the technical data, or specialties of the business, to something valuable to the reader. Every blog piece should have a unique value proposition. Your job is to dig deep into the client side of things, find the valuable insights that make the business great, and build that information into a blog. It needs to be great at achieving the goal of the blog. Maybe it’s a guide for something technical to become easy to understand. Maybe it’s emotional. Maybe it’s informative, challenging, inspiring, helpful, for reference. Whatever it is, the blog is the gateway between the internet-connected reader and the business.

Conclusion: Connect the most important things about the business for the audience.

Have any other thoughts? Leave it in the comments!

6 Strategies for Writing Great Business Blogs: For Agencies and Marketers