How To Write A Business Blog

Blufig is what happens when mavericks of their own walks get together over coffee and coincidences.

We have transcended from a day and age when writing used to be for writers, per se. The internet is now an open platform for everyone to express themselves. And, blogging has brought to the table more ways for people to do so and showcase their interests, businesses, opinions, news and pretty much everything under the sun.

But what does it take to make a blog stand out? What does one put in a blog to make readers come back, time and again, to read new posts? Why is it so essential to have a layout and structure to a blog? Or perhaps not? How long is too long and how much is too boring? What topics arouse interest and how to think about them? And finally, how to actually get to the top of the hullabaloo that we call as the internet.

First up, let’s answer a more radical question.

Why do you want to write a blog?

If you are Startup, Blufig is the perfect fit for you. Having run marketing divisions for startup’s, we understand your aspirations, challenges, limitations and opportunities, Blufig acts as your Outsourced CMO. We take out the risk and investment of having an established CMO on board from day one. Marketing being such a strategic function for startup’s, it is imperative to invest in the right partner who is accountable for your growth and who will not break the bank to get you started.

From a personal writing standpoint, it is your freedom, a right to express – Your blog, you’re the boss!

But from a business perspective, it is more essential to understand the need to have an answer to this question. What you write defines the way your business or organization is perceived. Your blog takes your organization from being a closed group of people to being an open, interactive, informational and a more real entity. And most importantly, in this digital era, a blog is primarily written to up your inbound marketing game and is a significantly important piece of your SEO strategy.

Businesses, both in the B2B and B2C, hire professionals to understand their work and write blogs to increase their digital footprint – all to get to the top of search lists. Marketers work closely with writers and agencies to build content strategies to target specific audiences.

This can range from anyone in a corporate hierarchy at your customer’s workplace or just the generic junta. Plans are made to create content that spread over weeks, or even months, to target audiences specific to their business. And, that leads us to the much-talked-about topic.

The crux of it all – Content. Content. Content!

If there’s one thing bloggers and marketers are always talking about it is content. Next only to the most challenging topic – Engagement! A successful blog is one that combines engaging content and various elements that comes with good writing.

Following some age-old yet still very relevant techniques can keep your content on key and eyes scrolling on your words. Listed below are a few things you can do before starting your writing.

Know your audience

We have been fortunate enough to be part of some high-profile marketing programs for Enterprises. For Corporates, we act as your extended delivery arm. We put your ideas into action. Whether it’s a new product launch, viral campaign or marketing ops related initiative, Blufig is your OnDemand Marketer.

This is the most important aspect of your content strategy. Depending on your industry you may have multiple types of audiences for whom you are writing in the first place. These can be decision makers, influencers or simply users of your product or service. In the Marketing world we call it Audience Persona. Knowing your audience’s pain points, aspirations, challenges, and desires can go a long way in understanding your blog topics as well as content.

This is the most important aspect of your content strategy. Depending on your industry you may have multiple types of audiences for whom you are writing in the first place. These can be decision makers, influencers or simply users of your product or service. In the Marketing world we call it Audience Persona. Knowing your audience’s pain points, aspirations, challenges, and desires can go a long way in understanding your blog topics as well as content.

Spend time researching the topic

Once you have a good understanding on the audience persona, spend time on researching the topic you are going to write about. Google the topic to see if there is enough information that is available.

Do a keyword research to understand if there are enough people looking for the information on the topic you are about to write.

Put a structure to your blog post

What is that you want to communicate? Are you educating the audience on things they may not be aware of? What is the action you would like your audience to take after reading your blog post? Ask yourself these questions. This will help you define the structure and flow for your blog post.

A bulleted list works best. Keep the list short and to the point. Stick to the main topic.

Start Writing

Once you have a structure for your post, you will be in a better position to put pen to paper. Depending on the type of post you can decide use appropriate tone.

For example, if it’s a How-To post you may want to use a helping tone on the other hand if it’s a Resource List Post you may want to use a more factual tone. Take feedback from peers, customers or even friends. See if they are able to understand what you are trying to communicate.

Make it informational: This is can be sharing industry information or generic topics related to your business. Adding research or stats will also add credibility to your stance in the market.

Educational: Share tips on doing a certain task that pertains to your business, product or service. Like a the most explored territories of Southern Australia for a camping equipment company, for instance.

Sales-y: Drop that veil of modesty and go all out with your sales pitch, if you have to.

Technical: These are best written by your inside people. Those that can share the very being and fibers of what makes your product what it is.

C-level: Obviously, these need to be written by the top executives and in a tone that is nothing short of élan.

Include a Call-To-Action: Call-To-Action is the most important piece of your blog post. You wrote a great post, educated the audience but now what. Guide your audience on the next steps – It could be Signing up for your service or Downloading some report or booking an appointment. Help your audience take the next step in your sales cycle.

Your blog is ready. What next?

Writing is perhaps the easiest bit of this puzzle in the corporate blogging scenario. It is the planning and executing the distribution of this written content that will draw visitors to your webpage or business.

Don’t be shy of distributing your blog post across all your communication channels i.e. Web, Email, Social, Industry Forums, etc. Your marketing team or agency will be the best judges on what channels work best for your business. This enables your followers to be continuously engaged and directs them to your website.

Are you optimally managing your business blog? Ask for a Free Consultation – Your first business blog post is on us – No Really, I mean it.