We were thrilled to have a series of articles about how to be a Badass Blogger appear in the NLOWE Advisor last year and we wanted to share them here too to help you with your blogging presence. Got questions? Get in touch!
Welcome back! We’re so proud of you for sticking with your plan to blog. We’ve given you your writing schedule and made it easier to get started, but now you have to do the hard work: figuring out WTF to write about.
Get clear on your audience
The first way to figure out what to write is getting to know who you’re writing for. Ask yourself, who is your audience? What are they interested in or struggling with? How can YOU alone help them?
A lot of great writers will build a persona - a fake person to write to - and will keep notes of who that person is. Think of a name for the person you’re writing to, give them characteristics you’d like to see in your clients, and even keep notes on the things they enjoy like favourite foods and what kinds of clothes they wear, or cars they drive. When you’re writing a letter to your imaginary friend, it’s very easy to tailor content to them.
It’s about what you know
You’re the expert on your business, so think about the questions you get asked all the time and answer them! Tell stories about your own experiences and those of your clients. You don’t have to name them, but if they allow you to, add a link to the name of their company to share the love and increase your own Search Engine Optimization.
Write about your company’s community outreach - it humanizes you and the work you do. Found a great article about your industry or a new innovation which will help your clients? Summarize it, link back to it, and give your own opinions on how it will help or hurt your industry.
These types of topics will always resonate with your audience and are easy to get writing about!
Perfect post
After you’ve written your article, walk away for a bit and come back to it with fresh eyes. When you’re ready to edit, ask yourself these three questions to decide if it’s a perfect post:
1. Does this post solve a problem?
2. Does this post entertain?
3. Does this post have a call to action?
If you’re not answering yes to these questions, make changes!
Reading IS writing
Most of the world’s best writers are avid readers, so read a lot and, in particular, read online articles. You’ll start to notice patterns, interests, and even valuable formatting tools (which we’ll get into in our next article).
By analyzing other blogs, your own writing will improve. While reading, keep a critical eye and ask yourself these questions:
What are your favourite blogs?
What do you like about them?
What is the formatting like?
How does the writing feel?
Write On!
There you have it - topics, trendspotting, and your perfect post checklist! In the next edition of the NLOWE Advisor, we’ll focus on How to Make It Awesome and give you our No. 1 best piece of advice for getting over the fear of posting. Remember, 45% of marketers outsource content creation, so if you need help with your latest series of blog posts, Rogue Penguin has got you covered.