Your company blog is one of your greatest untapped resources for engagement and thought leadership. That’s why every marketer should have competent blogging skills in their armoury.
There are so many benefits: they’re free to publish, you control the environment completely (e.g. no limits on length or images) and best of all, you’re not at the mercy of a changing social media algorithm.
But you might sometimes find it tough to flesh out your initial blog ideas into full articles. Don’t stress – it happens even to the best writers. To get the information out of your head and onto the page, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel – just rely on a solid structure to arrange your thoughts.
There are all kinds of structures you can use depending on what kind of information you’re trying to get across. Some are more complex than others, but in this piece I’m showing you how to write a blog post using a nice, simple framework that will draw out your best insights in a way that’s easy for your audience to understand.
Here’s a tried and tested framework any B2B blogging beginner can use for turning topics from your content strategy into fully-fledged articles that grab attention and build your audience.
Here’s where you need to grab the reader’s attention and explain exactly what they’ll get. The biggest headline mistake I see is people trying to fit a complex idea (like a metaphor) from their article into the headline.
Cryptic headlines generally don’t work in a B2B business blogging context. Make a promise instead.
I normally start with a ‘working’ headline in mind which I came up with when first researching the topic. I’ll rarely keep that one in the final article. As I write the piece, I copy and paste any nice lines and paste them up top under the original headline. By the end, I’ve got a list to choose from and I’ll probably add a couple more. Then I’ll test them out or ask for a second opinion.
You don’t always need to start from scratch – you’ll save a load of time if you have a few ‘fallback’ headline formulas. There are many specialist copywriting blogs which will give you a list of proven headlines you can use. As an Easter egg, I’ve taken one from this article for this article’s headline – can you spot it?
And don’t forget to include your SEO keyword! Not only is it good for SEO (of course), it also keeps the headline focused on the reason you’re writing the post in the first place. Keyword research mimics the queries of your audience, so you’ll be speaking in terms they understand.
Here’s mine so you can see my process in this article.
Your first paragraph should do three things:
- Introduce your topic
First, introduce the topic and set the scene. Your knowledge of your audience is important here – ask yourself what they already know about this topic and why they’re looking for more information. Meet them there. Use statistics if you’re talking about a common topic (be sure to reference where they’re from).
Next, raise the stakes. If there’s no reason to act – and act now – you’ll struggle to get people reading through your blog. In other words, why do they need to take action? And what happens if they don’t?
Be explicit about who you’re writing for. Go back to my introduction up top. You’ll notice that I said that these are tips that ‘any B2B blogging beginner can use’. I want my audience (people who work in B2B businesses who know they should be writing blogs but don’t know where to start) to feel comfortable reading this, and know that it’s going to give them some information they can actually use.
To finish off your introduction, explain to the reader in simple terms what they’re about to see and learn, focusing on the benefits (I’ve promised tips that will help you grab attention and build your audience).
Include your SEO keyword at least once in the introduction.
This is the main part of your article, and can be the most intimidating. Many people wondering how to write a blog post feel pressured to tell the ‘perfect’ story here. Leave that to the novelists and master the art of subheadings.
(If you’re looking for the easiest and most effective way to write a blog, this is it.)
Work through your points or arguments one at a time, using subheadings to define each separate thought (like I’ve done throughout this piece, with each section of your article under a different subheading).
You can add numbers to these subheadings to create a listicle, or leave them off to be more of a how-to guide (how I’ve styled this one).
Include your SEO keyword a few times throughout the body and in your subheadings if possible. Make sure it sounds natural – don’t just stuff them in for the sake of it.
One of the most common pieces of writing advice is “write first, edit later.” This might sound obvious, but what it’s trying to say is don’t get in your own way while you’re writing your first draft. It doesn’t have to read well or look pretty.
Write it first without engaging your editing brain (stay away from the backspace key), and look over the whole thing later when you’re in a different mindset. That’s when you can add in some structure and carve out a piece that flows nicely from start to finish.
End your post confidently. A neat writer’s trick is to call back something from your introduction for a satisfying conclusion. In the introduction of this article, I told you that your business’ blog is one of your greatest untapped marketing resources – so for my conclusion, I might say something like:
End with a Call To Action (CTA). Basically you’re telling your reader what to do next. Don’t give them three options – give them one compelling click to make.
Here’s mine: Now that I’ve shown you how to write a blog post like a pro, you can move on to nailing the rest of your marketing! There are more than 100 walkthroughs, step-by-step guides and templates available for unlimited use at the DIY Marketing Project, covering the basics (and beyond) of things like email marketing, graphic design, search engine optimisation, social media and managing your website. Head there and take a look!
Once you’ve mastered the basic blog post you can move up to more comprehensive posts (the kind of thing we describe as ‘pillar’ content).
Here are a few things you can add to take your blogging to the next level:
Happy writing! Don’t forget to visit the DIY Marketing Project to download all of the templates we use for our everyday work (including this basic blog structure guide in simplified PDF).
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