As online marketers, we have made it a priority to learn the ins and outs of using your website as a tool to reach clients. We realized early on that creating relevant and engaging content is one of the best ways to reach your audience. Here’s the twist, though, there is a lot of information already available. With so many bloggers and articles, you need to be strategic in providing informative content that is also engaging and interesting to read.
1. Get to Know Your Audience
Take a step back from blogging for a moment. Think of a positive interaction you have had with a customer or potential client, and ask yourself why it stands out. Did you enjoy getting to know them on a personal level – talking about pets or children? Perhaps you found a shared interest such as a hobby or travel? Did you help meet a need of theirs? All of these scenarios have one thing in common: you knowing your client.
Understanding your audience sets the tone for the article. Do they want only the technical details or prefer layman’s terms? Would they respond well to humor? Are pictures important in telling the story? Answering these types of questions is significantly easier once you have taken the time to get to know your audience. Incorporating anecdotes and stories helps engage your audience rather than just sharing mundane technical details.
Create Customer Profiles
One of our favorite activities is creating customer profiles. Think of the client as an identifiable person. Give them a name and hobbies. Consider their lifestyle and their priorities.
For example, if your company sells phone cases, your target audience may include “Selfie Sally” who absolutely adores her new iPhone X and never sets it down. She would rather be Snapchatting her friends or shopping on Amazon than hiking up Mt. Hood. Sally loves listening to Ed Sheeran’s new album on Spotify and finding manicure ideas on Pinterest.
In this instance, writing a blog post that appeals to Sally might include several photos, a free downloadable phone wallpaper (that matches your newest case design), and short paragraphs with catchy hashtags for headings.
Keep in mind this is just an exercise to get you thinking from the perspective of your audience. The ultimate goal is communicating effectively with them.
2. Don’t Tease
Fulfill Your Promises
If your headline promises “How to live a happy and successful life in 5 easy steps,” your readers expect to leave your website with 5 secrets to life and the pursuit of happiness. It’s that simple. Decide the topic of your post, craft a headline that both informs your readers and captures their attention, then follow through. State the important information in the first paragraph (get to the point), then add the details in the middle, and summarize at the end.
Over-Deliver
Your job is to ensure readers receive the information they wanted. This means you need to provide substance in your article. Help them understand the background of the topic, how it relates to them, and the solution or answer. Paint yourself as an expert on the issue because they came to your website expecting to learn the important details. It helps to add a quick summary or a free resource at the end of the post to go the extra mile in serving your customer.
3. Make it Easy
Your post should be straightforward, informative, and enjoyable.
These quick tips will make reading your posts a breeze.
- Headings – With information overload, online users have gone from reading articles word-for-word to scanning. Break up text into digestible paragraphs with sub-headings.
- Flow – Make sure paragraph placement is logical, and incorporate different sentence structures for a better flow.
- Edit – Have someone proof-read your draft or even read it aloud to yourself. This will significantly decrease errors and confusion drastically.
If you are hungry for more tips and tricks on writing successful blog posts, here are some lengthier articles on this same topic: