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Blogs and blog posts have been around for decades. So much so that copywriting has become a lucrative career field! Ever since the internet started making it possible for new entrepreneur types to write their own opinions and interact with commenters, blogs have been a core tool for marketers to build their brand presence on the internet.
However, in that time, there have also been a lot of issues with the way people build blogs over time. The easier it gets, the more likely people are to make some really basic mistakes. Especially with the advent of the “no code” movement, CMS’s have made it easy for anyone and everyone to make a blog.
But Blogs are not foolproof. In fact, there are many mistakes I see a lot of even top-level brands make when it comes to optimizing their blog for both visibility and conversions.
So in today’s blog post, I am going to go over 5 essential marketing tips for writing a good blog article, capitalizing on new audience members, and growing your blog presence over time.
These fundamental marketing tips will help you find your audience better and discover the best practices founded in core marketing and copywriting concepts
Copywriting Starts with Structure
The way you structure your blog posts is a huge success factor. Nobody likes reading really long blog posts. In fact, most people don’t want to read your blog period. But they found it and are most likely looking to solve a problem. So here is how I usually structure my articles to help retain better conversions.
I mostly use a sandwich-style method that many of us learned back in grade school to write papers. Listed below is a general template I use to structure my blogs:
Introduction / Problem
Remember that your blog needs to solve a problem for your readers. That problem might be solving a day-to-day issue they have had, that problem might be that they need a new recipe to blow their neighbors out of the water at the next neighborhood picnic, or it might be that they just want to be entertained! So your job as the blogger is to identify that problem and explain why it sucks. Remember to format this as an H2 or H3 tag in your blog post editor to make sure it’s differentiated from other text content. That will make it easier for people to scroll through and read the sections that are the most important to them without reading your entire article.
Reason or argument 1
Reason or Argument 2
Reason or argument 3
The “reason or argument” sections are pretty self-explanatory but a few important reminders here: Explain things even if you don’t feel they need explaining! This section essentially serves as the problem solver section of your article so if you find yourself struggling to fill out reasons 1 2 and 3 in your paragraphs, you aren’t writing anything worth reading anyway. Sorry if that was a bit blunt… but its true.
Solutions / conclusion
Your conclusion should help connect to the emotions that revolve around the problem you are solving. In my case, the emotion I am helping you fix is frustration with low or poorly behaving blog posts. If there is anything I learned from sales, its that products aren’t what sell, its the emotional connection people connect to your product that sells.
Copywriting Takes Time and Research
The title of your blog post is probably the most important piece of written content you will ever write. It is what people see when they visit your site, it’s the title that people see on the link in your Facebook post, it’s the thing that Google uses to index your site to make sure the people who find your advice are able to find it.
Now there are a lot of ways you can write a title but my process is to write a working title while I write the article, then come in after the article is finished and see if the title I have fits the article I wrote.
Because that is often the way I write. I write with one idea in mind then once I finish the article, I realize I have written about a completely different topic than what I set out to write.
But once I feel like I have a good title, I try and make sure it fits the following criteria:
- The title of my blog is something I would click on if I saw it on my google feed.
- The title both mentions a problem and references the solution.
- It CAN last the test of time.
- Use Keywords people are searching with.
These criteria pieces help me to guarantee that my title is going to be interesting enough to click on, help me make sure the article I am writing is structured enough to offer a solution to a real-world problem people are experiencing, and won’t be easily phased out. This can be hard to do because most of the world reads about what’s happening now! So why do I make this last one important for the test of time?
Because most blog pages are going to take YEARS of constant or semi-constant posting to start seeing real results. One of my most popular blog posts of all time is the first blog post I ever wrote. I wrote that post long before I wrote the rest of this blog page, and the idea I had about what this blog would be about was very different at the time. But writing posts that have the potential to continue to bring new viewers to your site helps you a) continue to build your blog over time b) establish credibility with search engines and c) will help ease the pressure of writing a new blog post every day, week or month.
Keywords are huge. Notice how I used “WordPress and Shopify” blogs as the main targeting keywords in my title. This title will help me target people on both WordPress and Shopify who are looking for tips to improve their marketing copy on their blogs. That will help this post do better amongst WordPress bloggers for sure and it might even get me better retention rates on eCommerce brands.
Copywriting for SEO and Readership is Very Different
There is a huge difference between a page description on your website and a page description on a search engine. Knowing the difference could help bring in a lot of traffic to your store.
This could be an entire blog post in itself but for sake of being brief, SEO should be more straightforward and “search-like”. For example, for this article, I am writing the following SEO description:
Struggling with bringing in visitors to your new blog? Here are some free marketing tips to help you convert more traffic on your site.
Me, just now.
This is SEO speak, per se. It’s not detailed, it’s brief. It’s meant to show up on search results, show up as a description on social media, and give an immediate answer to a search query like “How to get more site traffic to my blog?”
Remember, the internet is very transactional. If you are not constantly reiterating your worth and emphasizing the importance of your blog in ways that can be easily searched and algorithmically categorized, you are going to be passed on for a blogger that is.
But once you get inside your actual blog, let your voice roam free. Talk frankly and write with the same voice you speak in. Nobody wants to read an article that sounds like a lecture from a teacher. They want to read an article that helps them feel connected and maybe even a bit informed by the writer. Even if your blog is for something really technically inclined (like coding), writing your personality into your blog can be a huge way for your audience to connect with you… which is actually my 4th important tip for improving the blog.
Write Your Copy with a Proper Branding Voice
Brand voice is HUGE in blog writing. Your voice is almost your entire blog post, besides actually writing about the content. because it’s the brand voice that people end up connecting with. There are millions of blog articles out there that talk about how you can improve the SEO, retention, or click-through rate of your blog post. But that’s not how normal people talk.
I’ll tell you exactly what guidelines I use on my own brand voice.
- Relatable
- Confident
- Expert
In fact, there are a million blogs that do exactly what I do. They write about the way tech and web design influence the world of marketing. But I really lean into my strengths which I believe are a) an easily readable style of writing b) a relatable personality and honest advice c) expert advice given from a place of experience and professionalism.
That’s why it’s so important that in my articles, I keep my voice calm, collected, and confident in my expertise. There are definitely gaps in my knowledge that I don’t have expertise in. I’m not saying I am the expert in everything marketing or metaverse related. But I do keep my opinions confident. there is a difference between saying “I think Brave Token could be the future of privacy browsers” and ” I really want BAT to be the future of browsers. But there are a few barriers…” Both could have been the title of the article but going with a confident voice established me as an authority on privacy browsers.
If you haven’t already, take a moment and reflect on three values that you want to express through your voice. Doing so might change the course of your writing style forever.
Copywriters Know their Audience
Lastly, is to know your audience. The biggest marketing mistake any blogger can make is to write articles and assume it will get views because it has filled every tip up to this point. In marketing, we listen to what our audience tells us by reviewing data, inspecting heat maps, looking at conversions, and optimizing for the best audience engagement.
In many ways, you are still refining and establishing who your core audience is. Especially if you have only been writing for a few months, you have really no idea who your audience is. In a way, blog posting is like throwing articles at a wall and seeing what sticks. What do people read? What articles do people read before converting into followers or take my other call to action?
Where do those viewers come from? Are they visiting because they found my post on Google? Are they visiting from a native social media post? Are they visiting from an email campaign? Are they visiting from the WordPress feed itself? If you are reading this article from the WordPress feed, this article was meant to target you.
In many ways, you still need to experiment. Write new articles, play around with new topics of interest, write about the latest scandal and write about the worst experience you had in your career. Content creation is infinite and there is infinite demand. Experimenting with new posts can allow you to really progress better and discover potential new avenues for growth.
With these tips in mind, I am confident you can find something to improve in the way you write your blog posts. Whether it’s about focusing on SEO, writing to your core audience, or just structuring your headings better, These tips are long-lasting basic functions that can really help you go the extra mile on your blog posts.
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