It was up there with Valentine’s Day for my most hated days – yes, I am that miserable person who goes on and on about it being commercialised nonsense.

And Black Friday was no different. But then I just couldn’t stop myself from opening some emails from my favourite companies. And lo-and-behold a few days later parcels would arrive containing chocolate and stationary – obviously for gifts and absolutely not for me.

I don’t want you to buy a dud.

But…I’ve also bought a few duds too – especially for our business. You know the ones, where you think this is an AMAZING deal, and then you never ever use it? Yeah those. So this blog post will tell you all about our Black Friday offer, and you can decide in advance of Black Friday if it’s right for you.

Zero buyer’s remorse!

What is our Black Friday offer?

We’ve created the Ultimate Blogging Bundle! 

What does our Black Friday offer include?

Our Black Friday Offer includes:

1. The Blog Post Template Pack

These are Blog Post Templates for business owners who want more traffic, rankings and sales from their content in way less time.

This includes…

• 17 fill-in-the-blanks blog post templates
  We have seventeen blog post templates that will get you either rankings and traffic or leads and sales. This will give you a huge headstart on your blog content in 2022.
  
  Blog post examples include:
  The Nudger – a blog post that explains why you’re raising your prices and how people can buy at your current rate
  The Fixer – a blog post that teaches people how to fix a problem they are having that you can help with
  The Repeller – a blog post that helps you repel those who aren’t the right fit (and attract your dream clients)
  
  
• 4 blog posts featured image graphics
  You can select one of four beautifully designed blog post featured images to edit with your colours/fonts/logo. These are designed in Canva – you only need a free license to access them.
  
  
• Two call-to-action graphics
  Throughout your blog post, you’ll want to advertise a product/free lead magnet/book a call. You can use our call to action graphics to do this. Free to edit as you wish in Canva.
  
  
• (NEW) Two bonus Christmas blog post templates
  We’ll also give you two Christmas themed blog post templates you can use in December to promote your products or services.
  
  
• An SEO cheat sheet
  This will help you optimise each blog post you create, making sure you dont miss anything important!
  

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2. A Personalised Blog Post Video Critique!

This is where we’re getting a little bit excited because once you’ve created your first blog post (of many!) using our templates, you can then send it us to review.

What we’ll do is review the blog post, telling you EXACTLY how to improve it for SEO. You can then use our personalised advice across all future blog posts you create.

We will send our personalised review to you via video format (we’ll record our screen at the same time to show you exactly where you can improve).

Your video will be 10-15 minutes in length.

3. Our New 90 Day Content Marketing Workbook (physical copy sent to you in the post)

Finally, you’ll also receive a physical copy of our 90 Day Content Marketing Workbook!

The workbook includes…

• An overview of the 8 types of content topics you should produce
• 30+ blog post ideas you can use straight away
• Sections for evaluating where you are currently, such as your current website traffic and search rankings
• One page per piece of content you need to produce with prompts to help you with SEO
  Blogging, podcast and video checklists
• A section to evaluate how far you’ve come in 90 days
• Notes sections
• The perfect accompaniment to the blog post templates

The workbook will be posted to you and you’ll also receive a PDF version. The delivery times vary depending on where you are in the world (we’re posting from the UK).

How much does it cost? And why is it such a big deal?

Ever seen a Black Friday ‘offer’ that was a bit..well how do I put this? Shit?

Where they haven’t really discounted anything? Just ramped up the price before and then discounted it to what it was originally? Yeah, I hate that.

So I’m going to break down the cost of this and why it’s such a steal.

The total cost of this product is $97.00 (plus VAT if applicable). 

To break down the costs, to buy these products separately it would cost you…

• The blog post template pack is currently $47.00
• The workbook is $30 
• And the SEO review of your blog post is $124

So that’s $201. A total saving of $104. 

How long will I be able to get the offer for?

The offer is available from 12.00am on Thursday 24th November to 11.59pm on Monday 28th November 2022.

Where can I buy it?

The page where you can buy it is almost complete! You just can’t access it yet. We’ll make it available on Thursday evening to go live on Friday.

Are there similar offers out there for the same product?

We have actually looked and there isn’t anything out there like the blog post templates (that we’ve seen). This isn’t our way of selling it, by the way! We just can’t find a similar product!

Who is this for?

This is for anyone who wants to get better results from blogging i.e. more traffic, rankings and sales.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post What’s Our Black Friday Offer 2022 All About Then? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

• Best salesperson, bringing leads and sales to your business 24/7
• Trusted customer service advisor, informing and building trust and loyalty with your customers
• Knight-in-shining-armour, defending you against those crappy clients or customers who absorb all your time and cause you stress
• Personal ‘Town-Crier’, someone who will pull in the crowd and get traffic to your business

Publishing content consistently could help you rank higher in the search engine results and drive more traffic to your website. More traffic from the right kind of people means more leads and, ultimately, more sales. Ka-ching!

But getting results from your business blog takes time, and you have to be doing ‘all the right things’. This is why we put together this guide for you – covering everything you need to know about running a successful business blog.

Ready to grab a brew, sit comfortably, and get stuck in?

How to create a successful business blog

The first thing you need to decide (before you even get started) is what you want to achieve with your blog. Maintaining a business blog requires time, focus, and consistency, so you don’t want to do it just for the sake of it, right? Like with anything you do in life and in business, you need to have a specific goal in mind. Otherwise, how do you know if it’s working or not?

For your blog to be successful, you need a goal for it first.

So what do we mean by goals? What can a business blog actually help you achieve?

Here are some examples…

1. Drive more traffic to your website using your blog

Publishing regular content on your business blog can help you drive more traffic to your website. How? Well, how many times in a day do you search for something on Google? Loads, right? Every time we need information, we head over to Google. And your ideal customers are exactly the same.

So if you publish content on your business blog that answers their questions, bingo! You immediately increase the chances of your website popping up in the search engine results (ideally super close to the top), which in turn means that more people might click on the link, go visit your website, and read your articles.

Want some tips on creating content that gets found on Google? Check out our SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

2. Attract more qualified customers with your business blog

Once you get people on your website, your amazing content is your chance to show them who you are, what you have to offer, and how you work. And your web pages (like your Homepage, your About page, your sales pages, etc.) can do that to an extent. But with the articles on your business, you can showcase who you are, what you stand for, and what you know in a lot more depth.

So what happens when people land on your website and find all your valuable content? They either feel they can relate to that (and find it interesting and relevant), or they don’t. And if they don’t, they’ll hit the back button, go back to Google, and move on to the next piece of content.

Now, that might seem like bad news for you. But it’s not, really. Because if someone can’t relate to you your content, they’re not the right people for you! You don’t want to work with them as much as they don’t want to work with you!

We’ve written loads about this, so if you want to find out more, check out How and Why You Should Create ‘Wrong-Fit’ Content, or How to Stop Customer Issues Before They Happen (Using Content Marketing).

What you really want is for the people who are the right fit for you and your business to stay on your website and engage with your content. Because these are the people you ultimately want to work with – the people who will buy from you and who will prove to be great clients. These are much better-qualified prospects. And you can attract them (like moths to a flame) simply by sharing awesome content on your business blog.

3. Increase your sales by blogging

Did you know your website can sell for you? That’s right. A lot of people treat their websites as fancy online marketing material. But if you play your cards right, your website can actually make sales for you.

How? Because people don’t care what you say – they care what you publish. And the content you share on your business blog can help your ideal customers get to know, like, and trust you. When you answer all their questions, reassure them you’re the right choice for them and the person who can solve their problem, the next logical step is for them to press the buy button and work with you.

And wouldn’t it be nice if instead of spending hours on a sales call with a prospective client, that call only lasted 15-30 minutes? If you publish enough of what we call decision-based content on your website, people will start to self-qualify, meaning that they’ll only go ahead and get in touch if they’re truly interested in working with you. So by the time they jump on that sales call with you, it’s only to finalise the details, sign on the dotted line, and ask when they can get started!

If you want to find more about that, here’s a handy blog post we wrote: How to Make Content Part of Your Sales Process (so you get more sales, faster!)

4. Grow your email list through your blog

Another goal you can achieve through your business blog is to grow your email list. When you give people something of value through a lead magnet (this could be a pdf guide, a quiz, an eBook, etc.) you can ask people to give you their email address in return. And with that, you get the privilege of landing straight into their inbox as often as you like.

Sure, you can advertise your lead magnet on your Homepage, but how well do people know you by then?

Probably not much.

But when they consume content on your business blog and learn about your views about a certain topic, it’s a lot easier for you to include what we refer to as content upgrades that people can download for free by entering their email address. Once they’re engaged with your content, your readers are more likely to want to grab the freebie you’re offering and land on your email list as a result.

So now that you know what you’re trying to achieve with your business blog, let’s try and work out how often you’ll need to share content.

Important! What to do if you have multiple goals...

You’ll probably have multiple goals for your blog.

In fact, our blog helps us achieve all the points above. We use it to get traffic, increase sales, deliver excellent customer service and to make sure we attract the right people to our business.

We know At some points in the year, we focus on sales – creating sales content for specific products or services we want to promote at that moment. 

During non-sales-focused periods, we focus on creating content that will drive traffic to our website and grow our email list (this blog post is an example of that – notice it’s published in December, a particularly quiet month for us). 

And then there’s the content we create that helps deliver excellent customer service and helps us attract only the right customers – this generally will come from the questions that people ask us. 

How often will you blog for your business?

If you’ve decided to start a business blog, the worst thing you can do is to publish one blog post and then disappear from the face of the earth for months on end. (Seriously, don’t do that).

Unfortunately, as much as we all wish blogging was like waving a magic wand, it’s not. It’s a game won with showing up regularly and consistently. So if you’re going to start, make a solid commitment and stick to it!

Yes, we know it’s hard. And that’s why we run our 90-day Content Marketing Challenge a few times a year to help you produce consistently good content that gets ranked on search engines. We also help you get faster and more efficient at content creation and, ultimately, get more leads and sales from your website. The cherry on top? We give you accountability and feedback and break down all the technical stuff that’s holding you back so it becomes super easy and actionable.

You can find out more and join the next 90-day content marketing challenge here.

Decide on your blogging frequency

So, now you’ve made the decision you’re going to blog, you need to work out how often you’ll publish new content. We find that consistency is key, so whatever you go for, make sure you stick to the deadlines you’ve given yourself.

Ideally, if you could blog weekly, that would be amazing, especially if you’re just starting out and don’t have a library of content yet. Nothing stops you from blogging more though – you could publish content 2-3 times per week or even daily if you wanted.

Blogging frequently tells Google and the other search engines that your website is updated regularly, which must mean you have great content to share. So by publishing more content you’re not only giving yourself more chances of being found for more search terms that are relevant to your business, but you’re also telling Google that your website is the place to be to find new and relevant information.

Having said that, you need to strike a good balance between quality and quantity.

Publishing a piece a day of only 300-500 words might not give you as much as going really in-depth into a topic and writing a good 1,500-2,000+ word article. So if that means blogging every fortnight or every month, then that’s a great start. But be consistent. Because your audience will expect to see new content from you on a regular basis, and delivering on your promise helps you build trust with your readers.

Decide on your platform – where should you put your business blog?

We’ve seen some companies use various platforms for their business blog, including…

1. A separate website for their blog
2. A website they don’t own like Medium
3. Using LinkedIn articles to replace their blog
4. Housing their blog on their own website

We recommend you house your blog on your own website. That way your articles will rank and get found by people searching on Google. And then easily be able to find out about your products or services or sign up to your email list.

You can always repurpose your blog posts for Medium or LinkedIn articles, but it’s wise to publish on the platform you own first!

What will you share on your business blog? 

I know what you’re thinking now. “This is all well and good, but I don’t know what to write about!”

Well, we know that getting started with something new is always tricky. But once you get going, you’ll have so many ideas you’ll never run out again. Promise!

So let’s look at some content inspiration for you.

“How to” content

This is the most popular form of content you’ll find on the internet and business blogs in general. There’s a reason for it – it’s great for website traffic. Because when you don’t know how to do something, you head over to Google to find the answer, right? So your “How to” articles provide your audience with the know-how they’re looking for.

Although this blog post you’re reading doesn’t have “How to” in the title, it’s a “How to” piece of content. It tells you everything you need to know about the topic of starting and running your own successful business blog.

So think about the kind of things you’re an expert in. What do you teach in your business? What do you find yourself explaining to your customers or clients over and over? Sit down with a cuppa and make a list of topics – you’ll end up with an awesome starting list of potential articles for your business blog.

Here are a couple of examples from our own business blog:

• How to Write Website Copy for SEO.
• How to Create a 90 Day Content Strategy.

“They Ask, You Answer” content

In a nutshell, this is about answering the questions that your existing customers or prospective clients ask you all the time. The term comes from the book They Ask You Answer, by Marcus Sheridan. You may have heard us talk about this book before (we love it!), and that’s because its teachings have literally transformed our business and the way we use content marketing to generate leads and sales.

If you want to find out more about the exact topics that Marcus Sheridan recommends you create content about and want more inspiration, head over to the blog post, How to Plan 50 Pieces of Content in 30 Minutes.

“Content Fortress” Content

If you’ve come across any of our content at all, you’ll probably be familiar with the phrase “Content Fortress”, which is the title of our book and online course.

So what does this phrase mean? Imagine your business is the ‘castle’ you’re trying to protect. To keep it safe, you might want to build a wall or some sort of structure around it. And for us, the way to build this ‘fortress’ is to create content. That’s it. Creating a content fortress means protecting yourself (as the most important asset in your business) with content.

With us so far?

“But protect yourself from what, exactly?”, you might ask.

Glad you asked.

From bad clients, for example. From people who aren’t right for you and your business – people who come with the wrong expectations or assumptions. Or people who might be after a product or service you don’t even offer!

See, the thing is – when you create the right type of content around your business (and publish it on your business blog), you start to attract more people who are right for you and repel those who would you might say yes to despite your gut telling you not to, and they turn out to be people who aren’t a great fit for you (or you for them).

Like we said earlier, repelling clients might sound like a bad thing, but it’s really not! Especially if it protects your mental health and ensures your business occupies a positive place in your life.

If you want to find out more about all this, head over to the blog post, What is a content fortress?

“Pillar” content

Pillar content is long-form content that goes really in-depth into a topic. We’re talking 2,500-4,000+ words here. Yes, it’s epic! But that’s what’s so good about it. It’s comprehensive, it goes into detail, it answers loads of questions that your ideal customers might have, and it’s great for SEO. It’s your typical “Everything you need to know about X” content.

Here’s an example we have on our website, SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

When you write this type of content you’re not just providing a great customer experience for your users, but you’re also increasing your chances of being found on Google. Why? Because when you write long-form content you’re probably going to use lots and lots of handy phrases that people might search for (a.k.a. keywords) and also link to other pieces of content you’ve created. And these are the kinds of things that the SEO gods absolutely love!

Plus, with articles of this length, you’re also telling the search engines that their users are more likely to find what they’re looking for in your piece, rather than in your competitors’, who may have written a short 500-word article on the same topic. So you’re winning all round!

News-related content

There’s a lot you can do here. You could share newsjacking content, which is all about creating a piece showcasing your thoughts and opinions based on trending news topics or breaking news stories. This could be anything you have an opinion on, but we’re talking about your business blog here, so ideally, stick to topics that relate to your industry, niche, or business.

For example, are there any changes coming up to rules and regulations that affect your industry? Could your readers benefit from you breaking down key information and explaining how the changes impact them? Say you’re an accountant. I’m sure you have loads of clients who could do with an easy explanation of what Making Tax Digital is all about and how it impacts them, right? (No, seriously, are you that accountant? Help!)

And finally, when it comes to news-related content, it could be something about your own company. Although, we always say to try and limit this because as much as this is your website and your business blog, the harsh truth is that your prospective customers don’t care about you – they care about how you can help them.

So whenever you’re sharing news about yourself and your business, make sure they’re relevant to your audience. An example of this may be talking about ‘your why’ (i.e. why you started your company and do what you do).

But how do you write one of these blog posts?

Once you know your topic, then you actually have to write them damn thing. And even if you’re a seasoned blogger, there’s always so much room for improvement. We know, we learn something new on every post we create.

You’ll want to make sure you hit the key points that make a great blog post. Including…

1. A killer headline that attracts attention (and helps you rank)
2. An opening paragraph that grips the reader and gets them to read on
3. A structure that is easy-to-understand and follow
4. A conclusion that gets your reader to take action

We’ve actually created an in-depth blog post on how to write a blog post.

What will your blogging schedule look like?

Okay, so now that you know what you’re going to blog about, it’s time to look at how you’re going to do it. How will you distribute content across your business blog?

You have a few options here:

• You could mix and match your topics, choosing from the different types of content we shared in this blog post. This gives your audience a good variety of topics and ensures you’re not only just creating the same kind of article week on week. This is exactly wa
• Goal-focused approach. If you have a particular goal you’re trying to achieve (for example, increasing your website traffic), you could decide to create a lot of ‘How to’ or Pillar content to attract more visitors to your website from the search engines. Or, if you’re trying to rank for a particular keyword, you might decide to create a series of articles on that topic for a month or two or until you’ve said everything you wanted to say about that topic.
• Campaign-driven approach. This is about choosing the one thing you want to sell and going to town with creating content around it. If you want to read more about this approach, head over to our piece, How to create a 90-day content strategy.
• Awareness days content. You could also decide to create content around specific awareness days, such as Mental Health Week, Dry January, or whatever you choose. Again, you want this content to ideally be relevant to your industry and your business, as this gives you a chance to let your readers see what your take is on a particular issue and add value to them. 

How will you optimise your blog posts?

So you now know how often you’re going to blog, what you’re going to blog about, and how you’ll distribute your content creation. What’s next?

You’ll notice we talk a lot about SEO and the fact that having a business blog where you publish regular and valuable content will help you be found on Google.

But the thing is – it doesn’t just happen by magic. There are things you need to do before, during, and after writing your blog posts to make sure they are picked up successfully by the search engines. This is called optimisation, and even if you don’t know the first thing about it, you don’t need to be a techie or hire an expensive SEO agency to be able to do it.

You can learn everything you need to know about optimising your blog posts in this handy guide, WordPress SEO For Blogging – How to Optimise Your WordPress Blog Posts.

And once you’ve done that, simply set aside an additional 20-30 minutes to optimise each of your blog posts, and you’ll be good to go!

How will you drive traffic to your business blog?

Now that you have the most amazing business blog, the last thing you need to do is to start driving traffic to it. You’ve got this incredible content you’ve spent all this time and effort creating, so of course, you now want to make sure people find it, right?

Definitely (and pleeeease) don’t fall at this last hurdle! We see so many business owners do this, but your job when it comes to business blogging doesn’t stop when you hit the publish button. You need to get eyeballs on your content. Because that’s the first step to generate leads and sales from it.

So what are some of the things you can do to promote your blog posts?

1. Repurpose your content

Optimisation is of course the first big step in making sure you’re ticking all the right boxes so that Google and the other search engines pick up your content. But you can’t just leave it at that. So the next thing you can do is to repurpose your blog posts into other pieces of content to get them in front of more people.

So, for example, you could repurpose your blog posts into:

• LinkedIn articles.
• Guest posts on more influential websites with a broader reach than yours.
• YouTube videos.
• A series of slides, a talk, or a presentation.

To get more ideas and information about what repurposing is (and find out how to do it), head over to the article, How to Repurpose a Blog Post (and Save Yourself So Much Time!)

2. Share on social media

Sharing your content on social media also gives you a chance to reach more people. However…

How many times have you seen a post from someone on your social media feed saying,

“Hey, here’s my latest blog post! Go and read it! Here’s the link.”

Do you honestly stop scrolling and go and read it? We’re willing to bet that most of the time you don’t. (Unless the title or the title image happens to jump at you as the thing you’ve been wanting to look into for a while).

So instead of just broadcasting and letting your social media audience know you’ve published something new, try repurposing that content (see above). You can do that by pulling out some of the key points you covered in your blog post and inviting people in that way. You’re more likely to grab their attention and have them click on your link to head to your website and read.

3. Share with your email list

If you have an email list (and if you don’t, why not?), it’s another great chance to let more people know about the new content you’ve published on your website. A brand new blog post gives you a nice excuse to email your list, but (again) don’t just drop the link and run. Make sure your email shares something of value that links nicely to your latest blog post. And then you can drop the link.

And if you’re looking for tips on how to grow your email list, head over to the article, The Ultimate Guide to Generating More Leads From Your Website.

4. Paid advertising

Another way to drive traffic to your website is through paid advertising. You could run paid ads via different social media platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) While this isn’t free (the clue being in the name), when done right, paid advertising gives you the chance to get in front of new audiences, especially if you don’t already have a large following on your social media channels.

You see, social media platforms hold lots of information about their users that you could never dream of getting direct access to – things like where people live, how old they are, what interests they have, etc. So by using social media advertising, you’re in a much better position to utilise that data and get your content in front of more of your ideal customers and clients.

How to generate leads and sales from your blog

So now that you’ve driven traffic to your website, what’s next? Well, the last thing you want is for people to just come and have a quick read and then click the back button and never come back. When that happens, you have no real visibility of who’s been on your website, which means you can’t interact with them and steer that relationship in any way.

Instead, you want to generate leads – i.e. capture your visitors’ details. You want people to give you their email address in exchange for some sort of freebie or giveaway. It could be someone booking a call with you or filling in your contact form.

As we explained earlier when talking about using your business blog to grow your email list, you can do this by offering:

• A freebie or lead magnet. This is something you offer on your website to all your visitors.
• Content upgrades. This could be, for example, a free checklist or PDF that expands on the content you covered in a specific blog post.
• A paid product. Similar to a content upgrade, this product fits in with the content of your blog post, but instead of being something your audience can download for free in exchange for their email address, it’s a paid-for product.

You can learn more about how generate leads through your blog and website in general in our blog post, how to create a lead generating website.

Want to Cut Your Blogging Time in Half?

So there you have it. Everything you need to know about business blogging! As you can see, there’s A LOT that goes into blogging and creating a blog post can take a lot of time. This is why we’ve created our Blog Post Template pack. It includes 10+ fill-in-the-blanks blog post templates that will save you so much time and increase your traffic and rankings!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post The Ultimate Business Blogging Guide appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

‍Best salesperson – that will deliver you actual direct sales (as well as be helpful) 

‍Knowledgeable customer service advisor – to help your potential customers make the right buying decision 

Knight in shining armour – to protect your time from those who are the wrong fit 

Advertiser – encouraging lots of footfall (i.e. web traffic) to your business

But we’ve noticed that some of our blog posts are the ‘shining stars’ – they work really hard for us (and other businesses too). They pull their weight by saving us time, increasing sales, and getting lots of traffic to our website. 

And the best thing is, you can create content like this too. And if you’re not sure where to start with blogging or need some help, then read our ultimate guide: how to write a blog post. 

So in this blog post, we’re going to tell you about 5 key killer blog post ideas that will work hard for your business.  

1. Blog Post Idea One: How much does it cost… 

What’s the one thing you Google? 

How much does it cost. 

How much does it cost to hire a marketing coach/personal trainer/book editor? 

How much does a shark hoover cost? 

How much does a swimming pool cost? 

How much does a mansion cost in London? (I already know this one – way out of my budget)

You get the picture. 

And better yet, creating a ‘how much does it cost’ piece of content is easy because you already know the answer inside out. You’ll know and understand the variables that can make the cost of your product or service go up or down. And you’ll know and understand the market and what the minimum/maximum price might be for your product or service.  

Top Tip for this Blog Post Idea!

The one thing I would recommend when creating content like this, is that you give someone an indication of what you charge within the content too.

For example, you could go into details about how much it costs for a website, what the variables are, what can make the price go up or down etc. And then you could say, I charge between £x and £x or I charge ‘from £x’.  

How Will This Content Work For You? 

One of the biggest benefits of this content is that it ranks – especially if your competitors shy away from this topic. This is something we learnt from Content Marketing master, Marcus Sheridan in his book, They Ask, You Answer. 

The reason we recommend you also include your costs is because…

1. It’s just good customer service if you do this 
2. It saves you time -it prevents people from getting in touch with you when they don’t have the right budget. This can save you hours on emails, calls and writing proposals. 

Key advantages of ‘how much does it cost’ article:

• Rankability 
• Time saver – you can send it to new prospects once they get in touch, providing help and advice and preventing you from spending time with people who don’t have the right budget

Example of this blog post idea in action!

Fit Roots Martial Arts School do a great job at this with their article, How Much Does Martial Arts Cost? And it shows how this can work not just for B2B business but also a B2C business.

2. Blog Post Idea Two: Everything you need to know about x service/product

I personally follow a lot of people because they deliver thought-provoking, helpful content. 

They give and give and give. 

And…I don’t have a clue what they do. Not specifically. 

Their website might be unclear. Or I just soak up their content on social media and never actually visit their site. 

This is the danger when you only give helpful content. There’s got to be a point where you ask for the sale and explain what it is you do.

This is where a piece of content can help. We love ‘everything you need to know about my x product/service’ or ‘how to work with me’ type content.

This is a very specific piece of content that walks the reader through the key features and benefits of your product or service in a simple way. It’s a great way to get eyeballs on your products and services. You can share it on social media and email it to your list. 

It grabs the attention of those who love you but may not have considered working with you before. Or it gives those people who have been considering you a little nudge in the right direction. 

Top Tip For This Blog Post Idea

This content isn’t a sales page. So try to avoid over the top, unnecessary sales copy. Imagine this content is a good customer service advisor, providing helpful advice on a particular product or service – that’s exactly how it should sound!

How Will This Content Work For You? 

This isn’t content that ranks on Google. And that’s okay. Not everything has to rank. This is something very much aimed at people at the ‘decision stage’ of buying from you – where your potential customer is looking at different companies to buy from and weighing up which one suits them best. 

This content delivers good customer service and it fills in any gaps missing from your sales pages. It also shines a light on your products and services as you can share this on social media and in your email. 

Key Advantages of an ‘Everything You Need to Know’ Post

• Sales generator
• Customer service 

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

I love Adele’s blog post all about her Greek Retreat. It tells you everything you would need to know without being salesy or overly promotional. It’s frank and informative. Exactly what’s supposed to be. 

We also published an Everything You Need to Know post about our 90-day content marketing challenge. In exactly the same way, this is an unbiased overview of the product – the exact opposite of the sales page!

3. Blog Post Idea Three: ‘How to find the right x’

We all hate making a bad buying decision. We fear wasting money and time. We fear looking silly. We fear getting ‘ripped off’. And that’s also why we do a lot of research before we invest in things. I can’t buy a bloody toaster without doing a deep dive on reviews. 

That’s why it’s a good idea to hold your audience’s hand when it comes to buying the products or services you sell (even if they don’t directly buy from you). This is where the ‘How to find the right x for you’ content comes in. 

This is content that helps guide people to find the right person for them. It could be how to find the right editor, coffee machine, graphic designer, estate agent, personal trainer, content writer, social media expert, recruitment agency etc. 

Whatever it is you sell, people need help buying it. Your job is to help them. 

Top Tip For This Blog Post Idea

When you create this kind of content, it’s not about selling you specifically. It’s about helping your audience find the right person for them. 

It has to be unbiased and incredibly helpful. Sure, mention what you do (definitely don’t shy away from it) but that’s not the sole purpose of it!

How Will This Content Work For You? 

You can deliver excellent customer service and rank on google too. People often search for ‘how to find the right x’ and similar key phrases, so it’s a good one to go after. 

It also builds a huge amount of trust with your audience. Imagine struggling to find the right personal trainer. Then you come across a helpful blog post that tells you exactly how to find the right personal trainer for you. 

Who are you going to remember? And who are you more likely to use as your personal trainer? The person who helped you, of course!

Key Advantages of a ‘How to Find the Right X‘ Post

• Rankability
• Customer service 
• Trust Builder 

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

I love this example from Denise, who actually published a podcast on how to find the right editor for you. It’s great content that really does help the audience. There are so many different factors that go into hiring an editor, and in one piece of content, Denise clears everything up!

4. Blog Post Idea Four: Reasons you shouldn’t work with me 

This is the juiciest piece of content you will ever create, and it’s fun and highly therapeutic! But most importantly, it’s the best kind of content for attracting the right people to your business and repelling the ones you don’t want. 

This content is a simple list of reasons why someone shouldn’t work with you. It could be something you don’t do – for example, a fiction editor might say, ‘I don’t edit non-fiction’. 

Or it could be something more specific to your service, such as ‘I don’t work with people who have a budget of less than £5,000.’ 

It could even be something to do with mindset or attitude, for example, when we wrote our repelling content (that’s what we call it!), we stated that we didn’t want to work with people who were searching for a ‘yes-man/woman web designer.’ Essentially, we didn’t want to be told what to do and treated as an employee. 

Top Tip For This Blog Post Idea

It’s quite easy to slip into arrogance when you create this content. You might not do it purposefully. But when you create a list of reasons why people shouldn’t work with you, it can understandably come across as egotistical. 

Just have empathy for your reader when you create it. Come at this from a ‘good customer service’ point of view. You want to help your reader understand if they’re the right fit for you. You want to prevent them from wasting their time (as much as you don’t want to waste yours). 

So leave your ego at the door. And if someone isn’t the right fit (if they haven’t got the budget, for example) then point them to resources that can help them too. 

How will this content work for you?

Creating this kind of content works well for two reasons: 

1. You don’t waste your time communicating with the wrong people
2. You increase your trust with your ideal clients as they understand you’re exclusive. And you’re not out to make a quick buck from everybody out there. It shows pride and confidence. And people like that. 

We use this in our sales process quite often, particularly if someone gets in touch and they’re already bossing us around! But that’s rare now. Just having the content there really does prevent the ‘wrong fits’ from getting in touch. 

Key Advantages of a ‘Why You’re Not the Right Fit For Me’ Post

• Customer service
• Prevents bad clients
• Saves time

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

I love this piece of repelling content from the content writer, Debbie Ekins. It’s confident and respectful and hits the perfect tone of repelling content.

If you’d like help creating this kind of content, check out our blog post on how to create repelling content.

5. Blog Post Idea Five: What’s the Process of Working with Me? 

How does it work? What’s the process? What’s the next step?

Ever asked yourself those questions when you’re thinking of working with someone? 

I have. All the time. And I hate it. I personally hate not knowing what’s going to happen. It makes me suspicious. 

I’m not interested in mystery and in the secret formula you promise to show me (once I hand over my cash, of course). 

Nope. I (like many other people) want to understand the EXACT process. 

And this is where process content comes in. 

Process content is extremely simple. It outlines the step by step process of working with you. 

There’s an argument to suggest that your prospects don’t need to understand the exact ins and outs of how you work. But in our experience, people do want to know your step-by-step process, even if it’s just a basic overview. And of course, it really does depend on the level of investment. You’re going to want to know more if you’re spending thousands. 

How will this content work for you?

Process content can work in many different ways. Firstly, it can actually be a way of generating sales because if someone sees your process they understand you know what you’re doing. 

You can also use it at various stages of working with someone. We add our process to every proposal we send and we also send it to each client at the start of them working with us. This means no one has that horrible ‘I’ve just paid money and don’t know what happens next’ feeling! 

Key Advantages of a ‘What’s the Process of Working With Me’ Post

• Customer service 
• Saves time 
• Can lead to sales!

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

This is one of our oldest blog posts but it still pulls its weight 4 years on! This is the blog post where we listed our web design process step by step. 

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post 5 Must-Have Blog Post Ideas That Work Hard For Your Business appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

That’s how many blog posts are published EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH.

So the big question is…how do you write a blog post that people actually want to read?

Now you might think to yourself, ‘No worries here. What I write about is unique. No one else is writing about it.’

Are you sure about that?

Even the topic ‘underwater basket weaving’ generates 1,200,000 results on Google.

The chances of you writing something original are slim. And that means we have to compete for both search rankings AND our readers’ attention.

To do that we have to write compelling blog posts that connect with our readers from the title, all the way to the conclusion.

I’m going to tell you how to do exactly that. In this blog post, you’ll learn…

• How to write a headline that both readers and search engines love
• How to write an introduction that excites the reader
• How to structure a blog post so people get it
• How to write a lead-generating, inspiring conclusion

Ultimately, you are going to learn everything you need to know about how to write a blog post.

Ready? Let’s get started…

1. First Things First: Your Blog Post Topic

The Biggest Mistake You’re Making With Your Blog Post Topic

One of the biggest issues with blog posts is that they go wide on topic and thin on detail. We like to call these ‘pancake posts’.

For example, let’s say we wrote a blog post called, ‘Ten things you can do to improve your website’. Point number one might say, ‘Make it mobile-friendly.’ And point number two might say, ‘Make sure you choose the right font’ and so on.

The problem with these kinds of posts is that they only provide surface-level information about a wide variety of topics. This means that…

• You won’t get as much search traffic
  Most people won’t search for ‘how to improve my website’. But people do search for ‘How to make my website mobile-friendly.’ or ‘What font should I use on my website?’ People want specific answers to specific questions.
• You’ll provide little value to the reader
  Because you try to cover so much ground in these blog posts, it means you can’t go into much detail. You merely skim the surface of many different topics. Whereas if you can focus on one thing, and go in-depth, you’re going to provide much more value to the reader.
• Your Lead Gen won’t work
  Want to use your blog posts to capture leads? That’s much more difficult if your blog posts cover a wide variety of topics. This blog post is all about blogging. And that’s why I feature our 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge as our lead capture just below 😉

When your blog posts cover a wide range of topics, it’s difficult to find a lead magnet that will get your users to click – because you don’t actually know what they need help with specifically.

What Should You Do Instead?

You don’t want to waste time and energy on something that doesn’t give you any results. The best thing you can do when creating any piece of content is to pick one question and go in-depth with the answer.

2. The Dreaded Headline: How to Write a Blog Post Title

In all honesty, I write the headline to my blog post right at the end. I start with the idea and general topic. So for this blog post, I wrote the words, ‘Blog Post Structure’ at the top of the page. But I didn’t actually finalise it until the end.

Why?

Because you’re the clearest on your blog post right after you’ve finished writing it. Trying to do this before you’ve completed it can feel like a lot of pressure. And sometimes when we start writing our focus changes, which is why you see blog titles that don’t quite match the main content.

The Biggest Mistake You’re Making with Your Blog Post Title

Not saying what the actual article is about!

One of the biggest things to remember (before you get clever with your copy or try to make your heading SEO friendly) is to actually say what the article is about.

Imagine I’d called this article, ‘Writing Blog Posts’ – that actually doesn’t tell anyone what this blog post is about. But for some unknown reason, a lot of people do this with their titles.

How to Write a Title That Conveys What The Post Is All About…

The easiest way to do this is to tell the reader what you’re teaching, and what the outcome your reader will get if they read your article. This is why we’ve called this article…

How to Write a Blog Post [what we teach] That People Will Actually Read [the outcome your reader will get if they read your article].

You don’t have to follow this exact format but do make sure you make it clear what your post is about. This is the most important bit – more so than clever copy or SEO.

SEO vs Fun – Which Should You Choose For Your Blog Post Title?

The main title of a blog post is hugely important for SEO. If you want to rank on Google, you want to make sure that your title contains your keywords or phrases. (If you want to know more about how to optimise your blog post for search engines, have a look at our SEO Checklist for Blog Posts article.)

Sometimes, this means there’s a battle between SEO and fun copy. Martin and I have this argument discussion quite a lot. I want the fun headline, he wants the SEO friendly one.

But there is a way to compromise. Yay!

The Blog Post Title Formula: Combine What People Search For + Make It Intriguing!

Let’s take a hypothetical blog post about ‘The Problems with WordPress.’

If I wasn’t thinking about search results, I would want to call this ‘Things that make us angry about WordPress (from two WordPress Web Designers).’

Because that will get people to click, right? Ooooh, these guys are angry about something! And why are they insulting the platform they use? Oh, this sounds interesting!

The problem is, no one searches for ‘things that make me angry about WordPress.’ They search for ‘common problems with WordPress’ or ‘problems with WordPress.’

Now for the exciting part…

In the title of your blog post, we always recommend combining what people search for and potentially adding on a twist that can get people to click. This could be, ‘Annoying Problems with WordPress and the Easy Ways to Fix them.’

We added the word ‘annoying’ to intrigue people. We still included the keyword ‘Problems with WordPress’ and we added the outcome that the reader will get (an easy way to fix these problems).

And that’s not to say we couldn’t use ‘things that make us angry about WordPress.’ We’d certainly lead with that on social media, but just not in our main title.

This is one of the reasons why our blog post ‘11 Reasons Why You’re Not Ranking On Google and How to Fix It,’ brings us in over 1000 visitors to our website every month. It’s a specific problem that people search for (‘why am I not ranking on Google?’) and it promises a solution. Although, if I were to rewrite this I would add the word ‘Easy’ by putting ‘…and easy ways to fix it.’

Why? This brings me on to my next point…

Use Your Power Words in Your Title

Power words in your titles are irresistible words that people can’t ignore. They make us feel something – like the example I gave above, ‘Annoying Problems with WordPress and the Easy Ways to Fix them.’ The words annoying and easy are power words that will pique someone’s interest. The word annoying gets people feeling an emotion, and the word easy attracts people because…well, we all want the easy solution!

Unfortunately, there are plenty of websites that overuse power words, and it makes us wary about using these words in our own marketing (I’m looking at you, Buzzfeed).

We don’t want to get a bad reputation for being clickbaity. But remember content is only ‘clickbait’ if the title fails to deliver what it promises.

I remember Laura Robinson, a copywriting coach, gave a good tip about using power words. She said to use them sparingly. Pepper them in your content. Think of them as a seasoning!

Some examples of power words are:

Easy
Free
Instant
Results
Shocking
Unknown
Ultimate
Proven

You get the picture. If you use these words and combine them with what people search for and you’ll have a search engine friendly, compelling blog post title that gets people to click!

3. How to Write Your Blog Post Introduction Without Boring the Reader

Like the title, I always write the introduction to a blog post at the end as that’s when I’m most clear on the topic.

You don’t have long to grab your reader’s attention. Mere seconds, in fact. So you have to make those seconds count.

The biggest mistake people make with blog post introductions

What’s the biggest mistake people make with blog post intros?

They tell the reader something that they already know.

For example, imagine we started this blog post saying, ‘blogging is a good way to connect with your audience and build trust.’

Well…duh. Yes. That’s why you’re here. You know that. You know the benefits of blogging. If you thought blogging was a load of crap that didn’t get you results then you wouldn’t be here learning more about how to do it.

But this is something people do ALL.THE.TIME!

Bloggers tell the reader something that they already know. And that’s usually because bloggers start with the intro first. They treat the introduction as their warm-up writing. The-writing-before-you-get-into-the-writing, writing.

But no one should treat the introduction this way.

The introduction is the make it or break it zone. You have to stop someone from hitting that backspace button. You have to hook them in.

The question is…how?

The Easy-Peasy Question and Empathy Introduction

Martin openly states that he is not the best writer. But he has consistently blogged since 2017. In that time, he’s found little ways to engage readers quickly, and one of the simplest ways to introduce a blog post is to ask your reader a series of empathetic questions and confirm you understand their problem.

For example, I could’ve started this blog post like this:

Are you getting crap results from blogging?

Getting frustrated when you squeeze in writing in the evenings and at weekends and see nothing in return?

Are you beginning to feel like blogging just doesn’t work for your business?

I get it.

A few years ago, I would spend 12-15 hours a week writing a blog post. I’d publish it with high hopes – imagining a flurry of web traffic, a surge in search rankings and lots more leads and sales…only…

Nothing.

I got nothing back. And I began to think, ‘is blogging just a waste of time?’

But actually, it wasn’t that blogging was a bad strategy.

I was just doing it wrong…

This is the easiest way to engage your reader. To have them nodding along. It’s even better if you can use their phrases and language back to them. Rebound their frustrations in their words and you’ll have them hooked.

The Story Introduction

This is a personal favourite of mine. I love the use of stories in blog introductions, but they have to be used carefully. You may be the protagonist of the story, but the reader should imagine themselves in the scenario you describe.

For example, I could’ve started this blog post like this:

A few years ago, I sat down to bash out yet another blog post, until I stopped and thought…’wait, how many hours have I spent blogging without seeing anything in return?’

I did a rough calculation…

184 hours.

Wow.

At my hourly rate, that’s £150 x 184 hours.

That’s £27,600 I could have earned.

What the hell?

How could this happen?

It was like I was autopilot, churning out these blog articles with no real reason or purpose.

All because I thought it was something I had to do.

I knew other business owners blogged successfully. And if I did it long enough, I could be successful too right?

Wrong.

In fact, my entire approach to blogging was wrong.

And if you’re reading this too, I’m guessing you can relate. But don’t worry, I’m about to tell you how to create the perfect blog post so you can…

Get found on Google
Get more loyal followers
Get more leads

If you’re going down this route just remember not to take too long on your story. No one wants to read your memoir (sorry).

Finally, loop it back to the reader at the end by stating that you’re guessing they’ve felt/experienced the same thing.

The great thing about doing these is that you can also use them in social media and over email. This story can easily be repurposed elsewhere.

The Stat Introduction

This is usually my least favourite option as introducing anything with a statistic automatically sounds snooze-worthy.

Often people use a statistic with a stuffy reference right at the beginning, like ‘According to the Institute of Things That Are Utterly Boring, if you start a blog post like this, people will press that backspace button within 0.00000002 seconds.’

That’s why I hate statistical introductions. But, if you do it right, it can have a big impact. And it’s the method I’ve used in this blog post.

You’ve just gotta make sure that the stat is something that’s shocking and impactful, and is used to really hammer home your point.

One-Liners Work Every Time

The opening line of your introduction should act as your chat-up line (one that doesn’t make the recipient want to throw up).

Ideally, you want just one sentence. Even better if you can get it all on one line.

Why? Because people don’t want to run into a wall of text when they land on your blog post.

Take our blog post.

We could have opened it like this…

According to WordPress, there are 70 million new blog posts published every single month. For us bloggers, this is a frightening statistic. How on earth can we compete when so many other businesses are doing the same thing?

But we opened it like this…

70 million.

Now, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with the first version, but the second definitely gets your attention!

The purpose of the opening sentence is to get your reader to the next one. And that’s why a quick, snappy line works really well.

Sell Them On the Blog Post

It’s a good idea to tell people what they’re going to get out of the blog post in the introduction. But again, don’t do this to such a degree that it bores people.

People don’t want to read a long introduction. They really want to get to the meaty part of the content.

So don’t do as your English teacher always told you and write a 500-word intro telling your reader what they’re about to learn.

Instead, write a quick sentence or some short bullet points that highlight the main benefits the reader will get from reading your post.

4. How to Structure the Main Body Of Your Blog Post

Ugh. The structure of the blog post is the part that always trips people up. Me included.

I’ve reviewed a lot of blog posts in my lifetime. And one of the most common problems with blog posts is that they lack consistency. They feel convoluted and confusing to read. They hop from one subject to another.

And this is usually down to one simple thing…

The Biggest Mistake People Make With Their Blog Post Structure…

Zero planning.

That’s it.

There are two types of fiction writers – planners and pantsers. A pantser is someone who flies by the seat of their pants and just writes.

Steven King is probably the most famous pantser.

And most of us (me included) cannot write like Steven King.

We have to plan. If we don’t plan, we ramble in many different directions.

Whereas when you take five or ten minutes to plan before you sit down to write, it creates a much more cohesive and focused piece of content.

I start planning by bullet-pointing the main things I want to cover in the post (you can see this in the two pictures below).

Essentially these become my main headings.

Then I break that down into further points.

If I hadn’t completed that task, I bet you anything I’d have gone on to talk about SEO for blog posts, or tone of voice or how to make your blog posts look pretty. And it would turn into this mammoth mess of a post.

Your plan keeps you on track and on topic.

Keep the structure the same!

Our brains love patterns. And they love to know what’s going to happen next.

In this blog post you’ll notice I follow a similar structure.

I have five main headings in this blog post – ‘Topic, Title, Introduction, Structure and Ending’.

I break each of these down by giving each a small introduction. Followed the biggest mistake people make with each. And then finally, I follow it up with some tips on how to do it well.

This structure is repeated five times.

Each main heading has the same style. Each subheading has the same style.

It’s clean, structured and easy to understand.

Repetition is so helpful in blog posts as it helps our brains predict what will happen next. This means that we don’t have to work as hard to understand the blog post.

The easier you make it for your end reader, the better!

Use Headings and Subheadings

Use plenty of headings and subheadings in your blog posts.

Readers skim. I’m sure you’ve skimmed through some of the points in this post. And what makes that easier is having headings and subheadings which tell the reader exactly what’s coming next, so they can decide whether they want to read it.

It also helps to break up the text and give the illusion of more white space on the page. Remember you don’t want your reader to feel overwhelmed by so much text. They’re much more likely to read your posts if you give them lots of breathing space.

5. How to Write a Blog Post Conclusion

The ending is just as important as the beginning, as this is your opportunity to get the reader to take action. You managed to keep them hooked the entire blog post, and now is your time to get a little reward.

The Biggest Mistake People Make With Blog Post Endings

Not giving a crap about the ending.

Sometimes I think we’re either just so relieved to finish the blog post or excited to get it out there that we forget to actually…well, finish it.

We sort of run out the door, shouting a vague ‘hope you enjoyed this blog post! Please comment below with your thoughts!’ Which, obviously, no one ever comments on.

But we really need to take our time with the ending. Just as much as we would any other part of the post.

Should You Reiterate What The Reader’s Learned?

Ugh. We’re back to English class again. This is the last thing you should do…

And now you have read said-blog-post, you’ll have learnt the following…[goes into massive list]

No. Don’t do this.

What you should do instead is give the reader one key takeaway from the blog post that they can remember and use straight away.

Will you remember everything in this blog post? No. Of course not. But if I can have a small impact on you then that’s enough. If I can change your thinking in a little way. If I can make your life that bit easier then I’ve achieved something.

That’s what you need to do.

At the end of Your Blog Post Get Your Reader to do Something

Oh, what’s this? You’d like to get leads and sales from your content?

Well, if so you’re going to have to get your reader to do something.

Instead of getting your reader to comment, ask them to take that next step with you. This could be…

• Downloading a free guide/cheatsheet/video series from you – it doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s helpful and a similar topic to the blog
• Booking a call with you – this should be used sparingly and more with content that talks about your products or services
• Actually asking them to purchase a product

This is your opportunity to get direct with your reader and tell them what you’d like them to do. Don’t waste it on getting them to comment!

Want to Know More About How To Make Your Blog Posts Awesome?

Here is some further reading!

How to optimise your blog posts

How to make your blog posts look good

How to create your tone of voice

Your Next Blog Post

So I hope you enjoyed this blog post, please comment with your thoughts below.

(Haha, joking).

As we already know, this would be a CRAP way to end my blog post.

The biggest thing to remember when it comes to writing blog posts is, don’t overcomplicate it. Keep the topic simple. Make sure the headline is clear. And keep the structure clean and easy to follow. As time goes on, you’ll get better at the creative stuff. But get the foundations right first.

What’s next for you?

If you want to gain more leads and sales from your content, then check out our 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge. In this challenge, you submit one piece of content every week for 13 weeks. WE hold you accountable, give you feedback and give you access to so much training to help you.

Check it out below…

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post How to Write a Blog Post That People Will Actually Read appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.