Writing Effective Articles to Deliver Results
Businesses may think that once they launch their website, everything will fall into place. Suddenly, customers will visit their online shop, order items, and their profits will rise exponentially. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
You have to stop thinking of the online journey in linear terms. Some of the steps may take you in different directions, and the landscape that greets you will change almost every time.
Take blogging, for instance. It might not make sense at first, and digital marketers typically get a lot of resistance from small businesses and organisations. But it is a very powerful tool that will elevate your website and help you stand out from the competition.
The Benefits of Blogging and Writing Articles
Some of the benefits of blogging and writing articles for your website include:
It will help establish your expertise within your field -- How do you drive across to your customer that you present the solution to their nagging problems? Flooding your website with images and videos won’t cut it.
It will help edge out your competition -- If your competition is not blogging, then they would naturally turn to your website for answers.
It helps to establish your voice -- With blogging, you take down the corporate veil and show the identity and culture of your organisation. You are no longer a faceless entity, and your customers will come to realise that your business is composed of people just like them.
However, writing blogs can be tricky. There is a massive difference between an online journal and a business blog. With the latter, your biggest enemy is the stream of consciousness. You cannot just put words onto the digital space.
The objective may be to build awareness of your brand, to highlight a particular product, to relay your expertise on a particular subject matter. With blogging, each word should serve a purpose.
Writing Effective Blos Posts
Here are some tips to make your blogs more effective:
Use active verbs. This simple trick will shorten your sentences and also minimise confusion.
Stick to one topic. You have every opportunity to put your ideas on the digital paper, so do not rush the process.
Post consistently. The number of blog posts each month for your business should be no fewer than 11 per month. Make sure to post articles 2-3 times per week.
Avoid short posts. Long articles tend to rank well on Google and other search engines. According to data, posts with more than 2,000 words will rank the best.
Speak in a casual voice, especially when you are talking directly to your customers. Avoid using jargon and technical terms, and make sure to explain them in simple terms so that everyone would understand. Some businesses equate complex words with expertise, which is not the case.
Solicit topics from your audience. It is also one trick to promote engagement and build a community among your readers. It will show that their opinions matter to you.
Take a stand. Remember, your blogs are your own voice as well as your customers’ voice, especially if you have already built a large community. You may generate controversy with your stand, but nobody likes a wallflower.
Relay your main points at the top of your blog. You can use subheadings and bullet points to make reading easier. However, even if they stop midday, you have already delivered your point.
Remember, owning the website does not give you the license to populate it with useless content. If you are not confident about your writing, you may outsource the task to professional SEO marketers. One of the benefits is that they are familiar with the arcane language of search engine optimisation, which helps catapult you to the top of the search engine results pages.