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Alesco Marketing
Doug Williams

How to Write a Blog Posting

Over the past 10 years blogging has moved from early adopter experimentation to a tried and true marketing tool. Blog marketing is a core tool in social media marketing. So how do you go about writing a blog posting?

Every blog should have a central topic that it addresses. "What does your reader want to know?" Choose a topic that your ideal prospect wants to read about. People subscribe because they want to learn more about a particular topic. If you change the topic or keep changing subjects, you will lose your readership.

Choosing the Right Topic for Your Blog

Your blogging journey begins by choosing a topic that your targeted audience will want to read and that you will enjoy writing about. Start by answering these 3 questions.

  1. Whom are you writing to? This should be your targeted customer. This may only be a part of your overall customer base. Perhaps an area you would especially want to grow. Be specific. An example might be purchasing managers and senior buyers from industrial companies who buy MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operation) parts for plant operations.
  2. What are you interested in? You should write about a topic that you are knowledgeable about and that you are passionate about. It should be a subject that your targeted customer is very interested in. You should focus on an area that is a narrow niche and yet broad enough so you can write for a long time and still not run out of things to say.
  3. Why are you writing? You might want to brand yourself as the authoritative expert, improve the search rankings of the company website, attract new customers or promote products. You will need one primary objective to create a focus on what you write.

Now you are ready to select your blog topic. Remember to write about topics that will reach people before they make their buying decision.

As an example, if you sell baby furniture, you could write a blog about selecting baby names. People generally start thinking about baby names before they purchase baby furniture. They are closely related and a link from a baby name blog could lead interested readers to your baby furniture website.

Blog Posting Format

The writing style and format is different for blog marketing than for other types of writing. Blogging uses an informal and more conversational style. Postings should have a single main idea. Blog readers have short attention spans. Blog postings should be short, easily scanned and quick to read.

  1. Keep it fresh: Interesting and original content is what keeps your readers coming back for more. Don't be afraid to give opinions, tips and commentary.
  2. Short Postings: A typical blog posting should be about 250 words. The longer a post goes, the more people skim. Studies show that people will read up to 300 words. When readers encounter a 500 word blog, they will only read 300 words.
  3. Short Paragraphs: Write in short sentences that are broken up into short paragraphs. Your writing should be broken into easily digestible chunks. 50 word paragraphs are easily read, while a 250 word block of text looks overwhelming.
  4. Design for scan: Your reader wants to scan down your blog and get the gist of it before reading. The main points should stand out in sub-headlines, lists, images, colors, italics and indented text.
  5. Keep it simple: Simple means getting rid of extra words. Simple writing is persuasive. A writer's ability to edit himself is probably the most important blog writing technique.
  6. Use Easy to read fonts: Unusual font choices and other poor formatting choices can make something visually difficult to read.
  7. Edit Your work: Write your blog quickly and get your thoughts and ideas down. Then go back over it to make sure your points are clear and concise.