Are you struggling with blog writing for your business?
Is it missing that special spark?
The elusive ingredient that takes your blog content to the next level?
While some view blog writing as a skill and others see it as a talent, there are certainly new writing techniques you can use to make your content more engaging. It can even help you increase conversions while boosting your bottom line.
So, if you haven’t noticed, content writing skills are more important than ever!
I’m here to share what skills matter the most and how to apply those techniques to your own blog content.
Quality, Error-Free Copy
Before we dive into the specifics of good web writing, let’s discuss the elephant in the room: quality.
When it comes to quality, Google doesn’t mess around and neither do your customers. If your blog content doesn’t live up to quality standards, you’ll run into a myriad of issues, including:
- Poor or non-existent search engine rankings.
- Damaged reputation for your brand’s image.
- Lack of trust in your content.
- Low to no conversion rates.
- Wasted resources, time and money spent to develop low-quality content.
Is quality content creation hard work? You bet! But it’s well worth the time and effort, especially when you are looking to get the best return on investment possible.
But what’s defined as quality content? Google outlines for this in their lengthy 164-page quality guidelines document.
Quality Content 101
Google’s Quality Content Guidelines are quite in-depth, but the idea is to help marketers or business owners offer a 5-star user experience through their blog and other forms of content.
Through your blog content, you can offer the following quality traits by:
Writing Purposeful Content
First, think about the purpose your blog content is serving. If you have an agenda to hard sell a product through your content, customers will sniff this out in an instant and leave your website—pretty much guaranteed.
Every blog post must have a customer-centric purpose. Your job is to showcase the purpose of the blog in a manner that benefits the customer. If you’re not sure what this is when you develop a concept for your next topic, go back to the drawing board and try again.
Writing Helpful Content
One example of purposeful content is an informational resource that helps your customer. While Google doesn’t necessarily define “helpful”, you can write blog posts that:
- Solve a problem.
- Answer questions.
- Help customers make smart buying decisions.
- Do heavy lifting for the customer in some way, such as providing a lot of research in one helpful resource.
Helpful content is always a win, but there are several other ways to write a blog post that wins with both Google and customers.
Writing Content to Showcase Your Expertise
Most likely you are an expert in your field in one way or another. This is your time to shine!
One of the top markers of quality content according to Google is expertise. But how can you write blog posts that offer expertise in a way that resonates with readers?
- Offering advice that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis (updated, fresh blog content also helps with SEO for blog posts).
- Professionally written to help readers understand an in-depth topic or event.
- Extremely detailed content, whether it’s a how-to article or an insider guide to local bars and restaurants.
- Using your specific accreditations to further prove your expertise.
- Tell of your professional experiences and how it influenced the life of a customer, such as a chiropractor who helped a patient with a chronic back pain.
Next, we’re going to overview authoritativeness—another top contender of quality blog writing.
Writing Authoritative Content
Disclaimer: It takes time to build authority through your content. There are no shortcuts.
In fact, it can take months or even longer to become an authoritative voice in your field.
The good news is that you can start applying these blog writing tips today as you work to become an authority.
- Publish frequently. Don’t let long gaps of time pass by between posts.
- Publish consistently. Let your audience know that they can depend on you to show up like clockwork.
- Consider guest blogging on industry-related websites to build your brand name.
- Give it your best effort with every single piece of content that you develop. Consider using the 10x Marketing Formula.
Lastly, we’ll take a look at trustworthy content and how you can implement this into your blog.
Writing Trustworthy Content
Would you read the content from a company you don’t trust and seriously consider doing business with them?
I’m betting not.
These are a few ways that your blog writing can help build trust with customers:
- Cite credible sources, such as factual data with links.
- Don’t draw readers in with clickbait headlines and fall short on delivery.
- Incorporate video testimonials from real customers if possible.
- Feature videos in your content with yourself giving tips or advice.
- Frequent and consistent publishing also bleeds into creating trustworthy blog content.
As you work to create your quality content, remember that presentation and editing matter as well.
Error-Free Copy
Whether you’re a stickler for grammar or not, I guarantee someone will end up reading your content with a fine-tooth comb and find mistakes. In my blogging tips video below, I’m sharing a few helpful hints on how you can create error-free copy for your blog content:
A Play on Power Words
Power words are some of the most persuasive words in the world of marketing copywriting. They can inspire readers to take action, add oomph to otherwise lackluster headlines and even increase conversions.
Incorporating power words can improve your blog writing skills dramatically. Neil Patel describes some of these power words as hypnotic because they tap into the subconscious mind.
Below I’m sharing a list of power words that you can use to improve your blog writing.
This list isn’t all-inclusive and you can certainly use it in more places than writing blog headlines. It also works in content such as:
- Landing pages
- Email marketing
- Social media content
- PPC ads
- Blog headlines and subheaders
The idea behind power words is that you’re evoking emotion on some level.
Even though these power words can add pizzazz to your blog content, it’s not enough to build trust and set yourself apart from the competition. You’ll also need to consider another small, yet extremely important element of blog writing: the headline.
Write Better Headlines with AMI
While power words can certainly improve your blog content, you don’t want to forget the importance of a good headline.
Your headline sets the tone of your blog content. It can make or break your click-through rate and make performance fall short, even if you have the best content to offer on the subject.
The good news is that there is a powerful tool that can help you tweak your blog headlines for the best success possible.
Advanced Marketing Institute
This is the go-to emotional headline analyzer that determines Emotional Marketing Value. It’s a score that evaluates your word usage on the following levels:
The headline analyzer doesn’t tell you what words receive the highest score, which requires some playing around with your headline. Some of the power words that I shared in the section above can help with your score.
As an example, I ran the title of this blog post “Proven Blog Writing Techniques that Improve Content Quality” and here is the score that I received:
This tool can help improve the quality of your headline, but don’t forget that you must deliver on what your headline promises. There is nothing worse than clickbait blog headline!
With your list of power words and headline analyzer on hand, it’s time to transform your blog content by incorporating the 5 “Be’s” of writing outstanding blog content.
The 5 “Be’s” of Writing Outstanding Blog Content
When you’re ready to bypass the competition with your blog and win over customers, you need to be outstanding with your writing and delivery. Here are a few ideas on how to write a blog post that shines:
Be Relatable
It’s almost impossible to establish trust with someone when you can’t relate. You can relate to their customers by speaking their language and eliminating too much industry jargon.
Be Specific
Don’t leave your readers guessing what you mean in your blog content. Be descriptive and specific! Go the extra mile to help them understand your content. Don’t forget that descriptive, helpful content is one of the top factors of quality with Google.
Be Customer-Centric
Focus on how you can improve the lives of your customers through your content. Give them the best experience through your blog by adding value in every way possible.
Be Authentic
One of the keys to building trust with customers is showing that you are a real person. You can focus on being authentic by being transparent and focus on building relationships with your content.
Be Unique
Who wants to read bland content that you can find anywhere else? Inject creativity into your content! Incorporate professional or personal experiences and add your own personal flair to your blog content. My blogging tips video below describes a few ways on how you can be more unique with your blog writing style.
By incorporating most (if not all) of these elements throughout your blog you’re well on your way to taking your content to the next level!
SEO Writing Skills You Must Know
Lastly, we need to talk a bit of writing for SEO. SEO for blog posts can quickly become spammy if you don’t weave the words correctly throughout your post. However, there is even more to it than making the keywords naturally flow. You’ll need to think about elements such as sentence structure and more.
Fixing Awkward SEO Phrases
After you’ve done keyword research and you’re ready to write, some terms might stop you in your tracks. Many keywords are awkwardly phrased and even grammatically incorrect. It can make your blog content read very poorly, which downgrades user experience.
What’s the fix? Stop words can work wonders for helping with awkward SEO phrases.
Take a look at the graphic above with the example keyword “dog grooming Pittsburgh”. Even though the word “in” is added to the exact keyword “dog grooming in Pittsburgh”, the results won’t be affected.
Why? Because Google is smart enough to understand that the user intent is the same and it carries the same meaning. Not to mention, it makes your blog writing sound a whole lot better!
Using Synonymous Keywords
So, you have a keyword picked out and you’re ready to go! All you need to do is sprinkle it strategically throughout your content, right?
Not necessarily. When you’re writing your blog post around a keyword, it’s wise to write with synonymous keywords in mind. They help you avoid keyword stuffing and can help you tap into potential opportunities for additional keywords. Just be sure that you do your SEO research before you whip out a thesaurus for more related terms.
Be Strategic With Keyword Placement
Did you know that your keyword placement can have an impact on your SEO? It’s true.
For example, you’ll want to put your keyword as close to the start of the first paragraph as possible. This helps define what your content is about to both Google and your readers.
You also don’t want to forget to add the keyword, or some variation of it, to your subheads. Other spots to include keywords are alt tags, title tags, and meta descriptions.
Don’t Stress Over Keyword Density
Well, don’t stress too much, anyway. While you do want to shoot for a keyword density around 0.5% to 2.5%, what matters is that your keyword naturally flows in your content and you don’t force it for the sake of SEO.
On-Point Blog Writing for Your Business
Busy Blogs Plus crafts masterpiece content for extraordinary businesses. If your content is lackluster and not properly representing your brand, I can help! Take a look at our blog packages or simply contact us to inquire about custom blog content.
No spam. Ever.