Blogging 101: The Post

Every month we try to stick to a specific topic on the blog, and funnily enough, we are focusing on the topic of blogging for all of April. Blogging is a vital part of many websites and a useful tool in driving web traffic while providing helpful information to your audience or customers. There are other benefits from blogging as well, but this series is more about the specifics of individual blog posts or series instead of the reasoning behind blogging itself. Last week we kicked off this new series by talking about the organization and setup of a blog post. So, for this second week, let’s journey into some tips about the actual body of the blog post you are (hopefully) going to share.

An Informative Text

While this might seem like an obvious point, providing an informative and engaging post is half the battle. There are all kinds of different posts that you can share from personal stories or customer testimonials to commentary on your field of expertise. No matter what type of post you choose, the goal is to keep your audience interested and your post impactful. If you have a post that can share knowledge, make someone feel a part of a community, or make someone’s life a little easier, then people will read it.

A little side note: in addition to being informative and engaging, make sure your post is readable. Use spell check. Edit your posts. Use vocabulary that helps your post flow and keeps the attention of your audience.

Name Your Sources

Not every post will include a statistic or resource. More personal blog posts will not necessarily need any research, and that is perfectly fine. However, some blog posts will include facts and figures. We have had to share statistics on more than a few blog posts through the years, and while it’s not the focal point of the post, it is an important contribution to our point. In general, using statistics and data can lend a more credible, knowledgeable tone to your posts.

If you are sharing information from other websites, be sure to reference your sources. Link back to the original article or data if possible. No one wants to be accused of plagiarizing, and believe it or not, you can be penalized by Google from that type of thing.

A Call to Action

While not generally a necessity, I have found that most blog posts contain a call to action at the end of it. We typically attach a sentence at the end of our posts linking back to either a service or a previous blog post that is related to what we are sharing. However, a call to action can be simple. You might direct your audience to a product you have found helpful, or your call to action might be as simple as leading your visitors to leave a comment.

Basically, decide what action you would like your readers to take after they have read your entry, and then direct them to that action.

So, while this is not an exhaustive list, these are a few things that we think you should consider when writing a new blog. What advice would you add? Do you utilize these things while writing your posts? Comment and let us know! (And yes, now you see what I did there.)

Stay tuned next Friday as we continue our blogging breakdowns!