The art of creating great content is a skill that takes time.
Great writers have many plates spinning at the same time as they build out their pieces. It’s much more than having a voice that people are willing to pay attention to. It’s a craft that ages like fine wine.
Writing a blog article comes with some basic ground rules that are broadly considered to be best practices within blog writing companies;
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It contains a great heading and subheadings
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It answers a specific question
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It’s made up of a variety of paragraph sizes
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It contains one or more images
When you are first starting to write blogs, consider the following and be on your way to making your best work;
Select Your Niche Carefully
Your niche is the ingredients of your meal, without them, you don’t have anything to work with.
A niche is the main topic of your writing piece. To let your writing style and voice evolve, you have to know what you’re talking about or you’ll find yourself stumbling awkwardly between facts.
Imagine someone instructing you how to drive a car without ever driving one themselves. You would become aware of their lack of knowledge instantly. Their trust would be lost.
Select your niche carefully and become the expert. You’ll quickly see your blogs grow from basic facts to strong and impactful pieces that resonate.
Know Your Intent
Successful blog articles answer a specific question. This is generally indicated in the title and is heavily peppered throughout your blog post.
A bad blog post promises to answer a question but misses the ball. This can do real damage to your blog reputation as the reader will continue scrolling to find the answer elsewhere.
Before you start writing, look into the details of your question at hand. The content of your blog will evolve almost naturally as you tweeze out its elements. You should be able to answer the question in one sentence and explain it in detail to show off your knowledge.
Who Is Your Audience?
Writers make content to be read. A great blog speaks to its audience in an informative and compelling way, urging them to read on. It fulfils a need, thoroughly. Great writers do this by putting themselves in their audience’s shoes and knowing their every move.
When you are writing, think about your audience's pressure points, their grievances and the little tit-bits that will hook them in for more. You should know your audience as well as your best friend - then you are ready!
Your blog may only speak to one audience but when you are looking to write for blog writing companies, there will be multiple. Think of it as getting into character for a play and use the internet to your advantage. Absorb all content your selected audience would consume.
Animate with Images and Videos
Visualisation is the cute accessory of content. A video or image included in your blog is what will make it pop. Without it, your writing will appear uninviting and is a staggering 94% less likely to be read.
Your chosen media for your blog article must be relevant to what you are writing about and of good quality. Most importantly, you must have the authorization to use it. This can be easily achieved by opting for a free stock image.
If you are adding media to your personal blog, images or videos that you have taken yourself are always encouraged, particularly if you are writing about your own experiences.
Start and End With a Bang!
This is where blog writing gets psychological.
Your lasting impressions come at the start or the end of your article. Your intent should be concisely covered within these sentences in a compelling and enticing way. These are the most formative parts of your blog, and the ones that people will remember.
This is an approach that all great storytellers use. People rarely remember the finer details of the middle of the story.
Start your article with what you want to tell them, this is your time to get your foot in the door. Then, finish it with what you want them to do next, your call to action. You’ll have the reader in the palm of your hand!
Structure
No matter how good your writing is, without structure, your content will be lost.
Let’s start simple: your blog should have a killer headline and slick subheadings to follow.
Mix it up with short form and long form sentences to keep the reader on their toes. Think of it as writing a speech for someone. You want to make sure the reader has time to take a breath, and this happens every time you end a sentence.
Chunk together your topics in paragraphs of no more than four or five sentences. Any more can appear intimidating when the reader first looks at your article. Your job as a writer is to get the reader to the end of your article without even realising it.
Edit As Much As You Want
At long last, you got to the end. Your final task is to edit. As you grow as a writer, you’ll work out your editing strategy.
Each edit you do can have a different purpose. First and foremost, you’ll want to edit for grammar and punctuation. Try to eliminate any wordy sentences or parts that don’t contribute effectively to the intent of your article, there are multiple tools that you can use to help you with the basics. Your next edit will be to ensure you are covering blogging best practices, and most of all, to check if it looks good.
It’s easy to get lost in the edit. Before your article is published, give it another check!
Writing is a skill that is learned over time. Don’t beat yourself up if you mess up the first time around. By following these best practices, you’ll soon find your feet and be on your way to being an expert in your niche with style and clarity.
Thank you for giving your 1 minute :)