16/04/2021 - Blogging Tips: How to get started | Website Blog | Purple Creative Studio
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Blogging Tips: How to get started

If you read our first blog in this Blogging Tips series, you probably already know how beneficial blogging is and that it can be a key element in the success of your marketing efforts. But despite knowing the benefits of blogging, it can often be hard to get started and know what to talk about. Rather than diving right into writing, we suggest you get a plan together first to ensure there is structure and purpose behind the piece to make it as impactful as possible and interesting for readers - and to make the writing process much easier for you!

Try to plan your blog post by first identifying your target audience, then choosing a topic and determining how you can offer value - then from there, you can look at getting going with the writing. Here’s our advice on how to get things moving:

Identify Your Target Audience

The first step in getting started is to identify your target audience, so you know who you’re speaking to when writing your piece.

Before you start planning your blog post, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience. Your blog's target audience is the group of readers to whom your blog can offer the most value and who will be in some stage of your customer journey. Try to think about what stage of that journey your target audience is in, as that can help you adapt and mould your piece to suit the needs and situation of that reader. Perhaps they’re a potential customer in the ‘Consideration’ stage and you need to wow them with your expertise and knowledge, or perhaps they’re an existing customer in the ‘Retention’ stage and you need to share a ‘How To’ post showing them how to get the most out of your product or intrigue them with your latest launch.

Knowing exactly who you’re writing for helps you to craft pieces that they will relate to and find useful. You can tailor your content around them and create blog posts that they want to read, engage with and share.

So, identify their exact need or problem. What problem of theirs are you trying to solve? Then you can look at choosing your topic from there.

Choose a Topic

Once you know who it is that you want to target with your blog post, the next step is to determine a topic! Choosing a topic to centre your blog post around helps you to focus your writing and have an aim or ideal outcome to strive towards. 

There are lots of different topics that you can cover and pieces that you can write on your blog page, including: 

But it can be hard to know how to approach these ideas and know where to start. Luckily, there are 3 different ‘types of topic’, to help you narrow it down further.

Industry-based Topics

Content on these topics may help you attract people who are genuinely interested in your industry, searching for trends, or looking to apply best practices.

Ask yourself:

  • What topics are most discussed in your industry?
  • What are the latest trending topics?
  • What do the industry experts discuss?
  • What topics are the most controversial?

Tip: Take a look at your competitors’ blog posts to see what topics and trends they’re talking about and what their customers are engaging with.

User-problem Related Topics

Creating content around these concepts may help you attract people who are looking to solve a problem, or profit by overcoming it.

Ask yourself:

  • What problems do people suffer from in your industry?
  • What fears do they have?
  • What are they trying to achieve?
  • What are the benefits of a solution to their problem?

Tip: Think of what questions customers or clients tend to ask most frequently and what final goals they want to achieve.

Product/ Service Related Topics

Creating content on these topics may help you attract the attention of people who are looking for a solution to their problems.

Ask yourself:

  • What products/ services are you competing with?
  • How do users search for a product like yours?
  • What products/ services are popular in your industry (even if you don’t compete with them directly)?

Tip: As well as product launches, think about how to showcase what you do, through How-Tos, Case Studies, Comparison posts.

Find and Offer Value

Once you’ve determined your topic and target audience, you then need to decide how you can offer them value - aim to educate, inform or inspire your readers.

Try thinking about your target audience, and what they might be looking for, be interested in or find useful. This could take the shape of, for example, an estate agent sharing the latest changes in the housing market, or an accommodation provider sharing some of the best walks in the local area. Not only are you sharing your expertise, but you’re also creating content that offers useful information for the reader. 

Another way to offer value is by finding out what your customers and readership are talking about and what is trending. A great way to do this is by putting in some investigative work and research!

Forums

A useful way to search for trending discussions, frequently asked questions and customer queries, is by using forums like Quora and Reddit. Here you can explore by industry, such as ‘Digital Marketing’ or ‘Home Baking’, and find the popular discussions and questions that are prevalent within that industry. 

Social listening

Another great way to appeal to your audience is by keeping an eye out on social media and doing some social media listening! Perhaps customers often ask the same questions on your social media posts, you could turn this into an FAQs blog post - other people might be wondering the same thing and may not know who or how to ask to get an answer! You could also join interest and industry groups to see what is being talked about within your topic or niche. 

Once you’ve determined your topic and target audience, you then need to decide how you can offer them value - aim to educate, inform or inspire your readers.

Reuse and Republish

Another great way to get started when writing a blog post is to reuse and republish pre-existing blog posts you’ve already written. If you’ve got great content that already exists, there’s no need to waste time trying to reinvent the wheel and rewrite the same content again. You could simply update the content, ensuring it’s all still relevant and accurate, before republishing it to keep your blog content fresh and relevant.

It’s always worth identifying your top-performing blog posts to see if you can update these with current data and information, or if a topic you’ve previously written about is trending again, update the content to ensure it’s up to date, then republish!

So, with those 3 key planning steps, you’ll soon be on your way to writing some enticing blog content to attract, engage and delight your readers! The next step is what many people see as the most daunting - the writing! But with these steps, you’re all set and prepared to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!) and our next blog will guide you through the writing process, with some tips, tricks and formulas you can follow. In the meantime, if you’d like our support with blog writing or anything in the realm of digital marketing, please do get in touch and our team will be happy to help!

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