We recently talked about the importance of regularly putting out quality content on your blog. But even if you subscribe to the philosophy that your blog’s content should be great, you’re still faced with a dilemma: You still have to write the blog.
How do you come up with quality content and avoid writing a “blah-blah-blah” blog? To pull this off you need to master the number one rule of blogging: Your blog isn’t for you—it’s for your audience.
What is it that the people who read your blog want to know? Answer their questions and give them the information they’re after—not the information you think they need to make a purchase. Give them the answers they need to be empowered to make a good decision—one that’s right for them.
Here are five ideas that will help you provide your readers with “the good stuff”—information that will actually help them. Remember, if the information you give them smells like a sales pitch, they’ll sniff it out right away—and they probably won’t be back. If you help them find what they’re looking for, there’s a good chance they will come to you for more information—and they may be back to do business with you as well.
- Ask your sales or customer service teams what questions they commonly receive from prospects and write a blog that answers each question (this can give you weeks of material!).
- Write about recent news developments in your industry. You’re the expert. They’re looking to you for information about what’s important.
- Write a post by examining the pros and cons of an issue. Consumers like hearing both sides of an issue. And it helps you appear more objective as well.
- Write a blog post that summarizes an article or a book from a well-known industry expert. Your readers may not have the time (or understanding) to read the whole thing, so you can help them grasp the essentials.
- Provide your readers with a checklist. For instance, you could do something such as “Five Questions to Ask Before You _______”.
Give people what they want and what they need. And remember the number two rule of blogging: Blogs should never be boring!