Business Blogging Tips: Blogging for Beginners

Blogging for Beginners
Copyright Anj Handa Associates www.anjhanda.com

Blogging for beginners
Why you should blog
How to create compelling content
Creating a blog that reflects YOU!
Finding the right tone for your readers
How to structure your blogs
Sourcing suitable images
Getting your posts seen

Why you should blog
B2B companies that blog generate 67%
more leads per month (NB articles with
images get 94% more views) according
to Social Media B2B
Build your brand/reputation
Reach out to your customers and build
trust and credibility
Establish yourself as a thought leader
Sharing stories/real-life examples helps
others

What do you want to get out of blogging?
Purpose:
Raise brand awareness? Establish yourself
as an expert? Build a community? Get
feedback?
Frequency:
Daily? Weekly? Be consistent and find get
the balance between planning and natural
flow
Goals:
Short and longer-term

How to create compelling content
Write about topics that people care
about and use relevant examples
Consider using metaphors, analogies,
quotes or songs
Regularly add value: share information
Most blogs are around 300 words,
longer blogs can be around 1500 if they
more technical (these tend to be shared
more)

Finding the right tone for your readers
Use your authentic voice:
How do you speak in real life?
Type like that!
If you swear or use slang and it’s
accepted by your target audience,
go ahead!
Avoid jargon - there’s no need to
“business-fy”

Creating a blog that reflects YOU
An exercise: writing for your audience
A great way of changing the formality of
a blog is thinking of it in pink to blue i.e.
shades of language.
Baby pink is how you’d write for a child.
Navy would represent how you’d write for
Harvard Business Review.
Have a practice!

Put your customers at that moment
where they feel what it’s like to
encounter the best value of your
brand.
What sets you apart?
How would you describe your brand?
How do you want people to
experience your offer?

Which colours match your brand/personality?
Which images best reflect your message?
What kind of emotions do you want your
images to evoke?
Tip: Use online colour palettes to get ideas
and find complimentary shades and tones

Beginning
Draw them in
Middle
Create a bit of suspense
Add the meaty stuff – information,
statistics, what you learnt etc.
End
Finish with something positive
Add a call to action

Sentence structure
Keep sentences short and punchy
Punctuation
Use colons, hyphens, brackets,
exclamation marks appropriately (and
sparingly)
Grammar
Proofread! Grammarly is a good app that
can help you check this

Typeface
Avoid old-fashioned fonts
e.g.Times New Roman;
consider using different fonts for
headings and body text
Spacing/layout
Leave white spaces, break up
text with headings and images
Image positioning
Place a stunning image above
the ‘fold’ of your page

Links…
to your old posts
to other bloggers (credit them)
to expert papers (hyperlinks)
to relevant TED talks or YouTube videos
(embed these into your blog)
Be generous with your references and
remember that linking to high-quality sites
such as newspapers will help your SEO
rankings.

How to create catchy headlines
Think about who it’s for (but do include
your own ‘why’ in the blog – i.e. why
you’re passionate about the subject)
Use a ‘working title’
Ideal length of headlines:
Twitter: 8–12 words (tweetability)
Facebook: 12 or 14 words

Yes to
Pixabay
Canva
Dreamstime
Death to Stock Photos
New York Art Gallery
Hand-drawn

No to
Clip art
Generic Stock Photos
Fuzzy or pixelated images
Bland images that don’t relate to your
blog content

Platform
Your own blog (e.g. Wordpress)
Blogger
Google+
Medium
Tumblr (mix of blog + social media)
Your target audience
Who are they?
Where do they hang out online?

Sharing via Social Media
Use appropriate hashtags
#NationalDays, #LeedsHour
#journorequest #prrequest
Other people’s blogs
Identify influencers
Which are the most appropriate
publications?

Useful stuff - books
Brené Brown – ‘Daring Greatly’ (TED talk link attached)
Simon Sinek – ‘Start with Why’ (TED talk link attached)
Elizabeth Gilbert – ‘Big Magic’
Penny Power – ‘Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me’

Useful stuff - links
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-
engines-operate
Readability Score
https://readability-score.com
Broken Link Checker
http://www.brokenlinkcheck.com

Useful stuff - blogs
Leonie Dawson - Ride Ze Wild Donkeys
Paul Jarvis – Sunday Dispatches
Neil Patel - Quicksprout

Business Blogging Tips: Blogging for Beginners

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Business Blogging Tips: Blogging for Beginners