Blog writing involves many of the same principles as website copy, but serves a different purpose.
Web pages form the structure of your site and introduce your business and services. Blog posts allow you to expand on any number of topics, all while creating additional content for search engines to index.
If done right, your blog content can build authority with search engines and showcase you as a trustworthy resource on a given subject or industry. Your posts also give you something to share on social media.
How To Use Your Blog
Blogging allows you to tell the story of your business and showcase your personality and brand in a way that is unique to you.
And while it might seem contradictory for me to suggest that you hand this storytelling off to someone outside your business, let me be clear: you are still very much involved. Freelance blog writing is very much a collaborative process. I simply take the broad strokes of your story and build them into a compelling narrative.
Beyond the story of your business, you may want to use your blog to provide detailed information for clients or customers. It could be background information on your products or information related to your services that would be of value to your client base.
I have used the example of an optometrist in the past. A blog for that type of medical practice might discuss in detail some of the conditions that affect the eyes or the diagnostic testing and equipment an eye doctor uses to evaluate the health of the eye. This kind of information is of value to clients but also expands the depth of a site to increase its authority and the chances that search engines will rank it highly.
Your blog can also be structured with cornerstone content to provide an in-depth look at a topic along with shorter posts to expand from the cornerstone. The combination of long and short posts on a subject and related sub-topics also helps showcase your authority and expertise, while building out a robust website structure.
Answer Questions with Your Blog
If your blog can answer the kinds of questions your ideal client is asking, all the better. To return to the optometrist example, the topic of macular degeneration is one that a blog might cover. A post might be called “What are the first signs of macular degeneration?” or “What is the major cause of macular degeneration?” These are questions that people ask on Google, so addressing them directly in a post is a good strategy.
My Blog Writing
For me, blog writing involves:
- research of your business and the questions people might be asking that relate to your products or services
- posts of at least 500 words to attain the depth that search engines need
- each post optimized for the keyword term you choose, with the best practices of SEO; that is, no keyword stuffing or filler
- incorporating links to other pages or posts on your site
- using sub-headings to break up text and provide opportunities to use related keywords
- a meta description
If you’d like to talk about long-form copy for your blog, get in touch to book a free initial consultation. I am based in the Greater Toronto Area but work with clients across Canada. To view some examples of my work, visit My Work.
Photo of typewriter by Johnny Briggs on Unsplash.