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What if we told you that writing a successful and engaging blog post can be easier than you think? With the help of these simple-but-powerful blogging hacks below, not only you will be able to make blogging a habit, but also to create blog posts that will boost your content marketing, engage your audience and drive conversions. Ready?
What if we told you that writing a successful and engaging blog post can be easier than you think?
With the help of these simple-but-powerful blogging hacks below, not only you will be able to make blogging a habit, but also to create blog posts that will boost your content marketing, engage your audience and drive conversions.
Ready?
Treat blogging time like any other work task
What would we find if, on any given workday, we were to take a sneak peek at your work calendar?
Probably things like staff meetings and calls with vendors; working on production and client orders; advertising and social media promotion — all vital processes to running your business, certainly.
Blogging however, either because it’s an afterthought for many companies, or because it’s considered a “creative” task and not really tied to your production pipeline, tends to fall between the cracks.
You will do it when “you have a minute”, at some point when you’re not too busy with other more pressing tasks...
...Otherwise known as “on the first of never”.
Think of it like this: by not blocking out time on your calendar for blogging, you’re missing out on high impact inbound potential for your business (we mention some crazy stats here on how blogging can bring you up to 55% more traffic).
Granted, even for seasoned writers, sometimes it’s tricky to pinpoint exactly how long writing takes. So instead of creating a vague entry like “Blog post” on Monday that you will end up rescheduling in perpetuity, try spreading out smaller, more manageable blog-related tasks, such as “brainstorm subject ideas”, “create post outline” or “find photos”, throughout your work week.
Start with the “why” first, find the “what” later
So you followed our advice above and are now working on your first manageable blog-related task: brainstorming subject ideas.
That’s great! Or, is it?...
As the author of this “blogging hacks” article can attest to only too well, blank screen panic is a real thing. What do you blog about, when you have no idea what to blog about?
The trick in this case is to think what you want to achieve with your blog post (and your content marketing plan in general).
Do you want your audience to get to know you better and establish yourself as an authority within your niche? Or, perhaps, you want to drive conversions toward a particular product?
Start with the “why” you’re blogging, and then map out a couple of subjects that will help you move the needle closer to that specific goal. And because your goal won’t be the same every day, this way you will also achieve variety in your blog posts.
See your “Previously”
Very often on TV shows, there is a “previously on the show...” bit right at the beginning of the show. That snippet serves as a reminder of certain interactions between characters you may have forgotten about — interactions that will play a key part in the coming episode.
The same rule applies to blogging: you may think it overkill at first, but it’s actually a great idea to revisit what you’ve done so far.
You don’t have to read through every single post you’ve ever written (especially if, for example, you have a startup blog that dates back to 2017), but quickly skimming to remind yourself of past subjects you’ve written about has several benefits.
For one, and this also ties to SEO hacks you need to be aware of, the more familiar you are with your existing content, the easier it will be to link back to it from your next blog post.
Additionally, by revisiting your content you will be able to edit or update it as needed — something that will definitely come in handy when you’re dealing with cornerstone content.
Take a shower (hear us out!)
Often, getting thoughts out of your head and onto paper can be a challenge.
To prevent your writer’s block from becoming overwhelming, you should allow some time for your ideas to pollinate. For example, if you came up with a blog post subject (or subjects) on Monday, save the actual writing for, say, Wednesday. Our subconscious has a knack for finding the solutions where our conscious mind only sees the problems — hence some of our best ideas coming while we’re in the shower or otherwise engaged in irrelevant tasks.
So write down your working subject lines, and then forget about them for a while. This blogging hack may sound silly, but we promise it will be a game changer. When it’s time to work on your post, you’ll realize you’ve had ideas simmering in the back burner that you can now start fleshing out.
Don’t reinvent the wheel — especially not by yourself
If you are a startup founder, you may be particularly guilty of trying to do everything by yourself, sometimes not taking into consideration the resources you may have, or the tools that may be out there.
Unless you are a solopreneur (in which case, see our next point), you should definitely engage and motivate your team members to participate in your company’s blog.
You can create a roster of guest posts, where specific team members write about their expertise in a specific field/area of your business. You can include your team in the brainstorming for blog post subjects. At the very least, you can gather quick testimonials from them, and include them in your posts.
If your team is a) non-existent b) already overworked and the idea of taking up blogging on top of everything else seems daunting, don’t despair. Once you’re set on your blog post subject, do a quick research to see what’s already there.
You can reach out to experts for quotes that will add some “meat” to your content, or even syndicate relevant content from other blogs, with their permission of course.
Remember: blog posts are not set in stone (or paper, for that matter)
Even with the best of intentions, and the best of processes, your original blog post idea may not work out. You either hit a wall in your research, or realize that writing about a slightly different subject would actually bring more value to your readers and potentially perform better.
So what’s stopping you?
Your readers won’t know what you were planning to write about: what to you may feel like a “plan B”, to them may be that super informative article they just had to share on social media.
But even if they do, there really is no damage done. Online content has the advantage of being malleable.
You can always go back to a blog post and change its focus, its subject line, enrich it with better photos and more backlinks or add a testimonial from an expert that came through late. And then you can share it again on social media, and enjoy this fresh round of audience engagement.
Still stuck? Let Scribly handle it!
These blogging hacks are tried and tested, and guaranteed to make the process of your blogging that much easier. But at the end of the day, writing doesn’t happen magically. You will still have to put in the hours — and the effort.
So let us do the heavy lifting for you.
Our team of talented, professional writers can work their magic on your blog posts and help your blog build the engagement it needs while you get busy building your empire.
Want to take advantage of Scribly’s unlimited copywriting service and our competitive prices?
Send us a message, we’d love to hear from you!
