Blogging 101: Content Optimization
As the new intern for 360 PSG, blog posts have become my new best friend. Blogs are a huge way to make connections between your company and the rest of the world. You have the opportunity to write about anything you want, as long as it is relevant to the company and therefore, relevant to your product. They are a platform to communicate with potential customers in a casual, yet professional, setting. But you also have to keep your goals in mind. You are a business; you have a product to sell and a company reputation to uphold, not to mention you want people to read what you are writing about. That's the point right? You want people to read what you are writing.
Writing a blog reminds me of freshmen college writing classes, when drafting a solid thesis statement supported by relevant and important details was the difference between earning an A or a failing grade. Even in high school, I had an upper level English teacher who drilled essay and paragraph content into our heads like our lives depended on it, and to this day whenever I'm writing a paper I always remember:
- Thesis
- First paragraph
- Supporting examples
- First example
- More supporting details that tie back to your original thesis statement
And so on....
The biggest dilemma is usually determining where to start. What is your purpose? What are you trying to get across to your readers? It is important to have a piece of writing that's clear, concise, and consistently driving towards your point.
The next step is integrating the keywords and phrases that make up the bulk of your content. In order to choose the correct terminology, you must know your audience. What do your customers want to read about? They have searched for a specific topic and wound up at your blog. Give them what they want! Using feedback or comment sections at the end of your post is great for figuring out what exactly your audience wants to read about.
While choosing your keywords, you also want to consider search engine optimization (SEO). Google runs everything, period. The word "google" is even considered a verb. Trust me, you can find it in the dictionary. Your blog needs to be optimized for search engines so that when potential customers and interested readers google the keywords you've incorporated into your article, they are redirected to your blog or website. Although SEO techniques are important and the purpose is to obtain viewers, it is very important to balance your SEO efforts with your content. You might get readers to your article, and while that in itself is a success, the content of your writing is equally, if not even a little bit more important.
Last but certainly not least, you have to keep your readers engaged. No one will finish reading your blog if they get bored. Furthermore, you may have great content but have horrible writing. It is important to have a balanced combination of interesting content and a writing style that is easy to read and understand, while also keeping readers entertained. And if that's not enough to think about, remember you also want to be professional. This means, edit edit EDIT! Incorrect grammar and punctuation should never, I repeat NEVER, tarnish your article. Most importantly, a blog not only represents you, but is also a reflection on your company. Readers will comprehend anything you write as the company's thoughts and opinions.
And there you have it, blog writing in a nutshell. Simply, optimizing your content is key to successfully gaining readers and customers, especially if you want these people to return to your website.
Happy blogging!
