Did that title get your attention? Using eye-catching words like “perfect” are a great way to get your target audience’s attention and draw traffic to your company blog. Actually, we have a confession: there’s no such thing as one perfect blog post — otherwise, the Internet would be a super boring place! However, there is such a thing as the perfect blog post for your brand, industry, and needs. So with that caveat in mind, here’s your roadmap to creating the perfect post for your company blog.

Make it Relevant to You

What’s the point of writing a blog post for your branded company blog if it does nothing for you? Now we’re not suggesting that you should make all of your articles super sales-y and promotional — actually, that’s the last thing you should do! However, it is important that your blog posts serve some purpose in generating interest about your company’s product/service, even if it’s just something as little as attracting relevant attention to your brand. Going on tangents might net you more traffic, but in the end it’s unlikely to net you more conversions.

Creating blog posts is a great way to develop your brand’s unique voice. If you haven’t thought about this before, now is a great time to stop and think. Sure, you want it to be authoritative and trustworthy, but what gives your brand personality? Are you snarky? Inspirational? Look to your company values for inspiration in shaping a relevant, fitting voice for your blog.

Keep Your Target Audience in Mind

After you’ve figured out what you want this article to do for you, it’s time to figure out what you want it to do for your audience. What do you want this post to do for your audience? Which means, you need to figure out what your audience wants. Generally speaking, you want your target audience to be similar to your target market. After all, since you’re writing for a business blog, you want the people you attract to be interested in buying from you.

Of course, there can be some slight variation from post to post on exactly what part of that target market you want to focus on. So to identify your target audience for this specific post, here are some questions that will help:

• How old are they?
• Are they male/female/etc?
• How much do they earn?
• What are their hobbies and interests?
• How do they communicate?
• What are their values?
• What challenges do they face on a regular basis?

Overall, put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What do they want out of this? What will attract them to you?

It’s also important to optimize your article for readability. This isn’t about spelling or grammar — we’ll get to that in a minute. This is simply about making the article appropriately formatting for the web. This involves using more white space than usual, plenty of bullet points and subheadings, shorter paragraphs, and more graphics and pictures.

Be Professional

The articles on your blog represent your company, so they should be well planned and well organized. This means fluency in the target language, proper spelling and grammar, and quality images and graphics. Unless you’re a writer, it may be best to leave the writing to people who specialize in the art of writing for the internet. It doesn’t have to be expensive, either — there is such a thing as free blog services. The same goes for graphics and photos. If you’re inexperienced in graphic design or photography, use stock photos and freelancers instead. The result will be much more polished and professional than if you attempted it on your own.

Some people make the mistake of thinking that writing professionally means using tons of industry jargon, long sentences, passive voice, and big words. That may have worked for you in college, but you’re writing for the internet here. You can still come off as professional while keeping things simple and well-focused.

Be Useful

Remember: you’re writing for your readers, not for yourself. So at every point of the writing process, make sure that your article remains focused on and useful to the reader. When you address and meet a reader’s needs, they’re more likely to read the entire article, build trust in your brand, and even share the article with others via social sharing.

Depending on what you’re writing about, you may have a lot of competition. What unique spin are you going to put on this topic that will draw the interest of your target audience, while still fulfilling their needs? Many business blog posts are well-written, but if the content doesn’t meet the need of its intended audience, it doesn’t hold much worth.

At the end of the piece, resist the urge to close with a sales pitch. It’s okay to put in a quick plug for your product or service, but for the most part, keep the focus on the subject of the article and on the reader. Leave them inspired and empowered, and they will come back for more of that good feeling.

Add SEO Last

Sometimes you write an article because you want to target a particular keyword and need content to do the job, but generally speaking, SEO comes after the content is written — not before. Putting SEO first can actually cripple your content and reduce its audience engagement value.

So once the article is finished and almost ready to go, do some keyword research to find the best keywords that will help your target audience find your article. Once you find the right keyword(s), resist the urge to cram them in all over the place. Instead, let long-tail keywords and synonym variations be your friend for getting that repetition value.

If you don’t have a good one already, it’s wise to download a plugin or two to your site to help you with your SEO. Here are some of the most popular ones:

• Yoast SEO
• The SEO Framework
• SEO Squirrly
• All In One Schema Rich Snippets
• Rank Math
• SEMrush SEO Writing Assistant

 

And there you have it — the recipe for a perfect blog post! If we were to summarize it in one sentence, it would go like this: The reader always comes first, but don’t forget to serve your business, too. This formula creates the perfect balance that will be more likely to leave your readers satisfied and net you more of those precious shares. And if you need a helping hand in generating regular great content for your company blog, why not give BMC’s free blog services a try?