In this post I want to tackle  what makes a good blog from a technical point of view and from a less techie perspective. If you want to have your blog read, shared and commented on it’s important to make it relevant and interesting.

So, how do you actually write a good blog post?

Two ways to blog

There are two main types of blogs:

• The original classic style blogging, as seen in  the movie Julie & Julia (with Meryl Streep), Julie Powell blogged about cooking and her struggles as a writer – she decided to cook and blog her way through Julia Child’s iconic cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. She cooked and blogged about all 524 recipes over 365 days. It’s a true story!  Julie’s blog became so popular that it caught the attention of a Hollywood producer and the rest is history. If you want to know what makes a good blog I highly recommend you watch this movie. Julie’s blog was the classic style of blogging, it’s like recording a log – web-log – blog. You have probably also read many blogs just like this.
• Blogging for your business is different to Julie’s blogging. Blogging for business is also known as “Content Management”.  This is the type of blogging I’m referring to in this post.

Why should you blog about your business?

• Google loves blogs because they deliver readers fresh, new, relevant content.
• Since the arrival of Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird (the names Google gave their updates), it’s getting harder for us SEO providers to get your business on the front page of Google.
• Providing new and interesting content for your blog, not only pleases Google but it pleases your readers, and this in turn pleases Google.

Where do you start?

Writing doesn’t come naturally to most of us and many of us are just procrastinators, but trust me once you give it a go you will feel very pleased with yourself. Blogging is a great way to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

‘Where do I start?’ I hear you say. Consider these simple tips on what makes a good blogging experience. First of all you need to get back to basics. You need to know who your readers are and what they want. To get you started, try this exercise:

• Start with a fresh sheet of paper
• Create an avatar of your ideal client
  • Are they male or female? (or both)
  • What age bracket are they?
  • What income bracket are they?
  • Do they have children? If so, how old are they?
  • What keeps them awake at night?
  • What problem/s can you solve for them?
  • Keep expanding on this list, you need as much info as possible
  • Make sure you have a clear solution to their problem
  • Make sure this solution is very obvious on your website – in fact it should be the basis of your website. Everything on your website and blog should be telling the reader that you can solve this problem.
  • Knowing this and delivering this is what makes a good blog.

What to actually blog about 

This where you need to be strategic. There is no benefit in blogging just for the sake of blogging. You need a plan and it needs to be relevant. So grab another piece of paper or open a spread-sheet.

Start by listing all of the things you do in your business that you could blog about. For example some of the things we do in my business is:

• Getting leads for your website
• Optimising your website
• Website creation
• Fixing badly structured websites
• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
• Google Advertising
• Facebook Advertising
• Blogging for Business

From this list of 8 blog posts; create at least 4 sub-topics for each one. So far we have 32 potential blog posts.
From each sub-topic, create at least 2 more sub-topics. Now we have 104 possible blog post topics.
Next think about the media –

• You could also make some videos about these topics.? An iPhone and a good mic is all you need.
• You could also interview someone else (another expert in your field) about these topics.? Again an iPhone and a good mic is all you need. These could then be turned into a podcast and/or a video series.
• Each of these videos and interviews could be transcribed and turned into written blog posts.

So from an initial list of 8 business components we now have a massive 728 potential blog posts.

The next post will be part two of – What makes a good blog – part two

If you need help with your content management (blogging) – give me a call and I’m happy to have a chat.