Blogging isn’t just for beauty influencers and foodies. It’s 2020, and the most competitive companies in all industries have blogs associated with their businesses.
Never considered blogging before? Well, you might be missing out on some major growth opportunities!
If you feel behind in the blogging scene, don’t worry. I’ll go over the 8 major oversights content writers should avoid when blogging, so you can start blogging like a pro.
PLUS right now is an optimal time to invest in a blog for your business.
Why now?
Because many of us are at home, tuned into our preferred devices. Your audience is at attention. Strategically, if you’re looking for growth in the next 6 months, you need to start working now by investing in and increasing your organic traffic.
What is Blogging?
Before we get into the 8 major oversights content writers should avoid when blogging, let’s break down what blogging entails.
A blog is a collection of content available on a website or social media profile (like LinkedIn). It’s a log of a company’s insights, knowledge, experience, and tips for readers.
Blogging as a practice:
- Helps your customers find you more quickly and easily on the Internet – Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Encourages your customers to realize that you have something valuable to offer – Value-Added Information
- Drives new customers to your company without paid advertising – Organic Traffic
Why is Blogging Important for Your Overall Marketing Strategy?
Whether it’s a written, video, or visual log, a blog is important for your overall marketing strategy. At its core, marketing is a way to warm up your prospects in order to convert them into sales. In the digital world, marketing is also what converts leads into customers.
A strong marketing strategy cultivates a relationship between your customers and your company. And this is essentially what blogs are built to do! They create trust and familiarity through consistent and valuable communication.
And it’s not just a one-way street. Blogging doesn’t just create an opportunity for your company to share insights and stories with prospects; it also allows your customers to share their stories and experiences too – through comments. In other words, you have the ability to advertise and conduct market research, all in one place.
8 Major Oversights Content Writers Should Avoid When Blogging
Now that you understand the value blogging will have for your business, let’s talk about how you can approach it like a professional. Here are 8 major oversights content writers should avoid when blogging.
1. Not Breaking Through Your Writer’s Block
Most clients come to us for 1 of 2 reasons:
- They hate writing. Writing well can take time, and not everyone has the patience for it.
- They take forever to write. Some people get stuck staring at a blank page or writing and rewriting things to no end.
To start a blog, you’ll have to write regularly. Many content writers don’t expect to run into writer’s block. If and when it hits, they’re stuck! Don’t give up. Breaking through writer’s block is a key skill for successful content writing.
Need some tips on overcoming your writer’s block? Click here to read our blog about it.
2. Not Editing And Proofreading Work
Although it might seem obvious to some, many content writers take editing and proofreading their work for granted. This is a major oversight that can reflect negatively on your brand.
Having content that is free of grammatical and spelling errors helps show that you care behind your content and ensures you’re communicating effectively.
Check out our blog post filled with proofreading tips, so you can edit your work like a professional copywriter.
3. Not Outlining BEFORE You Start Writing
Some writers just write in a flow. That’s alright, but if you want to write strategically, always start with an outline.
Creating an outline before you start writing will help you…
- Write faster. Once the structure of your blog is there, it’s easier to fill in the blanks.
- Organize your thoughts. You’ll avoid veering off course from your intended topic and ensure you’re not covering too much in one post.
- Increase your SEO. When you have structured headings and subheadings for your blog posts that use similar keywords or SEO synonyms, it’s easier for search engines to detect the topic of your blog and direct people to it based on their search.
Here’s an example of what an organized outline can do for your final product.
The outline:
The final product:
4. Not Showing Some Personality
A blog post isn’t a formal document. People don’t want to read something dry– even if the topic is “boring”. They want to read something entertaining!
In the past, I’ve written blogs for CFOs about financial forecasting using an example of Hooters girls. Show some personality in your writing. It breaks the ice.
5. Not Narrowing Down Your Focus
Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Likewise, a single blog post cannot be all-encompassing. Don’t try to solve every problem or address every topic in your individual blog posts. Pick one small topic and cover it extremely well. This will have more value for your audience and encourage them to come back and read more…
If you envision your company’s blog covering several topics, you can create a tagging system. This lets you cover a range of topics across several blog posts in an organized way.
First, identify one major-topic. Narrow down that topic even more. Then get even more specific. You cannot provide real value on a given major-topic with just one blog – there’s simply too much information for a reader to digest at once; therefore, you need to get specific. Remember, blogs are not novels or dissertations, they are intended to be relatively small, quick to read, and easily absorbed by their audience.
Here are a couple of topic progressions to get you started.
| Overarching Topic | Key Areas in Major Topic | Sub-Topic of Key Area | Specific Detail Related to Sub-Topic |
| Coffee | Ways to make delicious coffee | French Press | French Press Best Practices |
| Content Marketing | Blogging | Launching a Blog | Oversights Content Writers Make When Blogging |
6. Not Using Research To Defend Your Claims
An entertaining blog on its own might give your company some visibility. But when it comes to converting to sales, you’ll want to leverage some research in your writing.
As the saying goes, people tend to buy on emotion and justify the buy with logic. Compelling evidence to support your claims will underscore both the emotional and logical aspects of your pitch.
These can include…
- Published studies
- Striking statistics
- Case studies
- Testimonials
- Easy-to-read charts and graphs
7. Flat Out Plagiarizing
This goes without saying – don’t plagiarize. Cite all quotes and sources. No one wants to come off as unoriginal or deceiving. Your company will lower its credibility when your plagiarism is discovered (and it will be!).
Giving others credit where credit is due is the right thing to do and can be really helpful for your SEO! Include outbound links to sources in your blog posts.
8. Perfecting It So Much It Never Gets Published
A “perfect” blog post is never published because it’s never done. At some point, you just need to press “publish”. If you ever want to change anything, all you have to do is edit that content and update it.
Put yourself out there and see how your audience responds. Remember, your audience is looking for consistent and regular communication. Don’t trade perfectionism for building a relationship with your customers. They’ll be happier to hear from you regularly. If you don’t include something in your current blog, you can always write about it in the next blog. Just keep the content and communications flowing to your followers and customers.
Looking for help launching your blog or increasing your number of subscribers? FocusCopy can do your content writing for you and even craft newsletters that go directly to your customer’s inbox.
