I have been writing a weekly blog since September 2011. For me, it’s an easy way to share tips and techniques to help improve the way we communicate and thus promotes my communication skills training.
A well written blog can demonstrate your skills, reflect your voice, share your ideas, and provide your customers with useful information. This in turn helps to build relationships with potential customers by using a conversational tone in your blogs. It allows you to build your brand online – It’s a simple and effective way to show the personality of your business and you.
Blogs do not need to be long
The best blogs are those which only take three, maybe, four minutes to read. In fact a good length for a blog is between 500 to 700 words. Like short items in the newspaper people can quickly read them and then move on. And once you have written your blog you can publish them as free books, or send tasters via links to your customers in a monthly or quarterly newsletter. You can build your online audience from your newsletter too as your regular readers continue to share it with their colleagues and friends who will then follow your blog too.
Getting started in blogging
A great (and easy) way to get started is by using ‘how to’ questions or the answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) Whenever you are asked a question by a customer make a note of it and your answer and then write it up to your blog posting. A few minutes brain storming should bring you a wealth of topics to write about – the answers to which may well be of huge interest to others. My English writing blogs rely on being asked the difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ or when to use ‘that’ and when to use ‘which’. And everyone loves a reminder about the joys of using apostrophes!
Use Keywords
As well as concentrating on good content you must also include keywords on your blog to bring it to the attention of a wider audience. After all, your key purpose in writing is to introduce yourself to potential clients and let them see how you operate. Make it easy for them to find and follow you.
Make your writing readable
Never lose sight of the reader who has very little time to read your blog before moving on. Use short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. Use plenty of sub headings and white space around your words to make it visually pleasing. Check your spelling and punctuation and never publish until you have proofread it or better still got a critical friend to tell you yes it does make sense.
Your style of writing for the blog should be more conversational than say your brochure but the English must still be the best. Grammatical errors or poor punctuation lessen the impact of your words and will not help you in building trusting relationships.
Remember you can inspire, engage, and persuade through words. Take up the challenge and enjoy the effect.
Blog for me?
Every month I try to feature a guest blogger presenting their unique view of comunications. If you fancy writing for me please contact me at [email protected] to discuss your ideas.
