So, you started a blog…what now? It’s the question on every content developer’s mind. It’s what keeps us up at night or staring at an empty page on a screen. At times, it’s as if our ability to create meaningful sentences has left the building. We’ve all been there. When it comes to writing blogs – whether you’re an agency developing content for a client or you’re writing in-house, the same rules apply. Stay relevant to your business goals, keep all your ideas in one place (aka write them down), use visuals and have fun with it! If you’re in need of a refresher, we’re taking it back to the blogging basics.

Have a relevant topic (or at least something you like to write about)
It can be tempting to write about anything and everything, but that’s highly inadvisable. One of the most difficult tasks as a writer is to write about something you have no interest in, or no interest in learning more about. Have blog brainstorming sessions or keep a running list of topics – write them down as soon as you think of them. You never know when inspiration will strike.

Have a backlog of content
This one is really back to the beginning – the basics of starting a blog altogether. When launching a blog, make sure you have a few ready and approved to be posted immediately, so viewers have more than one piece of content to read. Also, make sure you’ve planned out a few weeks of blog topics, so you don’t find yourself scrambling for a topic at the last minute. Good content is planned content – not developed on the fly.

Consider guest bloggers
What’s better than doing all the work? Having someone do the work for you!  But in all seriousness, asking guest bloggers to write about a relevant topic is a great way to get other insights, perspectives and a different voice into the mix. Consider asking an expert in your field, or even a client or industry peer to talk about a topic they find relevant.

Never, ever forget SEO
Search engine optimization…gone are the days of writing a few paragraphs and posting it. Blogs are one of the best ways to create backlinks to your content. Linking to internal and external pages is one of the first steps to making your business more searchable on Google. Also, make it a point to be sure each and every blog is optimized by conducting regular keyword research and inputting relevant keywords in the blog titles and content body. Additionally, be sure your blog images have alternative names to help make them more searchable.

Include video/images
You know the drill – add an image or two. But beyond that, video content is where social media is headed, with the popularity of Reels by Instagram, and of course, TikTok, continuing to grow. So how do you use your blogs to capitalize off of that? Consider turning your blogs themselves into Reels. Often a solid blog topic with steps can make for a great video. For example, here is our blog on the Five P’s of PR and an accompanying Reel as well. This is a great way to incorporate multi-media strategy into your content plan and make the most out of your blogs.

There are many more tips and tricks we could include, but these will get you started and hopefully refresh your memory. A blog is a great resource for increasing your organic traffic, but also for social media. Sometimes you just need to go back to the basics to get it right.

Looking for PR and marketing tips? Read more on our blog.