How To Write Catchy Blog Articles in 30 Minutes
Blogging is a fantastic way to add value to your customers, answer questions for prospects, build authority and also increase your google rankings. Whilst blogging is awesome - typing for 6 hours isn’t! In this article I’m going to show you how to write authority-building blog articles in 30 minutes.
Step One: Topic
Think of a topic you want to talk about. You want to create a blog that’s useful (with practical tips, not just a sales pitch) and search-worthy (something people often ask you or would search for on Google). If you need help planning content, here are a few questions to ask:
Audience - Who are you writing this for?
Topic - What do your customers ask? What are industry blogs sharing
Impact - Why should they read this? Why is it important?
Practicality - What will they know or be able to do after reading?
Action - What do you want them to do at the end?
Step Two: Subtopics
Create a few dot points with subtopics or ‘chunks’ of that topic. For example if I were writing about common social media mistakes people make, I could list:
Not understanding the customer.
Not adding enough value.
Not being consistent.
Basically, after you pick a topic just ‘brain dump’ what’s in your head. If you're having trouble, look up competitors and see what they write about for inspiration, then create similar topics. This can be an effective strategy for finding the most popular posts, and re-creating them in your own way.
Step Three: Body
Expand on each dot point by writing 2 - 3 sentences. E.g for the previous example, if my topic was 10 Social Media Mistakes and the first dot point was Not Understanding Your Customer I could write something like:
If you don't understand your customer on a deep level, you're not going to be able to do anything that resonates or connects. What you want to do is make a very specific avatar that represents your hypothetical dream customer, and build your content around that kind of person.
Do that for each dot point until you have a draft (you can add and remove bits and pieces later if you like, this just lays the foundation). Use conversational language so it’s enjoyable to read.
You'll often end up writing more than a few sentences - this is a good thing. Once you do this for each point - you've literally got a blog article!
Step Four: Headline
Create a catchy headline. Sometimes it’s easier to do this at the end once you’ve written the article. The key here is to create something specific, benefit-driven and ideally including keywords. Here are some surefire headline formulas:
5 Steps to [DOING THING] in 2019
X Ways to [GET RESULT] in [TIME PERIOD]
X Ways to [GET RESULT] Without [PAINFUL THING]
X Things to Do Before You [DO THING]
X Things to Avoid When [DOING THING]
PS - The headline is SUUUUUPER important. Without this, your article may go to waste because nobody clicks on it. Create something that creates intrigue and shows WHY they should listen.
Step Five: Intro & Outro
Write a brief introduction: what are they about to learn? Not too long, just 2 - 3 sentences. Then write a quick conclusion: a quick summary of what they just learned, insert a call to action and sign off with your name.
Step Six: Edit & Publish!
Give it a quick edit, apply some finishing touches, choose a feature image from Unsplash.com and you’re good to go!
Pre-Publishing Checklist
Break it up with subheadings in a larger font so it’s easy to skim.
Finalise your title. Make it catchy, explanatory search-worthy.
Edit post for grammar and typos.
Include some beautiful images from Unsplash.
Edit the title, description and URL so they’re SEO friendly.
Publish!
Optional - Copy paste into the Yoast Content Analyser and make tweaks.
Optional - Include some links to other pages or content you’ve created if you have some.
With these tips you'll now be able to put out regular blog content. I bet it was easier than you thought! The best thing you can do to up your writing skills is practice. So keep going, keep adding value and reap the rewards. Happy blogging!