As much as I’m a fan of blog posts and other longform content, I’m always thinking about (and prompting clients to think about) why I’m creating them. Why that topic? Why this interviewee? Here are the main reasons why and how these reasons can prompt deeper thinking as you write:
Educate
blog posts are great at going into more depth on a topic. What are the areas that your audience could understand better about your industry? What are beginner topics, and what are the more complex issues? For example, in the writing biz a beginner topic might be how to write a great blog post. An advanced topic might be the finer points of SEO and structure in a post. What are the topics that you can educate your reader about, and how can you make that information digestible?
Agitate
Blog posts can also be great for sharing opinions, stirring people to action, or making them think differently about a trending topic. We’ve seen this with AI a lot over the past year where the benefits are debated and argued and questioned and affirmed. To write these posts, think about what you might want to contribute to the topic, and then end with an open question for others to share – great for working out what we all think together.
Convince
blog posts can also be a way to convince a reader to take action, whether it’s buying from you or signing up for your course or following you on social. With extra room to make the argument, posts that convince can mix playful with practical and help a reader see that they need what you are offering.
Build authority
an offshoot benefit of the types of posts above; all writing builds the writer’s authority. So, you also want to ensure that most posts are on topics that you want to build authority about. If you’re going to put in as much work as it takes to create a thoughtful post, make sure it’s worthwhile.
I also share these blog posts on LinkedIn – visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbowness/ to connect with me there. Or hire me to write blog posts for you!
