Your business probably already has a goldmine of potential blog material at its fingertips, whether you realize it or not.
For example, you might have: training manuals, instructions, sales scripts, company descriptions, service/product descriptions, customer feedback and questions, meeting notes, presentation slides, Facebook page activity, LinkedIn group discussions, handouts, memos or emails.
With a few simple adjustments, you can turn that content into blog posts that will attract prospective customers and help them see if you’re a good fit.
If you or your staff are constantly referring to something during client calls or sales meetings, if you’re often sending it as an email attachment, or if you’ve ever heard, “Thanks, that was helpful!” after replying to an email, chances are you have the beginnings of a good blog post.
So this might make a good blog post – now what?
Here are five elements that will help turn existing content into an effective blog post. Hint: Follow the embedded links for more information about each topic.
- Length – I recommend that your blog posts are between 250-500 words. In some cases you’ll need to pare down what you’ve written. Other times you’ll need to expand on what you’ve written (often just by adding an introduction and conclusion). Also check the length of each sentence and paragraph. Online writing requires more white space to give your readers’ eyes a rest.
- Links – As Debbie Weil says, if you can’t link to something, it doesn’t exist (that’s why we’re getting your content onto your blog!). Links are how you give credit to those you’ve mentioned, build relationships with other experts, and add more value for your readers. Linking to your own blog content also breathes new life into your old posts and gives people reasons to stay on your site and come back for more.
- Language – Tweak your language to stay consistent with your brand. Use the same words your ideal customers use – especially in your blog post title. Apply any keyword research you’ve done for search engine optimization.
- Love – Building blog posts out of real customer interactions shows that you’re thinking about your readers first and your marketing goals second. Delivering consistent, high-quality content shows how much you care about the people you serve in your business. Try to write each post to one person as if he or she were sitting across the desk from you.
- Logic – For each blog post, pull out one key message from your content. There may be plenty more where that came from, which is good news if you want to be a weekly blogger.
Transforming other types of content into blog posts means that:
- You can easily share the content in a way that brings people to your website, where they’re one click away from doing business with you
- You can link to and promote the content on social media sites
- You’ll keep your blog fresh with new content, which will impress both your website visitors and the search engines
- Because this piece of information is directly related to a real customer concern, there’s a good chance people will be searching for it online
Photo credit: digitalmoneyworld via photopin cc