Almost every business has a company blog these days. Marketers are trying desperately to get noticed in the blogging world and to get people to read what they’re posting. Unfortunately, not all marketers have a degree in Journalism and know how and what to put out there.

The good news is you don’t always need this degree if you are willing to put in the time and effort it takes to produce fantastic content. Giving people what they want to read in a professional way is the trick to blog success. Even when posting on a business blog, if someone can’t relate to your post, they are never going to get the takeaway you are hoping for.

Much like meeting a person for the first time, the first impression a reader gets from your business blog better be a good one or you have most likely lost them forever. Below are five best practices for writing an awesome blog post that will help take your blog to the next level.

5 Ways to Knock Your Blog Post Out of the Park

1. Make a Plan – Sure you’ve got a great idea, but it is not always enough to just sit down, write out your thoughts and hit publish. Doing that is often the easiest way to turn people away from reading your blog. You need to plan out your posts, doing the research necessary to back up your facts. If you want credibility, use credible sources. Your audience is much more likely to trust you and want to continue to listen to what you say if you show you know what you’re talking about. Become an authority in your industry, not just another site on a business card.
2. Choose Passion – Once you have a plan, make sure the topic is something you are passionate about. Even though it is just words on a computer screen, readers know when there is passion behind posts. Writing about something you aren’t interested in is going to result in a lacklustre approach to what could be an amazing story. If you choose a topic, you are passionate about, your tone will be different, and your readers are more likely to relate to you. Also, it will flow quickly, instead of staring at a blinking cursor for hours claiming you have “writer’s block.”
3. Have a Captivating Headline – This is a no-brainer. If your headline is less-than-appealing, no one is going to want to read the article. Would you take time to read something that sounds boring right off the bat? Use catchy words and cliché phrases that pull readers in right from the get-go. If you can get them past the headline, they will usually read the whole article. To keep credibility, make sure your headline depicts what the rest of the post is really about. Just do it in a flashy way!
4. Edit, Edit, Edit – This is a professional business blog, and it needs to be written like one. Things like grammatical errors and spelling mistakes have no place in your blog if you want to create and maintain credibility. Edit your post once. Walk away or do something else for a few moments and then edit it again. It’s amazing what you will find on a second run through. If you are producing a really important blog post and you don’t have a professional editor, have someone else read through it to catch any mistakes you may have missed. While mistakes happen occasionally, if you can continuously produce a near-flawless blog, you will appear more professional and it may even give you the upper hand over a competitor.
5. Use a Good Visual – Whether you’re using a graphic, a photo, an infographic or a video, choose something that will capture the meaning of what you’re trying to post while entertaining your audience at the same time. Under no circumstances should you ever put out a post without some sort of visual attached. Then use this visual to promote the post on social media to get a bigger traffic count.

You’re on Your Way to Awesome

If you follow these simple steps, you are well on your way to creating great blog content that everyone wants to read. Don’t get discouraged if your readership doesn’t soar immediately. It takes time to find and grow your target audience, but if you are already producing quality content, you are one step ahead of the game.

For more ways to produce better content or to check out different marketing strategies check out our blog at LeadsPanda. We promise it’s well-planned, edited and will come with a nice picture!