How to Leave an Impression with Each and Every Blog Post

There is a monumental amount of blog content swirling around out there.  Some of it memorable, and some, not so much.  The success of your business is tied to your ability to to craft a compelling message and deliver it in a way that will inspire your clients to act. How do you make your content stand out and resonate with readers?  How do you get your blog post to leave an impression?  Here are a few tips:   

1.       Don’t write for you – write for your audience.  That is, know your target audience and create content that you know will be an asset to them .  Pretend that one of your clients is sitting in front of you and write as though you’re speaking to that person.  Answer questions that are frequently asked by your clients.  Post content that is relevant and keep your audience in mind at all times when writing.  Think:  How can your posts benefit them?    

2.       Write with a “human quality”.  Although the term ‘business blogging’ sounds like the equivalent to dry and dull content, it doesn’t have to be.  Keep it informative, yes, but not boring.  Don’t be afraid to allow your humanity to seep through.  In fact, be daring and lighten it up.  Use lots of humor – use language that will strike an emotional chord and move your readers.  Make a connection with them from a human standpoint.

3.       Keep it clear and concise.  People seek out blogs (especially business blogs) to learn something – to be informed.  Stay on topic when you write.  If you start to ramble and go off on tangents, your readers will be nothing but confused and start to wonder what they were trying to get out of your post in the first place.  Oh, and they probably won’t be back to catch a second act!

4.       Mind your grammar!  Bring back shades of your fifth grade teacher?  Sorry, but proper grammar is an integral part of blogging.  No one is going to take you seriously if you can’t string a sentence together.  If you’re not sure how to spell a word or of the correct usage of a word, just “Google” it.  A thesaurus is a wonderful thing! 

And, don’t forget to proofread & edit – not just once, but twice.  If a sentence sounds a bit off to you, read it out loud.  Sometimes that can clarify things.

5.       Use images for visual stimulation, to break up the text and to drive your point(s) home.  Looking at a page with a bunch of text on it can be painful on the eyes.  Using one or two well-positioned images can be an effective way of not only breaking up the text and making your post more aesthetically pleasing, but of reinforcing & depicting what you’re writing about.  And, an image doesn’t necessarily have to be a picture.  If you’re citing statistics, include a graph, a chart or an infographic.   There’s no law against making it colorful!