How to Write Engaging Blog Content (Best Practices)

Why You Should Start Blog Writing

The benefits associated with blog writing are varied and, ultimately, impressive. Firstly, writing blog posts goes hand-in-hand with improving Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If you’re unfamiliar with the process of SEO, it is essentially undertaking certain tactics and actions to increase your ranking on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

An organic form of promotion, SEO allows your brand to be easily found by users when they search for certain keywords that are relevant to your business.

To give a brief explanation, the more certain keywords are used by your online channels, the more likely you are to be associated with those keywords and appear in search results. The more you use these keywords on your website, the more relevant you are to someone’s search and the higher you’ll appear on the SERP.

Improving SEO would benefit your business as it’s a cost-efficient and organic method of driving brand awareness, gaining traffic, and increasing leads and conversions.

For a more in-depth look into SEO, check out our guide: What is SEO Marketing and How Does It Work?

Blog writing is also a great way of increasing engagement as well as the time spent on your website/pages. When you write an interesting and engaging blog post, users who chance upon it are more likely to read through the whole post to gain information or find a solution to their problems. It can also generate interest in your business as a whole, which could drive them to explore other sections of your website.

Additionally, blog writing that is done well and with a level of expertise helps establish yourself as an authority in your industry. When you create quality content that shows off your knowledge and expertise in your field, you become seen as an authoritative source of information, solidifying your position in your industry.

Lastly, one of the most fulfilling benefits of blog writing is the value you add to your customers’ lives. When you provide them with content that is entertaining, educational, informative, and purposeful, you add value to your products or services. This leads to a trusting and meaningful relationship between you and your audience, which is not always easy to achieve.

If you have been convinced of the necessity of hosting and creating content for a blog, let’s dive into the best practices you can undertake.

Best Practices for Blog Content Writing

While many different practices go into making a blog post great, there are a few foundational tactics that you can use to ensure your blog content is the best it can be.

Optimise Keywords

A cornerstone of SEO, keywords are a set of words that are relevant to your business and that users are searching for in high volumes. When a user conducts a search on search engines like Google, the results are ranked by its relevance to the keywords used.

Users are less likely to visit page two of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), which is why it is imperative to be keyword-optimised, to ensure your brand appears within the first SERP or, even better, the first result.

While there are many factors that Google’s algorithm takes into account when ranking results, being keyword optimised (ie, using the relevant keywords in your article) greatly helps your chances of ranking high.

When researching topics for every blog post, conduct keyword research to choose primary, secondary, and additional keywords that will be used throughout the post.
The primary keyword is the main focus and keyword for the blog post and should be used throughout and in the title.

Secondary keywords are supplementary keywords and should be used in subheadings and paragraphs. Additional keywords are essentially the same as primary and secondary keywords but phrased differently, to ensure that Google
will register them.

As an example, if your article was titled “11 Tips to Become More Eco-Conscious”, you could find yourself with keywords such as:

• • Primary keyword: eco-conscious
  • Secondary keywords: recycling, environmentally friendly, waste-free, climate change
  • Additional keywords: eco consciousness, how to recycle, reducing waste, how to become eco-conscious

For a more in-depth look at keyword research, take a look at our guide on How to Conduct Keyword Research for SEO.

Create a Comprehensive Outline

Before you write any blog post, you need to have an idea of what the final post will look like, how it will flow, and which topics it will cover. The key to ensuring your final work is structured well and doesn’t veer off course is to create a comprehensive outline.

An outline should include the proposed topic, break down subtopics into different sections, and the content in each section. When you create a comprehensive outline, you can be sure the blog post will flow well and hold readers’ attention. It also allows for easier writing, as you already know the subtopics you will be exploring.

While there are different ways to create an outline, and you should always create one that works best for you, here’s a simple example of an outline to follow.

In each section, include a few points on what it will cover to prevent going off-topic when writing. While you don’t have to write entire paragraphs in your outline, be as detailed as possible to ensure an easier and seamless writing experience.

Establish Expertise

When you create content, especially blog posts that are meant to be informative and educational, readers will expect you to have expertise in the subject. They want to know who is writing the information they’re gathering. Otherwise, there’s less credibility to what’s being said and might not be taken as seriously.

In particular, content regarding specialised topics such as health, medicine, and science should be written by, or with the aid of, professionals and experts in the specific fields. When you write a blog post about a highly specialised topic without credentials, it can make you appear unqualified and untrustworthy.

In addition, always include a short author biography that details the writer’s experience in the field and highlights the relevant experience they have on the topic. When readers are faced with information like that, it could soothe any concerns they may have regarding credibility.

Write Long Form Copy

In a study by Backlinko, it was found that long-form content of 3,000 – 10,000 words performed better and tended to receive an average of four referring domains, which is when another website links to that specific webpage. This greatly boosts your SEO efforts, increasing your chances of ranking higher on the SERP.

While it may seem difficult to create blog posts with such a high word count, there are a few tactics you can use to lengthen your copy.

Educational Guides

Firstly, focus on creating how-to guides or other educational guides. Step-by-step guides are more likely to have a higher word count as they detail in-depth processes. You can create guides on specific topics relevant to your industry that people commonly search.

For example, if your business sells eco-conscious products, you may want to look into creating guides such as “How to Practise Eco-Consciousness in Your Everyday Life” or “A Step-by-Step Guide on Recycling”. When you create comprehensive guides, you are sure to create lengthy blog posts while also providing a solution to users’ problems.

Expand on Each Pillar

Secondly, expand the topic of each blog post. Once you have chosen an overarching topic for a post, conduct as much research as possible and try to connect relevant subtopics to the topic at hand. For example, if your chosen topic is “How to Make Recycling a Habit”, don’t jump straight into your tips and tricks.

Instead, explain what recycling is and why it is such an important process to make a habit of. You can also discuss climate change and how it affects everyone, or even break down a recent study that emphasises the impact recycling has on the environment.

When you expand your scope adequately, you lengthen your copy while also providing even more helpful, useful, and valuable information to your audience. Besides improving your chances of gaining backlinks, you also help to establish yourself as a beacon of knowledge in your industry.

For more examples of long-form blog posts, check out these two posts from Equinet Academy:

1. What is Content Marketing and Why is It Important? (With Examples)
2. What is Social Media Marketing?

Use Trustworthy Sources

In every piece of content you write, you need to include reputable and trustworthy sources. Back up your statements and facts to establish yourself as a credible source of information.

As mentioned in an earlier point about establishing expertise, a similar rationale applies here. Audiences want genuine and proven statements of fact when they are seeking out information, education, or a solution. They don’t want to be faced with inaccuracies and deceptions.

Therefore, it is critical to use high-quality, reputable, and trustworthy sources in your blog writing. Your audience may begin to distrust you if you provide them with false information.

An example of a trustworthy source when it comes to figures and statistics is Statista. It is an authoritative source as they specialise in market and consumer data. They are known for being accurate in their figures and are one to check out when writing your blog posts.

Generally, it is best practice to research some of the undeniable sources of knowledge in your industry or related fields and gather them into a list of trusted sources. From there, you will have a collection of the top sources that can be used in your blog writing.

Internal and External Links

If you’re familiar with SEO, you may have heard of the importance and necessity of link building, both internal and external. Internal links refer to links that direct users to other web pages and sections of your website, while external links direct users to other websites.

However, there are many other benefits to building both links. Internal links, for example, can simplify the customer experience journey by providing immediate access to the mentioned resource or product.

About SEO, building internal links can make Google view your page as more valuable and, therefore, more relevant to users who search for related keywords.
Internal links can also improve the time spent on your website and decrease your overall bounce rate.

Building external links can create relationships with the websites you link to. If they notice traffic on their website directed from your web page, this can potentially lead to gaining backlinks from them.

Including external links is also a form of providing a source to your statements and facts, which helps you appear more credible, especially if the external link is from a well-trusted site.

There is no hard-and-fast rule for how many links you should include in each blog post, but it is generally good to include internal links where possible and ensure it is contextually accurate. When you’re using another website as a direct source for a statement or fact, include it as an external link to properly attribute credit.

Write Evergreen Content

Evergreen content refers to content that is search-optimised and will always be relevant (i.e., is not time-bound and not reliant on passing trends). When you create evergreen content, you create something timeless and valuable for users regardless of the time.

When you create content that is based on fads or timely events, you may see a spike in traffic, but it will be only temporary. Once the trend or event has passed, users will no longer be searching for that topic, and there will be an inevitable drop in traffic.

However, with evergreen content, you can get a steady and continuous flow of traffic to your blog post, which would benefit your business more in the long term.

How do you write evergreen content?

Firstly, conduct some keyword research and find keywords with a high search volume. To use the earlier example of an eco-conscious company, let’s try using the helpful keyword research tool Answer the Public.

Using the keyword “eco-conscious”, this handy tool maps out the questions often searched for containing that keyword. From here, you can get some great ideas for evergreen content topics such as “how to be more eco-conscious”. Using this result, you can craft an article entitled “11 Ways to be More Eco-Conscious” and find yourself getting a continuous stream of traffic.

Read Other Blogs

This should go without saying. To write excellent blogs yourself, you need to explore and read other quality blogs. When you read other blogs, you can gauge what performs the best while also discerning what does not.

If you haven’t already, look into your competitors and what content they create — if they have a blog, read through their posts. From there, you can gauge their level of competency and whether their posts are engaging to you as a reader. When going through competitors’ content, you can also generate ideas for your content, but refrain from outright copying.

When you read other blogs, you broaden your knowledge and learn what’s more likely to work. Additionally, you can also improve your language skills, which will improve your blog post content quality.

Be Detailed

When you write any blog post, you always have to include relevant details to substantiate the points being made and avoid sounding too vague or ignorant on the chosen topic.

As an expert on the particular subject, you may forgo certain details because you already hold that information. However, for readers who lack the knowledge and experience, leaving out details or being too vague might cause confusion and uncertainty.

As such, you need to be as detailed as possible when writing. With any topic, you need to explain each point adequately and thoroughly.

In addition, being detailed helps to establish your authority in your industry and also can deepen the relationship between you and your audience. Refraining from skimping on details. Being thorough shows that you are knowledgeable and trustworthy on the topics you discuss.

While it may be hard to ensure your work is adequately detailed, a simple way to circumvent a lack of details is to enlist the help of a proofreader. It could be a colleague or even a friend, or a family member with adequate knowledge. When you have someone read through your work, they can help you discern the parts that require more details to avoid confusion or misconceptions.

Utilise Power Words

Power words are words that can trigger psychological responses in readers, and it’s something every copywriter should utilise in their blog writing. Power words are persuasive and influential terms that help convince readers to take a specific chosen action.

When you create a blog post, there should always be a clear objective. You should want readers to act on something when they’re done reading. Blog posts should offer substantial value to readers and ultimately, increase your conversions.

Using powerful words can subtly plant your desired actions into readers’ minds, convincing them to take that action.

Conduct a Content Audit

If you already run a blog but have yet to see the positive results of your labour, try conducting a content audit. A content audit is a process where you evaluate and analyse the performance of your published posts to improve your content strategy.

While it may be tempting to focus solely on continuously putting out new content, it is best practice to occasionally take a step back and evaluate your existing content. Doing so helps you understand what has and hasn’t been working for your brand, which, in turn, allows you to make changes to the content you write and optimise it for peak performance.

To conduct a content audit, you need to collate the URLs of every blog post you want to analyse. Categorise them in a way that seems rational to you, whether it’s by the stage in the buyer’s journey, content type, length, date, or author.

From there, you can utilise Google Analytics to analyse the performance of each blog post in terms of traffic, bounce rate, time spent, engagement, and conversion.

Key Takeaways

With blog posts being one of the most superfluous content types available, there are a plethora of ways you can optimise and perfect your blog writing. However, following these best practices provides a solid foundation for you to build upon.

If you want to learn more about creating compelling blog posts, check out our 2-day WSQ Copywriting and Content Writing course which covers all you need to know to create powerful copy.

We also hold a Certified Digital Marketing Strategist (CDMS) V2 Programme, which covers the following seven modules:

• Digital Marketing Foundations (Fundamentals)
• Digital Advertising
• Social Media Marketing Strategy & Optimisation
• Digital Content Creation & Content Marketing Strategy
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Strategy
• Email Marketing & Marketing Automation
• Digital Marketing Analytics & Optimisation (Google Analytics 4)

The completion of these modules will lead the learners to attain a Certified Digital Marketing Strategist V2 Certificate, bringing them one step closer to being a fully-fledged digital marketer. All of these courses are WSQ-accredited and available for up to 70% subsidy.