Are you looking for a better way to attract more customers with more interesting blog post ideas? Sure, you are! Every savvy business owner is. After all, a great blog post could be the difference in success and failure.

Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website, keep your target audience there longer, and attract new customers. By maximizing search engine optimization (SEO) through user-generated content and ensuring interesting post ideas, it’s also a way to expand your audience. People don’t usually share ads with their friends, which limits your potential for reaching people who aren’t already following you.

It’s fun, too. But not everyone is a natural writer. Even the best ideas can fall flat if they’re not presented in an entertaining fashion. On the other hand, a well-written blog post can make even the dullest subject interesting enough to read about.

Here’s how to craft a blog post with quality content that’s not only fun to read, but also drives traffic to your business. After all, content is everything and writing blog posts with good content creation should be fun—just ask any successful blogger.

Research your keywords

To begin with, you’ll want to find out what your customers are looking for. In the days of old, ad companies got paid millions of dollars just to figure this out. Nowadays, that information is just a few keystrokes away. Add the right blog content and you are away.

Online services like Ahrefs and Moz can tell you everything you need to know for only a few dollars a month. They do this by tracking what people are searching for online. For example, if you type “electrician” into one of these sites, they’ll tell you all the words people are using along with “electrician.”

You’ll get a list with terms like “cheap electrician,” “master electrician,” “licensed electrician” and “electrician near me.” If you use these popular search terms in your post, people will be more likely to find it.

Choose a relevant topic

Now that you know what your audience is searching for, you’ll need to choose a topic and blog content they’re interested in. Returning to our electrician example, we could choose a topic that’s relevant to several of those keywords.

For example, we might write an article on “How to Find a Cheap, Licensed Electrician Near Me.” That article could include the keywords “cheap electrician,” “licensed electrician” and “electrician near me” several times throughout the text.

By choosing a relevant topic, you’re not just finding a way to use lots of keywords. You’re also writing about something your audience actually cares about, which means they’re more likely to read the entire post.

Don’t over-optimize

Whether on social media or looking at online blogs, once you’ve learned the importance of keywords and how to find them, it can be tempting to insert them everywhere in your post. To show why this is a bad idea, here’s an example of an over-optimized paragraph:

If you’re looking for a cheap electrician, you can find a master electrician for cheap on our site. Whether you’re looking for a licensed electrician for interior work, or a qualified electrician for commercial work, you’ll find one. If you’ve ever asked yourself “How do I find an electrician near me?” we’ll show you how to get the best electricians in your area.

Sure, that paragraph is full of keywords. But it also sounds awful. Even if the rest of the article is full of great tips, nobody’s going to keep reading.

Use keywords, but use them naturally. Less is more, especially when it comes to making your blog post readable.

Begin with a hook

When you’re writing a blog, you’re writing on the internet. People have short attention spans, and the next blog is just one click away.

So how do you keep their attention?

Give them a reason to keep reading. You’ll want to address their needs in the first sentence or the first paragraph at a bare minimum. For example, if you’re writing a post about finding a cheap electrician, you might start with something like this:

Do you need electrical work done on a budget? Do you need to fix a safety issue or add an outlet without breaking the bank?

That’s not exactly perfect, but it addresses your customers’ needs. They’ll read that, nod their heads and keep reading. Now, they’ve committed to reading your post.

Use short paragraphs, subheadings and bullets

If you’re used to reading novels or technical writing, you’re probably used to long paragraphs. There’s nothing wrong with long paragraphs, either. Sometimes, good writing requires them.

But, again, we come back to the fact that this is the internet. Huge blocks of text look boring and people start skimming instead of reading. How do you avoid this?

Leave plenty of white space on the screen. Ideally, paragraphs should be four lines or shorter. They can even be a single sentence—if you want to emphasize something.

Another way to add white space is to use subheadings. Ideally, you’ll want to insert a new subheading every 100–300 words. This makes the article feel shorter and people feel like they’re making progress while they’re reading.

If you have a subheading that requires a lot of words, you can change things up by adding a bulleted list. This adds more white space and makes the subheading feel shorter.

End with a call to action

Finally, you’ll want to connect the blog back to your business. After all, the ultimate goal is to attract customers. To do this, you’ll need to incorporate what marketers call a call to action. Basically, you need to specifically ask people for their business.

Salespeople will be familiar with this technique because they do it in person all the time. It’s called “asking for the sale” and it’s something every salesperson learns in Sales 101.

You’ll also want to include a link in your call to action. Why? Because people have short attention spans. Even if you’ve convinced them they need your services, they’re less likely to do so if they have to open another browser tab to Google your website.

The next thing you know, they’ve become distracted by some cute cat pictures and you’ve lost a customer.

If all else fails, hire an agency

For some people, this may seem daunting. Even if it sounds entirely doable, your time may be more useful elsewhere, like meeting with clients or managing your business.

If that sounds like you, consider hiring a marketing agency like Above The Fold to help create your blog content today.  Contact us today to receive a free consultation.