CONTENT – How To Write A Blog
Purpose of this SQ How To: This is a guide for researching, writing and publishing a blog.
Applicable to: Content Marketing Team
Customers: All
Timescale: 2 hrs to write; Proof and QC by Due Date.
Introduction
Blogs are at the heart of our content marketing activities. They can take a number of formats, but there are some elements that should feature in every blog.
Types of Blog
Generally speaking, we write one type of blog:
- Indepth blog – this should be anywhere between 800 words and 1000 words, should offer a deeper take on the topic and will be given 2 hours to complete.
You may be given longer to complete a certain blog if we are looking to offer a thoroughly detailed and well-researched piece of content. For example, we may do something like ‘Everything You Need to Know About XYZ’ which would be given 3 hours to complete and should be at least 1200 words.
You may be given a task that has a different name for a blog such as ‘Thought Leadership’. This simply describes what should be achieved through your blog.
Preparing to Write Blog and Researching
Thorough research of the blog topic is essential, and you should make sure that you understand the customer and their tone of voice before writing. Many customers will have a Customer Discovery document (or a legacy “tone of voice document”) in Accelo and some customers will have a document detailing the do’s and don’ts. Find these in the Strategy folder in the Attachments tab on the Company page for each Customer in Accelo. Familiarise yourself with these documents as well as recent blogs from the customer.
You may have been given a concept with a write up in your task, but if not, you will need to come up with your own concept, finding a topic that is relevant, appropriate and of interest to the customer’s own customers.
Make sure to conduct thorough research and ensure that any sources you are quoting are reliable and reputable.
Format and Structure
Your blog doesn’t need to follow a strict format, but there are certain things that should feature in most if not all blogs. These include:
- An attention-grabbing title
- Start with an introduction that encourages the reader to continue reading
- Include descriptive subheadings
- Make sure to break up paragraphs into manageable chunks
- Relevant images from iStock or from the iStock folder
- Internal links to relevant pages and products
- Keyword links where appropriate (if unsure, SEO can provide you with these)
- Call to action where appropriate
- If including a call to action, direct to a contact page or another relevant page
The content should always ensure to answer any question proposed by the title and should always be relevant to the title.
Links should be relevant and natural and keyword links should not be forced. If you can’t naturally write a keyword phrase in, it’s better not to use it at all.
Proofreading and Quality Control
Once the blog has been written, you will need to follow all appropriate proofreading and quality control procedures.
All blogs for platinum customers should go to the Lead Writer for that Customer and then to the Lead who will quality control your blog.
If the blog needs to go to the customer for approval, you should send the edited copy to the appropriate contact. Once the blog has been approved (if necessary), it can be uploaded.