How to Write a Blog Post for your New Bern Business

"An intro guide to performing content marketing for your New Bern business."

Why should you take up blog writing for your business? 

Blogging for business falls under the "Content Marketing" umbrella. It allows you to have your brand voice heard while attracting new and potential customers. It's a way to promote your products and services while getting the blog post to potentially rank high in the organic search results for valuable keywords.

There's just one minor potential drawback—if you're like most New Bern business owners, your expertise lies in running your business—and not writing professionally. This shouldn't stop you from attempting to get your business blog up and running. 

expert content marketers for help.

Read on to learn more about how you can write a blog post for your New Bern business to attract new customers and improve your brand's reach.

Step 1: Content Ideation

The first step is to compile a list of your customer pain points. For example, if you're a plumber, a list of pain points could include:

• How to unclog my toilet?
• When should I call a plumber?
• How much does installing a sprinkler system cost?
• Signs I need to update my home plumbing.

These pain points will serve as a starting point for your blog post. They will allow you to create a blog post that offers valuable information relevant to your target demographic.

When researching keywords, take whatever you find on the internet with a grain of salt. The Google algorithms and bots that crawl your website daily are smart enough to determine what your blog post is about—in other words, don't repeat the same keywords (such as "New Bern plumber") over and over again. Google considers this to be a sign of low-quality content and could penalize your website if you overdo it.

Step 2: Determine the Format

There are many different types of blog posts that you can use. However, the six most common are:

Infographic post — This is where you would hire a graphic designer to create an infographic that both you and your customers can share on your blog and social media sites.

Newsjacking post — Take any given relevant news topic, link out to it, and add your unique thoughts to it. For example, if you own a dry cleaner and the local government is planning on banning certain chemicals, write a blog post that talks about the pros and cons.

The "Ultimate Guide" post — If you own a landscaping company, you can write a blog post entitled, "The Ultimate Guide to Landscaping Your Backyard on a Budget.'

List-Based post — This is simply a list of things. For example, if you're an electrician, you can create a blog post that lists the top 10 bedroom fans on the market.

"How To" post — Going back to the earlier plumber reference: "How to Unclog Your New Bern Toilet."

"What Is?" post — This type of blog post is simply an informative one. It answers the question, "what is?" For example, "What is the best way to market your business online?"

Step 3: Compile an Outline

Now that you have your chosen blog topic and format, it's now time to create an outline that will help guide your blog post and allow for your creative juices to flow forth. A typical blog post outline is as follows:

• Title 
• Intro — 1-2 paragraphs that introduce the overall topic and generate curiosity in the reader's mind. 
• Subheader 1 — 1-2 paragraphs of a unique idea
• Subheader 2 — 1-2 paragraphs of a unique idea
• Subheader 3 — 1-2 paragraphs of a unique idea
• Subheader 4 — 1-2 paragraphs of a unique idea
• Subheader 5 — 1-2 paragraphs of a unique idea  
• Conclusion and Call-to-Action — 1-2 paragraphs that summarize the previous content and request the reader perform an action such as "Contact us for More Information."

To see the above outline in action, simply look at this blog post that you're currently reading. 

Step 4: Write!!

This is probably the most challenging part for many business owners—however—if you've followed the above suggestions for generating blog post ideas and laying them out intelligently in an outline, the rest should be easy enough. 

Here are a few tips to help make your writing clear and blog post easy to read:

• Keep your paragraphs short—no more than 3-4 sentences per paragraph.
• Use bullet points to break up information.
• Don't use overly flowery or complicated language.
• Break up your sentences into ones of shorter and longer length. This will help prevent your blog post from sounding monotonous and boring.
• Link out to authoritative sources, such as government websites, college websites (.edu), and other non-competitive sites.
• Use single-spaced, not double space between sentences. Double-spacing your sentences was something we learned in typewriting class in high school. Single-space is the way things are done on the internet.

Step 5: Edit

For this step, you could hire a professional editor—however, keep in mind that their rates can run anywhere from $50 to $150 an hour. A great way to get around this is to use a free tool, such as Grammarly. 

All you need to do is cut and paste your text into their website, and they will provide you with grammar suggestions on how to make your writing clearer and easier to read. Grammarly also has a Microsoft Word and Google Docs plugin for their paid accounts.

Content Marketing and Blog Post Help in New Bern

Creating and regularly posting blog posts to your company website can have a wide range of benefits. You don't have to be William Shakespeare to write a quality blog post if you follow our above suggestions. If you have any questions or need help writing a blog post or content marketing, give us a call.

At AlphaGraphics of New Bern, we can provide you with ideas and services to assist you. To learn more about how AlphaGraphics of New Bern can produce and design your next project, you may email us, request a quote, or call us at (252) 633-3199.