Question of the Week: What Makes for Good Content on My Company Blog?

It’s been said that content is the spark that ignites an effective marketing strategy. 

It was probably said by a writer.

At any rate, content is critical in drawing readers to your site and keeping them there. So if you can establish a solid foundation with great content, the rest can be built upon that. 

#1. Blog Content Is Informative

Let’s say your company sells lightbulbs. All kinds of lightbulbs.

People who land on your website are probably on a quest for lightbulbs. And they might have burning (no pun intended) questions about lightbulbs for which they’re seeking the answers.

You are there to show them the light. (Pun intended.) Present yourself as an authority on the topic.

The content on your blog should provide useful information to the reader. It should teach them a thing or two about lightbulbs. Or at least give an answer to a question they might have. For example, 3 Fascinating Things You Didn’t Know about Lightbulbs. 

BUT, you also want to consider content that tells people why buying lightbulbs from YOU is the best idea in the world. Such as 6 Reasons Why Our Super Bulb Is Better Than the Sun. 

Just be ready to substantiate any claim you make. 

#2. Blog Content Is Relevant 

This is one of the most important rules.

Yeah, relevant in this case means that if you’re selling roofing services, then your blog isn’t populated by articles on the right nail polish color or picking the perfect collar for your ferret. 

But relevance also refers to knowing your target audience and writing to that audience. A lofty dissertation on the merits of solar panels on your roof will fare well on a website committed to renewable energy and visited by the ecologically-inclined. But regular visitors to a site for roofing services will get far more from the knowing the benefits of lighter vs. darker colored shingles for a roof. 

Writing relevant content comes down to research. The writer needs to know enough about the subject, as well as for whom it is being written in order to make it relevant to both. 

#3. Blog Content Is INTERESTING

Who’s reading your content? Real people. Like this woman right here. 

So while information and relevancy are important, they’re not going to keep readers engaged if the writing echoes a textbook chapter on the diversification of trilobites during the Ordovician period. In order to keep their attention, the content needs to be interesting.

But what interests people?

Contrary to what some news outlets say, people like facts. They also dig statistics, metaphors, analogies and funny anecdotes. So these are fantastic ways to keep people interested in what they’re reading. For example, you might employ a sentence like this: 

Did you know that 94% of blog readers sharpen their minds - much like the edge of a sword - while sitting on the toilet?  

Yeah, okay. That's a non-fact. Actually, it’s a blatant lie. But outside of that, the statement illustrates the other four items. So there’s that. 

Another thing to avoid is too much tech speak. Unless your blog is viewed exclusively by IT personnel who shrink from the light of day, best practice is to write in a conversational tone. You don’t need to dumb down the content. Just keep it readable.

And ditch the hoi polloi vocabulary. You can make a salient point without using words like hoi polloi. And salient.

Keep Your Blog Content Real

The easiest thing to do is regularly read the content on your blog. Ask yourself - is it informative, relevant, interesting? 

If not, what can you do to change it? (You can always hire a blog writer to give you steady and reliable content!)

Because if you don’t want to read you own content, nobody else will.