Content for B2B blogs needs to be value-focused — quantity does not equal quality.

Unless you’re a professional content writer, generating blog topics and SEO keywords is a task that generally takes a lot of thought, research, and patience. One study found that the average blog post takes 3 hours and 57 minutes to write!

Here are the seven practical tactics you can use right now to write a powerful, valuable blog post to your target audience —and it's not going to take 3 hours and 57 minutes!

Formatting B2B Blog Post Ideas

How do you create B2B blog posts that are resourceful, engaging, and original? You focus on who you’re creating blog posts for, and you find a method that works. Take a look at this format for generating B2B blog post ideas. 

Start with an Idea

How many times have you sat down to write a blog post, only to realize you’re fresh out of ideas? It’s helpful if you have a notebook or Word document where you jot down ideas as you think of them. The most time-consuming part of writing a blog post is coming up with a topic to write about. If you don’t have an idea, but you need to write, start with any questions your clients have asked you this week.

• What is your target audience searching for?
• What interests them, and what do they want to read?
• Is there something you found yourself explaining multiple times?
• Did you send any emails about that topic?
• What key points can you pull out of that email?

Write the Headline

Sometimes, it’s easier to start with the headline. Then again, there are times when the headline writes itself once you have the full post written. It can be like the introduction and conclusion. You might not know how to summarize the information until you’ve actually written it. If this is a challenge for you, save it for last. Here are some headline tips:

• “How to…” is an attention-getting way to start a headline. People want to know what you have to teach them that can make their lives easier.
• Ask questions
• Use quotes
• Apply statistics

Eliminate Distractions

Turn off your phone and any notifications on your computer. You can even set a timer for 15 minutes! Knowing you have 15 minutes to write a post means you can’t be tempted to answer emails or have discussions. It’s time to focus and make every minute count.

Think in Terms of Bullet Points

What are the main points you need to get across?

• Open your Word document and type each point
• Type a phrase.
• Hit enter
• Type a phrase
• Hit enter
• Continue until you have a list

You can come back and fill in the details later. Just get the main points down for now.

You’ll be amazed how words magically make it from the keyboard to your screen when you stop thinking and start writing. This isn’t the time to judge the quality of the thoughts.  

Write First, Edit Later

This goes along with thinking in terms of bullet points and just writing. You can set the post aside and revisit it later. When you have the framework down, you’ll have something to work with the next time you sit down. Your audience wants value, not diluted information. If you have the meat of the problem established — editing will come. Anyone who spends a lot of time writing will tell you this is a key to productivity. 

Optimize Your Blog Post

If you’re lucky like we are at LeadG2, we have a team that works on our content, optimizes the post for SEO, adds links to other relevant content, adds graphics, and checks our spelling and punctuation. This is a critical step for any business looking to rank high on Google.

A solid B2B blog strategy is a powerful investment into your business. And, this formula is a proven and simplified way to write a B2B blog post if you're just getting started with inbound marketing and blogging.