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! Using AI can help decrease that time, but because of the need for personal thought leadership and expertise a blog post still takes an investment of time.
Here are some practical tactics you can use right now to write a powerful, valuable blog post to your target audience —and not take 3 hours and 57 minutes!
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?
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
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.
Turn to ChatGPT to help you when you get stumped. Some things AI can help with are:
Staying in a particular word count range
Adding ideas to an outline
Grammar and spell checks
Content enhancement
Incorporating AI into your writing process can save time, reduce errors, and help you create more engaging and effective blog posts. However, it's essential to use AI as a tool to support your creativity and writing skills rather than relying on it entirely, as human input is still crucial for producing high-quality, authentic content.
After you feel your post is complete set it 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.
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.
*Editor's Note: This blog has been updated since its original post date.