Content Writing 101: What are Your Blogging Goals?
What's the End-Goal for Your Content?
There are a lot of different types of content writing and each has a different purpose. It's important to identify what you want to do with each blog post or page on your website and write the content accordingly. You can think of this as an intro to three different types of blog posts you may want to use or will see around the web.
Type One: Simple Blog Post
This is an easy one. If your main goal is simply to start a discussion amongst followers, this is the way to go. You won't need to write more than about 250 words - just include questions that will lead to conversation about the topic on which you're focusing.
For this type of post, there's little to no research necessary - it's more where you will present a topic to lead into discussion. In that way, it's a great way to learn more about your client base or target audience. If you're considering a new product, service, marketing strategy, logo, merchandise, or anything else, this is a great way to test the waters with people who already follow you. It could even include a poll in which people can vote and then discuss their responses in the comments.
The possibilities for discovery with this type of post are great. It fosters a good relationship between you and your followers and makes them feel heard. They're more of an active part of what you provide when they see you care about their feedback and opinions. Plus it's fun to hear what they have to say!
Type Two: Standard Blog Post
Still a relatively easy post, but a bit longer. There may be a little research involved, but the word count should still just fall around 700-1500. This is still a good option to foster discussion, but it will also teach something or provide some background on the topic.
Another benefit to this type of post, is its ability to boost Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website or blog. This will help people find you from search engines, particularly Google, which uses key words to find results. So, use the right words in your post, and people who will find it relevant, interesting, or helpful will be more likely to find you.
This will still likely be a topic that will lead to discussion after sharing a story or some kind of information. It will read easily and then encourage followers to have conversations in the comments. In this way it's a great way to foster relationships with followers.
A particular type of post that could fall in this category, is a news story about an event that just happened or is about to happen with your company. Share information about the event and why you're hosting it, then encourage people to RSVP, donate, or share the event in comments or on social media.
Type Three: In-Depth Blog Post
We've come to the big guy. This type will require much more research than the others and will be well thought out. Where the others may come across as casual and engaging, this will present a well-formulated idea with thorough background research. It can still lead to discussion from followers, but it will be more about presenting an idea or topic that you've been working on for a longer period of time.
Similar to Type Two, this sort of post will help with SEO, particularly through Google, due to keywords on a relevant topic. It's good to think about keywords you think will help the right people find you and include those, but just the fact that you're writing about a service, event, or topic close to your company means it will help the right people find you.
Another function of this type of post is problem-solving. You can outline a well-researched problem you have found then round it off by asking for others to contribute possible solutions. If you've hit a snag with your company, show that you've been tracking the problem throughout the post and offer transparency, then engage customers and clientele by listening to ideas they have to offer. It's still great at fostering relationships but also shows that you are thinking about ways to improve what you do.
Hopefully these basic levels of blog posts have helped you think about how you use content writing on your own website. My goal is to offer information I’ve learned throughout my research and work with web design and writing in order to help others improve what they do as well.
