Did you know that companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies that don’t blog? (DemandMetric). That’s a big number and certainly not one to be sniffed at!

Would you like to join the many businesses benefitting from the leads generated by blogging? Perhaps you’d like to write something about your business or the industry you work in, but not sure how or where to start?

Well, look no further! In this handy guide we’ll take you from blogging novice to blogging expert in 6 easy steps. Read on as we tackle the following:

1. What is a blog?
2. Why should I publish a blog?
3. What makes a good blog and what should it contain?
4. How do I get started?
5. Getting the content right
6. How can I make sure it gets read?

So, grab a coffee and take 5 minutes to give this blog post a read. By the end of it, you’ll be more than ready to get started on your first post (and who knows – it could even be published next to this one)!

1. What is a blog?

A blog post is a guide, article or a piece of news that is informative to the reader. It should cover a specific topic of interest, contain visuals such as images, videos, charts or infographics and should aim to be between 600 and 2000 words long.

Publishing a blog, allows a business to provide information about certain topics. These are usually things that are pertinent to your business, the industry you work in, or outside aspects that have an impact on what you do and/or how you do it.

2. Why should I publish a blog?

The ultimate aim is to help you generate revenue by increasing your ‘reach’. Blogging helps you to do this by:

• Creating brand awareness
• Driving traffic to your website
• Allowing you to showcase credibility in your area of expertise

It’s also a great way of addressing new or trending topics. Adding blogs to your website provides your readers with a steady stream of fresh content to encourage them to keep coming back. It’s a great way of optimising your site with any ‘keywords’ you want your business to be associated with. (Keywords are words and phrases that people will type into a search engine to help them find what they are searching for (such as ‘champagne flutes’ or ‘landscape gardener’).

The addition of new material also provides your audience with a reason to spend longer on your website, this is known as dwell time.

All of these factors, help to improve your Google ranking – hurrah!

3. What makes a good blog post and what should it contain?

Before you start to embark on your blog post, you need to ask yourself a few simple questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• Why would someone want to read your post?
• What will keep them reading through to the end?
• What will make them come back to read the next one?

Ideally a blog will address a challenge and provide solutions to the challenge that can be easily understood, followed, and implemented by your target audience. A blog should educate your readers in the topic you are addressing. Most of all, even with all the knowledge you’re imparting, make sure your posts reflect you and your personality. You want your readers to enjoy reading your posts, so make sure it’s obvious that you enjoyed writing it!

4. How do I get started?

You want to get your readers hooked during the intro – so, offer up an anecdote, fact, or interesting stat. to capture their attention. Outline what they can expect from the blog and the value it will bring. An example may look like this:

‘According to Semrush, there are 89,409 Google searches per second. 34% of buyers will make an unplanned purchase after reading quality content – so how can you improve your Google ranking and generate more revenue? Get blogging that’s how! Read on as we explore:

1. What is a blog and how do I publish one?
2. What makes a good blog and what should it contain?
3. How do I get started, and make sure it gets read?

Make sure you organise your content – break it up so it’s ‘less intimidating’ to the reader (and also for yourself as a writer). Use bullets, headers, images or screenshots – all of these methods help the blog to look ‘less heavy’ and break up the content into bitesize chunks.

Add links to your own website and to 3^rd party sites (if relevant) to help your readers find further information. The key is to keep it structured and organised. Don’t overwhelm with words!

5. Getting the content right

So, you feel ready to put ‘pen to paper’, but before you do – you need to think about a suitable topic. You can’t just launch in with a ‘how to guide’ on generating revenue, or changing a boiler, you need to build credibility with your readers first and show them that you really are an expert in your field.

A good starting point could be to provide a ‘list’ post, where you provide your readers with information to help guide them on their journey. In the instance of the boiler, this could be something as simple as ‘5 signs that your boiler needs replacing’. From there perhaps your second post could be for example ‘The pros and cons of a combi vs a system boiler’.

Build your integrity, showcase your knowledge and expertise in your field, and once you have a few of these posted, then you can start to branch out into more specific topics and venture into the world of the ‘how to’ guide. At this point, you’ve built your reputation and credibility in such a way, that your audience will know it’s worth reading.

6. How can I make sure it gets read?

Once you’re happy, don’t forget to give it a read through, or better yet have a friend or colleague give it the once over. Then simply upload it and click publish!

At this stage you might want to consider promoting the blog, to let your readers know it’s available. To do this, simply shout it out on your social feeds, send emails to those people and businesses registered to receive marketing content from you, or use a marketing platform such as Mailchimp, to target your outreach at scale.

So, there you have it. All you need to know to get yourself started, so what are you waiting for? You’re just 6 simple steps away from becoming a blogger!

Happy blogging!

Would you like to write a blog post for the All About Chipping Campden website?

If you promote your business on the site, then we’d love to share a blog you’ve written about your business sector.

We are currently looking for blogs from businesses who work in the following industries:

• Weddings – venues, entertainment, health and beauty, floristry, transport, photography, catering etc
• Retail – shops, markets, online retailers etc
• Hospitality – hotels, B&Bs, holiday cottages, ‘alternative’ accommodation venues, restaurants, cafes, takeaways, mobile caterers
• Healthcare – counselling, osteopathy, chiropractic services, home nursing, dental, respite care etc
• Animal care – dog walkers, veterinary care, physio, home boarders, pet groomers etc

To discuss this further please contact us at hello@chippingcampden.com.

Alternatively, if you’d love to get writing, but can’t think of a topic to get your teeth into, then how about picking one of these more general suggestions about life in the beautiful Cotswolds:

• A day in the life of a Cotswold (your role)
• What is it like to run a business in the area?
• Your 5 favourite family friendly walks in the area.
• What it is like running a charity in the area?
• Your top 5 dog walks in the area.
• What it is like running a high street shop in the area?
• The best ‘pub circuit’ in the area.
• What it is like going to school in the area?
• What it is like growing up in the area?
• What career opportunities are there nearby?

Remember – we don’t just represent Chipping Campden, if you live or work in Mickleton, Weston Subedge, Honeybourne, Broadway, or any of the other towns and villages we are blessed to have on the doorstep, then we’d love to hear from you.

If you would like to discuss writing a post, or you’ve already written something you’d like posting, then please email us at hello@chippingcampden.com.