B2B Marketing Strategy: Copywriting for Blogs
How to Write Blog Posts for B2B Marketing
Writing good copy is essential within B2B Marketing. A blog post is a short piece of copywriting published on a blogging site. It can be as long as you like, but short, snappy and easily-digestible works best. Most business people haven’t the time or the desire to regularly read blogs, so keep your posts short and memorable.
Many businesses use blogs primarily for SEO reasons. In each blog post, one or two keywords and their variations should be scattered throughout the content if improving your ranking is a goal.
You need to be careful to ensure keywords sound natural in your sentences. You can’t just stick a keyword in every sentence or Google will penalise you—and readers will disappear. For SEO benefits, your blog needs to be linked to your company’s website or, ideally, be a part of the site.
Each blog post should focus on a specific keyword and have a conversational, friendly tone. Telling a story or an anecdote and adding metaphors or analogies are all good ways to focus your blog post and heighten engagement. It also helps to be somewhat controversial or to take a unique stand on an issue.
Regarding finding something to write about, you can take content from any company copy you have, such as newsletters or reports, and rewrite it in this less formal medium. This will take the pressure off creating new and interesting content every time you come to post—rewriting is a much easier and quicker way.
Blog posts are intended to increase traffic to your website, and they should also direct potential customers to where they can find more information—so definitely include links.
Typically these would be to your main website, where a visitor can read more, or ideally, download a White Paper.
We call this the ‘call to action’ element. You want people to react as a result of reading your post. This is marketing after all, not just a chance for you to vent your spleen (although it can be great for that too…)
Summary of Key Tips for Creating Blog Posts:
- Create an intriguing and relevant headline
- Have a punchy opening line—first impressions matter!
- Use relevant keywords throughout the post
- Be opinionated and tell it like it is
- Make it short and sweet
- Use bullet points/numbered lists
- Proofread and edit before you post—little errors will annoy readers
- Have a consistent style from post to post
- Link to your other sites—primary website, social media profiles, etc.
- Link to sites that back up your opinion
- Quality is better than quantity—post when you’ve got something to say
- Invite questions and comments from your readers
- Interact with other bloggers and respond to comments
- Comment on other blogs you read. People may find what you say interesting and want to read more, so they’ll visit yours
- Post consistently: set a schedule and stick to it (e.g. every Tuesday)
- Use the ‘Tags’ function of your blog to let people know about your topic and other related content.
Find out more about the rapidly changing world of B2B Marketing
Cheers, Toby [B511]
B2B Marketing expert, Toby Marshall, is the founder of LC