How To Improve Your Blogging With Jai Long

 Hi guys, it’s pretty crazy to think I’ve already put out 29 podcasts! It’s blowing my mind how many listeners I already have and I’m definitely getting more comfortable and confident in front of the microphone. In this episode, I want to talk about how to improve your blogging. Blogging is still a really important and relevant tool for your business, especially if you’re online. I want to walk you through a few different reasons why a blog is a good idea, how to present information in your blog, and how to keep it interesting. 

Reasons to Blog in 2021

A blog will help you connect with your perfect audience that little bit more. It will help you educate your clients, and add value to their experience whilst they’re interacting with your brand. It can be useful as a marketing tool, and can also help your site rank higher in search engines. Blogging helps you show off your brand a little bit more with the information you decide to post. I think it’s a very important tool even today, and I’m going to talk about how to come up with great content for posts, as well as nine tips for improving your blog.

A blog post is what I call a ‘slow burn’ marketing strategy; you can’t expect to get value from it straight away. It takes a little bit longer, but it’s worth it in the long run. 

 

Why is a Blog a Great Idea?

I do a lot of blogging, with three businesses that I regularly blog for, JaiLong.co, Free the Bird and Heartbreak Hotel. I’ve had so much success with my blog posts; a lot of sharing, a lot of feedback and a lot of positivity. This all results in more visibility and influence for me and my businesses. I’ve been blogging for a long time and it’s resulted in many clients and bookings, with hundreds of people browsing my content every day. 

When I first became a wedding photographer, I noticed that all the other photographers just posted blogs about weddings. I changed it up and added value by educating clients through my posts. This helped me stand out and provided value to potential clients.

 

 

Things to Consider When it Comes to Your Blog

Before you launch your blog and start posting regularly, there are two main points to consider.  First of all, what is your message? What are you trying to achieve? Secondly, who is the blog post for? Who are you writing it to? I envision a perfect clientele so I have a very specific vision for the intended audience. 

 

Obstacles to Blogging

Blogging is time-consuming and many people think they don’t have the spare time to write one consistently. You can always outsource your blogging and get specialised copywriters to write them. Whenever I have a new idea, I write about that specific topic without editing or deleting. Once I get it all out, I send it to a copywriter to help structure and clean it up. Another obstacle can be that you don’t know how to write that well or communicate your thoughts. Outsourcing can be a great way to solve this too. There are different types of copywriters, so if you do reach out for one, make sure it’s the right fit for you. They need to be able to translate your voice through their writing.

We sometimes feel like things have to be totally polished before we put them out. I’m not the strongest at grammar or spelling, but I’d rather make a big impact than worry about making something perfect. I don’t allow these imperfections to stop me from making the biggest impact possible with my audience. Try and write with a specific audience in mind; don’t write for Google rankings or algorithms. You know your fans – write to them.

 

 

What Is Your Blog Post About?

When I’m deciding what to write about, I ask the question, ‘what is my perfect client having a problem with?’ You can do tutorials and how-to guides relating to your specific industry or niche within the industry. You can write about the latest industry news. There are always trends, equipment or supplies to talk about, and there might be no one doing that in your area. You want to create valuable content that’s unique. Give people a reason to come back to you. 

You could also write about current events in your industry. Controversial subjects are also good for generating visibility and getting your voice out there. You can write posts based around checklists in your industry. Listicles (a piece of writing presented in the form of a list) are always popular and do well on social media. Case studies, interviews and features are also good options for posts. People love reviews, which also work great for SEO (search engine optimisation). Comparisons are a good structure for a post; they can be educational and controversial at the same time.

 

Video Blogs and Audio 

It doesn’t always have to be words. Video blogs are another option, and they don’t have to have a high production value. You can shoot them on your phone and read out your blog post; it’s just a different way to deliver content. Some people might prefer a video. You can also do a simple audio reading to allow people to dive deeper into the post.

 

More Blog Ideas

Problems and solutions is a great idea for a blog topic. You can also bring people behind the scenes of your business and show them what it looks like behind the curtain. Any given day at my studio is packed full of interesting moments, which could make for great content to send out to my audience. Inspirational stories are also valuable. People appreciate being inspired; they want to read about and share it. They also like to laugh. Humour can be a valuable asset to your content, making it more lively and bringing a bit of personality through. Frequently Asked Questions can be a highly valuable post, allowing you to automate questions you regularly receive. For a final idea, just do an occasional rant. It’s your blog post, you can write what you want! People will love to get an insight into your personality, especially if you’re an industry leader. 

 

Guest Bloggers and Gallery Posts

Guest bloggers are a great idea; you can curate other people to write on topics for you. They add so much value to both them and you. Reach out to industry leaders and ask if they’d like to blog for you. They’ll get their own platforms shared with your audience, and you’ll get a lot of value out of these posts with a different perspective. Gallery or album posts can also make good posts now and again, especially if you’re a photographer. These aren’t as useful as written posts, but it’s another way to connect with your audience. Even playlists you like/create can put your personality across and get your voice heard.

 

Ideas for Content Creation

Coming up with something to say is tough, but we all have to start somewhere. You can monetise your blog by putting ads on it if it gets really popular. The more specific you are, the better your chances will be of success. You can have affiliates, so you get paid to write about other people’s products. While it’s not the reason to create a blog, there is that opportunity. You have to keep content interesting. Think about the way you’re delivering the content. Videos, graphics and photos are fantastic to communicate your point and keep the post engaging. Break up big blocks of text with anything you can.

You don’t have to call it a blog! Try a different name like a diary, a journal, stories, chronicles, anything that makes it more appealing. Don’t create content just to rank on Google or because you feel like you should. You need to create content that’s going to convert your traffic into fans. Make your content unique so you stand out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 Tips for Creating Better Blogs

1 – Write more than 300 words. People like to read, so don’t rely on photos. Tell the story of the photos you include. Create more meaty content. 

2 – Enable and encourage comments. Comments not only add to the word count and provide links, but it shows that other people are engaged with your posts. 

3 – Enable social sharing. Not everyone is fluent with the internet, so you need the social share buttons at the bottom of the post. 

4 – Use Videos and Graphics. These keep it more interesting for the reader. 

5 – Use pull-out text and pull-out quotes. Get to the punchline, pull it out and put it at the very top of the post. This gives the readers an indication of what the post is about. 

6 – Use images and alt text. Images are important to keep your posts dynamic. Alt text is relevant for search engines, and basically refers to a literal description of the image, 

7 – Link to the things you’re talking about so they’re easy to find. People will want to engage with what you’re talking about and make sure they open up in a new page. Internal links are also important, leading back to your own pages. 

8 – Use SEO plug-ins like Yoast. These make SEO easy and will push your post higher up the search engine charts. 

9 – Create shareable content. Write something that people love so much that they can’t help but share it. You can also share your content on other platforms. 

 

So that’s it for today guys, hopefully, all that information is helpful. My biggest takeaway would be don’t allow obstacles to stand in your way; just get started!

Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you next time for Episode 30.

 

Episode Sponsor

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Do you have any extra tips for blog posts? Would love to hear them in the comments below!