Hey First name / friend,

 

I'm writing this email before June runs away with me like May did. I had an email in mind to send you last month, but this is the thing with marketing your own business - it kinda slips to the bottom of the list or slides off entirely when we are busy spinning all the plates to keep everything going. We are human, it's hard to manage it all and it's not something to feel bad about. I've had to repeat that to myself so many times over the last 5 years of being self-employed.

 

This struggle with consistency comes up often in my chats with brilliant clients who are stressing over an email they didn't send, Instagram posts which never materialised or a gap of months between pinning anything on Pinterest. It's totally normal folks, we don't have marketing departments, it's just us - doing ALL the things. On that note, I really enjoyed this podcast episode from Helen Perry which delves into our tendency as small business owners to over-burden ourselves with unrealistic to-do lists - you might find it helpful too.  

 

So, as you may know, each month I choose a focus point. A surface dive into a specific platform or strategy for marketing your creative business online, something to mull over on your tea break. 

 

This month, it's Blogging 101. I'm serving up easy ideas on how to brainstorm content ideas, find your keywords, write with heart and use AI tools to speed up the whole process…

Blogging is an ideal way to share your products, services and story - all woven within topics and themes which connect with your brand and engage your audience. It provides a container to hold and display your brand values, the things you stand for and the passion behind your products and services.

 

On top of that, when written with search engines in mind, it is the perfect content to optimise and ensure your business is appearing in relevant searches, driving up your SEO score along the way.

Here are a few of my tips for creating enjoyable blog content people love to read…

 

Brainstorm content ideas. The first step to creating enjoyable blog content is to brainstorm content ideas. Think about your expertise or niche - what topics do you know about or love that your audience would benefit from? What are your unique insights and perspectives? Once you have a list, you can start to narrow it down and think about what topics might work best throughout the year.

 

Research your keywords. Once you've chosen a topic for a blog post, research your keywords i.e. the words and phrases that people will use to search for your topic online. Take a little time at the start to define your words and phrases - I like to use the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool for generating suggestions. Once you've got that step sorted, you can make sure that your content is optimized for search engines by filling your post with those lovely keywords.

 

Use AI tools to support your planning and structure. These tools can support you to sketch out a brilliant structure and set out subsections which help the content flow. You can also use them to generate a list of searchable title suggestions. So far I've used Bard and Chat GPT and have found both to be simple to use and helpful. (Note of caution on using any purely AI-written copy on your blog - it will inevitably be generic and bland. It just can't capture the unique voice, empathy and perspective of a human writer, so it's unlikely to foster any real connection with your audience.)

 

Consider using a list format. List posts or ‘listicles’ are popular because they generally offer a quick and easy read which includes solutions to a particular problem or answers to a question. Suppose  I turned this email into a blog post, it would make a great listicle…

 5 simple steps to writing a really good blog post. If you write a listicle, try to use subheadings to break up your list and make it even easier for readers to scan.

 

Write copy which flows from the heart of your brand. Your blog posts should be an authentic reflection of your brand, a space for building trust and relationships with your customers, so always aim to write in a way that is consistent with your brand's voice and tone. Write a list of your brand keywords on a Post-it and stick it on your monitor or desk while you write. Weaving those words throughout all your copy will encourage consistency and a comforting, cohesive feel to your writing. 

Book a one-hour virtual session with me and we can delve into a specific area of digital marketing for your business. From content creation and strategy for email marketing to blogging for your business, writing effective copy for your website, SEO or Pinterest strategy.

 

And don't forget you can always book a free zoom call to chat about any of my creative digital marketing services and we can figure out what support would suit you & your brand best…

As ever - if you have any questions about my copywriting or digital marketing services or how my pricing structure works, pop me an email or a DM and we can talk it through.