A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to talk about B2B bloggers with a group of business leaders. One of the concerns that kept coming up was some variation on "I don't know how to write sales copy." There's a perfect response I have prepared whenever someone says that to me:
Good.
You know who likes to read sales copy? Two people: the person who wrote it, and (maybe) that person's mother. So don't let a misguided idea that there's a "right" way to talk about your services or products get in the way of actually talking about your services or products.
Here are some core rules for business-to-business bloggers that may help you when you're feeling like you don't have the writing chops you'd like.
1. Write like yourself.
A blog post is not a dissertation, so don’t be formal or stuffy. Use a conversational tone, with personality and empathy. Avoid buzzwords, jargon, internal terms, and arcane language.
2. Share, don't sell.
Don't try to sell your wares in your blog posts. Rather, use each blog post to share a resource, solve a problem, explain a concept, help customers do their jobs, or improve their lives. This creates value for readers and positions your company as a reliable source of helpful information.
3. Ask for action.
What should readers do after they read your post? Create triggers for them to learn more. Encourage them to attend a webinar, or link to a longer, related article on your site. Invite them to comment and interact with you, and with your business.
4. Use Keywords.
The primary goal of most B2B blogs is to make your site easier to find via search engines. To succeed, you need to use target keywords in every post. Try to use at least 3 targeted keywords per post, and repeat them multiple times. The more keyword-dense your blog posts are, the more visitors we will have who are searching on the specific topics that you are writing about.
Questions to Ask about Every Blog Post
- Does this content help your customers?
- Does it teach the customer something, or help solve a problem?
- Is it timely, relevant, compelling, and valuable?
- Does it address specific customer needs and wants?
- How can we get more mileage out of this content?