Why are you blogging? To share news about your company? Meet a deadline? Keep the boss happy?
We all sit down at the keyboard for different reasons and choose to press that publish button. However, in the content marketing world there’s a popular trend toward writing blog posts with a heavy personal slant. Clients have been asking me to write in first-person, share stories unique to my experiences and even add photos I’ve snapped to illustrate the topic.
I’m the first to say, it’s easy to fall into an egocentric void when writing this type of content. After all, you’re asked to write about your own experiences. And, as much as readers love to hear stories from real people — not slick ad speak — as a writer you still have to keep in mind the overall reason for writing in the first place.
You need to provide something of value to your reader.
What is value?
Sure, it’s fun to drone on about how cute your dog is, what she likes to do and talk about her favorite treats. And as much as that may be entertaining for some readers, they don’t learn anything. So, you need to add value to your posts.
When I’m penning something for this blog, or for a client, I try to keep these questions in mind:
⦁ Am I providing actionable advice and tangible resources that the readers can use?
⦁ Do my tips make practical sense for my audience?
⦁ Is the information I’m sharing unique and not common knowledge?
⦁ Would I enjoy stumbling across this information as a reader?
When you think about whether or not your blog post provides value for your readers, think as a reader, not a writer. Do you feel like reading the post is a waste of time, or did it make you feel inspired, empowered, interested or like you gained knowledge?
Value is a completely subjective idea, that changes for each project and writer. But, it’s worth thinking about before you write your next post. Otherwise, why are you writing it?
Always put your reader’s needs first. Save your internal ramblings for a journal or personal blog, not paid client work.
Do you need a reliable writer on your team? I collaborate with marketing and advertising agencies to create content for blog posts, web pages, social media and newsletters. Learn how I can help your clients HERE.
Thanks for sharing this informative post. Really helpful especially as I am learning how to become a freelance writer and always find your posts interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Phoenix! Thanks so much for reading and following along! Since you’re just getting started as a freelancer, what are you finding to be your biggest challenge? Angela
At the moment I am just reading up on all the info I can come across. I find your website very helpful.
Wonderful! Thanks so much for visiting and good luck! ~Angela
Thank you