Top 10 tips for writing a compelling blog post: part 1

We write a lot of blogs here at BioStrata. We post on all sorts of topics: everything from interesting tales from our fellow scientists to hints, tips and inside knowledge on how best to achieve success in life science marketing. If used correctly, a website blog can do wonders for your business, so we thought we'd add to our repertoire and write a blog about, well, blogging. Take a look at part one of our guide to effective blogging and quickly establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

Here are our first five tips on effective blog writing. You can also read the next five in part 2 of this series.

1. Know your audience

Know whom you’re writing for, what they're interested in and what their challenges are. Writing blogs that speak directly to your audience and answer any specific questions they might have will make your blog more sharable, rather than drifting alone in the deepest darkest blogosphere.

2. Be a thought leader

Write about topics that you’re an expert on and which can help your audience to learn something. Do your research: talking about subjects surrounding the industry rather than your company will mean people are more likely to stumble upon your content, and soon enough they’ll be looking to you for advice. Writing an advert rather than a compelling blog post will annoy, rather than inform, and may mean you lose the interest of your target audience.

3. Frequency doesn’t hertz

Once you’ve captured someone’s attention, don’t let it go. If they find your content interesting, they’ll want to know more and will be looking out to see what you say next. Blogging frequently and consistently can be time-consuming but try to post at least once or twice per week if you can! It may help to prepare some in advance and keep a store of blogs to ensure you never succumb to the perils of writer’s block and always have something to post.

4. Finding your voice

Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Think about the type of language they might use and use this to set the tone for your blog.  Define a company tone of voice and stick to it. Just remember to add a bit of personality – it’s a blog after all. Writing content that’s more fun to read is more likely to be remembered and shared.

5. Keeping the focus

The key here is to remember that a blog is a series. Each blog should have one topic and one purpose – don’t over complicate the story or try to cover everything in each blog. Rather, stick to one subject and write unique and focused content. Use your blog to educate, inform, inspire, convince or entertain your readers. Even the bravest of multitaskers needn’t attempt to tackle all these at once but you should make sure your series of posts covers all these things, as well as a variety of subjects.