Blog posts: How to write an effective post

Who is your blog aimed at? Your desired readership should be the audience you're targeting with your marketing activities, whether it's B2B or B2C. The readers of your blog are also your prospective clients, i.e. consumers likely to buy your products or services, or carry out a specific action.

What does your typical reader look like? Personas are the foundation of any good marketing strategy. They act as blueprints for your prospective clients, allowing you to target specific groups of people. In a blog, each article should be written with an “ideal” reader in mind, with clearly defined needs that the content should aim to meet.

Why blogging? Your approach should aim to achieve clear, tangible and measurable objectives, whether it be gaining visibility, increasing traffic, increasing conversion rate, etc. Each blog article you write is a rung on a ladder leading to your goal.

What do you want to get across to your readers? Behind every blog article, there's a message being conveyed. This message must be “customer-centric” – focused on the consumer – and take into account their needs. A blog isn't the place for self-promotion.

What's the best format for you? Tutorials pass on practical knowledge. A list provides users with key information. An in-depth article shares expertise. You could also ask yourself whether the “article” format is even the best route – because it doesn't have to be! A video, for example, may be more suitable.

What are your competitors doing? Content strategies are becoming increasingly common. Your direct and indirect competitors probably have one already. Identify those who publish blogs, analyse their approach, and try to do something different and/or better to grab the attention of their audience.

A good blog article relies on a clear and consistent structure. Ideally, this structure should be determined before writing even a single line and the content should be organised into sections and sub-sections to ensure it remains digestible and interesting from start to finish. It's also important to ensure that the different sections are balanced.

The title is the key to the success of a blog article, and must therefore capture the reader's attention. Typically, a provisional title is chosen in order to define the angle of the article before a definitive title is decided upon once the content has been written. Don't hesitate to add expressions, emojis, and puns if it fits your editorial line.

The introduction aims to hold the reader's attention and encourage them to continue reading. It should introduce the topic, provide the main key points of the article, ask questions, and specify how the article will answer them. Be careful not to reveal too much: the goal is to push the reader to read on!

There's nothing worse than a boring, mundane blog article. Try to assert your writing style and add some volume to the content and liven it up a little. You should develop a style that is specific to your company, which corresponds to online writing standards, your industry, and what your target audience expects from you.

Formatting consists of refining the blog article once it has been written. This involves working on its form (spaced text, balanced sections, coherent subheadings) as well as its SEO optimisation (HTML tags, title styles) and visual aspects (images, text colour, etc.). Don't forget to place CTAs.

The proofreading stage allows you to eliminate as many spelling, grammar, and style mistakes as possible. A blog article filled with errors and linguistic approximations is not very professional, so you should also ensure the consistency of the content and the quality of the text and information provided.

Content that includes images gets 94% more views. It is therefore essential to illustrate the article with high-quality images that make sense and prioritise the main image that will be highlighted on social media publications. Visuals are also good SEO levers.

The first channel for promoting a blog post is the website that hosts it. Make sure that each new publication is automatically highlighted on the homepage of your professional website (or do it manually). Consider creating links within old content that point to the new article.

There are various channels that can be utilised to distribute your blog article. Based on your target audience, you should choose the most relevant of these to share your blog post. For example, B2B content should be sent to your mailing list and shared on professional social networks like LinkedIn.

When sharing a blog article on social media, it should be accompanied by a post. It should grab the attention of users and make them want to click on the link. Make sure you present the subject and indicate the benefits that readers can gain from reading your article.

There are more and less favourable times to post your social media and e-mail campaigns. It can depend on the target audience: B2B emails are more likely to reach their target during the week, for example. Certain tools can be used to schedule the posting/sending to take advantage of ideal times.

Certain formats work better on specific platforms. For example, videos tend to perform well on social media. Sharing a blog article can be more effective if it is accompanied by an engaging format, such as a video or infographic. This helps boost engagement rates and the number of shares.

It's such an obvious distribution lever that we tend to forget it: company employees can contribute to the success of the marketing strategy by sharing the blog post on their own web platforms. To do this, it is important to let everyone know internally that this content exists and encourage them to share it.