4 Ingredients to a Successful Small Business Blog Entry

After speaking with many small business owners recently, I’ve discovered they want to blog, but often aren’t sure what to blog about – or how to convey their ideas through  a blog entry. I’ve been blogging for a while and I wanted to share a helpful technique that helps you write better blog posts for your small business.

In the illustration below, I lay out the four ingredients found in successful blog posts across the web. Obviously, not every blog post fits into this, but many do and is a great place to start if you want to get into blogging.

The lede is the most meaningful statement that roughly summarizes your idea and subtly encourages people to read more. Journalists use this in newspapers to deliver news so people can understand the focus of the article and for more detail, they keep reading. If you have a major point to share, do it in the first paragraph of your blog so people at least walk away with that tidbit. If you need help drafting a lede, About.com has advice for you.

Following a great lede and a compelling point, you want to support it with facts. This doesn’t mean your blog post has to read like Wikipedia, but the more concrete details you can add to support your point and give valuable insight for your readers, the better. Definitely feel at liberty to use a YouTube video or a picture as that adds a little bit more context into a blog entry.

Next, you probably want your readers to learn what you think of what you wrote. Share your personal views on the given subject. Perhaps you have a hands-on experience with it. Think about how it would support the major point found in the lede. Either way, it’s not the most crucial element of a blog post, but it’s great once people are hooked to read. It goes without saying that as a writer of your own blog posts, you’re free to insert opinions throughout the whole entry — this is what style is. Readers want style and they want to know what your edge is on a subject; this is the place to put it.

The conclusion is likely the most exciting (or dulling) part of your blog entry. Wrap up what you just wrote about and include useful and interesting takeaways you want the reader to know about. The call to action might be simply asking for comments or to take action. For instance, I’ll conclude that you take 30 minutes and write a blog post about your business following this model and to publish it

Now, I know this simple guide on writing a business-oriented blog posts might not fit everyone. That’s the freedom you have with blogging—you get to be as creative and unique as you want. But hopefully, I’ve saved your readers from reading boring blog posts. That’s the point – don’t write fluff. Nobody likes fluff and it can be a turnoff to your readers.

Writing blog posts can be a great way to stir up some buzz about your business, latest happenings, rewarding some rockstar-clients and even going in-depth about your products and services. If there was one rule here, it’s this – don’t hard-sell on your blog — it’s tacky and it doesn’t convert well. People on your small business blog for one or two reasons: they like you and want to learn more or they are researching something around their needs. Be the resource who shares good, interesting and useful information.

If you liked this post, let me know in the comments below. I might go a little more in-depth on small business blogging if you want to know more. It would be awesome if you could take 30 minutes to write a great blog post and publish it for your readers to learn something new about your business or industry.

[Image credit: mariareyesmcdavis]