Nowadays, every business needs its own website or blog as society has become more dependent on the internet for growth. The rate of information exchange in society seems astronomical these days and companies, both big and small business are busy hiring web developers, content creators, and social media specialists just to keep up.

Every role involved in this new industry is challenging especially those that involve writing. The real challenge comes with scripting a decent blog post that will drill the point home to your readers on what the company wants them to learn.

Writing sounds easy up until you realize that you're sending an important message that’s critical to the small business.

Fortunately, every function of the job has a format that you can study and follow. This post won't feature an in-depth guide but it will offer some tips on how to write a professional blog post for your small business.

Know your target audience

Before you start writing, just ask yourself a simple question: What's the point if you don't know who you are writing to? As rhetorical as the question might seem, it's good to ask yourself this every time you're about to write your piece.

There is actually a difference between knowing your target audience and knowing them well. Therefore, your communication has to connect with the right audience, so evaluating trends is key.

For example, your company provides golf training, and they want you to write a piece informing consumers about a new and revolutionary swing, they can use to improve their game. The right way to go about this is to outline all the advantages this new technique can provide to them under certain scenarios compared to ones they would use in the past.

Once that is outlined, all that's left is to let them know how the company's training model for this is the deal of the century.

Hold your audience to a high standard

Regardless of what article type you are working with, the information you provide must be written with the audience in mind. In fact, they should be treated with the highest regard during communication.

While this advice might seem obvious for a blog post geared towards your clientele, it’s still quite easy for writers to downplay the needs of their own audience. This is especially crucial when the post requires some P.R. magic to smooth things over with unsatisfied customers.

Therefore, when writing your blog post, you should always place the customers’ needs over your small business. Yes, the company is important but its customers are even more important. So, aim to secure and maintain a healthy relationship between both sides.

Enticing title and grabby summary

It's important to rope the reader in with the blog post and the first and most obvious way to do this is with an enticing title. Whatever type of article you are writing, it should be informative enough to give readers an idea of what to expect and nothing more.

But it also has to be structured strategically for enticement.

The title has to demand the attention of readers and invoke their curiosity clauses outright. One proven way to do this is to write a title that eludes to a fact without giving too much away. For example, “Churchill wanted to pen Rockefeller’s Biography, but there was a Big Catch.”

Another proven method is to write out a title that promises important answers after asking readers a question. For example, “How this African Nation lost its own Culture to Capitalism.” Strategic titles like these and more will drive the readers to click on the provided link to sate their curiosity.

Now that you have your enticing title, your next move is to maintain their enthusiasm and that’s where an engaging summary comes in.

Any typical summary should include the most important information about the topic like the who, what, where, why, and how.

However, engaging content should read out interestingly and not bland. Here are two versions to a sentence to compare for example:

1st example (Bad):

“The automobile company has unveiled its new 'VX' line of pickup trucks that will replace previous models on the market”

2nd example (Good):

“The company is ushering in the new age of pickups with its 'VX' line that will undoubtedly leave the past in the dust.”

If you can guess that the second example is the best way to go then you’ve already got an idea of what is expected in your summary. Also, take note that since it’s only a summary, you won't be giving away too much that would normally be expanded upon in the rest of the post.

Therefore, keep your info short and accurate here. There’s always plenty of room left in the article to elaborate on those points.

Aim for the middle ground

Complex writing isn’t always a good thing unless you’re out to intimidate. Always remember that your audience might not be as savvy with the topic as you. It’s ok to spruce things up for the presentation, but keep in mind that they prefer their information delivered in a style that is still simple enough to digest or they will go elsewhere.

However, you shouldn’t dumb things down to the point that it makes your audience feel pampered either. That’s why it’s better to aim for a middle ground between technical and basic communication.

If you have to throw in some technical limbo, don’t do it solely for the purpose of coming off as an expert; that’s selfish.

Always remember that your audience is trying to follow along so if you have to use that limbo, always include a brief explanation for some of the terminology being used.

Don't forget about teamwork

When performing technical writing for a firm, feedback is key to understanding what your target audience wants which requires comparisons between internal and external sources.

This goes especially for marketing analysis that already requires a think tank to perform. In other words, members of your team might know something you don’t which is why you can’t always play the role of both editor and writer.

If you’re already an accomplished technical writer/editor that knows your way around your small business, hats off to you.

But if you have teammates who are quite skilled and willing, it probably wouldn’t hurt to request their help with editing and publishing if they haven’t already been assigned to work with you.

Just remember, you are already part of a team and by design. The company expects you to act that way for the greater good and they along with the audience will thank you for it.
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