10 simple steps to writing a good blog post

Blog post writing is a skill. Done correctly, a well-crafted blog post has the potential to educate and even entertain a reader. The main reason  businesses should be writing posts is to demonstrate to the world that they know their onions, as well as show a bit of their personality, focus and values. This can be useful for potential customers and employees , giving them an insight as to what sort of experience they will get.

Writing a blog post can also help position an organisation or an individual as a thought leader. These types of post usually avoid talking heavily about a specific solution or service, but instead look at issues within their industry that could be affecting customers. Often, those that make the most impact demonstrate experience and knowledge, helping to make the reader think about something in a different way.

In a technical, complex and crowded industry such as cybersecurity, a blog post can also serve as a way of cutting through the noise.

With that in mind here are 10 steps to writing a post that will be well received.

  1. Pick a relevant topic – Ideally, this should help support an existing marketing or PR thought leadership campaign, such as promoting eBooks, surveys and so on. Otherwise, relate the post to what your organisation does, the industry within which you operate and/or what your clients are interested in.
  2. Research your topic – even if you think you know the subject you are writing about, doing some research can add value to your writing. Look at recent news stories or what others have written about the topic, particularly thought leaders.
  3. Know your audience – who are you writing for? If it’s clients, think about what their needs are, what are they interested in, what motivates them and what level of knowledge they have? For instance, the style of writing aimed at attracting and engaging a CEO or CFO should be very different to how you would address a CISO or security operations centre manager.
  4. Plan it – Think about how your blog post will flow. Ideally it will be broken down into sections that will be separated by sub heads. This will make it easier to consume. Thinking about what these sub heads will be will help give your post structure.
  5. Keep it simple – Avoid using overly complicated words and language. Generally, keeping sentences shorter with fewer clauses can aid clarity. Aim for sentences of 30 words or less and go for a word count of 400-700 words.
  6. Headings – make them brief, to the point, interesting and relevant. The use of puns or alliteration can make a dull heading more eye-catching. Also try to include keywords that will help the search engine optimisation of your company website. For example, at éclat our keywords include “cyber security”, “marketing” and “PR”.
  7. Style – Blog posts tend to be more informal and more conversational than articles. As such, feel free to use contractions, pose questions and even address the reader directly.
  8. Links – Include at least one link to an external website. This demonstrates that what you are saying is backed up by others. Also, it can help with that all-important SEO. Use some of that research you should have done to insert a useful reference.
  9. Call to action – finish your article by asking the reader to do something. This could be “For more insights like this, subscribe to our blog.” Or “If you’d like more information download our whitepaper or email info@eclat.co.uk.”
  10. Read it – read your post back to yourself. Does it read well? Are there any spelling errors? Have you missed out something? Proofreading work before publication is vital for avoiding silly mistakes.

These tips should set you on the path to creating fantastic blog posts. If you want help writing compelling blogs and other content for your cybersecurity company drop us a line here at info@eclat.co.uk

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