Blogging.

Create meaningful blog content in a half hour with the 30-minute blog post.

Writer’s block can be overwhelming! It feels like you finally have a chance to sit down and write content for your blog …only to get a ‘bout of writing anxiety. An hour later, the screen is blank, the page is bare and you’ve nothing to show for your precious time.

If it seems like it takes for-EVER to create meaningful blog content, you’re not alone. It takes 65% more time to write one article for your blog or website news platform than it did in 2014. (Source: Hubspot.com) Seriously— whereas it used to take only 2hrs 24min to write one blog article, 2020 studies show it takes on average 3 hrs 57min to create meaningful blog content.

So how can you cut down on that time? What will let you trim the fat from your content writing, thereby making you a content creation powerhouse??? We’ve got the perfect tool for you.

We developed The 30 Minute Blog Post as a basic format to help you create meaningful blog content quickly, painlessly and effortlessly.

 THE 30-MINUTE BLOG POST: WHAT IT IS

The 30-Minute Blog Post is a simple structure for you to follow when writing blog content for your brand. It is a tool for helping you get the creative juices flowin’. No joke- the 30-Minute Blog Post is a catalyst for reducing the time it takes to create content for your blog. The 30-Minute Blog Post IS a plain-Jane language guide for personal brand businesses with a basic understanding of digital marketing to create content more efficiently and effectively. It IS intended to remove one of the biggest barriers to entry in effective content marketing- having a substantial arsenal of powerful content. Yes, The 30-Minute Blog Post is your booster shot for creating more content in less time. Boo-Yah!

THE 30-MINUTE BLOG POST: WHAT IT IS NOT

The 30-Minute Blog Post is not a guarantee that you will succeed with creating meaningful blog content within a half hour. It is not a challenge, it is an instrument to facilitate faster writing. Though our team has successfully written blog articles in 30 minutes after following this basic format, your results may vary. The 30-Minute Blog Post is not intended to be the world’s foremost authority on blog-writing perfection. It is not meant to teach the marketing industry’s leading authorities on blog writing; we’re not about that life.

Now, though, let’s discuss what the purpose of a blog is in the first place.

What is the purpose of a blog—creating meaningful blog content

The purpose of a blog is to create community with your target audience, putting you at the center of authority within that community. You deliver useful information and create opportunities for dialogue for those who will use that information. Blogs, in essence, are tools for creating spheres of influence for your brand.

WHY YOU NEED A BLOG- EDUCATE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Blogs are a great way to provide information to your target audience, and serve as a reference point for both dynamic (ever-changing) content and static information. Write blog content that delivers general information about your industry, products or services. Mix in some articles about current events as they relate to your industry, with your expert opinions about what this means for your clientele. How is this useful for their lifestyles? Weigh in—blogs are the perfect platform for this.

USE BLOGS TO TURN NEGATIVE GOOGLE OR YELP REVIEWS INTO REPEAT BUSINESS

I recently offered content strategy for a friend, Jenn, who owns Hand and Earth Shop, a natural gemstone and crystal boutique. Jenn had a question about how to respond to negative reviews that really should’ve been put in an email. (SayWHAT? Oh, you totally know what she’s talking about— #CancelCulture is rampantly destroying small businesses as well, with FAQs masquerading as Bad Reviews and Negative Comments).

I advised Jenn to create a blog with articles about how to tell the difference between authentic gemstones and artificial ones in order to appropriately educate the client.

While I genuinely believe most customers wish goodwill on the brands they do business with, there are the few who leave negative reviews as a means for manipulating businesses into giving free stuff. This is so not cool, but as Michelle Obama says, “When they go low, we go high.” (LOVE her!) Approach negative reviews intended as manipulation as a means for education. Validate their concern but show them why they’re wrong with the facts— provide information with credible sources proving them wrong or answering their question—and blogs are great for this.

So let’s get it! Here is The 30-Minute Blog Post format for creating meaningful content:

The 30-Minute Blog Post Format For Creating Meaningful Content

Start with a powerful introduction (10 minutes)…

Start with a short but powerful introductory paragraph. Keep it to 2-3 sentences long, italicized. Introductory paragraphs are meant to keep your reader reading past the headline. They strategically set your reader up for the content to follow. We often structure our introductory paragraphs by:

creating relatable content through anecdotes.

creating informational content through data. #facts

Keep your anecdote brief and concise, but use plan-language words (nothing too academic, wordy—avoid using, as my 6th grade teacher Ms. Talley would say, ‘million-dollar words’).

When creating informational content, state 1-2 interesting statistics and always properly cite your sources. Providing back links to your sources is not only good business as a writer, it’s good for SEO. ONLY cite facts from credible sources.

For both styles, end with a thesis-like statement that tells your audience precisely what to expect for the content that follows.

Here are two examples, one of an anecdotal introduction and one of a data-based introduction:

Creating relatable content through anecdotes.

Imagine with me, a tall glass of ice-cold water sitting on a cantina counter on a sweltering summer day. Drenched in sweat, a thirsty kid reaches up to that bar but can’t get his hands on that glass. An adult steps in and effortlessly hands the kid the glass and he wastes no time drinking the water. As a personal brand business, you are that adult, delivering satiation to your thirsty clients through your products and services. In this article, I will show you eight key ways you can deliver satisfactory service that generates repeat business every time.

Creating informational content through data.

If it seems like it takes for-EVER to create meaningful blog content, you’re not alone. It takes 65% more time to write one article for your blog or website news platform than it did in 2014. (Source: Hubspot.com) Seriously— whereas it used to take only 2hrs 24min to write one blog article, 2020 studies show it takes on average 3 hrs 57min to create meaningful blog content.

KEYWORD DENSITY- MIND YOUR ‘L”S AND “S"ES.

Long tail and short tail terms are useful for helping search engine algorithms recognize your content as relevant information for SERPs (Search Engine Return Pages). When people search for content related to what you create, you want your content showing up in those search returns.

Long tail terms are longer keyword phrases. Here are examples of long tail keyword terms we frequently use:

 “effective content marketing strategies”

“how to get high-qualified leads”

“identify your target audience”

Short tail terms are shorter keyword phrases. Think 1-2 words.

“target audience”

“content marketing”

You’ll want a good mix of both in your blog content.

Then deliver the background information (5 minutes)…

In your opening paragraph after the introduction and your thesis statement, ask the Who/ What/ When/ Where or Why question to deliver overarching background information for anyone who has no idea about the topic or industry.

Start with the question word in H2 size (questions about SEO? Talk with A Digital Marketing Consultant).

“What is the purpose of a blog?”

“What is Content Marketing?”

“What is a Target Audience?”

Follow-up with the short-tail keyword most related to the topic being discussed. Then, define it in 3-4 sentences. Remember to cite your sources, if applicable. For an example of how this is done, scroll up! I totally did this exact thing in this exact post!

Now for that body (10 minutes)….

Continue the body of the content piece with bolded keywords (5-6 bold keywords throughout the piece). The body of the piece is the meaty bit of your content…the juicy stuff. It’s where you deliver the substance if you know what I mean. Here are some tips when writing the body of your content:

Lists are your friends…but don’t overdo it, like annoying BuzzFeed articles. Start with 1. 2. 3. if your headline includes numbers (ie, “6 Things Not to Do When…”) then go to bullet format.

The first sentence of each numbered item must be bold and concise. Write 3-4 supporting sentences to explain your point.

Alternate lists between paragraphs to break up walls of text.

Provide 2-3 back links to prior blog posts from the client in relevant points throughout the body of the blog post.

Keyword density: use long tail terms 3-4 times throughout the body of the blog post.

Keyword density: use short tail terms 5-6 times throughout the body of the blog post.

Provide 2-3 back links to other relevant content on your website or past blog articles.

Wrap it up! in you conclusion. (5 minutes)

Title the conclusion paragraph with the “What is ____” question followed by “Takeaways” like this:

“What is Content Marketing- Takeaways”

“How to Monetize Your Blog- Takeaways”

Be sure to restate a portion of the title in a complete sentence that summarizes the content. Provide 2-3 summery sentences about the article to wrap it up nicely for your reader. Being able to leave your reader feeling fortified with knowledge and empowered with a direction forward is the goal here. End with an insightful question followed by a call to action.

What is the purpose of a blog—creating meaningful blog content: takeaways

Your blog is your brand’s opportunity to educate, entertain and empower your target audience. Use it strategically and it can also be a potent lead generation source and springboard for repeat business. It’s a point of reference that asserts your authority in the subject matter of your industry, and is a good fallback for unruly clients who seem to forget who’s in charge. When structuring your blog to start with a powerful introduction, incorporate both long tail and short tail keywords, deliver the pertinent background information, then wrap it all up with an empowering conclusion, you will be well on your way, my dear, to creating meaningful blog content that is intuitively influential with your target audience. How will you put this information into action to create meaningful blog content for your brand?

Are you ready to take the 30-Minute Blog Post Challenge? Start with effective content marketing strategy. An effective content marketing strategy will help you further reduce the time it takes to create content that will get you the results you want online. Your first step before taking the 30-Minute Blog Post Challenge, is to create an effective content strategy.

Reserve a coaching session with our senior content strategist now to get started.

Content Marketing

Effective content marketing requires planning, basic knowledge and of course, strategy in order to get the results you want online. It doesn’t require hours of strategizing and planning…just a practical approach and a moment of your time. Launching an effective content marketing strategy will help you rank higher in Google SERPS, increase your organic traffic and boost your engagement on social media. More importantly, it will help you become intuitively influential with your target audience. 

What is content marketing?

Effective content marketing is essentially putting the narrative of your brand out there for your target audience to use and take action. What action, specifically, depends on your brand’s business model? For example, it could mean: 

Sign up for a service

Join an email list

Buy a product

Like a page

Content marketing focuses on creating content for targeted users on specific platforms. If you think about it, ‘content’ is a relative term—- ‘content’ for a podcast is not the same as ‘content’ for social media.

Read more about the contextual nature of content here.

Because of its growing popularity, 70% of marketers are already actively investing in content marketing… and so should your brand.

You already know this, and if you’re anything like most of our clients, thinking about an effective content marketing approach is daunting.

We get that—thinking about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there can be a tough toffee to swallow.

This brief introduction is simply meant to give you a starting place for approaching your brand’s content marketing. For more detailed content marketing advice specific to your brand’s needs, we highly recommend taking advantage of our 1:1 Coaching; let us walk you through the process step by step. However, without knowing where you stand it’s very difficult to figure out where you’re going. This is why, we suggest, you start with strategy…

Effective content marketing begins with content strategy

42% of B2B Marketers believe their content strategy is A-game. They are able to connect their products or services with their target audience through delivering content that addresses their target audience needs and values. If you’re still reading this, though, then you proooobably don’t fit into that 42%, and that is totally okay! We’ll help you move beyond bare bones basic content strategy into full-fledged content marketing that is generating highly qualified leads and ultimately leading to conversions out the you-know-where.

Many brands don’t get the results they want from their content marketing, because they aren’t intuitively thinking about marketing from the perspective of the end user. In other words…they’re thinking about what they want to achieve (a sale, sign up or more generally speaking, a conversion) instead of thinking: what does this person need? When you change your marketing to approach your content strategy based on what your target audience needs and not what you want them to buy, then you intuitively start to think in terms of actually providing content of value.

START BY SOLVING PROBLEMS AND FULFILLING NEEDS.

By now, you’ve likely noticed how a lot of these core topics: identifying your target audience (then expanding that definition), content marketing, content strategy and content creation all overlap. 

Without knowing your target audience, you cannot effectively execute content marketing.

Without an effective content strategy, you have no starting place for content marketing.

With no idea of a target audience you have no idea where to begin content creation.

Without a plan for content creation, you have no content to market.

So where do you start? Start by figuring out what problem you solve with your brand’s products or services.

NEXT, CREATE CONTENT THAT DEMONSTRATES THAT FULFILLMENT POTENTIAL TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.

Think in terms of the lifestyles of your target audience members. Use your content to paint the picture of your products or services fitting seamlessly into their everyday lives. Juxtapose that with other content, directly related or otherwise, that you think your target audience would be interested in, too. This is how you, over time, algorithmically learn to become intuitively influential with your target audience. 

Once you have that supply of content catered to the needs of your target audience…

THEN, POST THAT CONTENT TO THE PLATFORMS WHERE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WILL CONSUME IT.

Your target audience doesn’t engage with you on each of your platforms in the exact same way. This is because not every segment of your target audience has a preference for all of your platforms.

Your followers on Instagram aren’t necessarily the same people reading your blog.

Your Facebook fans aren’t necessarily subscribed to your email marketing campaign.

Your podcast subscribers may not be interested in following you on Instagram or reading your blog.

That doesn’t mean you need to try to change the way they interact with you; again focus inward- think about how to better deliver content that speaks to their preference and specific to those platforms. More on that here.

Want help with your content marketing and content strategy?