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How to Write a Blog Post

A Step-by-Step Guide by Professional Bloggers

For many people, including businesspeople, writing a blog post seems difficult. Where do you start? What do you write about? What’s the point? You have lots of questions, and we — the professional writers at Ray Access — have some answers for you.

Ray Access teaches you how to blog

The very first step is to answer two questions:

  1. Who is your intended audience?
  2. What do you hope to accomplish?

If you’re in business, your audience is likely the same as your business customers (and potential customers). If you’re writing a business blog, you could be writing to educate (a how-to), to share tips (a list) or to share news about your company or industry. All are valid. Once you’ve answered those two important questions, follow these four steps to write your blog post.

1. Pick a Topic

No matter what your business does or sells, people have questions about you and your industry. Pick a question and answer it in your blog post. The more pertinent and timely your answer, the more traction your blog post may get. Lists and how-to articles are especially helpful and popular. Some sample questions, just to get you started, include:

  • How do you find the best [dentist in Asheville]?
  • What’s the best way to [stop a leaky faucet]?
  • 5 steps to [writing a blog post]
  • The 5 best [questions to ask your Realtor]
  • [Insurance] tips no one told you

Your topic question or statement may become the title of your blog post. If it’s engaging and promises an answer, use it. Otherwise, wait until you’ve written the blog post to come up with the title. Then you’ll know what to promise.

2. Do Your Research

A blog post requires researchBelieve it or not, you don’t have to be an expert in a field to write knowledgeably about it. We’ve written about subjects as diverse as industrial roofing and cloud computing. What you do need to do before you can write about your chosen topic, regardless what it is, is to research it adequately.

So once you know your topic, do an Internet search to find what others have to say about it. Whenever possible, use reputable sources to get your information. In other words, never use Wikipedia.org. If you’re writing about your industry, you should know which sources are reliable and which aren’t. To be absolutely safe, don’t use anything until you find it on two different authoritative websites.

3. Write the Blog Post

After you’ve collected bits and pieces of solid data, you can write your blog post. Keep the original question in mind as you write. A clear answer should be your goal, while explaining it as best you can. Often, a simple question takes a long time to answer because one question leads to another. And that’s how you string one sentence to another, one paragraph to another and one section to another.

Remember who your audience is and what they may already know. Your goal is to answer their questions and connect with them. Use language that reflects how they use language. For example, at Ray Access, we often write in a comfortably conversational tone. It’’s the way we talk, and most likely how you talk. But we’ve written for clients who didn’t want any contractions in the content. The point is to write for your audience.

4. Have It Edited

Congratulations, you’ve written a blog post! But your task doesn’t end there. Before you share it with the world — or at least with your customers and potential customers — have the article edited. Have someone else look at it with a critical eye. This step shouldn’t be just a proofread. While catching typos and misspellings are important, a good editor can improve the flow of your blog post so that it reads smoothly, point by point, from beginning to end.

And by the way, did you know that Ray Access offers editing services? That’s right. We can take your original blog post (or whatever you’ve written) and make it better. And our editing services are just half the price of our writing services. Good editing can make the difference between a sale and a fail.


Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.

Answering Questions

It’s the One Purpose for Blogs and Websites

Don't disappoint your website visitors

Business blogs and websites have a specific purpose, but it’s not to sell your product or service. At least, not entirely. Your website needs to develop trust with your visitors. Your blog needs to attract those curious visitors to your site. And there is no better way to accomplish both those goals than to answer questions people have about your business, industry or town.

No matter what your business, no matter what product or service you provide, people will have questions about it:

  • What will it do for me?
  • Why is yours the better product/service?
  • How much will it cost me or save me?
  • How can I best use it?

The list goes on and on. You need to answer these questions. Only then will your visitors be open to buy.

Answering Questions in Your Blog

A business blog is a marketing tool. With it, you can reach out, using keywords and topics not directly related to your business, to attract more visitors to your site. Answering questions, both about your industry and about other topics, is a great way to attract readers.

For example, let say you’re a plumber. You can cover the obvious in your blog, such as “How to fix a leaky faucet” and “5 things to ask a plumber before he makes a house call.” But you can also answer related questions, such as “5 steps to winterize your home” and “Handling difficult clients.” These aren’t necessarily topics you’d expect from a plumber, but they fit right in and may attract readers you normally wouldn’t.

Answering Questions on Your Website

Your website absolutely has to answer as many of the obvious questions about your business as possible:

  • Where are you located?
  • What do you do, exactly?
  • Why do people need your product/service?
  • How are you different from anyone else?
  • How do I get in touch with you?

These are the easy ones, but if your business generates more obvious questions, answer those, too. In the process, you’re generating trust. You’re sharing information about your business and industry. If it’s unique enough, you’ll get noticed. If it’s truthful enough, you’ll become trusted. If your website is clear enough and friendly enough, you’ll earn the respect of those who visit.

And that’s where the magic happens. If people trust your company, they will like it. If you provide valuable information about your business or industry or even your location, people will remember you. They may not be ready to buy your product or service right then, but when the need arises, they’ll remember you and they’ll return. Because people like doing business with people or businesses they like.

Your Business Website

Yes, the ultimate purpose of a business website is to sell your product or service. But you don’t do that by talking sales and guarantees and price points and all that for page after page after page. You do it by building trust. You do it by sharing value on your site. If a visitor learns something new on your website, that’s gold; that’s more valuable than 10 commercials.

People get online to look for answers to questions. Your website’s job is to answer as many relevant questions as possible. That’s how you attract an audience. That’s the value of content marketing. And it’s not always as simple as it sounds. It takes work. But it’s exactly what we do at Ray Access. Let us help you reach more people with well-crafted website content and a targeted blog.


Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.