5 Blogging Tips for Non-Writers

by Elle Ray | Apr 8, 2015 | Blog Writing

Ray Access Makes Blogging a Bit Easier for You

writing: it looks so easy

A blog is an ideal vehicle for sharing information with your business customers, for attracting new customers to your website and for communicating with people within your industry. The problem, of course, is that you may not feel like you can write a blog post. When you don’t know what to say or how to say it, you end up saying nothing at all.

But blogging delivers real results. A regular business blog can help you establish yourself as an expert in your field. So, to create engaging copy and entertaining blog posts, follow these five tips from the experts at Ray Access:

Keep Your Promises
Visitors to your site will resent it if they follow a link full of promise, but get nothing of value. Deliver what your title says you’ll deliver and give readers information they can use. Only then have you earned enough trust to ask for their business. You can’t lure them in for a sale without keeping your promises. If visitors don’t trust you for the simple things, they certainly won’t trust you with their hard-earned money.
Say Something Worthwhile
Respect is a two-way street, so if you want customers to respect you — and your products or services — enough to make a purchase, respect their time. Don’t waste your opportunity to connect with visitors with blog posts about what you did during your recent retreat, how your golf game reflects your excellence or what your latest sale brought in. Provide valuable, useful information, even if it’s not about your company. If you can enlighten your readers or improve their lives, you can bet they’ll take the time to read your post.
Include Graphics
Not everyone reads an entire blog, but if you can condense the information in a graphic, then do it. Give everyone that option. Graphs and charts often tell a story or impart key information much better than a block of text can. Plus, graphics break up the text and help readers get the information quicker. Artistic graphics draw the readers’ eyes to where you want them to look.
Try a Video
More and more people are getting used to the idea of website videos. Many younger Internet users prefer to sit back and watch rather than read. But to appeal to older visitors, include the script — or at least the highlights of the video — below it. Avid readers can scan through the text in seconds, and you keep them on your page long enough to get to your call for action.
Don’t Forget a Call to Action
“Hire us to write your blogs if you don’t have time.” That’s a call to action, and you need to include one somewhere in your text, preferably after you’ve already earned your readers’ trust and given them educated food for thought. A blog is not the place to put your latest big sale. Save that for your homepage or even better — a sale or specials page. That way, folks who are looking for deals can find them. But you want every reader to do something after reading your blog. Don’t leave it up to them to figure it out.

We hope these blogging tips will make your blog useful, powerful and effective. Good luck!

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.

Gobble Gobble!

by Elle Ray | Nov 26, 2014 | Blog Writing

Is That the Turkey or Your Mother-in-Law?

That’s the question we’ve always wanted to ask. That sound — gobble, gobble — could be what turkeys mutter as they voice their displeasure. Or it could be what people (not just your mother-in-law) sound like at the Thanksgiving Day table. Or it could be both. Both, we could argue, represent this holiday.

happy Thanksgiving from Ray Access

Perhaps the bigger question is how that ties into the business of business blogging, since that is one of the things we do at Ray Access. It’s not such a stretch when you take the time to consider it. We cover a wide range of topics on this blog, from writing tips to ergonomic office furniture to small business tips to fashion advice (of all things). We can write about Thanksgiving if we want to.

Tying Your Blogs into Current Events

The point is that it sometimes the subject of your blog post doesn’t matter. You want to be able to reach out on your blog to attract a wide variety of readers. Readers who come to your blog are visitors to your website. If your blog is working properly, you are attracting the right audience. For Ray Access, our audience is anyone with a business or a message. So we cast a wide net.

You can do the same. Write about current events, holidays, or popular subjects. Use keywords that people are currently searching for. You may attract new readers and new visitors to your website. Once they arrive, they may decide to take a look around your website, especially if they fit your target demographic.

How to Write Current Event Blog Posts

what does Thanksgiving corn have to do with writing? The trick to tying your blog posts to current events is to find the angle that connects your business to the event or holiday. It’s not that difficult to do. For example, in this blog post, we’re discussing writing techniques for blog posts, but tying it to the Thanksgiving holiday. Reread that last sentence. Taken out of context, it seems like a stretch, and yet this post hits the mark.

Anyone looking for Thanksgiving tips, the sound a turkey makes or complaints about mothers-in-law may find our little blog post and gain some insight about writing. If they are also a business owner and find themselves in need of writing help, they’ll likely remember us.

At least, that’s our evil plan.

You Can Do It Too

All you need is to set aside some time — an hour, several minutes, whatever you can squeeze into your schedule — and brainstorm a few ideas about how to connect your business to current events. It can be a direct tie, as when we wrote a blog post for a gastroenterologist client about the illnesses on cruise ships in the news. Or it could be more abstract, like tying a business-writing business to the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you get stuck, call in the pros at Ray Access. We do this for a living. We can help you attract a wider audience while gradually raising your page rank. Content marketing works, but only if you keep at it. Don’t let complacency drop your page rank; let us help.

3 Guidelines for Blog Writing

by Mark Bloom | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog Writing

Keep Your Blog Great: Avoid the One-Note Blog

The purpose of a business blog is to attract an audience. A well-written, well-considered blog can educate your customers and potential customers. It can answer in-depth questions. It can explain the ins and outs of your industry. If successful, a business blog can show up on related keyword searches organically, ready to bring new visitors to your website.

This road, while it does work, is fraught with peril. If you turn your blog into a sales pitch, touting your products and services at every turn, announcing new offerings and sales events, or going into detail about your quality, your audience will tune out. Only a small percentage of the visitors to your website are ready to buy right now!

reading your blog

Rule #1: Inform, Don’t Sell

The worst thing a business blog can do — aside from not having a blog at all — is to bore its audience. We see this often, both in blogs and in social media. The subjects tackled, the writing style, the stock photos … everything points to a lack of commitment. If you’re trying to sell your products or services on your blog — as your first priority — you will drive your readers away.

Your blog is your opportunity to explain what your readers don’t already know about your industry. If you are a new car dealer, don’t use your blog to boast about the new models. Instead, use it to describe the new features on those models and why customers should want them. Instead of advertising sales events, use your blog to explain how to get the best deal.

An article on getting the best deal on a car lot is likely to attract a lot more readers than an article announcing your seasonal sale. In addition, if you add value with your blog writing — with educational topics, tips or interesting facts — customers will remember you when they are ready to buy.

Rule #2: Don’t Beat a Dead Horse

If you find you’re writing about the same topic over and over, your audience will soon tire of it. Stop beating that dead horse. Your blog isn’t just about finding different angles to explore about the same topic. Regardless what your business or industry is, you can find thousands of topics to write about.

For example, if you’re an accounting business, stop writing about the advantages of hiring an accountant or providing QuickBook tips. Take a step back. Consider your readers (if you have any remaining). Why would they even be on your site? Write about something else that would interest them, which brings us to…

Rule #3: Diversify

How does your business tie into food? Water? Interpersonal relationships? The environment? Entertainment? These are topics people care about in their daily lives. If you can find an intersection between what you do and what people want to learn more about, you’ve struck gold. You can write about something people will want to read … and share.

Other tips for diversifying your blog:

Find a topic in the news and write about that
Consider your own passions and write about what brought you into your business
Every once in a while, take a broad look at the state of your industry
Focus on your customers’ wants and needs outside of your business

In fact, do this last one all the time. Put yourself in your readers’ place. Why are they reading this? Why are they here? What do they want? You’ll succeed if you can answer these questions. If you get stuck, we’re in the business of answering questions.

The Best Blog Topics

by Mark Bloom | Aug 23, 2014 | Blog Writing

Because You Want Your Blog to Be Read

People sharing your blog post

Undoubtedly, the best blog topics are those that get read. And read a lot. These blog posts:

Get passed around
Generate a buzz
Keep visitors on your site longer
Get readers to look through your website
Turn readers into customers
Are great reads
Result in high search engine visibility

Finding Readers

So the big question is: “How do you create those kinds of bust-out blog posts week after week?” That’s what we at Ray Access aim to do, and we know that it isn’t always easy. But there is a method to the madness. By following our own advice, we have seen the results. You can too. Try these tips to turn your blog into a must-read for your clients and potential customers:

Tap into the news of the day. If, for example, you are a doctor who treats mental illness, write about depression in the week following a celebrity death due to the disease. The celebrity’s name will get you noticed in search queries. If you teach dance, focus a blog post on the big dancing shows on television when they go into their final competitions. Financial bloggers, tap into current events about the Federal Reserve or big Wall Street happenings. Be nimble and ready to post shortly after the news happens.

Create great titles. The title of a blog post is like the front window at Macy’s. If it’s not compelling and inviting, it won’t draw in shoppers. Good titles also help search engines seeking relevant data to post. Great titles aren’t long, but convey what’s in the article clearly. Beware of humorous or ambiguous titles that may be misleading or misunderstood. Be catchy, but be clear.

Give your readers something to take away. Pay your readers for completing the article. This is one of the reasons that “tips” and “how-to” blog posts are so popular. Readers expect answers and leave a well-written article with those answers, smarter and wiser.

Review popular events, movies, products within your industry. Find the connection between the entertainment and your products or services. Make the comparison apply to your intended audience.

Make recommendations for other services and products, as well as for those that you sell. When you make a recommendation, follow it with a solid argument that goes beyond the typical marketing-speak. Quote users and experts to back up your suggestions.

Get seasonal. Readers look for relevant articles about Christmas, summer vacations, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving topics. Find a topic within your area of expertise that relates to the season and add it to your blog when the time is right.

Shout out to other companies or people. No man is an island, and you don’t work in a vacuum. Mention others who have made significant contributions to your industry or to the business community you’re trying to reach. If a business organization you belong to recently made a significant contribution to a local charity, use your blog to give them accolades of appreciation. (Let them know when you post, and maybe they’ll put a link on their website back to your blog!)

Finally, write for blog readers. Make it engaging and easy to read. Let your readers know right from the start what they can expect if they keep reading. And then give it to them. If you promise tips, give them tips; if you’re writing a “how-to,” make sure it’s complete. And if you come to the end of your idea rope, contact us — we love to brainstorm titles and do it as well as we write the articles.

How to Diversify Your Blog Portfolio

by Elle Ray | Jul 21, 2014 | Blog Writing

Ideas for Your Blog Can Come from Anywhere

By now, most investors know that you get the biggest bang — and lessen the overall risk — by investing your money in diversified funds. The old adage of “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is true in many arenas, including the blogosphere.

fill your space with ideas

The more authoritative your articles, the better, of course, but the more people you can reach, the better your chance of becoming recognized as the go-to expert in your field. To that end, we at Ray Access are taking our own advice and beginning to diversify our blog topics.

Writers Write

We are first and foremost writers. And we tout our uniqueness by also wearing editors’ hats with every post, blog, webpage and press release we create. As professional writers, we believe that no writing should ever be published that isn’t first read by another set of eyes, preferably a professional editor with a keen sense of tone, voice, grammar, style and sass.

Because that’s our strength, we’ve been devoting our informational blogs to the art and science of writing online — and getting your writing read by the right people. At least up to this point. As we continue to share our expertise through this blog, we now will begin diversifying to bring you articles and insights we believe important and interesting to all business people, including bloggers.

Mix It Up

mix it up to get your creative juices flowing In addition to writing about writing for the web, with topics like “why you need an image on your blog” and “what plagiarism does to your page rankings,” we’ll mix it up with articles about networking, health, decorating and fashion. With this new mix, we hope to give you interesting and informative topics to share with your friends and colleagues, to post on your own social sites and to raise your awareness.

You’re going to see us more frequently online too, as we deliver the fresh, insightful thoughts that are making us famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective). Our goal is to make the Ray Access blog a must-read for anyone who ever writes a post, reads a webpage or trolls the Internet for fun or profit — in a nutshell, nearly everyone.

Off the Path

OK, we admit that we’re being a tad shameless with this new direction that we’re taking our blog. But we want to increase our own visibility, too. The more informative, unique and important our blogs are, the more traffic we’re going to generate. We want our website to increase its online presence as our business grows. And it is growing.

We tell our clients that the more they post, the more they will increase traffic to their site. We want to lead by example. So don’t be surprised if you start reading articles related to a season, holiday or special event. Asheville, North Carolina, constantly presents us with interesting twists of the news. Maybe we’ll cover those too. We might even pop in an opinion or two. At the same time, you can expect more information about the art of writing for the web and all that it entails.