Have you ever felt like you’re not great at writing blog posts for your business? You have a lot of knowledge to share but getting those ideas down on paper can be a struggle. When I write I love to use blog post templates as they provide a natural structure to contain my ideas.
Blog post templates for you
1. The list post
A list post is simply a list of useful tips, steps, tools that provide useful information to help your readers solve a problem.
This blog post you’re reading is an example of a list post. My readers tell me that they’re not sure how to structure all of their great ideas into a blog post so I created this list of blog post templates to solve that problem for them.
List posts are nice and easy to write and they’re really easy for your audience to read. They get to the heart of the problem quickly and give actionable steps for your audience to take.
Within the blog post you’ll want to have an introduction, the list of items and then a conclusion (a.k.a. a call to action or CTA).
2. Comparison post
A comparison post gives you the opportunity to compare items within your industry.
You could compare different software that your audience regularly use, e.g. Asana vs Trello. Or you could compare different styles e.g. Keto vs plant based eating. Another option would be to compare different physical products e.g. the latest mirrorless Canon camera vs a similar Nikon camera.
Within this kind of blog post you’ll be sharing the pros and cons of the different approaches or options.
Depending on the amount of information you’ll be sharing consider if giving an overview would be the best way to convey the information to your readers. A table showing the top five features could be a way for your readers to quickly absorb the information they want.
Give us your view too so we can learn more about your style of working. I want to hear your views on why you adore Asana and find Trello frustrating as that will help me to see where our views align and where they don’t.
Always keep in mind the point of why you’re writing a comparison post. You want to help your readers make the best decision for themselves on the topic you’re discussing.
Be mindful of who your audience is. More technically minded people will love to have the full specs on the latest camera, whereas more creative types may be more interested in see examples of what the camera can do.
Within the blog post you’ll want to have an introduction, an overview of the results, the detailed comparison and then a call to action.
3. Client spotlight or case study
Preparing a case study on work you have done for a client can be a fantastic way to showcase your approach and to promote your client as well, if they also have a business.
If you have a business that has a strong visual element, e.g. a kitchen designer, be sure to use plenty of photos to highlight your work. Before and after images work really well as it gives your readers inspiration for their own home.
Be mindful that you want there to be an equal focus on what your client achieved and your role within that achievement as you also want to highlight your role within the process.
Remember to always seek permission before doing a case study on a client. You may think they’d be thrilled to be featured yet we always need to be mindful of people’s privacy and seek their consent.
4. The beginner’s guide to . . .
These are great posts to meet your reader where they’re at. As business owners we may know that there is something deeper going on with our clients but our audience are at different stages of their journey. We need to meet them where they’re at, with the problem they’re experiencing today.
For example, some of my clients feel like they’ll run out of ideas for their content. I know they also need to learn how to repurpose content with the help of a great content management system. But if I start talking about that topic right at the start we won’t connect as they’re not thinking about how to manage their content – they feel like they won’t have enough!
Now this isn’t a bait and switch (cringe) kind of situation. You are going to give your readers exactly what they need to solve the problem they’re having right now. You’ll also going to give them what you know from your experience is what they ultimately need.
A beginner’s guide will be able to talk to the entire journey in an easy to understand way.
With this kind of post you need to make sure it is very well structured and easy to follow. If someone wants to read a beginner’s guide to a topic they don’t want to overwhelmed!
Give your readers a clear path to follow. Avoid the temptation to share every single fact about a given topic. They want to have a good understanding of the topic and the ability to take what they’ve learnt and take action right away.
Within the blog post you’ll want to have an introduction, a summary of what the post will cover, the details of what you’re teaching people and then a call to action.
Often it’s not your writing that is the issue. It’s that you don’t have an easy to follow blog post template that allows you to structure your ideas in a way that makes writing easy and makes reading the post easy as well.
If you want to improve the way you create your content and have it speaking directly to your ideal clients then book in a free call with me. I’m a total systems geek, who loves to write, and I’d be happy to have a chat with you about getting your content doing its job better.
