Have you thought about writing a blog but have never really understood where to start?
Let me put this another way, as a financial adviser, imagine writing something that has the potential to:
- Change your clients lives
- Inform or educate people
- Highlight a cause and inspire good will
- Motivate and help people to act
- Allow your community to get to know you.
Words and images are powerful when they are combined, so use them wisely in your marketing strategy. A blog can be a steppingstone in your inbound marketing strategy and is a great way for the advice community to provide insight into what it knows.
What is a blog anyway?
This is one of my frequently asked questions! In essence, a blog is written content with a distinct conversational tone viewed from a personal perspective to connect directly with readers. The popularity of blogs has grown over time and has become a key component in most digital marketing strategies.
To start, ensure your blog posts have all the right elements to build engagement.
Create a blog framework
Very few financial advisers I have encountered feel comfortable initially about putting their thoughts and ideas down in writing. However, just like financial advice, with the right framework and language, what initially appears complex becomes elegant simplicity.
Here are the key steps you should take:
- Accumulate ideas: You can write a blog about almost anything, however, consider what is topical and will engender an emotion with your audience.
- Choose your topic:
- Ask yourself, can I tell a story, is there research available and what’s my position or opinion?
- Select a topic that you are passionate about, your readers are passionate about and that you can provide key takeaways.
- Create your headline: It’s time to get specific and choose your perspective; create a headline that will encourage people to read on. You can choose your headline before or after you right your blog, just remember to keep it interesting and don’t be boring.
- The power of images: When publishing your blog, you will need an image to serve as a banner to support your content on your website and on social media. Ensure your image is relevant, thought provoking and not over-used.
- It’s time to write: The framework for your blog should include: –
- Sub-headline
- Frame your message
- Make your points
- Closing strong
- Tell them what to do next!
- Edit: Review your work, clean up any clutter and unnecessary words!
A word on words
We all use words in different ways but it’s time to use words to your advantage. Keywording is an important part of having a digital footprint so ensure you use your topics keywords in your headline, subhead line, body text and within the caption of your image.
Power words are the hooks or triggers that will create an emotion, positive or negative, that will draw people closer to you.
“10 steps to life-changing financial advice for couples.”
This style of headline has easy readability, a positive sentiment for the reader and includes keywords that will support you for searchability. Remember this is a blog so write naturally and include emotion.
Now the final step…
Review your work and if you don’t trust yourself then find yourself someone that can act as an editor and provide you feedback. There are great services and apps out there that can help you but try starting with grammarly or look at using hemingwayapp. Both have free services that you can use.
Don’t get caught up trying to create perfection in your content, it’s our imperfections that make us unique and attract our audience to us. Most of all, if you have some thing to say then writing a blog is the perfect way to get your message out.
Jenny Pearse, Managing Director, Jenesis.
November 2020
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennypearse/
Email: jenny.pearse@jenesis.net.au
