First of all, I hope you care that your blog posts are helpful. I know many online businesses that have a blog just for the sake of it; because it’s a marketing thing you have to do. If that’s the case, you are flushing precious business resources down the drain and you might as well shutter your blog.
Okay, so we agree that a good blog post is one that’s helpful to readers (most of whom are, hopefully, your target customers). What, then, makes a blog post helpful?
There are 5 things that make a blog post helpful and valuable to readers. We discuss them in this article.
Why Helpful Content Matters
When potential customers deem your blog post helpful, they are more likely to buy your product, request a demo or sign up for something.
Helpful content is an indispensable aspect of high-converting blogging.
Helpful blog posts are also likely to rank better, bringing more traffic and leads your way.
5 Things That Make a Blog Post Helpful
1. It Addresses A Specific Pain Point or Need
When your product comes up in a Google result, a lot of the time it’s because someone is seeking a solution to a specific need or problem.
Say you sell bread boxes for storing bread. There are many people who don’t know such a product exists. So they might Google something like: How to keep bread fresh for longer or how to store bread without refrigerating.
If you have a blog post that addresses this specific pain point — bread going stale quickly — then it’s likely to appear on Google. More importantly, readers will find it helpful since you are talking about the exact problem they are facing.
So when thinking about what topics to write about, don’t make the common mistake of focusing on popular keywords. That’s how you end up writing generic content that’s not helpful to your target customers.
Instead, get into the shoes of your potential customers and think about possible problems they may be looking to solve. In fact, you should have a running list somewhere of common customer pain points that you can source for blog topics.
And don’t just pull them from your head. Do your research: talk to customers, talk to your salespeople, ask your customer service reps, check customer reviews and so on. What problems do your customers face that your product solves?
If you sell waterproof hiking socks, you don’t need yet another post on the ten best places to hike in Colorado. Instead write about a specific problem that your product is the best solution for. Something like: how to hike comfortably in wet weather or how to keep your feet dry when hiking.
Whether you sell software, services or a product, most of your blog posts should address specific pain points. It makes your content rank better on Google and your readers find it helpful.
Tip: Typically, you address the pain point in the introduction so that readers can relate right away. It tells them that they are in the right place and can keep reading.
For instance, here’s how this FactorialHR blog post on quarterly performance reviews begins. It immediately narrows down on a concern many companies might have: going too long between performance reviews.
Here’s another example from Casper’s blog post on keeping fitted sheets secure on your bed. Readers can easily relate to the frustrations of fitted sheets that the post mentions.
2. It Provides Specific and Actionable Solutions
You’ve hit the nail on the head with a specific pain point that you’ve addressed in your post. The next part is even more important: providing specific and actionable solutions.
That’s what readers are here for, after all. Both the blog posts we’ve mentioned above do this well.
The FactorialHR post goes on to explain what quarterly performance reviews are, practical applications in various teams like sales and marketing, and provides specific steps on how to implement them.
It’s a truly helpful blog post.
The Casper blog post is equally helpful with six actionable tips that readers can put to use immediately.
Don’t provide vague and general solutions.
“Exercise more” is fine.
“Do cardio exercise like running, cycling or swimming at least 5 days a week and strength training at least twice a week” is much more helpful.
Telling companies struggling with their purchase approval process to ‘improve their workflow’ is not very helpful or actionable. How exactly do you ‘improve workflow’? By waving a magic wand?
Providing a step by step breakdown on how they can make their approval workflow more clear and responsive makes your blog post more valuable.
To be fair, most businesses don’t set out to deliberately write unhelpful blog posts that offer generic solutions. It happens because of two reasons.
Whoever is writing the blog posts doesn’t understand the topic, industry or product. Thus they cannot provide good and specific solutions.
You don’t know your customers’ pain points, and thus cannot provide helpful solutions.
Solution 1: Make sure the writer or agency gains a deep understanding of the topic they are writing about. If it’s technical, have them interview your employees or a subject matter expert.
Solution 2: Define your target audience and find out their pain points.
3. It is Detailed
Many blog posts I come across are shallow and quite unhelpful. They read like a rewrite of a gazillion other posts on the internet.
If you want potential customers to trust your content and find it helpful, you have to make it detailed.
Details add useful information to backup or explain your claims. These details add depth and helpfulness to your content.
Here’s an example from the FactorialHR post. One of their tips is to set clear goals. They could have had just a couple of lines saying this. But instead, the paragraph explains what kind of goals you should set with employees, how to set them and why they are important.
These details add a lot of helpful content to the blog post.
Don’t leave your points hanging. If it is a pain point, explain why it’s bad for the readers. If it is a claim, back it up with data or examples. If it is a tip, say why you recommend it and how to implement it.
4. It Anticipates Your Readers’ Questions and Concerns
A great way to add details and depth to your blog post is to answer any additional questions and concerns your readers may have.
To do this well, you’ll need to have done customer research. This makes it easier to get into the mind of your target customers and anticipate their concerns or issues they might encounter.
You typically address these questions and concerns through subheadings. You can also add an FAQ section at the end to quickly answer any issues you may have not addressed in the article.
For example, this post by Buddy Punch on GPS trucking for plumbing companies adds a thoughtful section at the end about GPS tracking compliance.
The main post is about how plumbing companies can track employees as well as company vehicles. But the extra info about compliance certainly makes the post more helpful to its readers.
Once you’ve outlined the main information you want to include in a blog post, ask yourself if there are any extra details that would be helpful to your target customers.
Bonus: In addition to making a blog post more helpful, you can use the extra information to rank the article for more keywords.
Just be careful not to veer too far from the main topic. The extra details should be related to what you are writing about.
If you can’t think of anything else to add, leave the article as it is.
5. It is Easy to Understand
This is where the basics of a blog post come in.
It should be well written, with logical flow, clear writing and short paragraphs. Use plenty of subheadings to structure the article and provide visual breaks.
The language should be at a level that is appropriate for your target audience. For most consumer brands, it’s best to write at an eighth grade level. This is especially important for sensitive niches like health where clear communication is crucial.
For technical, B2B and SaaS writing, write at the same level that your audience is at. Be technical, use industry jargon and avoid the temptation to simplify things that are obvious to your readers.
This ensures your blog posts come across as authoritative and trustworthy.
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