Blogging is no longer an exercise in creative writing (unless you are blogging just for fun). It is more science than art. Just writing a blog is no longer enough.
If you plan to generate revenue from content, you must marry your talent of a storyteller with your practical side.
First you should start with strategic content planning. Once you had a chance to map out your content, it is time to look at the elements of the blog.
How to turn your blog into a powerful lead generating machine
First you start with creating an outline for an essay. (Your college professor will be very proud of you now). Your blog should contain the main theme and 5 key ideas for topics. It will also an introduction, summary, headline and find an image. This gives you a basic outline for the blog.
Your next step is to add elements that will make your blog search engine and lead generation friendly. These include headlines, images, headers summarizing key ideas, lead magnets, and calls to action.
I’ve created a template that helps me structure all of our blogs. You do not have to follow this exact template as long as you are including some of the top elements.
Creating Compelling Headlines
According to some studies from Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline copy. 
Writing strong blog headlines is not as difficult as you think it is.
First start with one of the headline formulas.
Make sure that it addresses one of your customers’ core problems. Once you had a good idea for a headline, run it through CoSchedule Headline Analyzer tool.
This tool will analyze the quality of your headlines. Specifically, it will predict the likelihood score of it making the emotional connection with your readers. You will have a chance to tweak your headlines to get a better score.
Stunning Royalty-Free Images
Humans are visual learners. In fact, social media posts containing images get 7-10 time more clicks
[bctt tweet=”Social media posts with images get 7-10 time more clicks”]
There are two challenges with stock images: cost and quality. Here is the list of some of the best royalty-free sites for images:
You can also use Advantage search on Google to filter out images that are free. Start with searching for specific images on Twitter, then select Advanced Search and filter images by license 
You can also create stunning images using Canva or Pablo.
Use Your Key Ideas as Sub-headers of the blog
Use this as an opportunity to address specific pain with a tangible benefit. Make sure that your keyword phrases are present in the sub-header.
You will repeat Key Idea: Content: LeadMagnet sequence a few times throughout the blog. We recommend 3-5 key ideas for each of the blogs. Thus, you will end up with 3-5 repeated sequences.
Create compelling, yet practical and valuable content
Some estimate that there are over 2,000,000 new blog posts published every day.
[bctt tweet=”Did you know that there are 2M+ new blogs published daily?”]
Your goal is to stand out from the noise. Do this by not only telling a compelling story but also delivering incredible value. Furthermore, you should be thinking about the format of your blog
- Use bulleted lists
- Write shorter paragraphs (3-4 sentences per paragraph max)
- Include practical recommendations
- Search for images to support your main points
- Use tools like Hemingway and Grammarly to help improve quality and readability of your content.
- Link to content that supports your points (both external and internal blogs)
You should also consider the length of your blog. Most of the latest studies consistently state that the ideal length of your blog should be between 1600 and 1800 words.
[bctt tweet=”For the best SEO results you blog should contain between 1600 and 1800 words”]
Lead Magnets and Opt-Ins
Lead Magnets are an effective way to start building relationships with your potential clients. Think of items that can bring value to the clients.
Here are some of the example of Lead Magnets we used effectively:
- Create a checklist summary of your top points – Our Kickstart campaign checklist gets downloaded frequently
- Share an action plan that you created for a project – Social Media Action plan is one of the top downloads on the site.
- You can also publish an ebook – Our Twitter ABC book is available on Amazon.
There are a number of technologies that help you with managing lead magnets. One of our favorite ones is LeadBoxes. It is quite simple to set up, has great support documentation and the variety of configurations for integrating with your site.
As a minimum, you should set up a link to download your Lead Magnet.
Summary and Call to Action
It is a great practice to summarize key points of your article in the end. Your blog summary should short and contain the main keyword phrases. A lot of readers will scheme through your blog. Summary gives you an opportunity to reinforce and clarify the message
You should close your blog with Call to Action. It does not always have to “Buy Now”, you can invite people to share your blog on social media.
CONCLUSION
Anyone who starts to write a business blog should have an end goal in mind. This goal is to win the attention of your readers with valuable content and encourage them to stay connected with you. The ultimate goal is to help you build brand credibility and drive revenue.
Having a well-organized blog means that you will have a better chance of making your blog work for you.
