The size of your business has no relevance as to whether or not you should feature a blog on your website. So many small business owners ignore online content marketing opportunities in the mistaken belief that it is for solely for large or multinational companies. So what are the 5 tips to writing a blog?

The advantages of content marketing are available for every business to grasp - small or large – regardless of whether they have a marketing budget or not.

Blogging is one way every business can attract customers to their website. Some of the most profitable and well-recognised brands in the world feature a blog on their website.

A blog will help you to drive traffic to your website, increase your search engine rankings, enhance your brand positioning and help you to build stronger customer relationships. Following our 5 tips to writing a blog will increase rankings, etc.

But just as having a website doesn’t automatically open the door to millions of new customers - neither does simply having a blog.

A blog needs to be a well-written, engaging piece of content that speaks directly to your customers, answering their questions and satisfying their interests.

It is not an opportunity to sell your products, but a cleverly disguised opportunity to bolster your credibility.

A blog should form one of the most important aspects of your online content marketing strategy. But to reap the benefits, you have to get it right. The following five tips are crucial to good blog writing , so what are our t tips to writing a blog?

1. Ensure your blog is scannable.

People read online content differently to the way they read fiction, scanning the page for individual titles and visual clues that will direct them straight to the information they want to read.

Reading online is slower than reading from a newspaper so scanning becomes an important reading tool for the web visitor . To make your blog scannable, use lists where appropriate which naturally break up text.

Also use formatting such as bold and capitals to create further emphasis on a page and separate the text by the use of bold sub-headings and titles. Another good tip is to use pictures, photos and videos to illustrate your poin t and attract attention.

2. Think carefully about length.

Following on from the first tip, it goes without saying that web readers are an inpatient bunch. Most web visitors have a short attention span and will click out of a blog in less than a couple of minutes.

If you want to generate content that is read by the masses, keep your content short and succinct, and no longer than 1,000 words.

3. Title of the blog

The title of a blog is critical to how well it is received (and whether it’s read at all)

The goal of any business (aside from generating quality web traffic) is to secure a large audience for their content.

You do this by encouraging people to ‘like’ and ‘share’ the blog among their social media networks and followers.

To gain exposure for your blog, the title has to be attention-grabbing and appeal to your potential customers. It should be simple and to the point and contain a short or long-tailed word that will increase the article’s SEO rankings.

4. Frequent blogs

Once you’ve created a blog page on your website, it’s important that you update it as much as possible.

A blog is a way of regularly updating your website with content which affects search engine rankings.

If you’re trying to promote loyalty among your customers, then be consistent about how often you update your blog.

Decide whether you’re going to update it daily, weekly or monthly and then stick to it. A blog should be updated at least fortnightly to have any real impact on search engine rankings.

5. Connect with customers

Many businesses forget that a blog is a strategy for helping them to connect to their customer. To make any kind of connection either socially or online, we need a two-way conversation. This is why it’s important to invite comment from your audience.

By including a comment section, you will gain valuable feedback from your customers and a better understanding of their lifestyles and what they want out of your services.

If you do feature a comment facility, ensure you keep an eye on the comments as damaging posts can undo your hard work and reputation building.

I hope this article on '5 tips on writing a blog' explains more about the process of blogging and how, if used correctly, it can act as a window of opportunity. Small businesses have much to gain by pushing out their own relevant content, whether this is on a blog, a website or social media platform.