You want fresh, informative and interesting content on your business website, and new content to pull in views — whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly. How can you accomplish that without seeming boring or irrelevant? By writing regular blogs…like an investigative journalist.

Why write blogs for your website?

Blogs aren’t stream-of-consciousness babble like they used to be. They’re a chance for you to write detailed stories or articles that detail your business, remain current, and lend the opportunity to establish yourself as an “expert” in your field.

They also provide excellent fodder to increase your business’ exposure on social media. When you have new blog content to share that your audience wants to learn about, they’ll be more apt to click on it from social media platforms and go to your website — and perhaps even share the content as well. And we all know that the more interaction your business profile gets on social media, the more the algorithms show your posts to your audience.

Writing like an investigative journalist

You can find enough words to string together to make a blog post, sure. But how do you write one that pulls in your audience, answering their questions and expanding their knowledge? By writing like an investigative journalist!

The key to writing like an investigative journalist is putting yourself in your reader’s head and answering any potential questions. YOU may know all the answers, but assume your audience doesn’t — that’s why they’re turning to you. So you can answer all those questions — in simple, layman’s terms.

Here’s how to do it:

1. TOPIC

The first step is to find a topic that your audience wants to learn about. Think of all the frequently asked questions you get and go from there!

Are you a doctor’s office, and you get calls about what to do during a certain situation and if an office visit is required? Write a blog about it! If you’re an attorney, perhaps you can write about scenarios clients come to you for. Maybe you offer a service like swimming lessons; you can detail blogs to correlate with that (think water safety, summer beach vacation tips, etc.).

The key is to showcase your confidence and expertise in your field — and a blog is the perfect way to let others know about your skills, if they haven’t heard about or met you yet.

2. HEADLINE/TITLE

Your blog title (or story headline) needs to be something that makes people want to click the link. Don’t be vague; be straightforward and factual. Let your audience know exactly what they will gain from reading your blog.

Use keywords in your blog title that are more apt to come up in searches. Turn to an SEO expert to help you decipher which keywords work best for your business, and look to your website team to pull from keywords that are most commonly used to find your website.

3. LEADING PARAGRAPHS

Pull your reader in right away with the first few paragraphs. Whether it’s a relatable anecdote or answering a question right off the bat, you need to put the most pertinent information at the top of your blog story. Tell the reader what they will find out when they read the rest of your article.

4. BODY

In order to write like an investigative journalist, you first need to make sure you answer the 5 W’s after you have determined your topic:

• WHO
• WHAT
• WHEN
• WHERE
• WHY

And don’t forget about the 1 H that ties it all together:

• HOW

Limit any excess words — and when you’re answering the 5 W’s (and 1 H), you’ll likely have enough content so you won’t need to insert unnecessary words. It’s not always about length. While longer blogs often perform better in theory when it comes to social media promotion, that doesn’t mean you have to use “filler” words to turn your blog into a 3-minute read.

If the words you use are not necessary and relevant, you’ll lose your audience halfway through and they’ll close the window, not getting all the information you’re trying to impart.

We can write your investigative, informative blogs for you

You’re busy, and you wear a lot of hats. Writing blog posts may not be on your priority list — and writing like an investigative journalist may just not be in your wheelhouse. We get it. And we’re here to help! At Hay There Social Media, we have award-winning journalists on our team to research and write blogs for you — on any topic at all. We’ll get to know you and your business, and determine how to best reach your audience.

Contact us today to find out how!