How to write a brilliant blog or article

Creating a blog or article for your website, a trade magazine or local paper can be a fantastic way to boost your status in your sector and get your name out to potential clients and customers. You can share your expertise and services in an engaging, subtle way that might be shared hundreds of times and read by thousands of people.

But having a good structure and following some useful, tried-and-tested guidelines can make your work clearer, easier to write and more interesting and relevant for readers.

I’m a journalist, editor and content writer of more than 20 years’ experience who has produced work for everyone from Save the Children and Unilever to Reader’s Digest and the Evening Standard. Here are some hints and tips to help you create top-class articles.

Structure

Whether you are writing a thought-leadership piece about fintech or a how-to advice guide to starting a charity, a clear structure will help you write effectively and get your points across.

Start your piece with a short introduction (three lines or fewer), that summarises what the article is about. For instance:

A: “The South East’s economy has bounced back in the last six months. But it still faces many challenges that need to be overcome.”

B: “Technology companies have a serious of shortage of female employees. New ways of thinking are needed to change things for the better.”

Your second paragraph should expand on the first, using facts and figures where useful, and further explaining concepts or arguments. For example:

A continued: “Retail, tourism, the service sector and creative industries have seen a 10% increase in revenue since December, buoyed by new government investment. Even so, company leaders must plan for the potential problems caused by inflation, stagnant wages and reduced spending consumer.”

B continued: “Creating new types of roles, being more flexible on working methods and changing company cultures can all prove very effective at attracting women into the sector.”

Your next few paragraphs should further develop your arguments, point by point.

So, in example A, you could deal with each of the problems business leaders need to be aware of and how they can potentially overcome them. In example B, you can provide tips on how to increase female participation in tech.

It may not feel very elegant, but often writing a piece as a series of long bullet points (3 lines or more), after a couple of introductory paragraphs, can be more accessible for readers. This is particularly true if you are writing an advice article such as “Ten Ways to Reach New Fintech Customers”.

Many people feel the need to end an article or blog with a neat conclusion summing up the piece. But this is rarely necessary. It’s often fine to just end the article after your last point, particularly if the piece has a bullet point/list format. A more narrative-format article can benefit from having a final quote from a case study or expert (including you), but it has to say something that hasn’t been said already.

Style

Write in a clear, concise way.

Sentences shouldn’t be more than 32 words long, as a general rule.

Always reread sentences to see if they can be written with fewer words. For instance, “In the past, marketing companies from Kent focused on finding clients in London” could be shortened to “Kent marketing companies used to focus on finding London clients”. Do this for every sentence and you can save hundreds of words per article that can be better used to include statistics, examples and make more points.

Avoid using industry jargon, particularly for a general audience. Don’t assume people will understand the terms and acronyms you use every day. Even for an audience in your sector, write in a way that people who aren’t very familiar with a subject can understand.

Research and sources

Make sure you research your topic thoroughly.

Don’t rely on information from just one or two web pages, where possible.

Use authoritative sources, such as government or industry association websites, for statistics, legal information and other facts.

Don’t rely on other people’s blogs or the likes of Wikipedia for facts and stats. Go, instead, to the original sources, where possible, such as a company report or consultancy survey. Even respected trade outlets and newspapers can make mistakes so try to find the source of their facts and stats, too.

Don’t use facts or statistics that are more than two years old, if at all possible. Always use the most recent stats available.

Hyperlink survey findings, statistics etc in your copy to the original source.

Other key points to remember

Where possible, always include real-life examples to illustrate your points. Such as how your company increased the number of women in its workforce through an innovative scheme. Use statistics and mini case studies showing the success.

Quotes from experts can be useful, too, unless you are writing an opinion or though-leadership piece where you are positioned as the expert.

If you are writing for an outside publication, such as a trade website, be wary of just talking about your company, unless specifically asked to. Instead, include specific examples of other firms, outside experts and overall industry statistics. But it’s absolutely fine to use limited examples and views from your company, too.

For anyone who is quoted or features in an example, include their job title, company and why they are well qualified to speak on a subject. For example “John Smith, managing director of KSB Marketing, has helped companies such as XXX and XXX promote their products.”

Include dates and locations for any projects or examples mentioned.

Spell out numbers from one to ten in copy. But 11, 12 etc can be written as digits, unless they are at the start of a sentence, in which case, spell them out too. “Thirty seven million people work in marketing worldwide”, for instance.

Spell out company and organisation names, when using them for the first time in copy. You can use their initials, after that.

Simon Hemelryk runs Simon Hemelryk Public Relations & Content. He can provide a wide range of services, such as media training, PR project management, media relations, and content strategy and writing, including leadership profiles, articles and brochures.

He is a former national magazine editor and partner in a London PR firm, and works for several local, national and international newspapers, business and charities.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk