by When it comes to marketing your service-based business, most people start with a blog. After all, it’s a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise and give you something to share.
However, when first starting out, knowing what type of blog posts to write can be frustrating and confusing. Do you give away free advice? Do you showcase your personality and interests? Or do you do something else entirely?
Well in this article I’m going to answer all those questions and outline the type of posts you should be creating for your service-based business.
Your service-based business blog
This piece of advice is going to make it so much easier to create blog posts for your service-based or freelance business. It’s simple and refreshing:
The blog posts you write should be solely based on your client or potential client and their needs.
The only people you want reading your blog are potential clients who might be interested in buying your services, or, your existing clients.
Not someone who is looking to steal your techniques, not someone who is looking for a freebie and certainly not someone looking to read your diary.
So with that in mind, the goal of blog posts should be to:
- Gain new clients.
- Convince potential clients to work with you.
- Or help existing clients.
That’s it.
So let’s break down each of these into types of blog posts you can write.
Blog posts to gain new clients
When writing blog posts with the aim to get new clients, it’s incredibly important to be clear on who your target client is and to be incredibly specific about it.
Once you have a very specific person or business you’re targeting, creating blog posts for them is much easier.
So with that in mind, here are some blog posts you should write:
- Posts targeting a certain keyword they might be searching for.
- Ranking on Google might take time but by picking a keyword you know they search for, you can at least target the things they need help with.
- Posts on topics they might be searching for before they look for help.
- I.e. A post on creating a web design brief, a post on setting up a Pinterest account if you do monthly management etc.
All of these blog posts should then pitch your services at some point. You’re not creating these posts to give away free information.
The sole purpose of investing your time into writing them is to gain new clients, so make sure to pitch your services as the solution.
Tip: These blog posts are the ones you promote the most via social media.
Blog posts to convince ‘on the fence’ clients to work with you
When browsing your website, some potential clients might look to your blog to convince them to work with you. It’s at this point you can showcase your knowledge and use these posts as your on-page sales reps.
When landing on your site, potential clients have one thing on their mind – how can this person/business help me achieve my goals.
So with that in mind, here are some blog posts you can write:
- Common questions you get asked in the form of a helpful blog post.
- I.e. How to prepare for a photoshoot, a technical term glossary including all the words you use (no matter how simple you might think they are) in your business.
- The benefits of a specific thing you do for their business/them.
- I.e. The importance of – topic here.
Tip: Showcase these posts on your homepage only (don’t feature your other blog posts). This way you lead your potential client to the content that will convert them, rather than content they don’t need to see.
Tip: Remove the date from your blog posts if you can. This way you don’t have to constantly update your blog and instead, you can just create quality pieces that will aid your service-based business.
Blog posts to help existing clients
Keeping your existing clients happy and pleasantly surprised is more important than you think. It takes a lot less time to keep an existing client working with you, than it does to gain new ones.
By creating blog content for your existing clients, you’ll inch your way that much closer to a referral.
So with that in mind, here are some blog posts you can write:
- Tools they can use to help their business/life (depending on who you target).
- Additional tips for things they can implement without your help (that you don’t offer as a service).
- Tools they can use to measure the impact of your work – this shows you’re confident about your work’s ability to impact them or their business.
Tip: Send these to your existing clients after a completed project. This way they’ll be reminded of the value you provide their business before you ask them for a testimonial, referral, or to keep working with you.
Now we know the type of posts you should be writing. Let’s take a quick look at the ones you should avoid.
Blog posts to avoid writing
There are so many articles out there with ideas for blog post topics. But we now know that it’s important for each post to have a goal, specifically for service-based businesses.
As a reminder, those goals are to:
- Gain new clients.
- Convince potential clients to work with you.
- Or help existing clients.
So here are some post types that on the surface seem useful, but can actually harm your service-based business:
Posts that tell your clients how to do your work DIY style
It’s easy to get distracted by writing posts like ‘how to create the perfect flat lay’ if you’re a photographer. Or ‘how to structure your blog post’ if you’re a copywriter. But by creating posts like these, you’re giving away you’re skills for free and attracting the wrong people to your website.
While these posts might have universal appeal, they won’t convert your blog readers into customers, trust me.
Posts that distract your client from the work you do
When struggling to come up with ideas for blog posts, many of us end up writing posts about our recent trip, or a new piece of software we’re using. We might even try valiantly to link these posts to our services in some way.
But all these posts do is distract potential clients from getting in contact with you, or purchasing your services.
Imagine this, a potential client visits your site, takes a look at your services and then decides to take a quick look at your blog. Instead of finding a post that convinces them to work with you, they find your travel diary instead.
By the time they’ve finished reading, they may know you a little better, but they’ve also forgotten the value your service will bring, they’re information tired and are probably going to click off your website.
Don’t let this happen to you and avoid writing these types of posts at all costs.
Managing your service-based business blog
The blog posts you write for your service-based business need not be complicated or time-consuming but they do all have a role to play.
This section of your website should work hard for you. It should contain only the best posts that you can continue to update and refine as you go. There don’t need to be 100s of them, just enough to cover all the above goals.
So tell me in the comments. Will you be creating any of these blog posts for your service-based or freelance business?
Share your tips below so we can all learn from each other.
