How to Write a Blog Post that Sells your Product

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Content is King” by now.  It’s a pretty popular phrase in the world of blogging.

As a business owner, you aren’t exactly a blogger, though.  Your need to create amazing content is different. 

When you write a blog post, your goal is to not only attract eyeballs interested in your content, but also potential customers who might want to purchase your product.  You want to educate, inspire and create a buzz around what you’ve created.

You’re wearing the hat of a marketer.

Although you may write a blog post as a helpful resource about your product and use your content to get new viewers to visit your shop, your main goal is to entice these readers to click over to your shop and make a purchase. 

Eventually, your blog posts will warm up these potential customers and transform them into buyers.

Blogging is a very powerful marketing tool.

So when you write a blog post for your business blog, it needs to focus on selling your product.  Each blog post should promote a product or category of products from your shop.  It’s an opportunity to create content that tells potential customers more about what you make, sell and do.

If this sounds a little difficult, not to worry.  It’s actually not that hard.  Figuring out how to write a blog post for your business just takes some practice.

Here is a simple step by step process to follow when you write a blog post for your business blog.  Once you’ve tried it a couple of times, you’ll be surprised how easy this marketing tool is to use.

Step One – Decide What Product you Want to Promote

Before you start to write your blog post, decide which product you want to promote from your shop.  If you’ve created your marketing strategy correctly, then you should have a product or category of products that you wish to showcase.  If not, then choose a product that is new to the shop, one that needs a boost in sales or something that you want to tell your customers more about.

You don’t have to choose only one specific product.  If a holiday is coming up, you could write about a collection of products related to that theme.  Another idea is to write a post about a category of products in your shop.  Then, you can invite customers to shop that category.

No matter which direction you go in, make sure you have one product or collection in mind.  It’s really hard to write an effective blog post when you aren’t sure what item you’re promoting.

Step Two – Choose the Type of Blog Post you Want to Write

One of my first internships was in a public relations shop in New York.  This was before the age of digital marketing.  Press releases were still written as matter of fact documents.

Although we tried to add some snazzy story behind the product, the press release always sounded like a sales pitch.  Luckily, we worked with really talented reporters who took our press release and developed it into a story that made people want to buy the product.

This is your job when you write a blog post for your business.  You want to be the reporter that’s going to transform a traditional press release into a story that can be shared.  Which really means that you don’t want your blog post to sound “salesy”.

You know the kind.  I’m usually quite disappointed when I click on an enticing article headline only to be greeted with an obvious sales pitch on the other end.  

Instead, your goal is to develop your blog post into a story format.  There are lots of different blog post formats that you can use.  Check out my 10 favorite ones here.  Then, choose one of the types of blog posts that will work well for your product. 

Be sure to select a blog post that will feature your product.  You want readers to be interested in what your sharing and want to learn more about how your product can help them.

For example, you want to feature a series of children’s art prints in a blog post.  One idea for a blog post is to write a round up blog post that showcases ways to decorate a kid’s room.  When your featuring different decorating ideas, you could also feature your art prints.  

When someone whose interested in decorating ideas for their child’s room clicks on your blog post, they’ll discover your art prints.  Hopefully, they’ll  click on your link and purchase your art prints.

No matter what, they’ll discover your shop and creative work.  Even if they don’t purchase through that blog post, they might share it with friends or follow you on social media so they can find out more about your work.

Step Three – Come up with Blog Post Topics

Now that you know the product that you want to promote and the type of blog post that you want to write, it’s time to brainstorm blog post ideas.

Create a list of potential blog post topics that feature your product in the blog post type you wish to write.  Think about DIY projects, round up posts and other blog post topics that will showcase your product.

For this step, your goal is to integrate your product into your blog post.

Once you decide on the blog post that you want to write, don’t discard your other blog post ideas.  Keep these around to help you discover even more content ideas in the future.

Step Four – Write your Blog Post

You’ve finally made it.  It’s time to write your blog post.

For those of you who love writing, this will be your favorite part.  Others of you may not think so.

If writing isn’t a step you love when creating a blog post, consider hiring someone to write for you.  Or you could take a blog post writing class to create even better content.

To write a blog post, start with an outline for your post.  Write down a step by step format of the things you want to include.  These need to be in an order that makes sense.

No matter what kind of outline you make for your blog post, don’t start writing without a plan.  The process takes a lot longer and sometimes you forget to include your product in the post.

When you create your blog post outline, include the places you plan to integrate your product into the post.  By creating an outline first, you know where your product should appear and you won’t forget this very important element.

What if I create the outline and my product doesn’t fit in the post?

Remember that the purpose of your business blog is to promote your products and shop.  If you’ve written your business blog post outline and you can’t figure out how to include your product, then this might not be the best blog post to spend time writing.

Try to see if there are places you can insert your products into the blog post outline.  If not, go back to your blog posts ideas and try a different topic.

To make blogging an effective marketing tool, your business blog posts must promote your products.  If your product doesn’t fit into the blog post naturally, then start over.  Don’t spend time writing a blog post that doesn’t do it’s job.

Step Five – Add Photos to your Post

These days blogging is as much of a visual medium as a written one.  The best blog posts have at least a couple of photos scattered throughout.

Although you can easily find stock photos on paid and even free sites, these may not be the best photos to use for every blog post.

Consider taking your own blog photos for your business blog posts.  The advantage of taking your own photos is that you can include your products in them, show your products in use and style them to match your business brand.  These photos also can double as marketing content and are easy for your customers to share.

Insert the photos in effective places throughout your blog post.  For a regular blog post, I usually include 2 to 3 photos throughout the text.  I usually aim for one photo in the beginning, the middle and the end. 

If I’m writing a DIY blog post, then I also include photos of the different steps.  Many times, there’s more photos than text.  Just make sure when you’re writing this kind of post, you remember to include links to your shop and products.  Sometimes those can be hidden among all of the photos.

To make my blog posts more shareable on social media, I also create photos in the Pinterest format at the beginning and end of my blog posts.  These specialized images guarantee that there is a Pinterest friendly image for readers to share.

Step Six – Edit your Blog Post

After you add the photos to your blog post, it’s time to edit.  If you’re not overly confident in your writing skills, you might want someone else to edit your blog post.

Find a writing buddy or hire a VA that specializes in editing.  Even a spouse or fellow creative friend will do.  Sometimes it’s better to have someone else look over your writing and make sure that you’re communicating your ideas effectively.

You can also install Yoast WordPress Plugin to pick up any errors in your writing.  I use the Yoast plugin to make sure that I’m writing in the active voice and not starting my sentences all the same way each time.

Step Seven – Promote your Blog Post

Congratulations!  You’ve created content that features your product and promotes your shop.  Unfortunately, that blog post won’t just share itself.  You need to promote your blog post so your audience and potential buyers can find it.

After you publish your post, make sure that you’ve installed sharing buttons so that readers can easily share your post with others.  Also include a Pin Button on your images so that they can be pinned with one click.

Beyond social media, there are lots of other ways to share your posts with your potential audience. You can check out some of the most effective ways here.

Step Eight – Check Back In

I used to be the person who would write a business blog post and then let it sit there.  Forever.

I hate to admit it, but it turns out that this one of the least effective ways to use blogging to market your business.  Remember, if you build it they will not come.

The same lesson can be applied to promoting your blog post (and products, really). 

If you promote your post once, they will not keep coming. 

When promoting your blog post, you need to be consistent.  You should have a promotion plan over several months or even a year.    

So, how do you know if your blog post was successful?  After about a month of promoting and sharing your blog post, check the stats and see how it’s performing.

Are you getting a lot of traffic to that post?

Is the post converting that traffic into sales or at least shop visitors?

Are people sharing your blog post with their audiences?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you might need to tweak your blog post.  Add more links to your products, promote the post on different platforms and possibly even more often.  Check your SEO and make sure that you’ve included popular keywords that are easy to rank for.  You can even create new pins to promote the post in a new way.  

Since blogging is such an important marketing tool, it’s important to make sure that it’s working for you.  Your goal is to convert the browsers into buyers.  And, hopefully, lots of them.  

You might not see an increase in sales right after you start writing blog posts.  But, you may find an increase in your social media follows and email sign ups.  This is another great way to measure the effectiveness of your blog posts.  If these numbers are increasing, your content is making an impact.

This impact might not be resulting in direct sales yet, but you are warming up customers to buy later.  That’s just as important.  Through your future interactions and blog posts, many of these followers will eventually become shoppers.

Final Thoughts…

Blogging can be one of the most effective ways to create content that helps sell your product, but only if you write the blog post correctly. 

The time of writing blog posts that are more like journal entries is behind us.  Your blog post needs to focus on a product from your shop and feature it in a creative way that makes potential buyers want to read it.  And share your content with others.

When you blog for your business with a purpose, your audience and sales will grow.  

Haven’t started a business blog yet?  Check out this easy tutorial for find out how to start your business blog today.  And if coming up with content ideas and writing is where you’re getting stuck, you can find more ideas for blogging for your business consistently and our content creation packages here.