Imagine this: Your DREAM client is browsing and scrolling through Google and Pinterest to find the best pet-friendly restaurants in her area. All of a sudden, a beautiful and eye-catching blog post graphic catches her eye on Pinterest.
It addresses the EXACT thing she was looking for. So, she clicks on it. Immediately, she’s drawn in by the content. She consumes the entire blog post and then realizes about 30 minutes later that she’s gone through a crazy amount of your blog posts and bookmarked or pinned about half of them to come back to later!
Because of how much she loves your content, she decides to follow you on Instagram to check you out and also begins to look through your services to see if it’s something she’s looking for. Lucky for you, she’s been looking for a dog walker for a while now but didn’t find one she meshed with until she came across your blog.
DONE. She submits an inquiry and the rest is history.
Isn’t that the experience every pet business owner hopes for when a potential client comes across a piece of your content?
Unfortunately, not every blog post on the Internet catches attention like that, but that’s because they don’t necessarily know the best formula for a bomb pet business blog post! So, we’re getting into it below.
1. First things first, get in the right mindset.
While this isn’t necessarily a ‘pen to paper’ or ‘keyboard to laptop’ step, it’s the number one missed step when it comes to producing valuable content for your audience. For real!
While I go way deeper into this in the Blogging in Your Pet Biz Course, here’s the gist:
Get into a comfortable position, take some deep breaths, and meditate.
While meditating/relaxing, begin to feel inspiration take hold while daydreaming about your dream pet business. What clients are you communicating with? What emotions do you feel with them?
Once you’re done, jot down the important feelings and notes you want to remember. From there, it’s easier to know what these ideal clients are looking for.
Here’s the point: when you write from a place of inspiration and genuine connection with your dream clients, it will end up attracting those ideal clients. If you are producing blog posts just to increase your SEO, no one will respond (or at least not the ideal clients you want). There’s an energy surrounding everything we put out there, so sink into the inspiration of working with those dream clients and let it come forth.
2. Establish the point of the blog post.
Every single piece of content you put out there in your pet business needs to serve a purpose. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time. Sure, every once in a while, a cute picture of a dog on Instagram works wonders (although the point here is entertainment, right?). But, what action do you want your ideal client to take during or after reading the blog post? What’s the point of putting it out there?
This step will help you produce the best topics possible for your audience.
3. Create a catchy title.
Typically, and as we were taught in school, a title to a paper or essay should be a summary of the content you’re sharing. And of course, we want to accurately set expectations for what the blog post includes. HOWEVER, it’s a bit more than that.
Did you know only 20% of people will actually read the post after reading your title? To get people reading your blog post, the title HAS to catch them and make them want to read more.
You can do this by:
Including numbers or dashes
Including slang (no puns - that takes away from SEO)
Using words like: Secret, Step-by-Step, Quick, Simple, Blueprint, etc.
4. Create an outline.
I do this for every single blog post I write in my business because:
It allows me to make sure I won’t forget an important piece or point I want to mention, especially if I’m planning and writing these outlines ahead of time (highly recommended, by the way).
It helps you get all of your ideas down on paper before writing the blog post.
It keeps you organized and strategic.
It helps you develop the proper flow of your blog post in a more organic way, which also allows readers to flow through to the end result more easily, too!
5. Establish your call-to-action (CTA).
This goes back to step number 2. We want to have a purpose for every blog post. However, we take it a little further when it comes to establishing the CTA. The CTA is the action item that you want your reader to take once they finish your blog post. It can be simple or a bit higher of an ask.
My biggest advice?
Make it the next most organic progression through your client journey. What is the next natural step after they complete your blog post?
Some CTAs can be to:
Read another related blog post
Connect with you on social media
Sign up for your opt-in or freebie
Schedule a call with you
Download an information / welcome packet (We have awesome welcome packet templates here)
Book/purchase
Inquire or submit a contact form
Whatever it is, just make it the most natural next step. You don’t need to push for the ‘BOOK A SERVICE’ immediately. That’s not necessarily how it works, especially depending on the blog post and if it’s the first time they’ve come across your business.
6. Divide up your content in an easy to read manner.
Let’s face it. Y'all are skimmers (me, included - I’ll admit it). We don’t necessarily want to read through every single word of every blog post. We either have one particular answer we’re searching for OR we just want to read the applicable portions to us.
While we would love for people to read through every single word on our website, that’s just not how it works. So, the goal isn’t to even write ‘well enough’ to make them read it all. The goal is to give the answers they want EASILY and QUICKLY.
You can do that by:
Creating list posts
Adding bullet points
Bolding and italicizing text to make it easier to find key points
Linking to other resources
Breaking up the text with headers, subheaders, and/or graphics
Writing short paragraphs so it’s easier to follow and break up
Need some blog post ideas to get started? Get access to my list here.
7. Include VALUABLE information.
Once again, we’re back to this… Every single blog post needs to serve a purpose.
People aren’t just reading your content just because. They’re looking for something. The more you can provide the valuable or tangible information they’re looking for, do it! The more, the better!
In fact, some of my clients get uncomfortable with how much we share, but you know what? Those readers are the ones that are amazed by what we put out there. They are the ones that reach out and say, “man you gave all this information away for free...what is it like to work with you one-on-one?” “What more could I learn by purchasing this course or investing in this training program?”
8. Create Pinterest-worthy graphics.
This is the case especially for those using Pinterest. This is what makes readers stop in their tracks and click on your post. It also makes it much more ‘pinnable’ to Pinterest, so they can save it and come back to it later.
When using Pinterest, I recommend using a vertical blog post graphic. And the best part - you can make them for free in Canva! Simply create an account if you don’t have one already and search for ‘Pinterest Pin’ and you’ll see endless templates you can customize to your pet business.
9. Implement some SEO before posting.
The dreaded SEO! It’s honestly not as complicated as some make it out to be and there are little things you can do to boost your SEO without letting it become complicated or overwhelming for those who don’t like the ‘techy’ behind the scenes ‘stuff!’
Some important things to do:
Add alt text to your images/graphics
Add a meta description to describe your blog post
Change the URL (add in a custom slug that’s short and includes important keywords separated by dashes)
Use the main keyword in your title
Use the main keyword in the first paragraph
Use other important keywords in the subheaders
Check out some more tips I have for you on How To Write A Blog Post Optimized For SEO.
BUT, the most important… just keep it genuine! Don’t try to fill in keywords for SEO’s sake because that won’t work, at least not in the way you want it to. Who cares about increased web page traffic if they aren’t your target market or even in your geographic area if you’re a local business?
Need a new website to show off your awesome blog posts AND help you nail SEO and copywriting??? At the Pet Marketing Unleashed shop we have website templates geared specifically towards pet businesses, but more than that, our templates come with one of a kind Unleashed Website Academy that offers website strategy, SEO lessons, onboarding systems, and more so you can attract your dream customers all while saving yourself time! Check out the shop for our pet biz templates so you have a beautiful home for those awesome blog posts!
10. Enjoy the process.
I know. Cheesy as all heck. But, it’s so true. Like I mentioned earlier, everything you put out into the universe has energy. If that energy is rushed and stressed and without soul, it won’t be well-received. If you’re enjoying the process and writing FOR the benefit of your audience, that’s where you’ll see a return.
That’s especially the case for the pet industry because the pet industry is personal. Without connection and trust with fellow pet owners, we won’t be successful. So, dig deep into Your Why and produce from that space.
I hope this was helpful! If you’re looking for more assistance in the blogging arena, I have a workshop-style course that goes into the EXACT process of planning, coming up with topic ideas, and writing your blog posts for an entire year for your pet service business! You can learn more about the course here.
