Turning your blog into something that your audience is actually excited to read has been on your list for years and you’re ready to get it done, gain more blog views, and book more clients. One of the best ways to share content is by creating a blog series—aka multiple blog posts all centered on a common topic or theme.

Your audience will naturally want to see everything in the series to complete their understanding, which means more blogging engagement and boosting the “know, like, and trust” factor that we’re all after as entrepreneurs. 

What is the know, like, and trust factor? 

The KLT (know, like, and trust) factor is a marketing mantra that reminds businesses that in order to close the sale, your audience has to know who you are, like you, and trust you to solve their problems. 

All of the marketing that happens around here is rooted in this idea.

Of course in order to work with you, your audience needs to know you exist. But beyond that they need to feel like they have some sort of connection with you– like they know you more deeply than a stranger. 

Customers also want to have an enjoyable experience, and feel more at ease making a purchase if they like your personality and align with your values. 

Lastly, and most importantly, they need to trust you. They need to trust that your product or service works and that they aren’t wasting their money– or their time.

We’ll keep this mantra in mind as we are creating your blog series. 

Why a series and not an individual post?

You’ll be positioning yourself as an expert (and people trust and go to experts to solve their problems all the time.)

The more truthful, valuable, and practical information you share with your audience, the more likely you are to be viewed as the obvious choice.

Creating a blog series allows you to go into much greater detail around topics that your audience is interested in. 

For example, let’s say that you own a nail salon and spa. Instead of a free-floating blog post that talks about getting a French manicure for your wedding day, what if you shared an entire series around wedding manicures? You could include the post about French manicures, but you could also include blogs about:

• Choosing the best nail shape for your wedding day
• Unique and eclectic nail designs for your big day 
• How to prep your nails for your wedding manicure 
• The trendiest nails of this wedding season 
• Tips to ensure your wedding manicure lasts
• What to do in case of a nick, scratch, or break on your wedding day mani

Wouldn’t you be way more likely to get your wedding manicure done here? This spa has covered so many topics– and answered so many questions– that are likely on a newly-engaged person’s mind when it comes to their wedding mani. 

Plus, viewers are more likely to click on all the blogs in a series– which increases traffic and engagement

…and let’s be honest: It’s makes planning content 5x easier

Instead of having to come up with topics from scratch, you know the general theme you are writing for– which makes brainstorming and ideation so much easier.

And I’m definitely not the only one who thinks Blog series rock. Read what WordPress has to say about the 6 Benefits of Writing a Blog Series.

Here are the 4 steps for creating your blog series:

• Identifying Audience Interests & Topic Ideation
• Writing compelling content
• Planning the logistics
• Promoting your blog series 

1. Identifying Audience Interests & Topic Ideation

It’s so tempting to just dive into writing a series based on what you know the most about or are most excited to share. Been there.

But what’s crucial to the success of your blog series is choosing a topic that relates to your product or service and is something your audience is dying to know more about.

In order to create a blog series that is sure to resonate with your audience, consider answering these questions: 

– What questions do you get asked all the time? Is this something you could go into greater depth about? 

– What are some recent social media posts that you shared that performed really well? This signals that you shared something that struck a chord with your viewers. Could you turn this into a blog series? 

– Do you track data on Google analytics? See what past blog posts performed well and see if you could create a series centered around the same topic. 

– Have you asked your audience recently what kind of content they love? What they’re struggling with? What they want to learn more about. Consider polling your social media audience or sending out an email to your email list to gather data. 

Blog series are generally 3 to 12 blog posts long, but some entrepreneurs have series that last multiple years. This varies depending on your time, budget, and topic.

Here are some general topics and ideas to get you started:

BUILD “THE KNOW” FACTOR 

Series #1: Meet each team member and get to know the personality behind our brand

• Highlight one specific team member and explain exactly what they do to help customers achieve their goals/solve their problems. 
• Exactly why [our business] was founded– An interview with the founder/CEO
• A Day in the Life of a [team member’s job title]
• How our entire team works together to get sh*t done

BUILD “THE LIKE” FACTOR

Series #2: Show off your brand’s personality and gear all these posts towards showing off your perspective. 

• Share a common myth in our industry and explain what’s actually true
• Explain how a mainstream belief might be a disservice to our audience and what more empowering thing to think instead. 
• Talk about what WE LIKE about our product or service. What special things make it different?

BUILD “THE TRUST” FACTOR 

Series #3: Highlight one specific product or offering and show exactly how it solves your audience’s problems or helps them achieve a goal. 

• [5] Things most people don’t know about [our product or service]
• Everything you need to know about using [our product]
• Stumped by [this common question [in regards to specific product]? Here’s exactly what to do.
• Seasonal hacks– how to use [our product] [all year round/this season]

Other great blog series ideas:

1. 5 different uses for our product: Each blog post highlights a different, creative way that a customer has used your product and gotten results.
2. Client case studies: Thorough breakdowns of the work you’ve done for past clients and the results they achieved. Create one blog per client. 
3. Each step of our creative process: Dedicate each post to a detailed breakdown of exactly how you create your product or execute your service. 

2. Writing Compelling Content 

Your audience will read long-form content if it’s conversational. 

No one wants to read a blog post if it feels like the instruction manual to assembling IKEA furniture. 

Writing like you speak adds in humor, personality, and freshness that most brands simply won’t take the time to infuse.

It’s the best way to set yourself apart.

If you want to know if your content is conversational, read it out loud. Does it sound like you wrote it for the Queen of England? Go back to the drawing board to make it sound more like a casual convo with a friend.

Always choose clear over catchy 

It’s tempting to go with rhyming words or alliterations to grab people’s attention, but if your content merely sounds good, it won’t perform. The goal of excellent writing is to communicate your point so clearly, that you get other people on board. 

For businesses, this means explaining how you help in a way that is so clear, all of the people who are looking for you can find you. 

Share examples, anecdotes, and case studies to illustrate your point

This gives your writing legitimacy. It’s easy to list things out. It’s harder to elaborate with stories that demonstrate the exact point you’re trying to make. 

This is also how you establish yourself as an expert. 

Proofread, proofread, proofread! 

It’s hard to take content seriously when it’s littered with typos. It detracts from your point and makes your brand seem careless– which we know you aren’t 

Well thought out, proofread, and helpful content does the opposite. It signals to your audience your an intentional brand that puts just as much effort into your products and services as you do your marketing content. 

Before people have purchased from you, they are looking for signals that you are a trustworthy brand that can help solve their problems or grant their wishes. They’ll look at the strength of your marketing content to make assumptions about your entire business. 

So make sure you take the time to proofread to make sure you are positioning your business as thoughtful and high-quality.

3. Planning Blog Logistics

Schedule time to brainstorm, write, and promote your blog

You’re running a business AND trying to tackle marketing efforts. It’s a lot. So it can be helpful to schedule time that you set aside to work on your blogging series. You’ll want to give yourself time for the three separate phases. 

Phase 1: Brainstorming and ideation

What did you decide on for your blog series? Do you have specific topics and blog titles chosen? How long will each post be? What order will you share them in?

Phase 2: Writing 

Give yourself time to write a crappy first draft simply to get your ideas out. You can always revise later.

Since there are multiple posts, it’s likely helpful to schedule time to write your rough draft, time to go through revisions, and time to edit and proofread before you hit publish. 

Phase 3: Publishing and Promote 

Choose when you will publish each post in your blog series. Most blogging platforms have an auto-publishing feature so you can schedule posts ahead of time if that’s easier for you. Creating a blog series has seriously never been easier.

4. Promoting your blog series

Share on the platforms you’re already active on 

One of the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make is trying to tackle every marketing platform at once. But if you don’t have a massive marketing team there’s no way you can post 5x a week on 478 different platforms.

And there’s really no need to.

Remember: Simple marketing is effective marketing. 

You don’t have to create brand new Pinterest, Facebook, and Tik Tok accounts just to share your blog. Sticking to the platforms you and your audience are already active on makes things much more manageable at first. 

If you have Pinterest and Instagram, but no Tik Tok or Facebook for example, don’t fret. Just share to Pinterest and Instagram. And if the alternative is true, post to those platforms instead. 

It really can be that simple to get started. 

Pro tip: Don’t worry about the fact you’ll be linking to the same blog multiple times. Your entire audience doesn’t see everything you post, so it’s smart to share the same thing multiple times to ensure more of your audience gets to view it. This isn’t annoying. Repetition is crucial to your successful marketing plan. 

Now it’s your turn– ready to create a blog series your audience will love? Use this post to walk you through each step. 

Wanna leave creating a blog series to the pros? Learn more about Trio Writing Studio’s blogging services and book your free consultation call.