Nervous you aren’t a good enough writer?

Don’t think you have a voice worth listening to?

Wondering if anyone will care what you post on your blog?

These are common worries, but they shouldn’t stop you from blogging.

The benefits of blogging are enormous. They increase a brand’s authority. Blogs help drive targeted traffic to a website. They also help generate leads.

But only if you put the right power behind your blog, and do it right.

Every time you write a blog, you should keep these steps in mind:

1. Blog for your audience—not to generate leads.

If you try to generate leads with your blog, you’ll be more likely to fall flat on your face. That’s because you won’t be writing to a real, live person. If you keep in mind that you’re talking to a single customer, that one client that has a big problem, you’ll succeed.

Here’s why: People want to read blogs that solve their everyday problems. They go to blogs that show understanding of their pain points. And more specifically, they return to blogs, again and again, that help them solve problems.

Once you win people over this way, you’ll gain leads, too.

2. Show that you can solve problems

Let’s say your business sells pet products. What’s to differentiate your brand from the hundreds of other brands that also sell pet products? The difference lies in how well you convey to your audience that you can solve their pet problems.

Pee stains on carpet? We’ve got answers.

Unruly dog on a leash? We’ve got answers.

Can’t train your parrot? We’ve got answers for that, too.

Becoming your industry’s or niche audience’s problem-solver may mean writing one meaty blog a month that comprehensively tackles carpet stains. Or it may mean writing a series of blog posts on how to leash-train an older dog from the pound versus a puppy.

Get inside your audience’s mind and use your blog to address their biggest, most difficult problems, and you’ll win followers.

3. Get help

In almost every industry, there will be “influencers” that are far more authoritative than you. Don’t worry about that, because you can capitalize on the influence of influencers.

Here are a couple of strategies you can use to accomplish this goal:

• Find industry experts (like Purina) and quote them in your blog posts.
• Back up your blog content with credible sources (like books, national magazines, and newspapers).
• Compile a case study to show proof of your methodologies and tips.

Use these strategies to help differentiate your blog from the noise competitors are making, and you’ll establish a unique brand voice that consumers turn to, every time they need to solve one of their problems.

That’s how you build a blog that is authoritative, drives traffic and generates leads.