“Should This Be a Blog Post?” How to Know What Content to Put on Your Organization’s Website

I’ve seen many articles answering the question “How often should we publish a blog post?” But let’s back up a second and ask the more important question: “Should this thing I want to write about be a blog post at all?”

Over the years we’ve had a lot of clients who treated their blogs like company bulletin boards, or long-form social media. Every announcement, product roll-out, sales sheet, snippet of advice, or passing thought would suddenly need to be written up as a blog post. (We get the opposite sometimes, too, where every blog post is a small PhD dissertation on a very technical and esoteric topic.)

That’s fine—a company can do whatever they want with their online real estate. But if you want to do what’s effective, that requires a little more thought.

Remember, your organization’s blog is a publication (of sorts). As a publication, it is one of many online channels. To get the most out of that channel, you have to have the right content, from the right point of view, targeted at the right audience, and promoted in the right way. And you need to compare the effectiveness of this channel against other channels, such as social media.

So let’s suppose that you or someone at your organization has had an idea for a blog post. How can we evaluate that idea’s “blogworthiness”?

To start, try asking these questions:

1. Can it be long enough?
2. Will it still be relevant and useful in a year?
3. Will it matter to the people you are trying to attract to your website?
4. Does it satisfy someone’s curiosity?

Can it be long enough?

Do you have only a few sentences that need to be said about a topic? That sounds like a social media post to me. If you want your blog to have any value for SEO, there is a minimal word count needed for Google to even register that it’s crawling a content page. Estimates vary somewhat, but professionals seem to agree that this minimum is around 300 words. (And, in fact, over 1,000 words is best.) So if you can’t get 300 words of solid, useful writing, it probably shouldn’t be a blog post.

Will it still be relevant and useful in, say, a year? 

OK, yes, blog post articles are organized by date. That doesn’t mean they have to be news feeds. In fact, blog posts are most valuable when they are “evergreen content”—content that is useful over time, and that attracts visitors throughout its lifespan.

Dated announcements and news stories do better on social media, which is a bit more ephemeral. Plus, social media algorithms are getting better and better at the trade-off between information that is relevant, and information that is merely recent.

If you are unsure whether what you are writing will be relevant a year from now, it might not be worth spending the resources to write it up as a blog post. (The one exception would be posts that reference the current year—for example, “Best Marketing Software in 2021” or “How SEO Has (Not) Changed in 2021.” But notice that even these will have a shelf life of several months and will likely drive a good amount of traffic in that time.)

Will it matter to the people you are trying to attract to your website?

Don’t just write for people because you know how to write for them; write for the people you are actually trying to attract to your website. Write for the decision-makers.

If the people you are trying to attract are, say, director-level executives at companies you target, write for them. Don’t write to your peers, competitors, vendors, partners, users, or other folks, unless you know those people have some say in the buying process, or influence over the decision-makers.

If you are trying to attract homeowners in a certain ZIP Code, write for them. Don’t write for your subcontractors, your PR manager, or your CEO.

If you can’t identify who would care about the information in your post—or if the only people who would care are your employees—that’s a red flag.

(Not sure? Try this: Post the main idea in a sentence on social media. If it gets zero likes, or only likes from your employees, that’s a sign that you haven’t got a match between the information and your audience’s interests.)

Does it satisfy someone’s curiosity?

Too often, an organization’s blog post is a detailed answer to a question that no one was asking. 

Consider: There are four major ways that someone finds a piece of content on your website:

• They were looking for something, and a search engine thought your site had something of value to offer (search).
• They saw a post about it on social media and were willing to click through (social).
• They saw a link on another website—meaning another writer found your content valuable enough to share (backlinks).
• A salesperson/biz dev person encouraged them to visit that piece of content (sales enablement).

Notice that, even if you work these channels, there’s no guarantee that someone will visit your content. The user is always presented with a choice, and so they must be enticed to click. What entices users the most is the promise of information that answers some burning question. It does not matter if that question is one they’ve had for months or minutes. It could even be the case that your readers didn’t know they wanted that question answered until they read your headline!

So now let’s apply that to the four channels above:

• When people search online, they oftentimes want a specific answer to a question, or they want to learn how to do something specific. Does your blog post answer or teach something specific?
• When people are on social media, they want to be entertained and engaged as much as they want to be informed. What arouses their curiosity? What will make them pause and say “wait, what?” and then click through to your blog for more context?
• Is there information in the blog post that could be important background or context for others? Would it fill in the gaps for a reader visiting another article who says “wait, what am I missing here?”
• When a salesperson hears a specific question from a prospect, would their first reaction be to say “oh wait, we actually have an article answering that very question!” Or does your sales team find themselves having to explain something over and over again, and would they be relieved to have a “leave behind” that did the heavy lifting instead?

If you are thinking of a blog post but are not sure what question it answers (or at least raises), think it through again. You might just need to attack it from a different angle…or save it for another channel altogether.

Let’s Apply These Questions

OK, we now have some questions in hand. Let’s test them against some ideas for blog posts that could be brought up in a content planning session.

“Our company X just acquired company Y…”

This is a common M&A announcement. Should you spend the time to make this into an article on your blog? Let’s see…

• Length? Sure, you could probably squeeze out 300 words, but unless there are a lot of upcoming changes to discuss, length might be an issue.
• Relevant in a year? No, it will be old news by then.
• Will it matter to folks? Well, it will matter a lot to the employees and leadership of both companies. But it will matter very little to either company’s clients/customers. (Even if the acquisition has ramifications that reach customers, it is those they will care about. For example, I could care less about T-Mobile acquiring Sprint, unless it means I get better coverage and/or a lower mobile bill. That’s what I want to read about.)
• Does it satisfy curiosity? Probably not. Again, employees might be curious, but they are not the audience.

What it’s better for: Company memo and/or social media announcement.

How could you re-pivot: The news itself might just be an excuse to talk about company X’s new capabilities or expanded product line. Those could be discussed in some detail, showing how they address pain points that existing customers are facing.

“Our company just won an award for….”

It’s cool when your company wins an award; more than that, it’s proof that your company is doing something right. But let’s see if that’s a blog post:

• Length? Unless you can talk about the history of the award and the specific product or project that won it…probably not.
• Relevant in a year? No, it will be old news by tomorrow morning.
• Will it matter to folks? This is tricky. Some awards might matter to some customers. For example, if a company wins an award for being a best-in-breed solution, that means something. The same goes for a sustainability award, or a “best place to work” award.  Outside of something like that…let’s be honest. It’s a vanity piece.
• Does it satisfy curiosity? Probably not. Think: When was the last time you, as a consumer, cared about the awards won by the companies from which you buy?

What it’s better for: Social media announcement, for sure. And go ahead and make a nice little graphic you can stick in the corner of your site. That will allow you to show off your award without trying to think of 600+ words to write about it.

How could you re-pivot: Awards posts do a lot better when they are actually veiled case studies! For example, if your company wins an award for a best-in-breed service, use the piece to explain some specific ways the service has helped customers. If your company has won a sustainability award, go into some detail about the initiatives launched to become that way, and what their net impact has been.

“We want a profile on employee X” 

The best companies are fueled by good people. That’s a fact. And so many companies want to show off their employees. That’s fine, too. But should it be a blog article?

• Length? Sure. You have access to the employee, so you can probably get their life history. We’ll throw your content team a bone here.
• Relevant in a year? If the employee is still with you in the same (or similar) role, yes.
• Will it matter to folks? Again, tricky. On the one hand, I do know plenty of people who look at employee profiles online. On the other hand, I think companies often overestimate how much their customers and clients will bother reading longer pieces on them. After all, nothing tells you more about how an employee will interact with you than, well, actually interacting with the employee. So why read a long bio?
• Does it satisfy curiosity? Probably not.

Note: This likely goes for announcements about employees too (promotions, retirements, birth announcements, etc.). And what about clients, or vendors/partners? Turn them into case studies instead.

What it’s better for: If it’s an announcement, social media 100%. If it’s for someone fairly high up in the hierarchy, a press release might be called for. And if you are planning a full biographical article…best to see if there’s a trade publication that wants it. Then let them conduct the interview! 

How could you re-pivot: Spend some time updating (and shortening!) the company bios on your website. Then make sure all your employees are on social media, too. Dust off that SM strategy!

“Customers keep asking about the difference between our product/service X and a competitor’s product/service Y. We want an article outlining the differences.”

So it sounds like there’s a little confusion in the market. Can a blog post clear it up?

• Length? If the differences are real and substantial, then yes, you can get a length that makes sense.
• Relevant in a year? If your product/service will still be around in a year, then yes.
• Will it matter to folks? Definitely! If a potential customer is comparing your offering with your competition, they will definitely want information that can help them see the difference and make an informed decision. Indeed, this is low-hanging fruit from a blogging perspective.
• Does it satisfy curiosity? Sure. Notice how, in this case, the comparison is being driven by actual customer interaction. So the curiosity is there, and a good writer can satisfy it. If the customers had not been asking this question, the author would have to try to arouse that curiosity—for example, using the headline of the piece and some intriguing social media copy.

So this is a much more clear example of something to blog about! That said, once the piece is written, it should still be shared via social media, email, etc.

Now You Try

Still with me? Wow, OK then. Now your time to try.

How would you rate the following ideas for blog posts? Are they worth writing about in this format?

• “We want to explain to customers why we don’t put prices on our website.”
• “Here’s our philosophy on X.” (Where X can be anything: interior design, software development, sustainability, financial services and advice, etc.)
• “We want to showcase a recent project we just completed.”
• “We want to define a new term being used in the industry, and explain it a bit.”
• “We want to give advice on what to look for in [a company like us].”
• “Our company just named a new CEO.”
• “Let’s explain some cool ways in which product X could be used.”
• “Want a general piece saying Happy [Veterans Day, Earth Day, First Day of School, etc.]”