Audience:

 

Is your blog laser focused on your ideal target audience of…. 

 

Tone of voice:

 

Does it fit our values of: 

• Value 1
• Value 2
• Value 3
• Value 4
• Value 5

 

Read it aloud…

 

• Does it sound too casual or too formal? (When in doubt, go more ‘casual’ and more human)
• Change contractions if they don’t sound like you – I am/ I’m. Are not /Aren’t. Can not/ Can’t. It is/ it’s.
• Are there sentences that could be shorter? Are there sentences that could be longer?

 

Do your headers summarise the key points?

 

Imagine your reader is skimming – do they get enough knowledge from your header to be able to decide if they need to invest their time in the blog? We make the headers TELL the reader the key points instead of ask.

 

1. Keep paragraphs to 4-5 lines 
2. Break up text with lists, bullet points, images
3. Check the strength of your bridge – first line of your blog is bridge between title and main body

 

Words to use or not use:

 

Remove any of these words: 

[Enter here any specific words you want to stop using, or use less of.]

 

Words you may want to replace: 

[If these, or these types of words are used, consider replacing them with something else]

Bad habits:

Are you doing any of these things? If so, cut them out or replace. 

 

Example: 

• Remove ‘extra’ words not needed (ie ‘which’, ‘that’)

• Are you repeating something in 2 or 3 different ways? Cut out the duplicates

• Can you get to the point faster? What’s knowledge & what’s noise?

 

Trim the fat: Look for waffle and cut. 

 

1. “It could be that you’ve thought in the past that it might be a good idea to work with an Accountant”. Replace with: “You’ve thought about working with an Accountant in the past”. 

 

Terminology & naming: 

 

Are you using any accounting terminology? 

• Is it possible someone might not understand what it means? Can you explain it in context? 

Are you naming any of your services? 

• If it’s called The Accelerator, does everybody know what that is? Do you have a Silver Package or an Entrepreneur Package? Not everyone will know what those are.

Fill out your SEO backend:

• Key phrase/words – The focus keyphrase is the phrase that you want your post or page to be found for in search engines. If your blog is “What’s the best Accounting software for creatives?” – your focus key phrase might be “Accounting software for Creatives”. 

 

• Alt description – alt text is the written copy that appears in place of an image on a webpage. Describe any images you’ve used. This is particularly useful for people using screen readers who are visually impaired. 

 

• Meta description – The meta description is used to summarise the content on your page, for both your users and Google. So summarise!

 

Headers, spelling, grammar, detail checks:

• • Have you done a full spelling & grammar check? 

  • Has someone else from the firm looked it over for you? Feedback can be helpful (from the right people) 
  • Do the headers ‘match’? (i.e. are you using an action statement, or a suggestion, or something for each header which is all consistent?)

• Example of inconsistent headers: 

• • Header 1 – You’ve faced up to any pink flags
  • Header 2 – What’s the cost to you if you don’t work with them

Get constructive feedback from the experts

Have you sent your blog to PF for review & feedback? Remember, if you’re in any of these courses or groups, review of your content is included in your membership: 

 

• PF Lab: monthly membership, no subscription, get all your content reviewed. Includes monthly members’ zoom Q&A call 

 

• Accelerator: 12 week course on content marketing for accountants. Sessions run in order, and there are three intakes per year (September, February, May)

 

• Breakthrough: Short, 4-week courses on a particular topic (blogging, video, websites, branding, niche)

Related resources:

Blog post brief (PF Vault item)

Developing your firm’s values (PF blog post)

Developing your tone of voice in 7 easy steps (PF blog post)