22 services
Blog and Article Writing
Fewer pieces. Ones worth reading.
Illustrated character Pop Halloran“Come here, I'll show you.”
What is articles and blogging?
Article writing for a business is the practice of publishing pieces that answer, one at a time, the questions a buyer has before they spend, under a name the buyer can check. A blog is simply the place those pieces live. The article is the unit of work, and each one has to justify its own existence.
In practice it covers four kinds of piece. The article that answers a plain buying question: what it costs, how long it takes, what goes wrong. The guide that shows a reader how to do something, so they trust you with the parts they cannot do. The opinion, argued and signed, that gives a reader a reason to remember one firm among twenty. And the article written under an owner's or an executive's name, from their knowledge, in their voice, because they have the knowledge and not the hours.
The output is a smaller number of pieces than most businesses think they need, each one aimed at a question someone actually asks, written to stay true for years, and kept up to date afterwards. For the buyer, that means a blog that produces inquiries rather than a blog that produces posts.
Sounds familiar?
- “The blog has forty posts and has never produced an inquiry.”
- “We started strong and stopped in March.”
- “Our expert has no time and everyone else lacks the knowledge.”
What I do in articles and blogging
Every article starts with a question a real person asks, and I write the question down before the first sentence. Then I find out what you know about it that nobody else has published. The writing comes last. What follows is the specific work.
Articles
Blog posts are the regular pieces, each aimed at one buying question, each finished in under 1,200 words because that is how long the answer takes. Long-form articles are for the subject that deserves the full treatment: one piece of two to four thousand words that replaces six thin ones. How-to guides show a reader how to do something properly and are the pieces other sites link to most reliably. Tutorials are the stricter version, step by step, with nothing assumed and the steps in the order they happen. Explainers take one confusing thing, a term, a rule, a process, and make it clear for the reader who is too embarrassed to ask. List articles are for when the subject really is a list, such as the seven documents needed before a permit application, and I will say when it is not. Evergreen articles are written to be true in three years, and seasonal articles are timed to the month your customers buy in, published before it starts rather than during it.
Authority
Thought leadership articles carry a real opinion, argued from what you have seen in your own trade; anything less is a longer brochure. Industry commentary says something useful about news your customers are already reading, within the week it matters. Trend articles describe what is changing in your trade and, more usefully, what a buyer should do about it now. Opinion pieces take a position some readers will disagree with, which is the point of them. Expert interviews put somebody credible on the record, edited from an hour of talk to fifteen minutes of reading. Original research summaries publish your own numbers, from your own jobs, quotes or surveys, and are the most reliable way there is to earn a mention from someone else.
Ghostwriting
Executive ghostwriting takes your knowledge and your name and adds my time. It usually starts with a recorded forty-minute call, and you approve every word before it carries your byline. Founder thought leadership is the same craft for an owner who wants a voice that sounds like the founder and not like a press release. Bylined and trade articles are written for someone else to publish: a trade magazine, an association newsletter, a supplier's site, under your name, to their length and their rules.
Running the blog
An editorial calendar is the dated plan that says what is being written, by whom, and when it is due, set against the hours your people actually have. Blog management is the whole thing handled: commissioning, editing, publishing and a monthly report, so that the blog runs whether or not you had a free evening. Blog editing is for a team that writes its own pieces and needs them made publishable and consistent before they go out. Blog updating brings old posts back to life with current facts and better structure, which on most sites beats writing new ones. A guest article programme places your articles on sites your buyers already read, and I handle the pitching and the editing.
How it is delivered
Fixed price, agreed in writing before anything starts. A single article takes one to two weeks from brief to final draft; a monthly programme is set up in the first month and runs from the second. You keep every article, every recording and every draft, and you can take the calendar in-house whenever you like. The pricing page shows the published band for a monthly programme. Once the articles exist, most people want them read, which is copywriting and campaigns: the newsletter and the social posts that carry each piece to the people it was written for.
What I do not sell here
Bulk article packages priced by the thousand words, content written to fill a calendar rather than to answer a question, and pieces spun from other sites' articles with the nouns changed. I do not write "ultimate guides" to subjects a reader can already find summarised in one paragraph, and I do not write posts about news I have nothing first-hand to add to. If the honest answer is that your buyers need four articles and not forty, that is the number I will quote.
Everything under Articles and Blogging
22 services in 4 groups. Most people need three or four of them, not all 22 — part of the job is working out which.
On this page
Articles
8 services
- Blog posts Regular articles aimed at a question a buyer has before they spend. Read more
- Long-form articles The complete treatment of a subject, when the subject deserves it. Read more
- How-to guides Genuinely useful instructions. The most reliably linked-to format there is. Read more
- Tutorials Step by step, with the steps in the right order and nothing assumed. Read more
- Explainers One confusing thing made clear, for the person too embarrassed to ask. Read more
- List articles Useful when the subject really is a list, and a cliche when it is not. Read more
- Evergreen articles Written to be true in three years, and to keep earning until then. Read more
- Seasonal articles Timed to the season your customers buy in, published before it starts. Read more
Authority
6 services
- Thought leadership A real opinion, argued. Anything less is just a longer brochure. Read more
- Industry commentary Saying something useful about news your customers are already reading. Read more
- Trend articles What is changing in your trade, and what a buyer should do about it. Read more
- Opinion pieces A position some readers will disagree with. That is the point of them. Read more
- Expert interviews Somebody credible interviewed, then edited into something readable. Read more
- Original research Your own numbers, published. The best way there is to earn mentions. Read more
Ghostwriting
3 services
- Executive ghostwriting Your knowledge, your name, my time. Usually starts with a recorded call. Read more
- Founder thought leadership A founder voice that sounds like the founder, not like a press release. Read more
- Bylined and trade articles Written for someone else to publish, under your name, in their magazine. Read more
Running the blog
5 services
- Editorial calendar A dated plan that says what is being written and by whom. Read more
- Blog management The whole thing handled: commissioning, editing, publishing, reporting. Read more
- Blog editing Your team writes, I make it publishable and consistent. Read more
- Blog updating Old posts brought back to life, which usually beats writing new ones. Read more
- Guest article programme Placing your articles on sites your buyers already read. Read more
Articles and Blogging vocabulary
The 26 terms you will meet in a proposal, a report or a meeting about articles and blogging, each in one or two plain sentences. Link to any of them.
- Blog post
- A single article on a business website, usually under 1,200 words, written to answer one question a buyer asks before spending money. The unit of work in this field.
- Long-form article
- One piece of two thousand words or more that covers a subject completely, written when the subject earns it and replacing several thin posts on the same theme.
- How-to guide
- Instructions for doing one thing, written so a reader can follow them without help. Other sites link to good ones for years, which is why they are worth writing well.
- Tutorial
- A stricter kind of guide: every step in the order it happens, nothing assumed, each step checkable before the next. Written for the reader who has never done this.
- Explainer
- An article that makes one confusing term, rule or process clear, for the reader who does not want to ask. It answers "what is this and why should I care" in plain words.
- Listicle also: list article
- An article organised as a numbered list. Useful when the subject genuinely is a list of things, and a cliche when a numbered heading is pasted onto ordinary prose.
- Evergreen
- Describes an article written to stay accurate for years because the question it answers does not change. The opposite of commentary on this week's news.
- Seasonal content
- Articles timed to the month or season in which customers buy, published far enough ahead that they are already in place when the buying starts.
- Thought leadership
- An article that argues a real position from the author's own experience, so a reader learns something they could not get from a brochure. Persuasion by argument, not by adjective.
- Industry commentary
- A short piece that says something useful about news the reader has already seen, adding what it means for them. Worthless without something first-hand to add.
- Trend article
- A piece describing what is changing in a trade and what a buyer should do about it now. The second half is the part that earns the inquiry.
- Opinion piece also: op-ed
- An article taking a position that some readers will disagree with, signed by the person who holds it. The disagreement is what makes it memorable.
- Expert interview
- A recorded conversation with someone credible, edited into an article a busy person can read in ten minutes. The edit does most of the work.
- Original research
- Numbers a business collects itself, from its own jobs, quotes or customer surveys, then publishes. The most dependable way to be cited by other writers.
- Ghostwriting
- Writing an article that will appear under someone else's name, from their knowledge and in their voice, with their approval of every word before it is published.
- Byline
- The line that names the author of an article. On a business site it should name a real person who can be checked, because readers trust people more than logos.
- Trade press also: trade publication
- The magazines, newsletters and sites that serve one industry. Writing for them puts your name in front of buyers and peers who already read them.
- Guest post also: guest article
- An article written for another organisation's website under your byline, usually in exchange for reaching their readers and a link back to your own site.
- Editorial calendar
- The dated plan for a blog: which pieces are being written, by whom, for which publication date. Kept realistic by matching it to the hours the team really has.
- Commissioning
- Deciding which article gets written next, by whom, at what length and by when, and putting that in a brief. The step most unmanaged blogs skip.
- Content brief also: article brief
- A one-page document given to a writer before they start: the question the piece answers, the reader, the length, the sources and the call to action.
- Angle
- The particular way into a subject that makes one article different from every other on the same topic. Chosen before writing, usually from what only you know.
- Working title
- The provisional headline an article carries while it is being written. It states the question plainly; the final headline is chosen once the answer is known.
- Lede also: lead
- The opening sentences of an article. In a business article the lede states the answer, then the rest of the piece justifies it, because most readers stop early.
- Revision round
- One pass of changes requested by the client after a draft. A fixed-price article includes a stated number of rounds so both sides know when it is finished.
- Post refresh also: blog updating
- Updating an existing article with current facts, a clearer structure and any new material, instead of writing a new one. Usually the quickest gain on an older blog.
Test yourself on articles and blogging
Four short games built from the vocabulary above. Nothing is recorded, nobody is watching, and the glossary is right there if you get stuck.
The word games need JavaScript. The glossary above has every term they use.
How it actually runs
The same four steps whatever the work is.
A conversation
Half an hour. What you sell, who buys it, and what is not working. No charge and no deck.
A fixed number
Scope and price in writing before anything starts. It does not change without you agreeing first.
The work
I do it, or I coach your person through it, or I bring in and manage the specialist it needs.
Something you keep
Every engagement ends with a document, a system or a trained person — not a dependency on me.
What usually comes with this
Three things that sit next to articles and blogging often enough to be worth a look.
- making articles findable — Be findable by people who are ready to spend.
- choosing what to write about — Decide what to publish, and what to stop publishing.
- turning one recording into a month of posts — One recording, a dozen useful things.
- the full A–Z of all 261 services — if you would rather just look.