Writing Blogs

Blogs are used to showcase Advocacy’s outreach efforts. For most blogs, the goal is to tell a relatable story that humanizes small businesses and the regulatory problems they face. Roughly 400-600 words discussing their business, their concerns and issues, and a resolution or a way Advocacy is working to address their concerns are key parameters for blog writing.

The purpose of blogs

Blog posts allow us to show the human consequences of regulatory changes or Advocacy’s success efforts narratively. To that end, do the following:

• Get names, relationships, and interests.
• Ask your stakeholders about how their business started.
• Use their words – quotes are great.

When writing, think of your audience. Shorter sentences without complicated terms are easier for general audiences to follow. While the sentences should be easy to comprehend, high-level information is still a primary focus for the blogs.

Provide data on the small business or the issues that affect the business. Use reputable sources to back up your claim. Government agencies are considered reliable sources. If you need assistance finding data, the Office of Economic Research can help.

Citing your source is an informal process in blog writing. Instead of the academic footnotes that are customary in technical documents, placing “according to” and providing hyperlinks to the original source should be used. See the Writing Accessible Hyperlinks section for the correct usage method.

After stating the concerns and problems of the business owner, show how the Office of Advocacy is involved in the solution. Perhaps Advocacy has written comment letters or held roundtables on the issues. Hyperlink them into the text. Perhaps you have spoken with other small businesses that have shared the same concern. Mention them to show correlation and Advocacy outreach.