The best way to grow your blog and create a following is to have your readers stay on your page longer and share the content with others. When you write a worthwhile blog post that others find interesting, you will captivate an audience.
How do you start to craft a great blog?
There is more to writing a blog post than writing your ideas and adding a few visuals. There is a structure to follow which will take your blog post from average to great.
Search for topics that answer a question your readers have
- What are my reader’s pain points? What are they trying to solve? What do they continually ask me?
- Which blog posts are my most popular? Can I create a spin-off series?
- What are some of the top blog posts showing up on Google when I search my industry or niche?
- I have a topic, but can I write a more than 1000-word post on it? (Improving chances for ranking higher on Google searches)
Research SEO and keywords for the topic
Start by researching SEO keywords. What popular phrases and terms are people using on Google?
Research the topic properly – look at industry insiders and what they are saying, gather statistics and link to external sources to show where you have found the information if required.
When writing something technical, make sure your reader will understand the key points you are making with limited jargon – write in plain English
Outline the introduction, body, and conclusion ahead of writing
A blog outline will act as a guide, helping the points flow from one idea to the next.
The context is the introduction. Give your reader the statistics, set the scene and include your long-tail keywords for ranking.
The body is where you show them how you solve the problem you’ve outlined in the Context section.
Wrap up with a conclusion telling them what to do next – Do you want them to download a worksheet and sign-up for your newsletter? Do you want them to comment on your post? Do you want them to visit your socials and join in the discussion? let them know with action in your conclusion.
Write the first draft, and take time to read through it checking if the flow is correct
Writing a blog post can be time-consuming, in fact at times it can be draining. Whilst it only takes a matter of minutes to read, it can take several hours to write.
Take a break. Step back and consider what you have written, and what might be missing. After taking a break, and re-reading the blog post you can make tweaks or note down a new idea on the outline to include later.
Do a final review and edit before formatting and publishing
After writing the first draft, give yourself a day and do the following:
- Fix spelling and grammar mistakes, and improve the flow of the sentences. If they don’t flow nicely, the reader will have a hard time following you. Use a free spellchecker to ensure that you haven’t made any mistakes like Grammarly.
- If your blog looks too heavy with large paragraphs, consider trimming it down into a listicle format.
- Add relevant headings (H2, H3) to break up the copy.
- Make sure your keywords and keyword phrases are used throughout the blog post and not all clumped together in one paragraph.
- Use your eyes to scan the preview of the blog post. Break up any long paragraphs and add Headings for sections.
- Add links to relevant and related internal links, and open these on a new page so the reader doesn’t close your blog.
- Make sure you have quality visuals and add ALT-text to each photo with some form of keyword phrases included.
Once everything looks good, and you’ve added all your necessary elements, do one last lookover of the blog post preview.
A great blog post needs to be well-written, well-researched and achieves its goal of being educating, inspiring, entertaining or persuading. If you have ticked these boxes and you are happy, press Publish!
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