How to Write a Blog Post: 22 Actionable Tips
How hard could it be to write a blog post? If a teenager can do it, you can too, right?
Well, writing a blog post isn�t hard at all, but writing a great blog post is very difficult. Below are 22 actionable tips on how to write a blog post that will help make your content stand out from the crowd.
Blog On Your Passion
Blogging can be a chore, unless you are passionate about the topic. So, first and foremost, pick a topic you are passionate about.
Don�t just pick a topic that you �think� you are passionate about. Pick one that you definitely know you�ll love. It has to be a topic that you love so much that you want to constantly learn more about it.
Break With Your Old Ways
Do you remember writing term papers in high school or college? If you don�t, lucky you! If you do, writing blog posts is going to be a difficult task for you. You have to ignore all the things your professors taught you about writing.
You aren�t here to write a term paper�you are here to create a conversation!
If my blog posts sounded as if I was talking at you instead of to you, wouldn�t you get bored and irritated with me? Make sure you do the same: talk to your readers�not at them.
Know What You Want To Write About
Before you start writing the first word, you have to know what the last word is going to be. I don�t mean this in a literal sense, but you have to know how you are going to start off your blog post, the points you are going to convey, and how you are going to wrap everything up.
If you are one of those people who like to be spontaneous, that�s great. As one of those people, I have realized it doesn�t work well with blogging. It will only cause you to spend more time writing than you need to.
Plus, I am pretty sure you are already strapped for time. Right? So why waste more of it?
Find Popular Topics To Blog About
Find a topic that you are passionate about and create a list of all the popular blogs in that space. You can easily do this by searching Google. If there are not many popular blogs in your space, list all the blogs that are somewhat in your space and are popular.
Now that you have a list of all the popular blogs, make sure you browse them once a week. When browsing them, look for social buttons on each post that shows how many people either tweeted or liked� the post. The higher the number, the better.
Take the posts that have over 50 or 100 social shares and list them in a spreadsheet as new ideas for future use. This can be your go to list for when you need a new topic to write about.
Create An Awesome Title
Until you can come up with an awesome title, you shouldn�t start writing your blog post. You could have the greatest content, but if your title sucks, most people won�t read it.
Let�s say that we were targeting the keyword, cake baking tips. Now, from an SEO standpoint you obviously want this keyword to appear in the title and somewhere early on in the title and from a blogging perspective. You need to make sure that the words surrounding your keyword are enticing enough for people to click through. I found that numbers tend to work really well for blog posts.
Instead of just saying cake baking tips, you�d want to put something like, 25 incredible cake baking tips. Okay? So, that�s something that�ll entice people to click through because they�re curious about the specific number of 25 and the word incredible also makes them a little more curious. That is what I would call an awesome title that should get some clicks!
Hook Your Readers
You have only a few seconds to grab people�s attention. If you can�t grab someone�s attention within the first few sentences you write, you have lost them.
Also, from a search engine optimization standpoint, you want your keyword to appear high up in the content preferably in the first or second or third sentence of your post.
Here is an example of how I might write a couple of sentences within a blog post intro that would hook most readers into reading more:
How hard could it be to write a blog post? If a teenager can do it, you can too, right? Well, writing a blog post isn�t hard at all, but writing a great blog post is very difficult.
If you look at the paragraph above, you�ll notice I have done a few things:
I created a conversation with you.
I showed you anyone could write a blog post, which makes you feel you can do it too (which you can).
I enticed you to read further by alluding to the fact that not everyone writes great blog posts.
In the second paragraph, I use social proof to demonstrate I am not just an average Joe who is giving advice. If you are new to this blog, you might need that proof.
Over the past few years, I have started two blogs. Although my first blog was a Technorati 100 blog, the content was crap. Readers didn�t care to read the content or engage in the conversation (comment on the blog).
Seeing I was a top 100 blogger helps you take my advice a bit more seriously. At the same time, telling you I screwed up shows you I am not perfect and that you can always improve.
Everyone has different writing styles, so I don�t expect your introductory paragraphs to be like mine, and that�s fine. As long as you use some of the elements I used, your readers will be engaged.
Create A Conversation
Have you noticed that I use the words �you� and �I� a lot within my blog posts? I do this because I am trying to create a conversation with you. The last thing I want you to feel is that you are reading an essay because that would be boring. I know that because it would be boring for me.
I�ve been writing blog posts � trying to make them as personable and relatable as possible � for years, which is why I get so many comments on each of my blog posts.
I�ve never A/B-tested essay-style vs conversation-style posts because I would never want to publish a blog post that was written like an essay.
Even without the test, there is one thing I�m confident about when it comes to using a conversational style in blog posts: it helps with readability.
Evidently, you prefer this as well because I get emails like this one every week:
I just wanted to say thanks for all of the blog posts you have written. They are insightful and have helped me learn online marketing. Your blog is really easy to read and digest the information.
No need for a response.
Cheers!
By creating a conversation, you will see that your blog posts are read more and people are more likely to comment.
Just think of it this way: if you read a blog post that you loved and the author of the post asked you a question at the end� what would you do?
There is a good chance you would respond with a comment, right? I know I would.
By asking your readers a question, you will encourage more of them to leave comments. This will cause people to stay on your blog longer as it takes more than a few seconds to leave a comment. Plus, it gives you an opportunity to respond to the comments and get your readers to come back to your blog.
This is why I respond to every single comment on Quick Sprout. It�s the main reason why repeat visitors make up 40% of my traffic.
Open Up
When you read a blog, how much do you really know about the person behind the blog? Very little, right?
If you are lucky, the blogger may have a bio and a photo of herself in the sidebar� but that�s pretty much it.
You can�t expect your audience to connect with you if you don�t open up. You can accomplish this through an About page. Not one that is about your blog or your company, but about you� the person behind the blog.
If you have a corporate blog, you can create an About page for each author on your blog.
This great article further down relating to SEO Blog Post is unquestionably enjoyable. Don't miss it.
While in this post, we will certainly cover several of things you need to do to improve your SEO article, we will certainly likewise review a number of suggestions that can help you make the most out of these actions. By reading this short article, you will certainly be able to put the best Search Engine Optimization strategies right into usage and guarantee that your blog post is not only seen by the appropriate individuals, but likewise by those that are seeking the specific niche that you are marketing to.
Readability is a very vital aspect of any kind of article. With the increase in search engine crawlers locating blogs to seek, it is important that the material is as legible as feasible. Good material will be easily visible to the internet search engine, which indicates that your target market is going to discover you easier if the content on your blog site is excellent, as well as legible.
The first suggestion that we are going to cover is to do keyword research before you create your web content. By doing so, you will certainly be able to see what your readers have actually been searching for, which will certainly offer you an idea as to what search phrases they will be interested in. By doing this, you will be able to focus your efforts on those key phrases, permitting your post to be appropriately maximized.
The 2nd suggestion that we are mosting likely to cover in relation to the readability of your content. It is very crucial that your keywords research study is done before you start writing your article. If you are not sure as to exactly how the keyword phrases will be spelled as well as the words that will choose them, you are mosting likely to risk of having your blog post wrongly appear for the incorrect specific niche.
By using the key words research, you will certainly be able to properly concentrate on those words that you need to be making use of in your article. By doing so, you will certainly have the ability to obtain a better readability of your post. You must never ever utilize all of the keywords in one sentence, or try to use every one of the words in your blog post at once. This is not effective as well as is a sign of a careless writer.
With readability being a factor, you may intend to attempt to decrease the amount of words that you have in your post. In order to do this, you will certainly require to practice doing each paragraph of your post in the exact same method. This will certainly assist to decrease the variety of words that you require to enter each paragraph, as well as will certainly assist you make certain that your readers can recognize your posts conveniently.
With the readability issue being such a vital issue, you might want to think of the amount of material that you are mosting likely to include in your article. If you are focusing on a certain key words that has many variations within it, you need to probably be trying to consist of the variant when composing your post. This will make certain that you do not discuss your words limitation for that specific key words and also will make your web content much more attractive to your readers.
Having readability as a vital element, you ought to likewise take into consideration words matter that you have in your article. If you are composing a post that concentrates on a details key words expression, you should try to keep it at a minimum of 500 words. This is very important for two reasons.
First, this will help to guarantee that you do not look at your keyword phrases study. If you are not able to keep your keyword messages under 500 words, then it may be time to carry on to another Search Engine Optimization company. Second, when your keywords are only utilized at a reduced rate, the chances of it being captured by online search engine as well as creating you with a poor online reputation are a lot less most likely.
With keyword phrases research study as well as readability are essential, you should also be aware of the density of keywords. You may intend to try using a single word for each key words or group of key phrases.
Along with this, you must additionally take note of the readability of view it now your blog useful reference post. This suggests that you will have to think of how your key phrases will be led to, as well as what is best for the readability of your material. If you are offering info to visitors that they are going to need for their needs, then they will require to be able to follow your points conveniently.
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