1. Choose a topic
Ideally that you’re passionate and knowledgeable about.
2. Google the term
Understand the types of serarches people are doing around the subject, the questions they are asking and the terms they are using.
3. Conduct additional research if necessary
Double check any information you have and make sure to credit any sources.
4. Select a type of post
There are several different types of post. If you are looking for some inspiration below is a list of the most popular types:
- List-based blog – List-based posts are sometimes called “listicles, and provide information in the form of a list.
- Curated collection blog – This type of blog uses other author’s existing content or real examples that all have something in common in order to demonstrate a point.
- Slide presentation blog – By including and using your Slide presentation in a blog post, you can share a great deal of information that might be better displayed in slide format.
- Newsjacking post – This type of blog can be used for important news related to your industry.
- Infographic post – People like infographics and it conveys information for which standard blog copy might not be the best format, such as a lot of statistical information. Readers also like to share, and keep, infographics that they find use.
- How-to post – How-to guides show readers how to do something. They walk your audience step-by-step through a project or task. These also help demonstrate your credibility on the subject.
5. Create an outline by using headings
Your headers and subheaders should be phrases that readers typically search for (keywords). The headings should be H2s and H3s as this is the information that Google crawls when indexing and ranking content.
6. Write your blog
Start with a clear intro (if you struggle with this come back to it at the end when you have written your blog as you will have a better idea of the content). When you are writing your blog make sure readers can clearly understand what you’re trying to communicate. Make sure each section is not too long. If there are sections of long text add in a subheading to make it easy to follow the blog.
7. Craft a title
This may seem like it should come before the outline but often people struggle to write a title first. After you have completed your headings or maybe even the whole blog, you might find it easier to come up with a title. Remember not to be too clever, Google struggles to understand sarcasm or puns. Think of what would offer your readers value and what they might be searching for. It might not be an incredibly pithy title, but if it attracts your audience then it has done its job.
Don’t over-complicate your title by trying to fit in keywords where they don’t naturally fit. However, if there are clear opportunities to add keywords you’re targeting to your post title and headers, feel free to take them. Also, try to keep your headlines short (ideally, less than 65 characters) so they don’t get truncated in the search engine results.
8. Formatting
Choose a font that is easy to read and don’t use capital letters unless you have to.
9. Add in media
Images, videos, polls, audio, tables, graphs or slideshows break up the monotony of your blog post. As a minimum have a featured image as this is what social media will pick up when you create a post.
10. Add alt text to images
Image alt text allows search engines, like Google, to crawl and rank your blog post better than pages without it.
image alt text is also beneficial to readers by providing more accessibility, and it allows people to better visualize images they can’t see, and with assistive technology, can be read aloud.
11. Proofread your post
Check for spelling as well as Grammar. Microsoft Word Editor already does this for you but you can get additional sources online that can help. There are similar tools online to check for plagiarism. Whilst you may not have intentionally copied anyones work, it is easy when you have read so many related articles to end up using similar phrases.
12. Tags
Tags are keywords that describe a post. They allow readers to browse for more content in the same category as your blog. Restrict it to around 10 tags.
13. Add calls to action
A call to action (CTA) encourages your readers to do something. There are different types of call to actions including asking readers to:
- Subscribe to your newsletter
- Join your online community
- Download additional content
- Try something for free or request a demo
- Offer a discount
- Contact you for a discussion
14. Link to other relevant posts
Link relevant content (especially research) throughout your blog, such as other blogs with the same general content topic – you have fought to get someone on your website – try and keep them there.
15. Final techy bits
- Optimise the on-page elements for SEO. Remember at the beginning when we looked at the key areas people were searching for, make sure you include these key phrases
- Don’t forget to look at you your meta description, page titles and headers.
- Check that all images are compressed for page speed.
- Ensure that your blog post is mobile friendly.
After creating your new blog don’t forget to promote on social media and measure how it affects traffic to your website. If you need help with this then get in contact.
