Anyone can write a blog post, right? Yes, but not everyone can write an effective blog post that draws in readers and encourages them to share it with their friends. That’s what this guide on how to write a blog post will help you do: create posts that people want to read, which increases the likelihood of your content going viral.
What is a blog post?
A blog post is an essential component of any effective content marketing strategy, regardless of whether you’re running your own site or writing content for someone else’s blog or web publication.
A well-written blog post can provide valuable information to your audience and help establish you as an authority in your field and increase your site traffic, leads, and sales.
However, writing high-quality blog posts on a regular basis can be difficult, even for seasoned bloggers with years of experience under their belts. Here are easy tips to help you get started today!
1. Think of the persona of your blog visitor’
What type of person is your target audience? Do they need step-by-step instructions? If so, create a blog post that is geared toward giving detailed steps. If not, consider an alternative approach.
For example, if you’re writing about hosting an event, think about who might read your blog post: Are they looking for how-to steps, or do they want an overview of what it takes to host an event?
Perhaps some historical information would be interesting, such as why certain types of events are considered proper for certain occasions.
No matter what route you choose, keep in mind that some people prefer lists and other people prefer explanations and stories. The secret to keeping everyone happy? Include both options within one post.
This will ensure maximum views and engagement from your readers.
The same holds true with any other kind of content you decide to publish on your website, by the way! It can also help boost conversion rates on eCommerce sites. The more options visitors have, after all, the more likely they are going to find something that meets their needs.
2. Focus on the topic at hand
Before writing, define your topic and understand who you’re writing for. It’s critical that you know your audience. This can be done by conducting market research, polling your followers on social media, or speaking with industry experts.
Take time to familiarize yourself with their questions and concerns. This will not only help you write better content but also engage readers and keep them coming back!
Additionally, if you can collect data from others, it makes it much easier to make informed decisions about what to include in your post (like infographics) and how best to present information. You don’t want to take valuable time away from writing if you don’t have enough knowledge of the subject matter.
The amazing thing is that many bloggers rarely do even basic audience research before they start writing. Even if you already have an established platform, there is no excuse for ignoring your readership needs when developing posts.
3. Find out what type of post you need to write – list? how to? FAQ? Direct Answer Post
When you are not sure what type of post is required, refer back to the persona of your website visitor. Ask yourself who you are writing for and what they will be looking for. Then, ask yourself what they want and need from you. The answer should help guide your content selection.
(I). Think of who are you writing for: If your audience is experienced with their industry, or if there is a large amount of competition on that topic already, then use how-to posts as it will have credibility with your readers and gets directly to point.
For example, Wikipedia uses How-To articles because it doesn’t require much research before visiting its site.
(II). Focus on the topic at hand: Before you write anything else, ask yourself what’s important in your given situation? What is interesting? How can I present my points in an engaging way so people will actually read my post?
(III). Begin writing by answering these questions: Who do you help? Why does your reader care about that problem? What difference does it make in their life when they know about it?
4. Brainstorm the article on paper – doodle what you feel it should look like in your head.
Brainstorming an idea is a good way to understand what you want from your writing, and how you want it to be perceived. The best ways to brainstorm? With paper and pen.
Get out some paper (whether you go digital or not) and start listing everything that comes to mind about your topic.
Go crazy- don’t hold back! You’ll get insights as you go along, but there’s no sense in trying to plan everything out in advance; just keep going until you have no more thoughts on that particular topic: What are some frequently asked questions about X? What other topics would my audience like me to write about?
How do I explain Y in a simple, straightforward manner? Once you’ve got a bunch of ideas, pick one or two to use in your post; remember, quality over quantity!
It can be tempting to try to squeeze in every possible thing related to your post into one long(ish) piece… Resist that urge. Your readers will thank you by sharing/commenting/liking your posts.
Does it need pictures? And if so where should they go? If you’re doing a text-based post, be sure to consider how much emphasis you want (or don’t want) your images to have.
If you have some good examples or screenshots of your topic, they can be helpful in creating interest and getting readers interested in reading more.
5. Get a couple of test titles
You’ll also need some titles for your blog posts. These might not end up being used, but they’re good placeholders. For example, you could call one How to Build a Treehouse From Scratch and another 15 Steps To Building A Treehouse From Scratch. These will help you craft specific descriptions and tags as well.
So don’t go with boring ones like Building A Treehouse or Treehouse Construction Guide. Put yourself in Google’s shoes; what would entice someone to click on that link?
Give your content purpose, even if it’s a list of 10 things. Go beyond 11 Fun Facts About Trees. Make everything you publish work toward an overall goal: build traffic, increase conversions, spread awareness of an issue.
6. Write a killer intro to hold the user’s attention (explain what they’ll learn)
How often do you visit your favorite blogs, read an interesting post, and forget everything? Don’t worry we all get confused sometimes when there are too many things in front of us. In today’s busy world full of distractions, it’s harder than ever to keep our audience engaged while they’re reading.
Therefore it is important that every blogger should understand how to write an attention-grabbing post that can grab their readers’ attention right from its very beginning.
The first sentence or paragraph of your content is what convinces your reader about whether or not he/she will continue reading your content. In order to learn something new, it helps if someone captures our attention at first sight.
In fact, getting their interest can be more difficult than writing top-notch content because so much more goes into capturing people’s imagination quickly than just writing well: but you have some control over these factors…or so does whoever writes for you!
7. Structure with headlines to break up the content
Create Headlines With Every Tip. Use headlines throughout your post and create them with each point you add. Make sure these headlines highlight your message and lead people into what you’re trying to say, particularly at the beginning of each section. And try not to use long sentences-Keep it short, sweet, and simple!
The human brain can only absorb a certain amount of information in one sitting (about three seconds or so) before it starts looking for new information.
Using bullet points and abbreviations is an effective way to break up content without being too distracting.
Bullet points allow readers to quickly scan your post when they have little time; if they see something that interests them, they’ll click on it! Also, many bloggers find that using an abbreviation system helps keep their posts clean; if you do decide to go with abbreviations, make sure your readers know what they mean beforehand and explain their meaning within each section of text.
8. Write section by section and focus on user
You’ll still need all of your research, but don’t try and do it all at once. Focus on one section or paragraph at a time and think about how you will frame it.
Don’t worry about making sure each section is perfect yet because that’s something you can always go back and change later. Your goal with these drafts is just to get everything out in front of you so that you can begin to organize your thoughts. Then when you’re feeling like it is close to done but not quite ready, take another short break (you’ll be amazed at what another 15 minutes of rest can give you).
Be mindful not to edit yourself into oblivion: If a sentence isn’t working, leave it alone. It might feel liberating to be able to move forward without getting stuck trying to fix every little thing along the way, and you can always come back later if something seems off.
9. Add visual graphics where needed – images, infographics even video
Another overwhelming aspect of blogging is simply creating content. But with so much of it being textual, consider adding visuals like images, infographics, and even video where possible. While not all content lends itself to being visual, some things are more effective when presented visually.
For example, if you’re writing about how-to’s (such as ‘how do I save money) then pictures that illustrate those points can be very powerful and engaging.
These can engage readers on an emotional level rather than just at a simple information level. Another major advantage in using imagery in your posts is that it will often increase your page views by severalfold.
It takes significantly longer to read a block of text compared to looking at interesting images or videos. And because we tend to scan rather than read online many people will miss out on large chunks of text without noticing they’ve done so, particularly if it’s an uninteresting or difficult text.
10. Run through a spell checker or Grammarly. (Even ask a friend to read)
A single error in your post can completely derail what you’re trying to say. That’s why it’s important to run through an editing tool or at least ask someone else to read over what you wrote. Also, check that the links and images are properly placed, there are no weird formatting issues, and so on.
You can’t take these things for granted-they might not seem like big issues, but errors matter. (Even small typos will make some people close up their web browser.)
Whether it takes 15 minutes or 3 hours, spell checking is something every blogger needs to do before publishing a post.
11. Entice users to take action – promote a product/service/join your community
Enticing your visitors to take action is crucial. And by action I mean buying something, signing up, sharing something on social media, anything that can help your business.
How do you get readers to take action? You entice them with an incredible title, a useful infographic or video, and top-notch content that’s valuable and/or entertaining enough to make them click through. That, in turn, will drive traffic back to your website or landing page.
The next step in gaining traction of any kind online is to entice your readers into taking action-which means you need a goal set as part of your blogging strategy from day one.
Have any particular actions/conversions in mind? If so, then start there: Decide what you want readers to do, then create incentives to make them do it.
12. Optimize for SEO – make sure keywords and topic is spoken about
SEO is something that many don’t consider until they need it. SEO has evolved over time, and today it is more about providing value for search users than gaming algorithms.
Having good quality content on your site will help you rank well in search results if people can find your content. However, having good quality content won’t do much if nobody knows about it or can find it!
To be visible to web users, it helps if people who visit Google or other search engines actually find what they’re looking for – even if those people aren’t necessarily searching for you.
Optimizing your website with keywords and phrases related to the products or services you offer can get more customers finding out about what you have to offer them.
13. Add FAQ’s if it makes sense
A FAQ is simply Frequently Asked Questions. If you are getting questions about a certain topic, or issue, chances are you should be addressing it with some sort of FAQ.
You can add them to your existing post, but I would recommend creating a new one (with its own title) and linking that from your existing post. The idea here is that each question should get its own answer within an individual post rather than having each question as part of a long, rambling explanation within one post.
When visitors see all their questions in one place, they are more likely to click on these posts because they already know exactly what information will be included and how much time it will take them to read it.
Individual posts work better in most situations since they give you more opportunity to go into detail without seeming too tedious for those who don’t have any particular questions on that subject.
14. Write a killer summary
What’s more important than writing a killer headline? Writing a killer summary. If you don’t do it, your post will be hard to find via search engines and social media because these sites use keywords from your summary in their algorithms.
A good summary should: tell readers what your post is about; sell them on why they should care; and make them want to click through by making it sound interesting, useful, or entertaining.
To write an effective summary, start with an attention-grabbing sentence (including a question if appropriate), followed by one or two sentences that reiterate what you’re going to cover, then finish with another attention-grabbing sentence. In other words, grab them with your opener + keep them with your closer!
Conclusion
In a nutshell, writing a blog post isn’t a walk in the park. It takes time and can be challenging at times. However, with every challenge comes rewards; such as knowing that you have provided your readers and/or customers with helpful information.
You should understand your reader’s pain points and how your content can help them overcome those issues. A successful post is one that addresses all these elements in equal measure.