The most important success when blogging is writing good blog posts. People come to your blog to read your posts, so this should be your main focus, right?
But no one was born a blogger. Or anything, really. We all started without knowing anything and we learned on the way.
So don’t worry if you haven’t done it before. You will make mistakes and learn from them as time goes by. That’s how it works.
Here I’ll try to make the process a little easier and faster by giving you some tips. 😀
Before Writing The Post
Let’s see what you do before you start writing the post.
1. Find A Topic
Choose something you’d like to write about. Don’t write about something just because it’s considered popular right now. If you start doing this, then, after a while, you won’t have any desire to keep writing.
Choose something you like, something you’re passionate about, something you have experienced or would like to experience.
2. Find The Right Keyword
Now that you have the topic, it’s time to find the target keyword for this post.
There are a lot of tools that can help you with this. Here is a video for some of them:
There are millions of articles online and every day, people keep uploading more and more. You need to find a keyword to target so that you can get ranked faster at least in this one.
You won’t get ranked only for this keyword, but you can optimise your post to get ranked for this one. Eventually, you will get ranked for a lot more keywords for the same post.
What Makes A Good Keyword
- People search for it.
- There is low – and preferably weak – competition.
- It has to make sense.
So, use a tool and find a good keyword for your next post.
I know it’s tempting to put more keywords in your post, but don’t do it. Don’t go crazy and try to put a lot of keywords in your article. First, the content will not seem natural so visitors won’t like it. And second, it’s called Keyword Stuffing and search engines don’t like it. It’s just spamming to them.
3. Plan The Post
Think about what you want to write. The headlines of each segment, a couple of ideas for each section and, maybe, think about examples you want to write. If you want to write a story of some sorts, have an outline for it, as well.
And I know this is just planning, but if you feel like writing some parts of the post, do it. Just go with the flow, because it’s not sure you’ll remember all that you want to say when you’ll get down to writing.
4. Related Articles
Check out your previous posts or other blogs you like, to see if you can find something relevant to the post you write now.
*Extra tip: While writing, have a notepad around to scribble down any ideas for other articles you could write in the future. When I write, I often have a few thoughts about more posts I want to write. This is also a good tip for always having something to write about.
Writing Content
Here are some tips you can use while writing your post:
1. Quality Content
Content. The main ingredient of a blog and the one you should focus on the most. No matter how incredible images you have or how impressive your site design is, people come to your site to read your content.
So try to improve on this faster than anything else. And the best way to do it is through practice, practice, practice.
A couple of things to take into account while writing is:
- Be helpful.
- Don’t go off-topic.
- Be honest.
- Be understanding.
2. Call To Action
If you want people to leave comments or ask questions, just tell them. Some people may be a little hesitant to ask questions, especially if there has been a long time since you wrote the post.
By telling them to do something, they feel free to do so, because after all, you asked them to.
3. Links
For example, if you write about a monument, maybe you could leave a link to the Wikipedia page for this monument. Or, if you write about travelling to a city, you can leave a link for a site that has more information about the cost of living, places to visit or anything else you don’t have on your post.
4. Edit
When we read something we wrote, we tend to read what we wanted to write and not what we actually wrote. That’s why I recommend reading it out loud.
You can also use online tools for it. I use Grammarly because it has a pretty good free version.
After Writing
After writing and editing your post, here are some more things you can do:
1. Images
Also, don’t forget to add alternative text to each image. Alternative text is a verbal description of the image and it’s useful for visually impaired people or if the picture doesn’t load for some reason. If it doesn’t load, the alternative text appears in its place.
How To:
- Click on the image.
- Click Edit.
- Fill in the Alternative Text on the window that appears.
- Click Update.
Make sure your images are not too large for your site. If they are, resize them and upload them again. Optimising the images of your blog is important because large files can increase your site’s load time. And no one wants to wait for a site to load for a couple of minutes.
2. Video
You can also add videos to your posts if you’d like to. If you watched something relevant lately and you want to share it, embed it into your post.
How to:
- Copy the code for embedding from the platform you saw the video. For example, if the video is on Youtube, get the code from the Share options.
- Go to the Text Editor.
- Paste it at the point you want the video to be.
Or you could make something of your own. I know it may sound scary at first, but why not? Just try it!
Yes, in the beginning, the videos may not be perfect, but then, when are they? You’ll get better and better as time goes by and you’ll have your own videos on your blog. Isn’t it cool?
3. Optimise For SEO
The plugin I use for this is the All-In-One SEO plugin. I’ve heard that Yoast is a good one, too, if you want an alternative.
* Try to make your title captivating and unique. You want to stand out from the rest of the search engine results.
4. Change The URL
When you start writing a post, the URL can change based on the title you put on the draft. You can’t change the URL easily after publishing, without causing problems, so check it out before publishing.
Usually, the URL is the title or part of it with dashes instead of spaces. It would be nice if the targeted keyword is there, too.
5. Check It On Mobile
Check it in both orientations, even though, horizontal(landscape) orientation usually looks a lot like on the desktop, so you shouldn’t have any problems with that.
Final Thoughts
So here are some tips on writing good blog posts!
I’ll leave you with a task today. Write a post and use at least 5 of these tips. It’s not hard, right? 😀
Let me know what you think about these tips and, if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer! Any suggestions are always welcome, so tell me about topics you’d like me to write.
And if you liked this, check out more blogging tips.
See you next week!
You’re right finding keyword is key. I used to make that mistake a lot, however, I saw a significant change after considering it
That’s awesome! Keyword research isn’t something everyone does. So when we do, it does make a difference, right? 🙂
Hi Jenny
I’ve been running my own blog for a while now and I hope that I have been getting better at it, it’s a very competitive world out there now when it comes to getting your website noticed. You have some great insights here for achieving just that, I agree that using the free version of Grammarly is really helpful, especially for those that are still learning good writing skills. When writing articles that you want to get ranked for do you have any opinion on how long they should be? Is longer better?
I would appreciate any advice you could give me.
Hi Jenny
Your article is very simple to understand and has covered everything. I have just started with my blog and writing has never been easy for me. I can talk but I have difficulty writing. But thanks to your article, I got good pointers. I think I can now structure my blog in a way which will help me write more and produce quality blog posts.
Thanks for sharing!
Great article, and easy to understand. Thanks for the reminder to add alt text to images, as this is something I often forget about, and I know it is also good to help Google to see what your article is about.
Another thing I constantly forget to do is check what the article looks like on Mobile. Most people open websites on their mobiles nowadays, so it is important that the site and article are mobile friendly.
I must really make a list of all the relevant points in your article to serve as a checklist for myself.
Hello Jenny, thanks fot the helpful post, to be honest the most difficult thing about writing a post is, well, to force myself into the writing, but I think that it is a common issue to a lot of people doing this kind of thing. But with this kind of manual you’ve created it may be it can be more easy, more systematic…
bro through quora i came to this post i really like this post…….
Thank you!
This is very thoughtful. And this is the case for many that do complain about not having more traffic to their website. No one is an island of knowledge and we learn everyday. The step by step ways to write a concise and very captivating blog is outlined here and am really glad for this piece of information. Thanks for your guidance on this topic.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it!
Writing blogs became the most used SEO and making money online strategy, due to Google’s demand for valuable content. There are billions of blogs written and more is coming.
To stand out in the huge crowd of blogs the author must deliver valuable content and sometimes even overdeliver. Promoting blogs becomes important as promoting the website. Having the right keywords and the structure of the blog post will help to attract more visitors to it and probably land on better positions on SERPs. Content is still responsible for the valuation of the great blog.
Moreover, I would say context is very important. Related content and context to the website and blog post topic are essential for writing quality blogs. Using proper keywords or keyword phrases, and having created content around it will help the author to find the right audience.
There are many lessons and tools created for writing great blogs! Still, the author’s creativity, originality, uniqueness, benefits for the readers, resolving the problems of the visitors, appealing design and engagement, as well as building relationship with your readers, were, are and are going to stay the most important tasks and elements of a successful blog post!
Thanks for these excellent and to the point tips on writing good blog posts. I have to admit, I usually fly by the seat of my pants when I am writing a blog. Your tips give me a way to focus myself while I plan to write and then actually write.
I always have a notebook with me and finally mastered my phone enough so that I can leave myself messages when I think of something while driving!
Thank you again, Jenny!
You’re welcome!
Hi, I will be honest, I am on my very first page of blogging. I hope to improve my skills as soon as it is possible. However, it is not as easy as I thought. After reading your post, I came to conclusion, that everyone can make quality content. Now I feel much better. Thanks for a perfect guide 🙂
You’re welcome!
All you need is practice. 🙂