Do you want to be able to write really good articles that will be read? Here are 15 top tips for you. We will show you step-by-step how to write a great blog post.
These 15 simple steps make the difference between a good blog post and a mediocre one. Follow these 15 easy steps, and your blog will get more readers. With a bit of practice, you can write really good blog posts. Let’s get rolling!
Great Blog Post Step 1: Write a Compelling Headline
Your headline needs to be of use to your potential visitors. It also has to convey what the article is about and of course: it has to arouse curiosity and encourage people to click.
Therefore, always write your headline first and try several variants, from which you can choose the most successful one. Extremely successful websites such as Upworthy have 25 different headlines written by the editors for each post.
Only one of them managed to get published. To find your best headline, you can go through the following categories:
- The direct headline: Write perfect blog posts
- The indirect headline: The only blog post you can flip through
- The news headline: My new e-book
- “How you …” Headline: How to write a great blog post
- The question heading: Which skills are you still missing?
- The command headline: Get My New Free E-Book
- The “Reason Why” Headline: 7 Reasons I Don’t Like Your Blog
- The testimonial headline: Why I Read This Blog Every Week
Great Blog Post Step 2: Research in Detail
Excellent articles are continuously well researched and, unfortunately, are also time-consuming.
Research is fundamental since your articles should be high quality if you want to get a lot of traffic in the foreseeable future. To do this, feed Google various search terms or short sentences.
At the end of every search result page, you can find the so-called “longtail keywords”. These are search terms that are made up of several words and entered by the searching user in order to find a solution to their problem.
And that’s precisely what you should offer them. Proceed like this:
- Look at the first fifty search results
- Open the appropriate pages
- Scan these pages for suitable content
- Filter out the trash
- Read yourself into your topic and develop specialist knowledge for your article
With a high-quality, long, and well-researched article you will always differentiate yourself from the other bloggers and rank better in the search results.
Great Blog Post Step 3: Don’t Forget to Do Keyword Research
Google provides you with two good tools for this. On the one hand, the Google search itself, as already mentioned, on the other hand, the Google Adwords Keyword Planner Tool, is really excellent.
Both approaches together form the foundation for an article that is well optimized for the search engine. Watch out for little competition and sufficient search queries for the desired keywords.
Really good articles always search engine optimized.
Writing excellent blog posts: SEO optimization
- Write the keyword once in the title – as close to the beginning as possible. Make sure that the title of an article always has a Heading 1. More on this later.
- Include the keyword in your first heading, this should be Heading 2.
- Make sure that the keyword appears three to four times in the article.
- Mark the keyword in bold once.
- Write the keyword in one of the images or graphics used as an alt tag
- Use the keyword as the name of the image.
- Use the keyword in the post’s URL and keep it as short as possible.
- Use the keyword in the meta description. That brings clicks from search but, in my experience, has a little effect on the ranking.
However, keep one thing in mind: write your articles for your readers first, and only then for the search engine.
Great Blog Post Step 4: Write the First Draft
Now write down everything on the topic that occurs to you and seems essential. You don’t need to pay attention to good structure or spelling at this point. The main thing is that you write.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s ideas about the core content, the introduction, the final parts, or the structure. It’s all about writing the content and getting enough content to make a good article.
Great Blog Post Step 5: Now Create the Structure
The structure of an article is really important. Make an effort with it. Create the subheadings. Make sure that you use these headings to describe what occurs in the individual paragraphs.
The subheadings should keep the scanner in the text and arouse curiosity. However, you shouldn’t give too much away, otherwise, there would be no reason to read the article.
Always remember that many people do not read on the Internet but rather “scan” the text for the information they are looking for. The aim is to catch these visitors and get them to read the article.
The structure is also important for Google, a good structure ensures a better ranking. The following rules apply:
- Write an introduction. It shouldn’t be too long and make you curious.
- Write lots of short paragraphs instead of long paragraphs. Structure your texts with subheadings.
- Feel free to use good visual material. If you are good at graphic design, create unique images for your posts.
- Use – if appropriate – additional videos from Youtube
Great Blog Post Step 6: Fill in the Gaps in Your Structure
Point four and point five have now given you a kind of form that you now have to fill out with further information. Adjust your post so that it fits snugly on this form and blends in well with each of the sections.
Start at the top and work your way down. The headlines you have already set are a good reference point for this text work area.
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Great Blog Post Step 7: Add the Finishing Touches
You now have a blank blog post in front of you. An uncut diamond that you now have to grind and polish. It’s best to read your article out loud to yourself.
- Notice whether the text sounds rhythmic.
- Is the style okay? Correct.
- Do you start many sentences with the same words? Correct.
- Does everything read fluently, or did you write too awkwardly? Correct.
- Do the individual text sentences make sense? Correct.
- Do you have repetitions in the text that can be deleted? Delete.
- Are there any text passages that still need to be supplemented? Add.
- Is the spelling correct? Correct.
Great Blog Post Step 8: Let Your Blog Article Rest for a Day
Excellent texts differ from good texts by a kind of “maturation period.” So give yourself a day off and let your blog article mature. After a day of rest, you have a different view of things, you are no longer so close to the topic.
This is precisely what can improve your contribution again. Because after a day of rest you will have a different perspective on things, and you will really be able to improve the text.
After a day of rest, read the article again and correct stylistic errors, inconsistencies, poor explanations, and – if possible – make the text more readable.
Great Blog Post Step 9: Find Suitable Pictures or Videos
Adding pictures and/or videos to blog articles is a great thing but not suitable everywhere. Of course, people often want to recommend that you illustrate each article.
However, this only works with really good pictures and rarely with stock photos that can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet. Of course, you can still edit stock photos in a photo program (Adobe Photoshop) to personalize them. Or you can use an online service like Canva or Befunky to create unique graphics, even when using templates.
If you are not feeling confident with graphic design, simple free stock images (Unsplash, Pexels) can also work.
It is good if you can find videos to support the content. Such content will certainly be well-accepted by your visitors. The younger generation in particular is into it.
Great Blog Post Step 10: Check Your Blog Post Spelling Again
It is really important that you correct your blog posts for spelling. Certainly, mistakes happen, again and again, and they also happen to professionals. Yes, even full-time editors for large online magazines like Bloomberg or Wall Street Journal.
Nevertheless, you should strive for absolute freedom from errors. Correct your texts very carefully or have them corrected by someone who is well-versed in English. Also, free tools such as Grammarly are great for everyday use.
Both are good and free tools. By the way, texts bursting with errors make a very bad impression on your visitors.
Great Blog Post Step 11: Format your Blog Post Clearly
Now is the time to start formatting your post. Mark out important things in bold or in italics. You can highlight even more important statements with a heading 4.
Your paragraphs should reflect an idea. This is not always possible, but try to keep it.
Set links to older articles that can thematically support your contribution. Once you start blogging, it won’t always be possible.
But the longer you blog, the more supporting articles you will be able to link to. Don’t overdo it. Three to four internal links are okay.
Also, try to link to external sources and further information. Don’t be afraid that it will damage your ranking in search results, the opposite is the case.
Important: The content has to be captured for your readers only by scanning.
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Great Blog Post Step 12: Add Your Final Work to WordPress
The final work before publishing an article is really important.
- Sort the article into the correct category
- Supplement this with a few suitable keywords
- Edit the post’s URL so that it only contains the keywords and no stop words, such as: like, you, too, and …
- Choose a suitable article image (Featured Image). The better the picture, the better traffic is for the article. Many people are visually inclined and can also be tempted to read just by looking at the picture.
Great Blog Post Step 13: Make One Last Check of the Text
- Is the headline tempting?
- Is the URL okay?
- Are the pictures good and appropriate?
- Is the formatting OK?
- Have you checked the spelling?
- Does the article read fluently and naturally?
- Are all the links working?
Great Blog Article Step 14: Add SEO Title and SEO Meta Description
Now you only have one step left before you can send your article out into the world. Set a special SEO title and the appropriate meta description.
An SEO title is always used if, for example, you want to use a different title for your post on your website than in the search results on Google.
The SEO meta description is set so that Google’s search result is more understandable for the searcher. The user also knows immediately whether the article in question solves his problem or not.
You can make the settings in the editors of the well-known SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO below your writing editor. Writing really good articles also means tackling these little SEO things.
Great Blog Article Step 15: Publish Your Masterpiece
Congratulations! Now you’ve gone through the tough school of a budding, successful blogger. You have worked through all the important points and have not forgotten anything.
Now you can either publish your post or schedule it for a specific date.
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