The blogging industry is an ever-changing one. Hundreds of thousands of new blog posts are created daily, and old ones are shutting down just as quickly. So how can you keep up? The answer is simple: learn how to write good blogs! Blogs have become a necessity for any business because they provide valuable information to their readers in an easy-to-access manner. However, there’s more than meets the eye when writing good blogs; there are plenty of things you need to consider before posting your latest blog post online. Here’s the ultimate how-to guide on how to make your blog posts engaging and interesting for all of your readers!
Choose a good subject
Before you start writing, think about what you want to write about.
One way to figure out what to talk about is by thinking about the questions people ask you. If you get asked a question often, many people are asking the same question.
Think of 5 -10 topics you want to write about. You can also think of what you want to say about each topic.
Make an outline for your blog post
Create a list of the main points of the blog post and then group those points into common themes or put them in a logical order.
For example, if you’re writing about starting a travel blog, it would be best for you to explain this in an ordered process.
Here’s an example:
- Intro – The first section. Here is where you explain what your post is going to be about.
- What is a travel blog – Explain what a travel blog is.
- Why blog about travel – Explain why you should waste your precious time blogging about your experience traveling.
- Come up with a catchy domain name – Help the reader generate ideas for their domain name.
- Pick a good host – You must choose a good host because many things can go wrong if you change hosts.
- Choose a sound content management system – An excellent management system makes your job as a blogger easier.
- Conclusion – Finish up. Summarize the article
An outline is something you can build to use as a guide. If you start writing, then sometimes parts of the plan will change.
Do your research
Once you have an idea for a blog post, research the front page of Google. Do not bother if your posts cannot be better than what is there.
You don’t have to be a professional on the topic, but you need to research and add value.
Provide evidence
A while ago, I edited a piece of writing by another person. The writer had done an excellent job with the writing, but he did not check his facts.
He cited an article from NCBI in which the writer claimed the study was based on human testing – which is false.
It was laziness on the part of the writer. But, these mistakes result in poorly researched articles, and they affect your credibility.
Understand SEO
Blog articles are an excellent way to make more people come to your website. Each article is a chance to use keywords that you can’t put on other pages on your website.
An important thing to know about SEO for blog articles is that you should always write for people first.
Search engines love content that is helpful and gives value to readers. So make sure your article covers a topic that people want to read about and make sure it provides good information.
You need to find keywords people often use and put them into your article. So you should start with a bit of research.
Make the blog posts skimmable
- When developing your content, make sure that you use bullets or subtitles.
- Online, people skim articles instead of reading them word by word.
- If your paragraph is more than 4 – 5 sentences long or lists off things or steps, break the paragraphs into bullet points to make it easier to read.
Use images
People tend to comprehend better visually. Therefore, images will improve readability and make your article easier to read.
You can also show what you are talking about. For example, they might be a chart or graph of data you mention in the article.
Or make their day. The following image is a great meme to share:
The image has nothing to do with writing a good blog. However, it grabs attention. And, it may have motivated you enough to read the rest of the article.
Clear call to action
At the end of your article, tell people what they should do and give them a call to action (CTA). For example, you can say something like: “To learn more about how to write good blogs, please visit this article at blog.com/how-to-write-good-blogs.
Instead of asking buyers to buy from you right away, ask them to take a small step. For example, ask them if they want to subscribe to your email newsletter or if they want an ebook.
Proofread and proofread
When you are finished with a post, leave it for a while. Then come back to reread it. First, ensure no misspellings or grammar issues and that the points are clear. Next, check your title to see if one important word could fit in it.
I find it hard to review my work. But you can use some tools to help you:
- Grammarly is a writing app that includes a grammar checker and will tell you what mistakes are in your style.
- Hemmingway is an app for writers like Ernest Hemingway, all about clear and straightforward writing. It will give you tips on cutting out unnecessary words from your writing.
Here are 9 blogging tools you can use to help you with creating awesome blogs.
Be social
Hopefully, you secured your brand name on all the social media platforms. And make use of all of them.
Each time you publish an article, share that article to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and all your social media accounts.
I know it’s extra work, but you want to outwork the competition and take a more significant piece of the pie.
Not to mention that brands are built on social media.
Perfection is an enormous time-suck
Your article will never be perfect. Don’t take perfection as an excuse.
Proofread it once, twice, and publish.
I am not saying you should publish work that is not good. But sometimes, even if your work is perfect, it cannot be better. This is because we do not have enough time.
We need to publish more than one post a month, and checking every article will take too much time. It could also make you lose your desire to write and waste precious time with the editor or content manager.
Make your posts as good as they can be. Learn from what you did and then move on to the next one.
Conclusion
Creating a blog post that is interesting and captivating for your audience may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.
I’ve laid out some essential steps to help you create an engaging piece of content from start to finish.
These include choosing the right topic, making an outline, researching thoroughly before writing anything down, understanding SEO best practices to make sure your article ranks high in search engines.
Use images instead of text whenever possible (to keep things skimmable), including a clear call-to-action at the end or throughout the post for readers who want more information about how they can get started with these techniques themselves and proofreading carefully before publishing.
As long as you don’t try too hard to be someone you’re not and focus on writing for your audience, these tips will help your blog posts shine.
As a dedicated SEO professional, I help businesses improve their online visibility and attract more customers through search engine optimization. Whether you’re a small local business or a large corporation, I can help improve your search rankings, drive more traffic to your website, and ultimately grow your business.
Christian Tanobey