Last updated on November 2nd, 2022 at 09:12 am
So you’ve decided to start a new blog and share personal and professional content with the world. Great! You now have a new outlet for telling your story, connecting with like-minded people, and earning a side income. But how do you start writing?
The first step is the same for everyone. You need to establish a writing routine. That means finding time each day to put words on the page.
Luckily, the process of writing doesn’t need to be daunting.
In this blog post, I’ll take you through the five essential steps for writing a blog post.
Once you complete these, you’ll have a solid foundation for future posts.
You will have a template for future posts, which will make the process easier and more consistent. At the same time, this is a checklist to keep track of your progress and check for any red flags along the way.
Let’s get started.
What is a blog post?
According to Google, a blog post is “a regular piece of content that is published on a blog or website.
The length of these posts can vary, but on average they are between 500 and 4,500 words.”
Blog posts are similar to articles in that they are often based on research and facts, but the main difference between a blog post and an article is that a blog post is published on a site’s blog, which is a separate section of the site.
There are many advantages to publishing blog posts on your site’s blog.
First, they are often more engaging and easier to read than articles because they are often more conversational and less formal.
And visitors to your site’s blog are likely to be interested in the topic of your blog post because it is likely to be about something that interests them.
Types of blog posts and when to use them
There are three primary types of blog posts, and each one serves a different purpose for your site. These are:
a). How-to blog posts
These are posts that give step-by-step instructions on how to do something. They are often tutorials or guides, but they can also be how-to posts that are meant to instruct the reader on how to do something with a particular piece of content.
These are one of the most effective types of posts to publish on your blog. They are highly keyword-driven, and they usually have a large click-through rate.
How-to posts present a quick way to teach your audience something.
b). Review blog posts
This type of article is a review of a product, service or brand.
It is similar to an article in that it’s based on facts and figures, but instead of providing detailed information about the product, you’re providing an overall review so readers can decide if they want to use it or not.
The goal here is to convince readers that you know what you’re talking about and that your recommendations are worth their time.
c). List blog posts
This is a type of blog post that is meant to provide a list of links to other blog posts, products or services.
In fact, you can also use this type of post to promote other blog posts that you’ve written.
This is a great way to get your content in front of more people and build a loyal audience base.
d). Tip blog posts
These are posts that provide tips and recommendations on how the reader can improve their life or business.
Often, these come in the form of how-to articles, but they are also useful for providing advice about how to do things like save money or create an effective marketing campaign.
e). Opinion blog post
These are posts that give the reader an opportunity to share their views on something.
Usually, these can be anything from politics, religion or even current events.
Remember though that you need to be careful about what you write about because your readers may not agree with what you have to say!
f). Interviews blog post
This type of blog post can be used to interview other people about a particular topic.
If you are not sure about writing this type of post, then you can always ask people to interview you about a topic that is important to you.
g). This vs. That blog posts
These are posts that compare two different products, ideas or solutions. These posts can be a great way to help people make an informed decision about what they should do.
How to Write an Awesome Blog Post in 5 Steps
That said, here are the exact steps you can use to write a perfect blog post that will rank on Google.
Step 1: Plan your post
Before you do anything, you need to have a vision for your blog post.
What is the purpose of your post?
What are you hoping to achieve?
What are you hoping to get out of the post itself?
Once you know the main purpose of your post, you can expand on that and include sub-plans.
For example, if your main goal is to get people to sign up for your email list, you might want to include a sub-goal of encouraging others to sign up with their email addresses too.
Next, you want to outline the format of your post.
This will help you determine the structure of your post, determine length if applicable, and set the tone of your post.
For example, you may write a love post to inspire people or a helpful guide for new parents. It’s important to keep your goal in mind when planning your post.
This will help you stay on track and avoid writing content that doesn’t add value to your readers.
Here is a sample outline of a how-to blog post:
[Blog Post Title]
Make sure the title starts with “How to…” and runs for 60 characters or less.
1). Introduction
2). What is X
3). Why is X important
4). How to use X
- Step 1…
- Step 2…
- Step 3….
- Step 4….
5). Conclusion
But at this stage, you won’t need to fill out the outline until after the next step on how to the best write a blog post.
Step 2: Research your subject and target audience
Once you have a rough idea of what your post is about, first research your target audience.
Who are you writing for?
Who are you hoping to reach?
This will help you know what to look for as you do the research and even inspire you to write engaging content.
How to research your target audience before writing a blog post
Before you start to write a blog post, you should always do a little research and find out who your ideal readers are.
You can do this by looking at the statistics of your site’s traffic. You can also look at the types of questions your readers are asking on Google.
If you notice that your readers are mostly looking for advice on how to lose weight, for example, you can start writing blog posts about that.
You might also want to look at your site’s comments to see what kind of questions readers are asking.
Now that you know who you are writing for, it is time to find the facts. You can use Google and other search engines to find information and news articles related to your topic.
How to research content for your blog post
There are many different ways you can research blog post topics.
A few of the most common ways are reading through popular blog posts or looking at Google or Bing search results.
You can also ask your readers for ideas or get inspiration from other blog posts that have been published on your chosen topic.
When doing research, look at the searcher’s intent. Ask yourself, when a reader is searching for this content, what are they trying to accomplish? In general, there 4 types of search intent:
- Informational intent – The searcher is looking for information. This could be an article, blog post, video or another type of content that provides them with information related to a specific topic.
- Navigational intent – The searcher is looking for a specific web page or web address.
- Transactional intent – The searcher is trying to make an online purchase. For example, they search for specific products, ‘HP EliteBook Folio 9480m…’
- Commercial investigation – The searcher is looking for a product or service that they can purchase. You find keywords like ‘best laptops for students,” best phones under $__’…
When you are researching your blog post topics make sure you are asking yourself the following questions:
What does the reader want?
What do they want to know about?
What do they want to buy?
How can I help them achieve their goal?
Once you have identified the answers to these questions you can then think about how this information will help your readers achieve their goals.
You can also think about what kind of content would be most useful for your readers and use this information to help you create your blog post.
Step 3: Write your first draft
The next step in how to write a blog post is to write your first draft.
If you follow the seven-word rule, this should be your goal: write enough to get the ideas on paper.
To do this, you will need a laptop and MS Word/Google Docs open (or go old-school, pen and paper).
The act of writing down your ideas will allow you to organize them and clarify your thoughts. You can also jot down your ideas as you brainstorm them.
As you write your first draft, there are three essential things to keep in mind. First, you want to write your ideas down.
Don’t try to think them through. Plus, don’t edit once you’ve started writing either. Editing as you write is impossible and often leads to the death of creativity.
You want to write and then edit.
How to weave your research points into a first draft blog post
When you have a lot of research points that you want to include in your first draft, it is a good idea to break them up into smaller pieces so you don’t overwhelm yourself.
The best approach is to have one research point per paragraph, and then break those paragraphs into smaller pieces if necessary.
You can also use bulleted lists or numbered lists to create different types of structures for information.
In fact, this is the perfect moment to pull your blog post outline and fill in the meat.
Think of your outline as a skeleton, now, the research points are the meat. Write them in a way that makes sense to you.
If you have a difficult time coming up with an outline, try writing one paragraph for each research point. Then, write down the ideas and questions as they come to mind.
Once you have these ideas written down, then it is time to fill in the holes with more information from your research.
A final note on research points
When I read my own blog posts, I often find myself wondering what I would change if I had another chance.
It can be very frustrating to see the things that aren’t working in your blog post and think “I know what needs to be here!” but then not be able to think of anything else because there are so many other things to include.
The good news is that this is normal! You need time for yourself in order to really think through all parts of your blog post before you write it.
Try not to worry too much about being perfect, just write the blog post that you have in your mind.
After you have written the post, then it is time to edit.
Step 4: Edit your post and finally publish
The next step is editing! You’ve written down your first draft, now it’s time to edit that. When you’re editing your blog post draft, make sure to focus on the following 6 aspects.
a). Edit the length of your first blog post draft
Most bloggers don’t write an article that is lower than 500 words. If you want to write a longer blog post, make sure you have at least that much time to write it.
Also, remember that there are many different types of audiences for your blog. If you are writing a blog post aimed at the average internet user then keep it short.
However, if you are writing a technical blog post aimed at programmers or developers, then make sure to keep it long enough to cover all of your points.
How long should your first blog post draft be?
The general rule is 1000 words (1 page). However, there is no exact number that can be given for how long your first blog post should be. In general, though, it depends on what type of content you’re writing and the type of audience you’re writing for.
b). Edit the grammatical errors in your first blog post draft
Your first blog post draft is your first chance to show off your writing skills. It’s not the best time to make mistakes in grammar and spelling.
Nobody wants to read a blog post that has grammatical errors unless it is funny or interesting.
If you make a mistake in your first blog post draft, don’t worry about it. You can fix it later as you go.
c). Edit the flow of your first blog post draft
In order to create an effective and engaging piece of content, you need to have an effective writing style guide.
There are many different types of writing styles, but there are generally two main ones: formal and informal.
In general, formal writing styles are more serious and academic while informal writing styles are more conversational and casual (e.g., blogs).
Your first blog post draft should be written in a formal style that fits your blogging niche audience (e.g., technical/programming content).
This is because you want to show off how smart you are by reading technical blogs written in a formal tone (i.e., code-speak).
However, if you write about something that isn’t technical then feel free to write it informally (e.g., how-to-type articles).
d). Optimize your blog post for SEO
To make your blog post appear higher up in search results, you need to take a few steps to optimize it for search engines.
First, you need to have a keyword in the headline of your post.
Then, you need to have sufficient keywords throughout the article itself (avoid keyword stuffing).
And, make sure to use the keyword within the H1, H2, and H3 tags of your blog post.
Finally, add a meta description (use Yoast SEO plugin). Be sure to link to other relevant articles within your blog.
f). Publish your blog post
Once you have edited the article and ensured it is SEO optimized, it is time to publish.
Step 5: Create a consistent writing routine
The final step is to create a consistent writing routine. You want to make sure you get enough writing done each day so that you can create new content for your blog.
Writing every day is an important part of the process and can help you with consistency. Writing in a routine also forces you to write when you don’t have anything else to do.
This can help you avoid procrastinating and get your work done. Finally, consistent writing is a great way to get used to writing and build your voice as a writer.
Once you’ve completed the five steps above, you’ll have a solid foundation for future posts.
You will have a template for future posts, which will make the process easier and more consistent.
And most importantly, you will have a checklist to keep track of your progress and check for any red flags along the way.
Ready to start writing?
Let’s go!
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