Writing a Blog Post is Easier than You Think
This is probably the most meta blog post ever written. A blog post about writing a blog post. However, writing a blog post is not always intuitive for folks. Often, people who are asked to write a blog post for their organization don’t get the direction they need to write an effective post that yields traffic. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect! Become a master blog writer with these tips:
All good blogs have the following elements:
One headline and multiple subheaders
If you notice this post is filled with a headline and multiple subheaders, good eye! Headlines and subheaders help people read your content easily no matter where and how they are reading (e.g mobile or desktop, on the go or in the office). Use your headlines and subheaders to grab people’s attention. After all, we live in the age of information, which is why we’ve conditioned ourselves to skim content. It’s incredibly important to make your content accessible no matter how much the reader chooses to read or where they decide to actually start reading!
Meta description
Your meta description is a short synopsis of your article. This is the summary that shows up on Google, so make sure that you write something enticing! As a general rule, your metatext should be no more than 120 characters but less than 156 characters including spaces.
A good photo
A good photo draws people in and helps an audience engage with the content. The better the photo and the more it connects to the topic, the more folks will engage with your post; it also helps get your blog displayed in search results.
External backlinks
External backlinks are links from other sites. The more good links you get from high value publications, the better your site rank will be and the more engagement your post will get. Think about blogs as well as academic institutions and publications that could link to your site, and reach out to them when your blog post goes live!
Internal links to other posts you’ve written
The need for internal links to other content, pillar pages and landing pages can get technical, but it does not have to be that hard. You want to make sure that your audience has a place to go once they have read your post and that they can take an action directly in the post and at the end of the post. Don’t just wait till the call to action to have an action step – have it early in the body of the blog as well by hyperlinking your text.
500+ words
While there is no length requirement for a blog post, we typically like to keep our blog posts to a minimum of 500 words. Why? Because the longer the blog post, the more likely it will actually answer a question in a compelling and effective way. You are more likely to see higher engagement on posts that have useful content. So, simply put, the longer the post, the more likely it will serve as a useful resource to your users. For example, do you think you can really answer ‘how to write a blog post’ in less than 500 words? We think not.
Tips on tone:
Write for the web
Throw away your term paper approach to writing and think about the value you are trying to bring your reader through your blog post. It’s important to be topical, fun and engaging. Think about what approach you want to take in your post by keeping in mind that this is something that should appeal to different audiences. For example, is this post something that you would feel comfortable sharing on Twitter? On Facebook? It’s important to keep in mind that people from different backgrounds, experience levels and places will be able to access your content, so you need to cater your content with this in mind.
Have a conversation with your reader
A good blog post is conversational. You are trying to have a two-way conversation with your reader as if they’re present for the conversation. So, pour a cup of coffee or something stronger, think about what your reader would ask you if they could and write with that approach in mind.
Tips on topic:
Use a keyword to anchor your post in a topic
It can be hard to decide the topic of your blog post. Using a keyword tool like ubersuggest or ahrefs can help you determine which keywords have high search volume. The right keyword can make a huge difference in whether your blog post will be found by people, but it also serves as a good way to help you anchor your thoughts. After all, you’re likely an expert in the area of your work and have a wealth of knowledge to share with people, so you want to be sure you stay on topic.
Q&A on a specific topic
Proactively answer the questions your audience has about a certain topic. You can answer these using your own knowledge, but you can also bring someone in to answer questions in their field of expertise. There are always questions to be answered and experts to be interviewed.