AD: This is a paid content placement. Words submitted by Movavi
Blogging has become a crucial part of marketing. 92% of marketers use blogging as part of their strategy. However, there are millions of articles on the internet, so how do you set yourself apart from the rest?
Writing an excellent blog post isn’t simply using the right words. There are many other factors involved in blogging, such as making your text scannable, using SEO, and even bolding certain words. If you want to write a blog that will surpass your competitors, then you’ll learn brilliant tips in this article. Keep reading to find out more!
What makes a good blog post?
You could watch thousands of tutorials online about how to start a blog, and you may even be an excellent writer. But few writers know how to create a compelling blog that won’t increase their bounce rates.
An excellent blog post should have the following characteristics:
- Draw your readers in with an enticing headline.
- Encourage readers to learn more about the topic you’re talking about.
- Answers a specific question your reader is looking for with informative and relevant content.
- Includes plenty of subheadings.
- Has shorter paragraphs.
- Has plenty of lists.
With that being said, avoid using big words or colloquial terms when you start a blog. This is because the average American has a readability level of a 7th or 8th grader. Many writers use this as a benchmark for content so that blogs are easy to understand.
How to create a blog
Writing a blog may seem like a daunting task, especially when you can’t think of the right words to start your post. There is a process to writing blogs the correct way to make the creative side of writing easier. Take a look at these expert tips to help you become an awesome blogger!
Use the correct online tools
You’ll need the correct tools to help make the blogging process quick and easy. If you’re working with a team of writers, you’ll need certain tools to collaborate with others. Here is a list of excellent tools for bloggers:
- Screen recorders: If you’re collaborating with many writers and editors, then you’ll need a way to share information with them. Use Movavi Screen Recorder to train other writers in the blogging process or share your thoughts and ideas with clients.
- Grammar tools: Some writers may need some assistance at the beginning of their blogging career. Grammarly is an excellent tool that will pick up writing errors, poor grammar, and even plagiarism.
- Keywords: SEO is an extremely important part of blogging because it increases your online visibility. Use Google Keyword Planner to find popular keywords to use in your content.
- SEO tools: Yoast is a tool that many bloggers use to improve their SEO strategy. The tool teaches you to write meta descriptions, how to add keywords and alt texts to images.
- Analytics: Most bloggers use Google Analytics to view important data on their blogs. With this tool, you can see which blogs are more popular and which ones have the worst bounce rates. It can also give you data on where your traffic is coming from, such as Google or Facebook.
Choose a compelling title
Before writing your content, you must first create a compelling title. Your title must entice your readers to click on your link so they can learn more about the topic. What’s more, the title should promise to answer a burning question your reader might have.
Here are tips for creating a strong blog title:
- Ask a question in the title, e.g., What is SEO and Why Do You Need It?
- Include relevant keywords in your title
- Incorporate trigger words such as free, powerful, benefits, or discover
- The title must be concise
Lastly, your title should be relevant to your brand. For example, if you’ve built an audience by writing about baking, you’re not going to start writing titles about laptops. Unless laptops will help with the baking process.
Get relevant keywords
Before you start writing your content, you want to incorporate some keywords into your blog post to increase your ranking. The keywords are phrases or words that help search engines identify your content so it can appear on a results page when users search for a specific topic. Use a tool that will generate relevant keywords that you can incorporate into your blog.
Start researching
Now that you have a title and some keywords, you have a roadmap of what your content is going to be about. Start researching your topic and open up many tabs in your browser to refer to. Ensure you take your research from educational sites that provide facts.
Furthermore, you should look at the first page of Google to see what your competitors are writing about. See how you can improve on the topic by adding more detail to your blog that your competitors might have missed.
Start structuring your outline
Now it’s time to structure your outline. Add subheadings, lists, and ideas in your outline that you want to write about. Structuring your outline will ensure that your ideas flow correctly so that you don’t confuse your readers.
Draft your first post
When you have all your subtitles and lists typed out, you can start filling in the details based on the research you’ve done. Remember to write short paragraphs between three to four sentences. Remove all distractions from your workspace while you’re writing. This means you should avoid using social media unless you need it for your research.
Make your post easier to scan
Did you know that the average internet user’s attention span is 8 seconds? You can’t keep a reader engaged with long walls of text. So you should make your blog easier for readers to scan. The best way to do this is to:
- Add lists
- Bold relevant keywords
- Add tables, graphs, or images
- Write shorter sentences
You can also add a table of content at the top of your article so they can jump to the subtitle they want to learn about.
Add authoritative links
One of the ways to improve your blog’s ranking is to add authoritative links to your posts. The links you add can also give your readers more information about the topic you’re writing about. Using the correct links gives your posts more credibility and may improve relationships with your readers.
Include a compelling call to action
Do you want more engagement on your blogs? At the end of each post, you should write a compelling call to action. Encourage your readers to leave a comment or ask a question about the blog you’ve posted.
Your call to action can also be a way to get readers to share your blog via their social media pages or inspire them to buy a product from your website.
Final thoughts and extra tips
To make your post more visually appealing, consider adding relevant images to your posts. Images can also improve your blog’s ranking.
Another tip that we can give you is to post your blog at the correct time of the day. Your peak time may be different from other bloggers.
The best time to post blogs may be Tuesdays and Fridays in the mornings or evenings. Use an analytics tool to find the best time for you to post your blogs. And finally, before posting your article, ensure you’ve proofread and edited accordingly.
This is a really thorough post and some things I’d never thought about before!
I agree! It’s a great post for those looking to start their own blog