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Useful Guide On How To Write Awesome Blog Posts
Hello, amigos! I’m very happy to announce that this blog has just celebrated its first anniversary. Yay! And since I’m officially no longer a newbie blogger, I would like to pass on a few bits of wisdom about writing blog posts. So if you’ve been struggling with writing, keep reading. I’m sure you’ll find this very useful!
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Truth be told, I’ve been blogging for more than just a year. My Spanish-language blog has been around for more than 18 months. However, the blog you’re reading right now is special to me because it’s the first time I’ve been writing consistently in English, which is my second language.
I may not know much about the technical aspect of blogging, but writing comes easy to me. For years, I taught a class on English writing for my Mexican students, and the basic principles have stuck with me ever since.
This post is a peek at my writing process and how I go about writing blog posts that I love.
So, if you’ve been struggling with writing, check out these useful tips on how towrite awesome blog posts.
Useful Guide On How To Write Awesome Blog Posts
1. Have a powerful reason to write a blog
The first thing you need to write an awesome blog post, is love for writing. And to love writing, you need to be passionate about what you want to communicate.
You need a powerful reason to write a blog.
I’ve noticed many people start a blog because they want to get rich quick but money is not a good enough reason to keep you motivated.
Blogging is hard work, and it takes time to see any real results. You might have read about somebody who made thousands of dollars in 3 months, but that person has probably already failed at blogging several times before. You won’t get it right overnight.
Therefore, money can’t be the real reason you started blogging. What inspires you? What motivates you? What makes you feel like you have something important to say? That right there is the real reason you should be blogging.
So forget about the money for a second and think about why you’re blogging. Your powerful reason will keep you from throwing in the towel despite low traffic or writer’s block.
2. Plan your blog post before you start writing
Before you start writing anything, make an outline or an idea map to organize your thoughts.
Write down the topic of your blog post, then add the main ideas you want to talk about, and a few details for each idea that you have.
Below is the outline I made for one of my most popular blog posts, 20 Amazing Facts About Authentic Tamales. You can see I wrote down 4 main ideas and several secondary ideas below each of them. The main ideas became headings and the secondary ideas became subheadings.
Making an outline will save you time because you won’t spend hours in front of a blank screen wondering what to write about. And you’ll also write faster.
You can rip out the paper outline and start over again as many times as you want. When you have a plan that you like, you’re ready to start writing!
3. Take the time to write a good headline for your blog post
A good headline will not only help your SEO, but also attract potential readers, so it’s really important to take your time with it. It should contain keywords and give a general idea about the content of your blog post.
I usually begin working on the headline after I’m done with the outline, but I’ve also done the headline after finishing the blog post. Do it however works for you, but make sure you have a good headline.
Forget about poetic headlines! You’re not writing a novel. You’re writing a blog post made for online readers with a limited attention span. If your headline isn’t catchy, they’ll just scroll right past it.
One great blogging tool is CoSchedule’s Free Headline Analyzer. Try to write a headline with a score of at least 70. It can be tricky to get it right at first, but after a few posts you’ll become an expert!
4. Draft your blog post
Using your outline as a guide, start writing your blog post.
Start anywhere you like. Maybe you can start working on the second main idea first, and then go back to the first one. You could also leave the introduction for last. It doesn’t matter how you write the blog post, you can always edit it afterwards.
Don’t worry too much about making mistakes, either. You can correct those later. Just start writing!
5. Edit your blog post
Once you think you’re done writing your blog post, it’s time to go back and edit it.
Read it through once or several times and cut out any parts you think aren’t necessary, or put in any information you think should be there. Break up long paragraphs and decide where you want your graphics. It’s cut and paste time!
6. Revise your blog post
Now that you have a rough draft, it’s time to revise it.
Make sure the content is well-organized and well-developed. Your main ideas should be your headings, and the paragraphs below should contain information that supports the main ideas
Also, go back and scan your blog post for spelling mistakes and typos. Make sure you’re using commas, periods, and capital letters and spaces after periods.
Take a look at the parts that were difficult for you to write and check for mistakes. It also helps if you ask someone else to read your post to see if it makes sense and it’s easy to understand.
I always do revisions in preview mode because for some reason, it’s easier to spot mistakes that way.
7. Polish your blog post
After you’re finished checking your writing, work on the remaining details.
Add images, tags, links, CTAs, and anything else you like.
This usually takes me a while, and then I go back and realize there was a typo or a spelling mistake I missed. Sometimes I even change the headline at this point. I can be truly obsessive!
8. Make sure your blog post is easy to read.
Online readers tend to scan a blog post to see what it’s about. If they like it, they’ll share it or maybe read it through.
But if they can’t scan it, they’ll close the browser window in a second. Say good-bye to a potential reader!
That’s why you should avoid writing huge blocks of text. You need to break it up with headings, subheadings, images, bullet points, lists, blank space and even font changes.
Also, make sure your paragraphs are short, just 3 or 4 sentences long. And avoid very fancy words and complicated syntax. Remember what I said about short attention spans?
9. Put some SEO into your blog post
Like I said, I really don’t know much about the technical aspect of blogging, but I know a couple of easy tricks to improve SEO.
I know these tricks work because my traffic didn’t flatline even though I didn’t post or promote anything for weeks. Traffic to my blog remained constant thanks to search engines. In fact, that’s my biggest source of traffic.
These are my little SEO tricks:
Write headlines, titles, and subtitles with keywords
Use just 3 or 5 tags with relevant keywords. Think about which keywords you would use to find your post in a search engine.
Add alt tags and titles to images. Search engines also catalog images, you know?
Include keywords all through your post. That’s why I keep mentioning “blogging”, “blog post”, and “writing”.
Write long posts. Many of my posts are about 1500 words long, but this isn’t a set rule. More on that in second.
And get the YoastSEO plug in.
10. Focus on writing what you love
I started this post with this idea, and it’s also the last.
You need to enjoy writing blog posts, or it won’t be fun after a while and your blog posts will be less than great.
I just shared my writing process with you, but there aren’t any set rules about what makes an awesome blog post.
If you’re struggling with writing, forget about the rules. Forget about SEO, and Google Analytics, and stats, and pageviews, and traffic, and numbers.
Forget about all that and start writing about what you love, about what gets you excited, about what you just can’t get out of your head. Start writing with a passion.
Because when you love what you’re writing, your passion will show through and your readers will sense it. And they’ll love it. And they’ll come back for more.
Write about what you love. SEO, stats, analytics and the rest are just tools to help you blog, but they don’t make your blog. Your writing makes your blog, so start writing!
Let’s wrap it up!
These is my useful guide to writing awesome blog posts:
Get a powerful reason to write a blog
Make an outline for your blog post
Write a good headline
Draft your blog post
Edit your blog post
Revise your blog post
Polish your blog post
Make sure your blog post is easy to read
Put in a little SEO
Keep writing about what you love
Remember
Writing awesome blog posts should be an enjoyable activity, so put a little love in it and let’s make it fun!
Do you have any tips for writing blog posts? Please share them in the comments!
Stock photos from IvoryMix
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