How to Write Great Blog Content

Step 1

Tantalizing Title- There is an unwritten 2-part rule for creating effective titles: Write to attract an audience but also keep search engines in mind. In other words, your title should have keywords in it, but should also be powerful enough to draw readers in to enjoy your conten.

For example, let's say one of your keywords is HEALTHY EATING. Your possible titles can be: Healthy Eating Made Simple or How to Conquer Healthy Eating (of course, there are many other options)- my point is to show you how to make keywords pop a little!

Step 2

 

Bulleted Content- Much Easier to Scan!

Bulleted Body? In such a time-starve world, what do you think people do more of...reading or scanning? Research points to scanning. 

Therefore, write bulleted lists that get your point across and still allow the reader to get the concept of your article. Would you rather read 10 quick, to-the-point bullet points, or a 10-sentence paragraph?

This strategy take some time to master. However, once you have it down, you will notice an increase in time spent on your blog- despite the fact you actually shortened your article length! In other words, your reader is more interested.

Step 3

 

Will they forward it? Or will they not?

Content Conversion- Do you remember the last time you got a great email? What did you do with it? You probably forwarded it to your friends, right? What about the average email you received? Did you delete it? Chances are you didn't forward it.

In writing your next blog post, ask yourself this one question: Would I forward this article to my friends? If you answered YES, then your content is great! Often times, we don't put our content to the test, and the blog post doesn't end up getting forwarded.

Step 4

Keyword Strategy

Keyword Attack! Do you have a keyword strategy? If not, take the extra few minutes to research a strategy that will help your post get noticed. Personally, I keep it limited to 3 keywords that are actively being searched online.

Effective, relevant keywords are very important to getting your new post crawled by search spiders and found by readers. Be sure to do your homework on them!

Step 5

Publish it!

PUBLISH- When you are 100% satisfied with your entire blog post, it's time to make it go live. Here's a quick checklist to be certain you should click PUBLISH:

1. Misspellings- Does your blog platform have a built-in spell checker? If not, copy and paste the email into a program that has spell checker (just be sure it doesn't add any unnecessary code).

2. Keywords- Did you just write any old keywords so you can get finished? Or, did you do your research and find out what people are typing into their search bars.

3. Title Tag- Optional, but recommended. This tells search engines what your single post is about. The title tag is the first thing search engines see- so be sure to make it keyword rich, yet logical to the human reader.

4. Hyperlinks correct? Did you copy the 'http' or just the web address? I've made that mistake so many times before! Be sure you don't post a link that is dead- instant loss of credibly between you and your reader.

5. Pictures- Do your pictures link to the appropriate websites? Did you tag them properly?

Step 6

Link Build!

Link Build. Link Build. Link Build. Congrats! Your new post is live and it's time to drive traffic to it. My first recommendation is to build inbound links from other sites. 

Remember the rule of thumb: One-way inbound links are more effective than link-sharing (aka link me and I'll link you back). However, sometimes it's the only option you may have- thus, making it better than no link!