Creating a perfect blog post is so much more than slapping a few hundred words on a document and uploading it to your website.
There’s a craft to writing blog posts that are engaging and fun — and yet also optimized for search engines in a way that’ll bring you more traffic.
If you want to create a blog post that drives traffic and gets people sharing with others, there’s a kind of formula you have to follow.
An easy formula for how to write a blog post
But what makes a blog post better than others?
Which ingredients are necessary to not only keep people interested and sharing but also get your post to rank highest on search engines?
Here’s what you need to craft a perfect blog post:
- A catchy title and subheaders
- Interesting, relevant images
- Search engine optimization
- Helpful, factual information
- Lots of personality
Of course, you’ll want to start a blog first. But once you’ve got that nailed, you’re only five steps away from creating compelling, valuable content.
Here’s an easy guide for how to write a blog post.
1. Choose a unique idea and a killer title
You probably have tons of great ideas for blog posts. Except…lots of people have great ideas. Someone has probably come up with the same idea before.
People don’t want to read the same blog post over and over again when they’re looking for information. So how do you make your blog post different?
You dive into specifics. You share details. You create a unique spin on a broader idea.
For example: if you want to write about how to moisturize your hair, you can’t just choose the topic, “how to moisturize your hair.” It’s way too broad of an idea and people will gloss right over it. Plus, there are tons of blog posts covering the exact same thing.
Instead, provide an idea that’s fresh.
To do this, you have to narrow the general idea into something more specific like, “how to moisturize your hair with five natural items from your kitchen.” With this idea, you’ve just created a unique title and a fresh angle on a much bigger idea.
And this way, you’ll also get the right readers to gravitate toward your blog by giving them the direct information they’re looking for while showing them your blog niche.
2. Use headings and white space
People want to be able to find what they’re looking for easily. When you present them with a huge block of text and nothing to separate any of your ideas, they’ll leave.
Many of us get intimidated by large amounts of text. Not because we can’t read it, but because we don’t want to take the time to read through it when we can easily find the information in a few seconds on a different site.
If you want someone to stay on your website long enough to actually benefit, they’ll need to be able to find the information they want quickly.
Breaking up your big blocks of text and labeling them with obvious — yet helpful — titles is a great way to capture attention. You can also add to this by throwing in bolded phrases and making the font bigger with the main ideas you want people to take away from your blog post.
3. Write with personality
People don’t want to read something that sounds like a computer generated it. It’s boring and makes them think there isn’t a real person behind the content they’re reading.
So if you really want people to relate to what you’re saying and actually enjoy reading your blog, you need to throw in some of your personality. You need to have a voice.
That may sound easy enough but if you’re not used to writing how you speak, it could be a struggle.
Here’s how to breathe life into your blog post:
- Read it out loud and fix choppy sentences
- Add in phrases you actually say a lot
- Throw in some jokes
- Tell a story related to the topic (this also adds credibility!)
All of these can help you ensure you’re putting the real you into the words instead of robotically typing them.
Another way to make your blog post more personable is changing the font style. You talk with certain inflections on different words. To show that and help people read the content the way it sounds in your head, use italics or make important sentences bold.
4. Add relevant images
People are visual creatures. We love connecting ideas with images. Which means you should add photos to your content if you want to have the perfect blog post.
Blog posts with photos get 94% more views than those without them.
Now, this doesn’t give you permission to litter your content with random photos. They need to make sense and add to the content you’re writing. They should be offering something extra that words alone can’t.
But you can’t just choose any photo you can get your hands on.
The actual photos you use also play a huge role in reader engagement and can result in a positive or negative outcome depending on the quality of the image.
Incorporating high-quality photos into your blog post adds to your credibility. It’s a key element when it comes to how to write a blog post.
How many times have you been on a website only to click the “back” button when you see they have super low-quality photos? If you’re like the rest of us, probably a lot.
Not having great photos shows people that the rest of your website may not be high quality, either. Thankfully, there are a ton of places you can find high quality photos in your niche for free.
You just have to know where to look.
5. Optimize your blog post for search engines
Still not getting the traffic you want?
Search engine optimization (or SEO) is crucial for getting your blog post to rank higher when people type in your keyword on Google.
The most important part of great SEO is the keyword. You need to find a word or phrase that readers are actively searching for on Google. Once you have that, you need to put it to use in all the right places.
Here are some places to consider using your keyword:
- In the title
- In the first paragraph of the content
- At least in one subheading
- Within the body content (but not too much)
- In the last paragraph of your content
- In the “alternate attributes” section of your in-text photos
Check out these other ways to optimize your blog post for search engines:
- Use internal links to other content on your blog
- Use subheadings so people can find what they need easier
- Structure it with a lot of white space and smaller paragraphs
- Guest post on high-traffic websites — get those backlinks!
If you’re like me and you don’t want to worry about making sure you have the right number of keywords throughout your content, using a free plugin like Yoast can help you manage all of your SEO information in one place.
There may be a lot of reasons you’d want to grow your blog. Whether it’s to increase your income or simply to have your voice be heard by a wider audience, the process is very much the same.
Knowing how to write a blog post — and a good one — is essential for helping others to find your blog in the black hole that is the internet. Those ingredients are what you need to build a successful blog and the above steps will help get you there.
What are your tricks for creating the perfect blog post? Let us know in the comments section below!
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.
Photo via GuadiLab / Shutterstock
The post How to Write a Blog Post People Actually Want to Read appeared first on The Write Life.
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