Blog Checklist Overview
Blogging is simple anyway, now I’m going to start and never look back. Yeah that is what everyone thinks at first. Or the polar opposite seeing blogging as daunting to start. To continue writing each week requires effort. You need to frame the situation in your favour.
By making blogs you reap rewards in the future. This must be the guiding motivation.
First of all writing a blog is a skill the more you do it the more you learn. With a system it will streamline the process so that you can make it faster and easier to do in the first place.
Not only that a well organised system in this checklist can streamline your workflow. It can also motivate yourself to start. You must make a template of the structure of the blog to jumpstart the writing process. So that step by step you can finish more content that you can be proud of.
What Is The Art Of Blogging?
Blogging is putting your thoughts into a page on the internet for others to experience. We can share all sorts of ideas, opinions and information. Writing blogs can help anyone give structure to the ideas in their head for others to read.
There have been different mediums. For example social media posts, Reddit comments and vlogging videos. All share the same principle to communicate something they know through words.
I call it an art form because it requires skill and creativity to pull out engaging content. It’s not only putting words onto a digital paper, it’s taking a reader through a journey. A journey that can inspire them to change with the new found knowledge.
Why Is Blogging Still Relevant Now A Days
You can use the blog for branding purposes to show your authority in a subject. Express your thoughts on the popular topics that people are having frequent problems. Framing the specific few topics will give the brand consistency.
Also by writing posts you can teach people on your niche how to solve their common problems. By teaching the audience useful ways to deal with the challenges they faced in a more effective way.
By giving free value to the audience they will trust you more in the long-term. You can find like-minded people that share your point of view or challenges. This increases your network for opportunities along the way.
How Can You Start Blogging Today
You can start by identifying a subject or passion that you talk about daily. Come up with ideas for blogs tackling the different challenges. Or uncovering innovative opportunities present in the particular sector or industry.
Also researching what people in your niche have questions on. So that you can do mini research and come up with practical solutions.
The tools could be any word software that you can write words will do. Even note taker app. Separate a document to have the outline, sources, and notes that can inspire the main sections of the blog.
Then use a blog platform such as Blogger or WordPress site to publish the posts. Or be a guest blogger using other platforms like Reddit or Medium. The important part is to start writing in a habitual manner.
Fundamental steps for a blog post checklist
Start With A Specific Measurable Objective
This means your blog should have a fit into a larger plan altogether. This blog post is designed for a series of posts about a certain topic. This blog post lets you connect with people in a niche industry? Are you trying to sell a service with the content publication?
Perform A Simple SEO Keyword Research So That The Blog Get Organic Traffic
Keyword are important because it tells you what people are searching for in the internet which means the blog could receive readers. By this I don’t mean to do a 4 hour research comparing the keywords with all 5 top competitors. Use simple tools to figure out 5-10 keywords to add to the blog post.
I mean pick a Keyword Generator tool, type a keyword from the list, pick out 3 Keywords and start with those. Otherwise choose a general topic and then figure out what are common concepts of this topic like Word 1, Word 2, Word 3. Try to explain those words in further detail.
Make An Outline Of The Blog To Structure The Content
This means define the main body parts of the H2 and H3. Think of the content as categories divided into H2 . Within those H2 if there are more subtopics divide them into H3. Another good view point is having the headings as promises or questions first so that you can go anwsering each one.
Examples: Promise “X tool that will save you 30 min in the writing process”. This is a clear promise with a benefit and it also sparks curiosity. Example: Question: “How do I organize research for your next blog article?” This questions attempts to explain something that they will find useful.
Important: there are always one H1 then many H2 but more H3 in the content.
Important: Include keywords in the headings so that the Google can identify them an associated them for browsers search queries.
Write More Than 500 Word Mark So That Google Doesn’t Put It As Thin Content
The Google crawlers that see a blog with 400 words or less will classify it as thin content. These types of content could not show it in the search results. So make a habit to write longer content.
The usual range for best content is between the 1,000 – 1500 words mark. Now a days the length of the copy is not considered as important as while ago. As long as it answering the user search intent with clear information.
Use Smaller Paragraphs To Break Long Sections So That Keep People Attention
If we write long paragraphs people’s first reaction is to see it as something they have to make an effort to read. When the paragraph is shorter they are more encouraged to read it as they think it takes less effort.
Not because they are shorter paragraph doesn’t mean that the information that your are trying to convey must be vague. With shorter paragraphs the idea is to make the paragraphs as specific as posible toward a single idea, argument or point of view
Optimize Images So That The Loading Speed Are Fast
General rule for images is to keep them with a file size of 100kbs. You can achieve this by using external tools to shrink the file size while keeping most of the quality. Another tip is having an image every 500 words to emphasise some main idea.
Write A Call To Action So That The Reader Know What To Do Next
Writing the CTA will tell the reader an action they call follow. This further increases the value they got from the content. It can be as simple as asking them to comment or share the blog if they got any value out of it.
Focus on only 1 action, don’t give them more options like. Share, Subscribe to the newsletter, watch this video, if you like this article read this other. Pick one and stick to it.
Write The Introduction Last Since It Either Breaks Or Makes The Reader Interest
The introduction will be the window to the soul of the content. It requires time to make it interesting enough for the reader to continue the rest of the journey. Think it as the first episode of a TV show. It could either hook you for the rest or leave it.
The first two sentences are important to be the hook to the reader for the content. Also, the best performing intros are between 120-150 words. Which is exactly 1 min of reading for the average person.
Work On The Headlines To Spark The Curiosity
The headlines can be set as a last step since it is as important. Without this the rest of the blog is not read. The headlines should contain roughly 65-70 characters. But also a promise to the reader.
Proofread, Edit, Review, Share It With Another Set Of Eyes
We generally think that what we have done is a master piece until someone else with a fresh perceptive. They spot all the tiny mistakes and confusing gibberish we wrote. Use online tools or pass it to an editor that can read it and correct the parts to make it a better piece of content.
Main Take Aways
Creating a blog is not that hard and with a series of steps mentioned before it will make it easier to produce them. The system contains from actual steps with best practices to keep them in top of mind.
An optimised blog post will perform far better than a post that lacks technical depth. The people will find the content, consume it and get value with it they can apply in their lives.
If you want an actual template of the summary of the points click here:
Checklist for creating a blog post.
