A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Blog Post

Because you've arrived at this page, you're probably aware of how important blogging is to the success of your marketing efforts—as a result, learning how to effectively start and manage a blog in a way that supports your business is critical.

Without a blog, you'll face some issues, including poor search engine optimization (SEO), a lack of promotional content for social media, little clout with your leads and customers, and fewer pages on which to share lead-generating calls-to-action (CTAs).

So, why, oh why, do so many marketers still have a laundry list of reasons why they can't keep a blog going?

Perhaps it is because, unless you enjoy writing, business blogging may appear uninteresting, time-consuming, and difficult.

The time for making excuses is over, and this guide will help you understand why. We'll go over how to create and manage a blog for your company.

A blog post is an article, news item, or guide published in a website's blog section. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational, contains other media types such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive charts, and ranges from 600 to 2,000+ words.

Blog posts enable you and your company to publish insights, thoughts, and stories about any topic on your website. They can assist you in increasing brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can assist you in increasing traffic to your website.

 

People and organizations from all walks of life are now using blogs to share analyses, instructions, criticisms, product information, industry findings, and other data.

So, how do you make sure your target audience, buyer personas, and customers see your blog post?

 

What characteristics distinguish a good blog post?

Make certain you can answer questions like "How could someone read this entire blog post?" "What keeps our audience coming back for more?" and "What keeps our audience coming back for more?" before you start writing a blog.

 

To begin, a good blog post is entertaining as well as educational. Blogs should answer questions and assist readers in resolving a problem they're having — and they should do so in an engaging manner.

 

It's not enough to respond to a question; you must also provide actionable steps while remaining engaging. For example, your introduction should entice the reader to continue reading your article. Then, to keep your readers interested in what you're saying, use examples.

Remember that a good blog post is entertaining to read while also providing educational content to readers.

So, how do you go about creating one of these interesting and informative articles?

 

What is the Best Way to Write a Blog Post?

 

These are the steps you should take when writing a blog post.

 

1. Know who you're discussing.

Make sure you have a good understanding of your target audience before you start writing your blog post.

"What do they want to know?" is a good question to ask. What will strike a chord with them?

This is where the buyer persona creation process comes in handy. When choosing a topic for your blog post, think about what you know about your buyer personas and their interests.

If your readers are millennials looking to start a business, for example, you probably don't need to give them advice on how to get started with social media because most of them already know how to do so.

However, you might want to provide them with information on how to change their social media strategy (for example, from a casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-focused approach). This type of tweak allows you to publish content on topics that your audience wants and needs.

 

2. Create a domain for your blog.

After that, you'll need a location to host this and any other blog posts you write. This necessitates selecting a content management system (CMS) and a domain hosting service for the website.

 

3. Select a content management system.

A content management system (CMS) aids in the creation of a website domain where your blog will be published. CMS platforms manage domains (where you create your website) and subdomains (where you create a webpage that connects to an existing website).

Customers of HubSpot use CMS Hub to host web content. A self-hosted WordPress website on a hosting site like WP Engine is another popular option. After you've decided on a CMS and a domain or subdomain for your blog, you'll need to choose a web hosting service.

 

A website host can help you register a domain or subdomain.

The domain for your blog will be www.yourblog.com. As long as this domain name does not already exist on the internet, you can call it whatever you want between the two periods.

 

Do you want to give your blog a subdomain? If you already have a cooking company at www.yourcompany.com, you might want to start a blog at blog.yourcompany.com. In other words, the subdomain of your blog will reside in its section of yourcompany.com.

 

Some CMS platforms provide free subdomains, which allow you to host your blog on the CMS rather than on your company's website. It might look something like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However, if you want to create a subdomain for your company's website, you'll need to register it with a website host.

 

Most website hosting services charge very little to host an original domain when you commit to a 36-month term; website costs can be as low as $3 per month.

Here are some of the most popular web hosting services to consider:

·        GoDaddy

·        Bluehost

·        HostGator

·        iPage

·        DreamHost

3. Customize the theme of your blog.

Customize the appearance of your blog once you've set up your domain name to reflect the theme of the content you plan to create and your brand.

If you're writing about sustainability and the environment, for example, green may be a color to consider when designing your blog.

 

If you already manage a website and have written the first post, make sure the article matches the website's appearance and content. There are two ways to accomplish this:

 

•     "Logo" This can be your company's name and logo, and it will remind readers who are publishing the content on your blog. (How heavily you brand your blog, on the other hand, is entirely up to you.)
•     "About Page": You may already have a blurb describing yourself or your company on your "About" page. The "About" section of your blog is a continuation of this higher-level statement. Consider it your blog's mission statement, which supports your company's objectives.

4. Choose a topic for your first blog post.

Choose a topic for your blog post before you start writing. To begin, the topic can be fairly broad. If you sell a CRM for small-to-medium businesses, for example, your post might focus on the importance of using a single software to keep your marketing, sales, and service teams in sync.

Pro tip: You might not want to start with a "how-to" article for your first blog post.

Why?

Your trustworthiness has yet to be established. You'll want to demonstrate that you're a thought leader in your field and an authoritative source before teaching others how to do something.

For example, if you're a plumber, you won't write a post titled "How to Replace the Piping System in Your Bathroom" on your first post. You'd start by writing about modern faucet setups or recounting a specific success story about rescuing a faucet before it flooded a customer's home. You could start with one of the following four types of blog posts:

 

•         List ("Listicle"): 5 ways to fix a leaking faucet (Listicle)
•         Curated Collection: 10 Faucet and Sink Brands to Consider Today (Curated Collection)
•         SlideShare Presentation: There are five different types of faucets to choose from when replacing your old one (with pictures)
•        Article in the Press: According to a new study, X% of people do not replace their faucets frequently enough.

A good topic brainstorming session should help you develop ideas if you're having trouble coming up with them. My colleague walks you through a helpful process for turning one idea into many in the post I linked to. You'd "iterate off old topics to come up with unique and compelling new topics," much like the "leaky faucet" examples above.

This can be accomplished by:

1.         Changing the scope of the topic
2.         Changing the time frame
3.         Choosing a new target market
4.         Taking a positive or negative perspective
5.         A new format is being introduced.

5. Come up with a working title for your project.

To help you focus your writing, you might come up with a few different working titles — in other words, iterations of approaching that topic.

You might limit your topic to "Tools for Fixing Leaky Faucets" or "Common Causes of Leaky Faucets," for example. A working title is specific and will help you start writing your post.

As an example, consider the following post: "How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post."

Isn't that reasonable? In this case, the topic was most likely "blogging." "The Process for Selecting a Blog Post Topic," for example, could have been the working title. "How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post" became the final title.

Notice how the title changed from topic to working title to final title? Even if the working title isn't the final title (more on that later), it still gives you enough information to focus your blog post on something specific rather than a broad, overwhelming topic.

 

6. Create an introduction (and make it captivating).

We went over how to write a captivating introduction in the post "How to Write an Introduction," but let's go over it again, shall we?

 

To begin, seize the reader's attention. They'll stop reading (even before they've given your post a fair shake) if you lose them in the first few paragraphs — or even sentences — of the introduction. Telling a story or a joke, being empathetic, or gripping the reader with an interesting fact or statistic are all ways to do this.

 

Then, explain your post's purpose and how it will help the reader with a problem they might be having. This will entice the reader to keep reading by demonstrating how the post will benefit them at work or in their personal lives.

Here's an example of an intro that we think does a good job of immediately grabbing the reader's attention:

"Blink. Blink, blink, blink. It's the dreaded cursor-on-a-blank-screen scenario that every writer dreads, whether amateur or professional, aspiring or experienced. And, of all times, it seems to strike us the hardest when we're trying to write an introduction."

 7. Outline your content.

For both the reader and the writer, blog posts can contain overwhelming information at times. The key is to organize the information so that readers aren't intimidated by the length or volume of information. This organization can take various forms depending on the situation, including sections, lists, and tips. It must, however, be organized!

A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Blog Post

Take a look at "How to Use Snapchat: A Detailed Look Into HubSpot's Snapchat Strategy," for example. The piece has a lot of content, so it's divided into a few sections with descriptive headers. The content is easier to read because the major sections are divided into subsections that go into greater detail.

 

All you have to do now is outline your post to finish this step. This way, you'll know which points you want to cover and in what order before you start writing. To make matters even simpler.

 

8. Compose a blog post!

The actual writing of the content is the next — but not final — step. Of course, we must remember that.

 

You're ready to fill in the blanks now that you have your outline or template. As needed, expand on all points using your outline as a guide. Write about what you already know and, if necessary, conduct additional research to gather additional information, examples, and data to back up your points, with proper attribution when using outside sources. When you're doing so, make an effort to find accurate and compelling data to include in your post.

 

You're not alone if you're having trouble putting sentences together. Finding your "flow" can be difficult for many people. Fortunately, there are numerous tools available to assist you in improving your writing. To get you started, here are a few:

·        Power Thesaurus: Stuck on a word? Use the Power Thesaurus. Power Thesaurus is a crowdsourced tool that gives users various word alternatives from a community of writers.

·        ZenPen: If staying focused is a problem for you, try this distraction-free writing tool. ZenPen creates a minimalist "writing zone" that allows you to get words down quickly without worrying about formatting.

·        Cliché Detector: Do you have a sneaking suspicion that your writing is a little cheesy? Using this handy cliché tool, find situations where you can be more specific.

9. Proofread and edit your post.

 

You're not quite finished yet, but you're getting there! Don't forget about the editing process when it comes to blogging.

 

Copyedit and proofread your post with the help of a grammar-conscious coworker. You could also use The Ultimate Editing Checklist or a free grammar checker like Grammarly to assist you.

 

Image of the Week

For your post, choose a visually appealing and relevant image. Visuals are more important than ever for the success of your blog content, especially as social networks prioritize content with images.

 

Outward Appearance

Nobody enjoys reading an unappealing blog post. It's not just the pictures that make a post appealing to the eye; it's also the formatting and organization.

 

Headers and sub-headers are used to break up large blocks of text in a well-formatted and visually appealing blog post, and those headers are styled consistently.

 

So that screenshots don't appear to be floating in space, they should always have a similar, defined border — and that style should be consistent from post to post.

 

Maintaining this consistency gives your content a more professional appearance and makes it easier to read.

 

Tags and Topics

Tags are keywords that describe a post and are visible to the public. They also allow readers to search your blog for more content in the same category. Avoid tagging each post with a long list of tags. Instead, consider developing a blog tagging strategy.

 

Consider tags to be "topics" or "categories," and select 10-20 tags to represent all of the major topics you want to address on your blog. Then adhere to them.

 

10. Include a (CTA).

Insert a CTA at the end of each blog post that tells the reader what to do next — subscribe to your blog, download an ebook, register for a webinar or event, read a related article, etc.

 

Your visitors will click on the CTA after reading your blog post, and you will eventually generate a lead. However, the CTA can be a valuable resource for the person reading your content if you use it to provide more content related to the post they just finished reading.

 

11. Focus on on-page SEO.

After you've finished writing, go back and optimize your post's on-page elements.

 

Don't get too caught up in the number of keywords you should use. If there are opportunities to incorporate keywords you're after that won't detract from the reader experience, take advantage of them. If you can make your URL more keyword-friendly and shorter, do so. But don't stuff keywords into your content or aim for arbitrary keyword density — Google is smarter than that!

 

Here's a quick reminder of what you should review and optimize for your blog:

 

Description of Metadata ( meta description)

On Google's search results pages, meta descriptions appear beneath the post's page title. They give searchers a quick summary of the post before they click on it. They should be between 150 and 160 characters long and begin with a verb like "Learn," "Read," or "Discover."

 

While meta descriptions are no longer used in Google's keyword ranking algorithm, they do provide searchers with a preview of what they'll find by reading the post and can help you increase your search clickthrough rate.

 

Headers and Page Titles

The most important on-page SEO element at your disposal is your post title, used as your page title by most blogging software. However, if you've followed our formula so far, you should already have a working title that includes keywords or phrases that your target audience is looking for.

 

Don't overcomplicate your title by cramming keywords into places where they don't belong. With that said, if there are obvious opportunities to include keywords in your post title and headers, take advantage of them. Also, keep your headlines short — under 65 characters is ideal — so they don't get truncated in search engine results.

 

Text used as an anchor

The words that link to another page — either on your or another website — are referred to as anchor text. Choose which keywords you want to link to other pages on your site with care, as search engines take this into account when ranking your page for specific keywords.

 

It's also crucial to think about which pages you want to link to. Link pages that you want to rank for a specific keyword. You might be able to get it to rank on Google's first page of results rather than the second — and that's no small feat!

 

Optimization for mobile devices

More than 60% of organic visits are made on a smartphone or tablet. As a result, having a responsive website is essential. In addition to ensuring that your website's visitors (including those who visit your blog) have the best possible experience, optimizing for mobile will help you gain SEO points.

 

12. Come up with a catchy title.

Last but not least, it's time to spruce up your professional title. Fortunately, there is a simple formula for writing catchy titles that will pique your reader's interest. Here are some things to think about:

1.   Begin with your job title.

2.   Keep in mind that it's critical to keep it accurate and clear as you begin to edit your title.

3.   Then, whether through strong language, alliteration, or another literary device, work on making your title sexy.

4.   If possible, optimize for SEO by slipping in a few keywords (but only if it's natural!).

5.   Finally, see if you can make it any shorter. No one likes a long, intimidating title — keep in mind that Google prefers titles with 65 characters or fewer before truncating them on its search engine results pages.

Let's take a look at everything we've learned so far.

How to write a blog post

1.   Understand your audience

2.   Create your blog domain

3.   Customize your blog theme

4.   Identify your first blog post topic

5.   Write an intro (and make it captivating)

6.   Organize your content in an outline

7.   Write your blog post

8.   Insert a CTA

9.   Optimize for on-page SEO

10.                Pick a catchy title

Learn how to take your blog posts to the next level if you've mastered the steps above.

You should know who you're writing for, have a blog set up, and have a basic understanding of how to write a blog post by now. While the mechanics of writing a post are simple to grasp, getting started on your first article can be challenging.