Question, did you want to become a blogger because you love to write or because you were more drawn to the business side of things?
If you were more drawn by the business aspect of blogging, don’t worry! Writing is super important but it is only one part of the whole blogging biz thing.
You don’t need to write more blog content than every one else
Instead, you just need to write better content.
How do you write better content?
Well, that involves considering your readers problems and how you will solve them.
The Three Types of Posts You Will Write
So, back to the journey your readers will go on. Remember, when your readers first discover your blog they have a problem, but maybe are not ready to fully solve it yet.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you decide to start a blog on planning a destination wedding in Paris, France.
When readers first come to your site they are in one of a three different stages. They have either:
-Decided they want to have a destination wedding, but have no idea where to have it yet.
-Would really like to have a wedding in France, but don’t know where exactly or how to go about planning.
-Know they want to get married in Paris, but need help planning everything.
So, your blog posts need to cover those three levels of exploration. You need to have:
-Surface posts (posts touting France and Paris in particular as a great wedding destination spot)
-Mid-depth posts (posts getting more into why Paris is great and the best parts of getting married there)
-Nitty gritty posts (posts about hiring a Paris wedding planner, the best venues, your favorite cater, etc. etc.)
Your goal is to get your readers to stick with you all the way to the nitty gritty posts.
Why?
Well, because the nitty-gritty phase is where you can make serious money. This is where your readers will buy your amazing products and purchase things from the companies you are an affiliate of etc.
The 104 Article Project
To come up with the perfect article topics to build your blog business framework on, I swear by something I call the 104 Article Project.
Basically, I like to come up with 104 article topics every time I start a new blog.
Why 104 article topics?
Well, let’s say you write one blog post per week. 104 articles gives you enough content for two years.
Tip: I teach the 104 Article Project in more detail with how to find the ideal converting keywords for these articles, how to leverage your competition, and how to use your 104 article list as the backbone for your blog organization in my Blog Treasure Map program.
So, go make your list of 104 article topics. While making your list keep in mind if each post idea is a Surface Post, Mid-Depth Post, or Nitty Gritty Post.
Keeping your list somewhere that you can easily refer to when you need a new post idea.
Tip: Access my Success Library to get a printable spreadsheet to keep track of your 104 article topics.
The Perfect Blog Post Layout
Remember back in the day when you used to have to write five paragraph essays in school?
I lived for the perfect five paragraph essay. The organization and consistency of it was just….heavenly.
Yes, I was a major writing nerd.
Anyway, it’s time to bring back your five paragraph essay mindset.
Every blog post you write should have an intro, supporting information, and a conclusion.
When writing a blog post that is better than all other posts on the internet, organization is key.
See, we will get into SEO in a bit, but considering what will make search engines like Google happy is a big part of every blog post.
Typically, informative posts which are longer in length (2,000 words +) perform better than short posts.
A few things to remember when writing are:
– Some people find it difficult to write in WordPress. I included. I suggest using Google Docs or Microsoft Word to write your post and then just copy and pasting them into WordPress.
– Humans don’t like huge text boxes. In fact, they tend to overwhelm us. Split your content into smaller paragraphs and add images, graphics, etc to break up the text.
– I find that the best way to ensure all relevant information is covered is by creating an outline of all the subheadings I plan on using in my post. I then use this outline to write my actual post.
Finding Your Voice
All of the blog posts you write should follow a distinct voice. Your goal is to help your readers, but you also need to infuse some of your personality into your writing.
If your readers can relate to you and see you as a human, they are more likely to trust your advice and stick around.
Finding your voice isn’t going to happen overnight, and that is OK. The beautiful thing about running your own blog based business is that you can always go back and edit previous posts later.
Just keep writing and eventually your voice and personality will shine!
Creating Images and Graphics
Images help break up a blog post and further your point. As with everything that you do in your blog based business, your images should be on brand.
What do I mean by “on brand”? Well, you shouldn’t have some images on your blog that are bright and filled with color while others are much more muted. It confuses your reader and lacks consistency.
This also applies to the images you share on social media platforms.
Adobe Lightroom is the best tool I have found for creating consistent images styles. Adobe Lightroom is available as a free app for mobile as well as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription plans for desktop.
I find that the investment for purchasing Adobe Creative Cloud is so worth it.
If you are not ready to invest in Adobe just yet, Canva is a great free option for creating all your graphic needs. It does not offer the same level of customization, but it’s a start.
If you are interested in how to get a consistent style for your images, check out the Hello Blogger Lightroom Presets. I created 15 curated presets that can easily be applied to your images using Adobe Lightroom to give a consistent style on your blog and social media channels. They are awesome!!!
Here’s a few examples of what the Lightroom Filters can do with just one click ↓
Before You Hit “Publish”
Before you publish any post to your blog based business website you need to do a few things.
– Check your permalink: A permalink is a link your readers will click to get to your article. You want the permalink to relate to your post. Keep it short and to the point and cut out filler words.
So, for an article titled “The 12 Best California Zoos for the Whole Family” I would make the permalink myurl.com/california-zoos-family
See how I leave out all the filler words? That is how it should be done.
– Add Categories and tags: Every blog post you publish should go into one of your main blog categories.
With tags, put in all the keywords that your readers might search for on your site in order to find that particular article. For example, “zoo, california, kids, family, San Diego, Los Angeles” etc.
– Add links throughout your post: It is so important to link to other pages on your site throughout your post. This is great for two reasons.
First, it indicates to Google that your site has authority. If one article is ranking well on Google and you are linking to/from it, this indicates that the second article should be evaluated for authority as well.
The other reason to link to relevant articles is that it keeps your readers on your site. This is great for you and also indicates to Google that you are a level of authority because your readers stick around.
– Make sure your post can easily be shared on social media: This means, there should be social share buttons at least on the bottom of your post, or maybe sticky on the side of your post. I also like to add one or two Pinterest images and call to my readers to share my post on Pinterest if they would like.
After you click “Publish”
Your work isn’t over once you hit “Publish” on a post. Now you need to get people to actually read what you write.
How do you do that?
Well, everyone will be different. It really depends on your individual designed social media and publicity strategy.
I will get more into SEO, social media, and audience growth in the next few sections. You can then design your personal success plan for once you hit “publish”.
Tip: Join below to access to my Success Library. Here you can download a complete pre and post publish checklist for free. Just print it out and laminate it for continuous usage.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to write your first blog post? I think you should go for it!
Summary:
- Use the 104 Article Project to define your posts for the next two years
- Every post you write should be under the three post types which will further your readers into the next phase of finding a solution to their problems.
- Finding your voice takes time, but always let your personality shine.
- Don’t forget to add on brand images to enhance every post
- Create a pre and post-post checklist that you always follow
- Don’t forget that you can always edit your posts later
