I’m really excited to share these Blog Post Essentials and Blog post checklist with you. Well, let’s face it, I’m pretty excited about sharing anything blogging with you, after all, it’s pretty much my dream business.
Yes, for me blogging is my business. I swapped full-time coaching for blogging back in 2017 and love it.
Just to let you know I’m going to be sharing my BLOG POST ESSENTIALS right here but I’ve also created a printable checklist which you can get when you sign up to my blogging list (you can totally unsubscribe at any time but I hope you won’t).
GET YOUR BLOG POST CHECKLIST DOWNLOAD – This is a pdf printout.
Once you’re on my list, I’ll let you know if I add any new Blogging posts here on the blog or anything that will help you with your blogging business. I’ll also let you know about anything from my blogging friends, etc that I think will help you grow your blog.
BLOG POST ESSENTIALS
Please note that these tips are designed to create blog posts that readers will find really useful and if it’s your goal, will help make you money.
RELATED READING: FREE BLOGGING RESOURCES
A good headline
You know that saying, first impressions count. Well, that works in the blogging world for sure. Now don’t look at the title of this page. I chose the title because I wanted it to be short as I’m adding it to my menu bar.
For my blog posts, I use Co-Scheduler Headline Analyzer. I aim for a score of over 70 whenever I can. Sometimes just a small tweak to your original heading can make a big difference.
STRUCTURE
Your blog post must have some structure or you’re likely to ramble on and go off on different topics. The basic structure that I like to follow is like this…
- An introduction and explanation of what to expect in the post
- Subheadings with your key points to cover
- A conclusion or roundup of the post
- A call to action (I have to admit to not always doing this but I should)
Many people will skim your posts, so clear subheadings are really important. People will sometimes skim the whole post but then actually read the conclusion/roundup.
Always add some sort of call to action. What is it that you want the reader to do next? This might be to sign up for your email list, read another related post, check out your online course or simply to share your post.
GIVE VALUE
Always focus on sharing high-value content that will really help your reader in some way, for the most part, gone are the days where sharing how your days been will cut it in the blogging world. Ask, what is the benefit of this post for my readers?
Images for sharing
Create images that are suitable for sharing on social media. Even if you don’t love a particular social media platform some of your readers might want to share the post to it.
I’m a massive Pinterest fan so I’d say a vertical good quality Pinnable image is an absolute must, something like this…
I’ve created a video to explain how I create my Pinterest Images using Canva. Please note that I now get all my images from the Canva site (I pay for the pro plan so that I get more image choices).
Find out more about how I use Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog. Here’s my little YOU MUST BE USING PINTEREST TALK. A Facebook post lasts at most a few days, twitter maybe an hour, if you’re lucky. I have pins that I created years ago that are still driving traffic to my blogs. It’s a long-term very worthwhile time investment in my humble opinion.
Ask for a share
I hate going to a really great blog post and I can’t find any share buttons, so definitely make it easy for people to share your posts. Add good share buttons and a pin me feature.
Then ask your readers to share for you. I do this in two ways. I add a little please share me note toward the end of the blog post just before my last Pinnable image.
Also, when I’ve written a blog post, I’ll email my relevant email list and let them know I’ve added a post they might be interested in. I’ll usually ask them to share the post for me too.
RELATED READING: ADVICE FOR NEW BLOGGERS
Link within your blog
Wherever you can naturally (don’t make it look spammy) link within your own blog. For example, in the previous tip, I mentioned Pinterest, so it makes perfect sense to link to an existing Pinterest post, plus it adds even more value for your readers.
This will encourage people to stay on your blog longer because they know you have more posts that they’re interested in without them having to go searching for them.
Link out to a different site
It’s a good idea to link out to a different site too. This can be a good quality site that you know will add value to reader or to something like a YouTube video you’ve created.
Always think ADDING VALUE to your reader. Don’t link to posts that are directly competing with your post and keywords. Link to things that add extra related information that you haven’t written about.
RELATED READING: HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING
Deal with the SEO
If you want to rank well on search engines (you really should want this) then you need to pay attention to your SEO. As a minimum, install Yoast (or something similar) to help make sure you have the basics covered.
If you’re interested in learning more about SEO, check out this post SEO Course that actually makes sense. Honestly, I used to get so confused and overwhelmed by it all and then ended up doing nothing. This course has really helped me.
As a minimum, you want to add a keyword, Meta description, add your keyword in the title, subtitle and in the post. Do not overuse the keyword.
I’ve found that one or two times is enough and then use similar keywords/phrases too. Never overstuff keywords. Your post needs to be natural, not spammy.
Add a way to make money (optional)
If it naturally fits into your blog post, add in ways to make money. Don’t just say buy this! especially if it has absolutely no relevance to the post. But if it’s something that will add value to the course or is a natural lead on to the information you’ve been sharing, definitely add it to the post.
For example, in this post, I’ve already linked to Pinterest tips to help you attract the right People and the SEO COURSE review. Both of these posts contain affiliate links which will potentially make me money. Both posts also offer real benefits to my readers and are totally relevant to this post.
If you have an online course, a book, etc, you could add a link to that and also getting people onto your mailing list will hopefully also lead to you making money over time. TOP TIP though, don’t make your post all about the money. The number one priority should always be giving value to your reader.
NOTE – If you’re adding an affiliate link directly in your post you must add a disclosure.
You might also like to read How I make money blogging.
Let’s do a roundup of my blog post essentials
I hope you’ve found this post really useful. Please do ask if you have any questions. I love helping you to build your blogs.
- Create a great headline
- Set out your structure – Introduction, subheadings, conclusion/roundup and call to action
- Make sure you’re giving good value to your reader
- Add images for sharing
- Ask for the share
- Link within your blog
- Link to high-quality content elsewhere
- Deal with SEO
- Add a way to make money
Get your free BLOG POST ESSENTIALS CHECKLIST
And please share this post wherever you can. Thanks.
