Updated July 2020
Let me begin by saying that you need to forget about the concept of how to write a blog post perfect, simply because there isn’t one — everyone has their own writing style, ideas, and vision for what they want to achieve and that allows for the aspect of “difference.”
You can, however, write a perfectly structured blog post and that is what I am going to focus on in this article and I am going to give you 6 steps to help you.
Bear in mind that these are my thoughts and there are thousands of others out there, but I just want you to get a basic idea of how to write a perfect blog post to get up and running quickly or to start your company blog.
I have given my reasons for starting a blog on WordPress and you will obviously have your own…but let’s not forget that we write a blog post so that someone will actually read it!
And that is what we are going to cover in this article — getting your post structured so that it is read.
Here is what usually happens — you write a fantastic piece of content, that absolutely nobody reads
…Or…
You write a piece of content that is read, but does not do itself justice!
If you search for anything online and are like me, then you will probably ignore the first set of paid ads that always come up at the top of the page after a search and go to the first few organic listings and click them — this is exactly where you want to be position-wise, when it comes to ranking for your blog.
My objective is to not let you be in “limbo land “or between the proverbial “rock and a hard place ” and to make sure that your fantastic content has the best chance of being read organically.
Tools you need to write a blog post
Let’s firstly make sure that you have the tools to help you and I am going to assume you have a website, hosting, etc and if you are just starting out then I would suggest you talk to Seekahost and Fernando Raymond to get you set up.
If you are going to produce your own website then I would make sure you have all of the relevant plugins that you need for blogging and you need to talk to your web developer here.
Opinions vary and like most things, everyone will give you one for sure but you can take a look at this article if you want some ideas.
You should now install a keyword planning tool and I use Keywords Everywhere and it will give you vital information as to what people are searching for, plus what advertisers are spending when they are chasing those keywords.
Now a few decades ago, we were simply guessing as to what people would want — sure, we can do surveys until we bleed, but it was still a “best guess.”
We still have to make a “best guess” today, but we have so many tools and products to help us and we are “reverse engineering” the process — instead of having an offer of a service or product and hoping people will buy, we now have specific information as to what people are buying and the amount of advertising spend people and companies are allocating to that advertising.
The next thing you must-do if you haven’t already is to install an SEO plugin and here are two you can look at — All in One SEO and Yoast.
I use All in One, but that is your choice and both come with in-depth tutorials and you can go through them at your own pace.
Now we must talk about images and video — you know the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” and I am sure you are also familiar with video and the impact it will have in the future of marketing.
One thing that makes a huge difference is to tag your images in your blog posts.
There are two tags – the title tag, which explains the image and also the “alt tag” which is also vitally important and you can get more information here.
One function of “alt tags” is that they help the visually impaired and you should not overlook them as they also help you to rank in the search engines.
Use images extensively throughout your posts, but make sure they are both relevant and tagged relevant!
Remember, here I am going to touch on the basics and make sure you have them covered and as best as I can tell you at this time of writing.
Lastly, make sure that your site is responsive and mobile usage and reading of sites is the way of the future and the style of your blog should reflect the responsive design.
I will begin by talking about the purpose of a blog post and talk about what is sometimes misinterpreted today and that is content marketing, defined here by Aires Loutsaris in his article “What is content marketing?”
And before I go into my explanation, here are some key facts from the article:
- 62% of businesses outsource their content marketing.
- 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing.
- Video is the most common form of media in content strategy.
It’s a great article and definitely well worth reading!
Content marketing
I am writing this post with you, my reader, firmly in mind !
My aim in writing is to put myself “in your shoes” and “feel your pain,” then I want to deeply understand it and then capture the emotion behind it and finally show how I can remove that pain.
I don’t know if I will achieve that of course, but that is my intent.
Content marketing is not about selling or marketing, it is about engaging your target audience and then building a relationship built on trust.
So many companies and people try to “sell” themselves and simply don’t realize that the best way to actually sell something, is not to sell!
It is totally counterintuitive.
When I teach people how to sell to the C-Suite for example, I explain to them that at this layer, it becomes a fact-based exercise where you are going to put across a compelling value proposition, one that you simply cannot say “no” to.
To engage at this level needs strategically written, compelling content that will stir up the interest to take things further — it’s like creating the first part of a story and then building it to a finale and for me, it is the same in any world where you are trying to deliver a message — corporate or otherwise.
Think of it as a performance from a singer singing your favorite song — there is an intro, middle, and end or like a performance of a fine symphony orchestra.
Call it musical content marketing!
You have to capture emotion and music is a great example whereby you can literally make the hairs on the neck of someone stand up with the right composition,
So now you have to write your own great masterpiece and make the hairs on the back of the necks of your readers stand up!
Never try to sell and instead educate and engage your audience which will pay you huge dividends in the long run.
So the first thing to understand when writing the perfect blog post (structure) is to write with your reader in mind and it is extremely important to have a plan when doing this.
Now let’s get to the 6 steps and put the technical and writing parts together.
Please remember that everything in life is a “work in progress” and as long as you have the right mindset, then you will succeed, but that mindset must be a “growth” one and take the position that you never stand still — you are always seeking knowledge and you absolutely must keep an open mind.
You can read more about the term “mindset” and in particular, developing a growth mindset in my article, “How Having The Right Mindset Helps Entrepreneurs Build Thriving Companies.
So now let’s get to the 6 steps and write the perfect blog post and I will deal with the SEO aspects within each part.
6 steps to write a blog post perfectly
1 Subject
What are you going to write about?
Remember to keep your reader in mind and more importantly the intent of your reader — that is the most critical aspect that I can explain to you.
I like to do two things here:
- Write everything down that is in my head
- Go back and look at structuring as to how I am going to present it
You must do whatever comes naturally to you and here, don’t be influenced by others — simply try to get the message out of your head and onto something!
It could be a piece of paper or it could be a voice recorder.
When I wrote “How to become a linchpin at work and be the best employee,” which was a mammoth post for me, it took me a whole day to simply think about what I was going to write — sure, I knew the subject matter, but it wasn’t flowing when I sat down to write it, so I went away from my laptop and as it was a sunny day in South Wales, I went to the beach (in the image) to get some inspiration and after a quick swim and a couple of hours, I could think more clearly.
2. Create a headline
The famous advertising revolutionary, David Ogilvy, knew that headlines are the most important element of your copy.
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
David Ogilvy
You have it from one of the best, but take a leaf out of my book and don’t agonize about writing the headline first — you have done your keyword research and you know what you are going to go after, but I usually write the headline last!
Now it is time to take that headline which is an H1 title tag — you can learn all about title tags and a whole lot more here and you can put it in the part where it says “title” in your preferred SEO plugin.
Your headline must be compelling and then you come to the second part that is associated with the heading and for SEO — the descriptive text, which with the All in One plugin will be directly under the headline field.
While you are there you might as well add some descriptive tags to give an idea as to what is in your post to help the search engines.
It is the next field down in All in one SEO.
When I write a description, I try to convey the part that I would naturally say after the statement or heading.
So here you are just explaining the headline a little further and this is what will show in the description of your search result.
Just expand on the headline and a good way is to simply outline the benefits that the reader will enjoy, after reading your post.
Take a look at the permalink structure as well and you can get a short tutorial here about permalinks and other aspects showing their importance.
3. Write the conclusion
Yes, you have read this correctly and now is the time (for me at least) to write the conclusion or benefit that your readers will gain from your post — remember you are writing as if you are “in their shoes” and they absolutely must have a conclusion.
I have spoken to a few authors in my time and they tell me that it is important to both anchor your introduction and conclude the book!
So do it now and give yourself and the virtual reader a huge “pat on the back” because trust me, you will feel a sigh of relief, even though you still have to finish the post.
When I write, sometimes the conclusion comes naturally to me in my thoughts, like in this post, “How to create a business that runs without making you a slave to it,” the only thing I could think about was having the passion to go out and do what you need to do to get the result and it was the word “passion” that drove the conclusion.
4. Write the main body of text
This is relatively easy as you have planned it correctly… right?
You should now work back from the conclusion to the title of the post and fill in the middle.
Again, remember your reader and this is the part where I can easily lose track and ramble on and on. It is vital that you keep the reader in mind and their problems, pain, emotions and take them to the conclusion.
You have to take your reader down a path and to the ultimate end goal!
In the field of sales, many salespeople lose their way in the selling process by failing to keep on track.
They will simply lose sight of the focus, which is the conclusion.
I have literally taught hundreds of salespeople and also advised companies as to how to hire salespeople and I tell them that the best salespeople will talk about the future and deliver a story, telling you how to get there and more importantly…walking you down the path!
I go into some more detail about sales in this post, “What to look for in a candidate when hiring for the Sales Department.”
That is your goal in this part of your blog post.
5. Write the introduction
Here comes the final part, which I am sure you would have thought came at the beginning!
I like to write this at the end and it is a natural progression if you work back like me!
The intro really is the easiest part and when I write long posts, I may even leave a day or so before I go back and write the introduction.
I hope you have taken onboard that writing a blog post is for the benefit of the reader and the introduction is simply outlining the path to that benefit.
Your objective in writing the introduction is to set the scene and one tip I will give you here is to try to explain in a conversational style, what the reader will get from your post.
6. Write a brief summary
The chances are that your readers will be “scanning” readers and that is the way of today.
Your headline, introduction, and summary will probably be the first things they will look at if they even get past the headline, which is why it is so important when writing a blog post.
So it is a good idea to show them what the progression of the post will look like and you can also add a content page to help navigation as well.
Summary
OK so here are some key takeaways:
There is no such thing as a perfect blog, only a perfect blog structure
You are writing a blog post to be read and not to simply sit on your web server
It is important to understand the basics of content marketing and user intent rather than just simply trying to sell a product or service
Think about the intent of the user and not just the keyword research
You need the tools for the trade and that means an SEO plugin
Use images and video throughout your posts
Make sure those images and videos are relevant
Take some time to map out why you are writing the blog post start with the subject — it will focus you
Write the headline — it will focus the reader
Write the conclusion — it outlines what the reader will get
Write the main body of the text — take them down the path to the outcome
Write the introduction — set the scene
I hope this gives you a better idea as to how to write a blog post perfectly and please let me know how your blogging journey is going!
Neil Franklin
Last modified: July 5, 2020
