How To Write A Blog Post: Blank Page To Masterpiece

Writing blog posts can be a creative outlet or a way to make some money.

A great blog post is one that has been properly prepped and researched.

And once you have penned your amazing blog post ideas, come up with the content, and optimized it, the work is still not done!

But we are getting ahead of ourselves here.

We have compiled the ultimate guide on how to write a blog post from a blank page to a real masterpiece, so get your pens and notepads ready, to learn before you tackle your next blog post.

TL;DR – How To Write A Blog Post

Below, we have provided you with a step-by-step guide on how to write a blog post perfectly! Here is a brief breakdown of the content:

• Step 1: Define your target audience
  • Buyer personas
• Step 2: Choose a topic
  • What is the purpose of your blog post?
  • What message are you conveying?
  • Choose a type of blog
  • Writing headlines that match the topic
  • Use Google to understand the search intent
• Step 3: Research and gather information
  • What do you know and what information do you need?
• Step 4: Organize your information
  • The best way to structure a blog post
• Step 5: Write a compelling introduction
  • Keep it simple
  • Play on readers’ emotions
  • Keep them wanting more
  • Expose their fears
  • Promise readers a solution
  • Final tips
• Step 6: Develop the body of your blog post
  • Compare your subheadings to the post title
  • Stick to a format
  • Give a fresh perspective
  • Follow a writing formula
  • Be generous with your information
  • Start and finish strong
  • Use tools
• Step 7: Write a strong conclusion or call to action
  • Motivate your readers
  • Don’t include any new information
• Step 8: Review and optimize
  • Optimize your content
  • Add images
  • Add tags and categories
  • Don’t forget to optimize for social media
  • Editing checklist
• Step 9: Publish and promote your blog post
  • Use social media to share your blog
  • Internal linking
  • Community forums
  • Newsletter
• Step 10: After some time: optimize again
  • Return to social media
  • Analyze the performance of the blog post
  • Optimize your content where needed
  • Increase internal linking

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How To Write A Blog Post In 10 Easy Steps

1. Define your target audience

Before you can start blogging, you need to understand who you are writing blog posts for.

Before starting your website, you probably already considered your target audience, but you must always ensure that you are writing to meet their needs.

Take a moment and think about who you are writing for. A good blog post will be able to answer their questions, use language they understand and avoid niche jargon.

Buyer personas

The concept of buyer personas is very handy when it comes to figuring out who your target readers are.

While coming up with a topic for your blog, think about the buyer personas of your clients.

For example, if your target clients are Gen Z looking to start an online business, you most likely won't have to write about the importance of setting up a social media account.

What may be of value to them is how to use their social media for content marketing.

By determining buyer personas, you can tweak your content to give your target audience the information they desperately want.

2. Choose a topic

What is the purpose of your blog post?

Before you can learn how to write a blog post well, you first need to understand the purpose of what you are writing.

An awesome blog post has a clear purpose.

There are different purposes that a successful blog post can have:

• Persuasion: You can use a blog to persuade people to sign up for your newsletter, purchase your products, or support your cause.
• Entertainment: Your article can simply have entertainment value. It can be a quirky story or a unique anecdote that engages your readers.
• Inform: Informative blogs are blogs that share knowledge, stats, or more information on a specific topic.

You do not have to stick to just one purpose when writing blog posts. The blogs on your website can have different purposes.

The purpose of your blog will dictate the tone of voice and language you use when writing.

What message are you conveying?

You need to clearly understand what your readers will walk away with after reading your blog. This is called your message.

To determine what your message is, first ask a key question that the text will answer. Typically, we will put the message in the introduction of our blog (more on writing introductions in a bit!) as well as the conclusion.

By clearly stating your message, your readers will immediately understand what your blog is about. A good blog post is one with a clear message that will keep readers interested.

Choose a type of blog

There are many types of blog posts available, and starting your own blog can be daunting if you do knot know what type of blog you want to write.

Let's stick with our earlier example – you are writing for Gen Z who want to start their own businesses. Your specific topic is about the importance of social media for start-ups. Here are some blog types with ideas for headings:

• Listicle: 5 Reasons why your startup needs social media
• Collection: 3 Social Media sites to consider for your start-up business
• News Article: Studies shows that start-ups who use social media are X% more successful

Writing headlines that match the topic

Let's face it, all of us have ignored search results on Google because we did not enjoy the post title that showed up.

This clearly indicates the importance of a great headline. No one will read quality blog posts if the heading does not clearly state what the article is about.

Headlines should perfectly tie in with the decided topic. The need to be narrow and rather specific, but also promise the reader that this is the perfect blog post to read to have all their questions answered.

By including your topic in the heading of your blog post, you are compelling readers to click on your article. Hopefully, they will stick around to read the whole piece.

Use Google to understand search intent

Once you have an idea of your topic for your first blog post, you need to check that your audience's search intent will be met by your post.

Search intent is essentially the reason someone typed a question into Google.

The best way to check that your article is going to meet search intent is to Google your topic or question!

Once you Google your topic, hundreds of search engine result pages will appear. Check the top-ranking results and see whether they are products, services, informative articles, reviews, or blogs from major publications.

If your competition is the biggest brand out there, you may have to reconsider your topic and its search intent, as you cannot compete with the big brands when it comes to ranking on Google.

3. Research and gather information

Okay, you have your topic for your first blog post! Hooray! Now the fun starts.

Before testing out your writing skills, you need to research your chosen topic. Ask yourself what you already know about the topic and what information you need to research for a well-rounded blog.

What do you know and what information do you need?

If you are lucky, all the information you need to establish a legit blog domain filled with amazing blogs is already in your brain.

For example, if you are a botanist and owner of a nursery, you can probably write pages about how to take care of certain plants. But, if you wish to write about the evolutionary history of a specific species, you may have to do some research.

Once you have come up with a question you want to answer (i.e. the message you want to convey), sit down and come up with some sub-questions. Once you have these questions, do your research to try and answer them.

Use a variety of resources, such as the internet, literature, and scientific publications.

After doing your research - depending on what you find - you may want to make some changes to your key question or message.

4. Organize your information

Topic? Check.

Research? Check.

Organization … time to begin.

Doing research can leave you with a bunch of scrambled information that is all over the place. You need to be able to divide this information into categories and determine what is relevant.

To help you organize your information, you need to ensure that your main point is highlighted and backed up with evidence (or examples).

Your content needs to flow seamlessly from one paragraph to the other without jumping all over the place.

The best way to structure a blog post

You need to clearly understand your readers and how they expect to consume information.

A good structure means that readers will be able to find the information they require. It is also important for search engine optimization (SEO).

A successful blog post will make use of paragraphs that bundle topics together and subheadings that define what the paragraph is about.

For longer blogs (like this one!), a Table of Content or "Too Long; Didn't Read (TL;DR)" at the start of the blog is also a good idea.

This will help guide readers through your content and help them to find what they are looking for.

5. Write a compelling introduction

After the blog title, the introduction is the first thing that a reader engages with.

Once they have clicked on your article because of your headline, you need to keep the readers reading! The best way to do this is to craft an introduction that will leave them wanting more.

If the introduction is boring, too long, or uses complicated jargon, your reader will be bored and look for their answers elsewhere.

Get creative; tell a story, use emotion, give a simple fun fact, and give them a reason to keep reading!

Here are some simple rules to help you write an engaging introduction that will hook your readers for the remainder of the blog post.

Keep it simple

One of the most common mistakes new bloggers make is trying to sound too smart. Your introduction should not spew out a bunch of facts and percentages. If you do this, your readers will probably immediately click on the next article out of pure boredom.

Of course, solid research is important, and you can use stats and facts later in the article. Opening a blog with figures will certainly not entice readers to stay reading, though!

The best way to keep it simple is to show readers that you understand they have a question or concern and that you are there to help. Hint at what you are going to share with them based on the post title, but don't give away all the content yet.

Play on readers' emotions

As you sit down to write your introduction, think about your writing style and the emotions you want to evoke in your readers.

What feeling do you want them to experience while reading your blog content? Do you want to make them excited, instill fear (if they don't use your products, their life will be over), encourage them or give them hope?

Keep these emotions in mind when you start writing and try to bring them out with your words. This will make your blog feel much more authentic.

Using emotive language throughout your post is key, but the introduction is the first step to triggering emotions.

Keep them wanting more

The aim of an introduction - whether for your own blog if you are doing guest blogging - is to keep readers wanting to read what you wrote. You need to lure them into reading the remainder of the blog.

Here are some tips to keep the reader's attention from the get-go:

• Open your article with a short sentence or pose a question. This method has been proven to draw in writers. A short sentence will keep readers on your blog.
• Edit your introduction. Keep it short! If your introduction is 300 words, try to cut it down by 50%. You need to write efficient, concise sentences.
• Set the rhythm for the article. No matter your type of blog, you need to keep the pace of reading fast. This is achieved by short sentences, short paragraphs, and lots of subheadings that tie paragraphs together. Read your introduction out loud and make sure it is flowing properly.

Expose their fears

Even if your reader does not have an actual fear, they probably have some concerns that led them to turn to the internet for answers.

You can play into those concerns in your introduction. Consider their worst-case scenario. Consider what will happen if the reader does not get an answer to their question.

Address those fears! This will entice them to keep reading to calm their fears.

Not only are you promising to address their concerns, but you are also saying that you can relate to them. It makes your blog more personable and makes your readers eager to see the solution.

Promise readers a solution

Toward the end of your introduction, promise your readers that you can offer them the solution to all their problems.

Hint at where the post will take them. Don't tell them exactly what you will say, but simply include a final sentence that will satisfy your readers just enough to know you will give them exactly what they are looking for.

Final Tips

When you set out to write your introduction, challenge yourself to write two introductions. Each version should take a completely different angle. Read them back (out loud!), and decide on the one that works best.

6. Develop the body of your blog post

You can hook readers with your introduction, but now you need to keep them! The introduction is just the teaser; the rest of the blog will provide the readers with the information they so desperately want.

After doing the research, you probably have all the information you need to write a blog post of the highest quality. Now it is finally time to start writing!

Your first draft does not have to be the most perfect blog to ever be created. You can always come back and tweak and edit it.

Start with a rough outline, and try to stick to this structure as you write. Do your keyword research (feel free to use keyword research tools) to ensure you are including the right words in your outline.

There is no need to write your blog from the introduction to the conclusion - feel free to jump around to different paragraphs or subheadings.

Here are some of the best methods to structure and organize the body of your content.

Compare your subheadings to the post title

Each subheading you include in your body of text needs to be related or relevant in some way to your main title.

Subheadings are essentially pit stops en route to the final destination that was promised by your title.

Subheadings that do not relate to your heading and introduction probably do not add to your content's value. Readers will also feel incredibly confused if the article or subheadings venture off-topic.

Stick to a format

If your article title promises a "list of" or "a step-by-step guide", then you need to deliver and stick to this format.

If you venture away from the format your promised your readers, you are essentially breaking their trust.

Give a fresh perspective

We are absolutely flooded with information in our daily lives. Writing an engaging blog means you are not just regurgitating the same information that is already out there on the world wide web.

Start by listing your main ideas and points you want to cover, and then check if you can bring a new perspective to these points. Give the readers something they are not expecting.

What unique information or facts do you know that most people want? How can you bring a new solution to a persistent problem?

Of course, it is not about just adding shock value. You need to add actual value to your information instead.

Start writing the information you already know, but then add valuable content that cannot be found anywhere else. You may have to do some additional research at this stage. Use data and real-world examples to back up what you are saying.

Provide readers with real, trustworthy, and authentic advice, but add a unique twist that only you can!

Follow a writing formula

Most blog posts and articles tend to stick to an established copywriting formula.

Subsections need to follow a similar format. For example, if you are ending some paragraphs with an example or a note, then try to do that throughout the article.

Try to keep sections the same length throughout so that your content flows. If you are writing product reviews, don't write 600 words for one product and 50 words for another. This style of writing will look incredibly sloppy and unrefined.

Sticking to a formula of writing will make your blog much easier to read. It will contribute to the overall flow of the article and make it a much more pleasant experience for readers.

Be generous with your information

A lot of new bloggers stress about giving away too much information. They are scared that readers will immediately get what they need and no longer sign up for newsletters or return to the blog for new posts.

This results in bloggers not giving detailed information but rather just scratching the surface of their topics.

If you are not generous with the information you provide, readers will probably not enjoy reading your blogs.

Give the people what they want: provide them with thorough information and solutions to their questions. This will trigger their loyalty and keep them coming back for more valuable and trustworthy content.

Start and finish strong

Your conclusion is just as important as your introduction. You want to leave them with a lasting impression of the content you produced.

Naturally, every piece of your text should be amazing, but your conclusion is (hopefully) the last bit of the blog post that a reader will read. You need to make sure they click away from your blog feeling like they have e had all their questions answered.

If your article starts off strong and then fizzles as the reader continues, they will most likely lose interest and navigate away from your post.

Use tools

Many new bloggers struggle to let one sentence flow into the next. It does not always come naturally, which is why it is a good thing that there are plenty of online tools available to help you refine your writing.

• ZenPen is a great tool to help you remain focused. It is an online tool that creates a zen working space with no distractions. It helps you focus solely on your content without stressing the layout and formatting.
• A thesaurus is a great tool to use if you are stuck on a word. There are plenty of free thesauruses available online. If you feel like you are repeating the same word too often, or that the word you are using just doesn't feel quite right, then a thesaurus can help you find alternative words.
• Cliche Finder is a quirky tool that will help you to not sound so cheesy. It identifies sentences or phrases that are just a little bit too cliché.

7. Write a strong conclusion or Call To Action (CTA)

You're almost at the end (of the writing portion, at least)!

Now, it is time to leave your readers with a memorable ending. We already mentioned finishing strong, but how can you do that?

Well, either you can make them believe that their questions have been answered and that the article achieved its goal, or add a call to action to get the readers to engage with your website or services.

Motivate your readers

It is your goal to motivate your readers to do the impossible. And sometimes, the impossible is to sign up for your newsletter, visit your website, or purchase your products.

Explain to them exactly what their lives will look like once they followed the amazing advice you have given them.

It is up to your conclusion to empower your readers to make the right decision by giving them actionable advice. Then, end off by encouraging them to immediately take action!

Don't include any new information

The conclusion is, quite literally, the last place you should be including new information.

Tips, facts, or new tidbits of info should not be in the conclusion. This is not like a blockbuster movie where you can include a cliffhanger at the end.

Rather, use the conclusion as a nice end to your captivating content, and ask the readers to take action.

8. Review and Optimize

Now that you've written all your content, it is time to get editing. During this phase, you will look closely at the content you wrote and notice any edits or clunky writing.

The best way to review your own written work is to read it out loud to yourself. This way, you will notice if the flow is right, if the information is presented in the right order, and if someone else who is reading it can follow along.

Also, make sure to use online spell checkers like Grammarly to help spot mistakes or typos.

Optimize your content

Search engine optimization (SEO) is more than just a buzzword in blogging. It is a valuable tool that will ensure that you get readers to come to your blog.

You need to prioritize on-page SEO. This means using the correct keywords, including a meta description, and ensuring your text is readable on computers and mobile phones.

You should also include any relevant links (internal or external) in your blog post that link to reputable websites. Guest blogging should especially make use of links in the body of the text.

Add images

No one enjoys staring at a block of text. That is why images are so important. Make sure to set a featured image and include at least one quality image in your text.

Your images also need to be optimized with tags to enable search engines to index your site and present it on search engine results pages.

Whether you first want to find images and then write or complete your content and find an image is completely up to you!

Plenty of royalty-free images are available online; you can try your hand at photography and take some photos yourself.

Add tags and categories

Categories and tags will need some thought before you use them. Before publishing your blog, make sure that you have included the right tags and categories so that it can be indexed by search engines and found by your target readers.

Don't forget to optimize for social media

The meta description you use for Google may differ from the description you use for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Your audience who came across your blog on Google probably has a different need than those who found you on LinkedIn. It is important that you remember that and optimize your content for social media posts as well.

For example, if you wish to get engagement through Pinterest, then your feature image or infographic is very important compared to the importance of an image for Google and other search engines.

Editing Checklist

Now that you have optimized your content, it is time to go over what you wrote with eagle eyes and make the necessary edits. Keep this checklist by your side as you begin to review your content:

• Remove what is not necessary. No one likes an article full of fluff. Get rid of any unnecessary words, sentences, or paragraphs that do not add any real value to your content.
• Don't preach; inspire. You don't want to sound like a condescending know-it-all. You want your readers to feel a sense of camaraderie from you as if you are truly on their side.
• Evoke emotions. Make use of fear, hope, humor, or sadness to encourage your audience to keep reading.
• Avoid blocks of text. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Paragraphs should not exceed three sentences or four lines. Rather break up sentences to shorten them if they become too long.
• Break down complicated terms. An article full of jargon or complicated words will bore the reader. Avoid confusion by rather providing simple and easy-to-understand information. Use the Hemingway App to help you get easier readability.
• Remove repetition. Whether you are repeating the same words or the same idea, get rid of all repetition in your text.
• Check the flow. You want your paragraphs to flow seamlessly into each other. When reviewing what you wrote, make sure the flow makes sense and the topics are not jumping all over the place.
• Stick to your own style. Sure, you can get inspiration from other bloggers, but don't devalue your own unique writing skills. Make sure your voice can be heard in your writing.
• Add character to the text. Make use of bold and italics to bring some character to your text. Just don't overuse it!
• Bullet points are great for providing readers with easily digestible nuggets of wisdom.
• Make the eyes happy. Everyone will appreciate relevant images included in blog content!
• Consistency is key. If you promise you will be providing a list of steps, then only include steps in the list. If you promise a list-based post for a certain item or category, don't veer off-topic and start discussing something else.
• Use external links wisely. Using an external link to back up your statement is a great idea. But don't get lazy. Rather include the information in your own blog and then link to the source than simply negating to include any info and just adding a link.

9. Publish and promote your blog post

Where and how to post your blog is up to you. But you're not done with it yet once you push "publish"!

Now it is time to start promoting your blog in an attempt to attract readers.

If your blog has been optimized for search engines, then hopefully, you will gain some natural traffic from online searches. But you can do much more to get people to read what you wrote.

Use social media to share your blog

Your followers love following you for a reason - they want to hear from you! This is why it is important to post any new blogs you create on your social media accounts. If you are a new blogger, you can still make use of social media to grow your following.

Internal linking

Adding external links to your blog will give you more authority, while internal links to some of your other blogs will help readers navigate around your site.

Google will also make use of internal links to understand what it is about.

So, once your new blog post is published, go through your previous blogs and check where you can include a link to your new blog.

Community Forums

Once you know who your community is, you can approach forums or another relevant blog to ask that links to your new blog are included in what is being written there. This will help you reach your desired audience.

Newsletter

If you have a newsletter that you send out every few days, make sure to include a link to your new post in the latest one. Try not to share every single post you ever wrote, as subscribers may be put off by the spam. Rather stick to a certain theme and include any article that relates.

10. After some time: Optimize again

Finally, you have sent your work out into the world. You trust that you have produced a good blog post that will attract plenty of readers.

Sadly, the buck doesn't stop there. After some time, you should revisit what you wrote to make sure it is still relevant.

You should use Google's search console to check whether your blog still contains relevant keywords and update your blog accordingly. You should also check whether any facts or figures you included still hold true.

To ensure your posts don't disappear into the ether, you have to put in a little bit of work.

Return to social media

If it has been a while since you posted a specific post on your socials, it is time to refresh the memories of your followers.

As long as your blog post remains relevant, you can repost it on your social media accounts. Try not to overdo it, but if a few months have passed since your initial publication, why not post it again?

Try to use a new caption for the social media post to make your followers curious.

Analyze the performance of the blog post

You need to analyze how a post performed about a month after it has been published. You can make use of Google Analytics to see how many engagements your post enjoyed. You can also use Google Search Console to see how people found your posts.

Check how you are ranking for keywords and whether you need to do additional keyword research or make any tweaks to your keywords. You may have to write more blogs to increase your rankings.

Optimize your content where needed

Search engine optimization is not a one-and-done situation. It is an ongoing process that constantly needs your attention.

One day you might be the top-ranking blog post, while the next, your competitors out-competed you and took your spot in the rankings.

This means you have to return to the source, consider your SEO strategy, and implement any necessary changes to fight your way back to the top.

No one likes being compared to others, but taking a peek at what your competitors are doing better than you is a good idea. Improve your blog post based on what you find on their pages.

This will help you go from a good blog post to a great blog post!

Increase internal linking

Don't overdo it, but adding more internal links to your blog post is probably not a bad idea. Especially if you can link to new blogs that you published.

FAQs

How long should blogs be?

WiX did an in-depth analysis and found that the sweet spot for blogs sits at 2,450 words.

Still, it depends … Read this deep dive about exactly this question.

What will ensure people keep coming back to read my blogs?

People will return to your blogging website if you provide constant, relevant content with fresh perspectives.

What blogs are the most successful?

These blogs tend to get the most clicks:

• Travel blogs
• Food blogs
• Lifestyle blogs
• Fitness and wellness blogs