The way people use the internet is changing. More people than ever before are starting to try their hand at writing a blog, whether it is for business or personal use.
People write blogs for all sorts of reasons. Individuals may choose to start a blog purely for the fun of it. It is a great way to document day-to-day life, share photos and keep an online diary. Others use a blog to impart knowledge to others. Some common topics in this area are travel, beauty and fashion, cooking and recipe sharing, sports, restaurant and hotel reviews and various others.
Businesses tend to use blogs to share their knowledge with their current and future customer base. Creating a blog can have multiple benefits for a brand. Not only does it outline the company as experts in their field, but it also can help with SEO and leading people towards the company website. Popular blogging platforms like WordPress allow for seamless content management, advanced SEO techniques, and great audience engagement.
So, if you are thinking about starting your own blog, take a look at these tips below to help you get started.
Table of Contents
The Opening Paragraph
People have very short attention spans, therefore you need to ignite their curiosity from the outset and make that first paragraph really stand out. A compelling introduction should tell your readers what they are about to find out in your blog post, and make them want to read on. A compelling title also helps a lot. Each sentence should lead to the next one until you have completely hooked your reader. It is the bridge that carries the reader from the first paragraph to the rest of the article.
In many cases, less is more, and a short and concise opening paragraph can work wonders. Some other options for an opening could be to ask a thought-provoking question to engage them, be quirky or funny, share a shocking fact or something personal or withhold a compelling piece of information.
Optimise Content for Search
SEO matters when it comes to a blog post. How else are people going to find your content? Some tips to achieve great blog post SEO is to firstly use the right keywords, both in the content and in the titles and headings. If your post has images or videos, then you could also include keywords in their descriptions or headings. Linking to previous content that you have produced is a good way to encourage people to also visit those pages.
If you are creating your blog on a site like WordPress, many of these platforms will have built-in search engine optimization help. For example, Yoast SEO is a downloadable plugin for WordPress. It will check the post to see if your keywords are in the right place while also measuring many other aspects of the text.
Images
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and in a blog post, this can be the case. The content should be made up of more than just words and headings. Images can help to increase readership and engagement on the post, as well as making it look more visually appealing.
An image can help to convey the overall feeling or emotion of the post, evoke surprise or curiosity, complement the text or the heading of the piece, or hep to illustrate a metaphor or analogy that you are trying to get across.
As humans, we are generally visual learners, and the use of images can help us to take in and retain information.
Shorten Your Sentences
Sometimes with longer sentences, you may lose your audience. A tip would be to read your sentence out loud, if you are starting to lose your breath by the end of it, then chances are it is a little too long.
If you see any adjectives, adverbs or any other words that are not adding anything to the sentence, then these can usually be gotten rid of. Shorter, sharper sentences work best online as they provide information that is easier for readers to digest.
Make the Post Unique
Even if the theme or idea that you are addressing is not unique, your blog post needs to be. Coming up with a blog post that is 100% unique is never going to be easy, but you should be able to come up with a spin on an idea that is entirely your own. Find that new angle.
Not only will your blog post rank lower in search engine results if it has been written about multiple times, but if it is too similar, there is a chance you could get done for plagiarism.
A Punchy Ending
Once you have the catching introduction and an interesting body, it is time to tackle the conclusion. The best strategy is to summarize all your points in a thought-provoking way. You could end with a question or with a call to action. It is effective to restate your main point to remind the reader what your post was about.
Use Links Effectively
Whether you are linking to posts you have previously written or to other pages that contain relevant information, links can be especially effective. This will help out with your clicks and also your search engine ranking.
You reader will feel like you are helping them out further by giving them more information about a topic they were interested in the first place.
Respond to Comments
Comments on a blog post present a great way to communicate directly with readers and customers. You may find that not all comments require a response, but make sure you make note of those that do and build a relationship with potential customers. Sometimes it may even be worth thanking people for reading your blog, signaling to the visitor you are appreciating them individually.
Now, here’s a special infographic for you on ‘the state of blogging’. It outlines the history of blogging, blogging platforms market share, bloggers demographics, blogging statistics, reasons why you should start a blog, how to write the perfect blog post, best days to publish your blog post, best time of the day to publish your blog post, bloggers behavior pattern, how blog posts are shared over the internet, how companies and brands leverage blogging, interesting facts about blogging and list of famous celebrities who blog.
![A Look at Blogging Industry Stats from 2018 [Infographic]](https://antonyagnel.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/the-state-of-blogging-industry-infographic12.png)
Conclusion
Thus I hope that you found this post helpful in understanding how you can create the ultimate blog post by just following these simple steps. Though these tips may sound simple, it will take quite a while for you to adjust your writing and it requires constant practice.
Note: This article is a guest post by WebsiteBuilder.org.
Wow, great informative post and saved into my favourites bar for a much lengthier read later – Thank you.
Hey there, glad you found it informative. Don’t forget to read it in detail at a later time.
A very nice and well written article, I love how the info-graphics appear very well situated …
Thank you Khalid, glad you like the article as well as the infographic!
Great
Hope you found the article and the infographic useful.
the infographic resume everything, such a great post 😍😍…
Thank you Asma, glad to hear that you liked my post as well as the infographic.
Excellent post
Thank you Subbashini, glad you found this post useful.
Concise summary, helpful reminders of the basics.
Hey Aletha, I’m glad you found it as a helpful blogging basics reminder post. Sadly, many bloggers don’t understand that it is these basics that will help them build a better blog.
This is intriguing and I’ve bookmarked it to reread and relearn. I was doing well with blogging, but many people don’t get notified of my posts (they seem to like them when they find them) – so I started slow blogging, but this has reminded me to keep going.
Dropped by from #BloggersPitStop and glad to be here (off to share). 🙂
Hey Donna, it’s good to hear that you’ve bookmarked it for future learning. Though it is generally a good practice to publish new content as often as possible on your blog, it is better to slow down and publish more quality content. That way, search engines and people will love your content because of the value you are providing. Remember, it is always quality over quantity and not vice versa. By the way, thanks for sharing my article with your followers.
This is what I call an epic infographic! I’ll be sharing your post in my Facebook group for bloggers. Also, tweeting and pinning this. Greetings from the Blogger’s Pit Stop!
Hey Fabiola, I’m glad you like this infographic. Kudos to the WebsiteBuilder team that designed this state of the blogging industry infographic. And thank you so much for sharing it with your social media followers – that’s the best thing you can do today to help fellow bloggers.
Very helpful post, requires a 2nd read to fully understand it. I noticed you didnt have a like button on your main post, is that strategic?
Thank you Bella, glad you found it helpful. That’s the reason why I usually try to break my content down into smaller pieces. That way people can easily grasp what’s there in my post. But since this post mostly consists of the blogging infographic, it’s hard for me to break it down into separate parts.
By the way, I’ve disabled the WordPress.com like button because WordPress.com ‘likes’ do not contribute anything to SEO. It is not taken as a social ranking factor though traffic from WordPress.com is considered as social traffic by Google Analytics. Moreover, it helps speed up my site as the number of external requests is greatly reduced. Hope that helps!
That is quite a post, wow. I love the sound advice and information. The infographic is so interesting and I learned a lot from it. Some amazing stats and information.
I appreciate you sharing all this on the Blogger’s Pit Stop.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Hey Kathleen, thank you for taking the time to read my post and see what’s there on the infographic. You’re welcome by the way!
Hi, we will feature this post on the next Blogger’s Pit Stop. Congratulations for sharing a helpful post with us.
Kathleen
Ahh, that’s great, thank you so much Kathleen!
Hi Antony,
Great tips with an impressive infograph. I have trouble with the catchy ending. I do end with a call to action though. That’s my catchy ending!
Janice
Hey Janice, glad to hear that you liked this post. When you can’t come up with a catchy ending, it’s just better if you can end it by asking your readers a question or putting a call to action button over there. Either one works.
Good information..Well researched … though I do feel that it should be unique but also a bit relatable… People should feel connected to your posts..some of the small points are very relevant though like attractive first paragraph etc…
Thank you Neha, I do agree that your readers should be able to connect to you with your content. They should not feel distanced from your content or else they’ll never return to your site. I’m glad that you liked some of the key points in this post.