How to Write a Blog

It’s important to write content that’s meaningful to your followers if you want to monetize your blog in the future.

It may be tempting to use your first post to offer a brief introduction to yourself and a description of the website’s intent, but I suggest saving that for your “About” tab.

Instead, get started right away with content that will help your target audience.

Consider your niche, and then select an issue or a concern that many people have about it.

It’s hard to go wrong with a decent “how-to” message!

If you’re a beauty blogger, for example, your first post may be about finding the best items for your skin type.

Writing a Blog: Decide on a Keyword

SEO is a long game, and with a new website, it will likely be months before you see any Google traffic.

While you may initially have more success with social media, Google traffic is preferable because it converts faster and is a more reliable source of traffic.

As a consequence, it’s still worthwhile to start with some good SEO practices!

Keyword research is a broad subject with several different approaches, but beginners on a budget can get started with Ubersuggest, a free keyword research tool.

Ubersuggest will give you an overview of the keyword expression, how competitive it is, and a list of other keyword ideas if you type your subject idea into the search box.

As a novice, you can look for keywords with low keyword complexity and low length. Low-volume keyword concepts, also known as “long-tail” keywords, are more descriptive.

For example, “spice cake recipe” is a common keyword phrase with a lot of competition.

“Spice cake recipe with cream cheese frosting,” on the other hand, is a much more descriptive word with lower search volume and competition, making it easier to rank in Google.

Long-tail keywords are also known for pulling in a lot of high-converting traffic.

There’s a lot more to keyword research than this, but these pointers will get you started thinking about SEO right away.

Just don’t let yourself get exhausted to the point of not being able to write.

Note, as you acquire more information about SEO, you can always go back and update older posts!

Writing a Blog: Don’t Forget Subheadings

It’s time to outline your blog post using subheads now that you’ve settled on a subject and a long-tail keyword term.

Subheadings should be included in your blog post because:

• Subheadings are preferred by Google.
• Subheadings are popular with readers.
• An outline will assist you in avoiding writer’s block!
• An outline will assist you in avoiding writer’s block!

To make your blog post Google-friendly, use H2 headings throughout. (The title is always put in the H1 Header tag.)

If you can, add your keyword (or a variant of it) into one or two of your subheadings. However, don’t overdo it and make sure it flows naturally.

Writing the Draft

It’s now time to draft the material for your first blog post, using your outline as a reference.

This is the most daunting aspect of blogging for many newbies, but it doesn’t have to be! Many bloggers write in a conversational tone, as if they were talking to a friend.

So put your thesaurus down and write as you would naturally speak. Enable your uniqueness to shine.

Don’t think about getting every sentence just right at this point. First, jot down all of your suggestions and feelings. During the editing stage, you can go back and improve it.

Maintain the lengths of your sentences and paragraphs. Each paragraph should consist of no more than 1-3 sentences.

It’s also a good idea to include a “Call to Action” or a question at the end of your blog post to promote participation and debate in the comments.

Choose Your Title

The value of choosing a click-worthy title cannot be overstated.

And no matter how fantastic your post is, if the title of your blog doesn’t entice people to click, it won’t perform well.

When I start writing a post, I usually start with a working title and then change it to a more interesting title after I finish it.

“How-to” and “list” titles are two excellent title concepts. Also, make sure your keyword process is included in the title.

Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer is a great free tool to try if you need help choosing a word. Simply enter your title, and it will provide you with a grade as well as some suggestions for improvement.

Format and Edit

The next step is to proofread and edit your content to ensure that it is consistent and error-free.

It can be difficult to capture all of the errors on your own, which is why using a tool like Grammarly is a good idea.

Grammarly is a free browser plugin that detects most spelling and grammatical errors automatically.

The next move is to format your article for best on-page SEO performance. Choose or build the parent category for your blog post from the settings bar on the right if you’re using WordPress.

Next, make sure your post includes a few important internal and external ties.

You should also make sure your keyword phrase appears in the following places:

• The title
• The blog post’s first 100 words
• Where it makes sense, the alt definition of at least one of your photos
• The permalink/slug
• The meta description

You’ve come to the end of your blog post.

It’s important not to load your blog post with keywords. This is known as “keyword stuffing,” and if Google detects it, your rankings will suffer as a result.

Yoast is a wonderful free plugin that offers SEO guidelines for your posts. It also makes optimizing your meta definition and SEO title a breeze.

Make it Shareable

In the early stages of your blog, social media is your best friend. It’s the easiest way to get people to read your latest stories.

Grow by Mediavine is my favorite social sharing plugin because it allows you to add a floating sidebar of social share buttons to your blog post or content.

This makes it incredibly simple for someone who reads your blog to post it on their chosen social media site.

Put it Out There!

After you’ve completed all of the above steps, press the “Publish” button! Don’t get too wrapped up in making things perfect; you can (and will) always go back and make adjustments later.

The most important thing is to get your content out there so that your target audience (and Google) can find you.

Final Thoughts

At first, learning how to write your first blog post can seem intimidating. But if you follow the steps above, you’ll be hitting the publish button in no time!

All you have to do now is keep moving forward. A good, income-generating blog is the product of taking action and learning as you go!