BLOG POST TIPS

1. Know the ins and outs of your blogging platform. This helps you be sure your posts look as good as they can. Take the time to master the visual editor (or raw HTML, if you prefer) so that you know how to format a post, insert an image and embed a video or podcast. If you’re not comfortable with the more technical aspects of blogging, try to find someone who can be a resource for you to answer questions as they arise.

2. Establish categories and stay on topic. Whether your new blog post is a stand-alone post or part of a series you’re writing, it should fit into your blog categories as well as your overall content strategy. Meaning that you want to stay on topic and have your posts fit into the categories you’ve established. When selecting your categories, ask yourself, if they make sense, and fit into the objectives of your business. Having clearly defined blog categories will help you continue generating meaningful content and topics for your blog.

3. Create a meta-description. Most search engines will use a maximum of 160 characters for your post description on their results pages. If you don’t create a meta-description, which is a concise summary of your page’s content, a search engine will often take the first 160 characters it finds on your page instead. This will not give the reader a full sense of what they’ll get from reading your post. A planned description will give them an idea of why they should read your post, and make them want to read it.

4. Use an editorial calendar. Most bloggers find it helpful to use an editorial calendar for scheduling and organizing topics for posts. Some people use their calendars to track more elaborate details. This will help you produce consistently.

5. Create a good design for your site. In order for them to want to read your post, they have to stay on your site. The design is the first thing visitors see and it significantly influences bounce rate, page views, and conversions. Have a professional look, and they’ll take you more seriously and be more apt to stay online to read the quality content you produce.

6. Identify five metrics to keep an eye on how your blogging is 6oing such as: visitors, leads, subscribers, inbound links and social media shares. This will help you keep track of your viewers, and give you a greater sense of when you get it right, and when you don’t.

7. Be sure to include your name, title, and a way readers can contact you. Readers are not only interested in the content in your blog post. They also want to know who wrote the post and their role at your organization. Sometimes you’ll come across a thoroughly researched and well-written post only to find an attribution of “admin.” Even if the blog is only written by you and you’re the administrator of the blog, let the readers know who you are.

8. Publish and promote your site. Publishing and promoting are important stages of creating a successful blog post. One thing you want to do during the publishing stage is to ensure that your post has some kind of call to action. Promoting a blog post can involve a fair amount of thought and strategy. Utilize blog commenting promotion and direct messaging partners in social media to see if they’ll help spread the word. Take the time to build a good foundation before you expect to execute a successful blog promotion.

9. Try answering questions. One effective way to get content ideas for blogging comes from reviewing web analytics for the kinds of questions people type into search engines like Google or Bing that deliver visitors. If it is a popular question, giving people the answer they’re looking for can help build your audience. You can also ask have your readers to write questions. When they do, you can take the answers for these questions and use them for future posts.

10. Make your work stand out. When you’ve been blogging for a while, chances are good that you’ll see other bloggers writing on topics similar to yours. It doesn’t mean that you have to stay away from the topic completely. Instead, you can take that opportunity to see what worked and didn’t work in their post. Then, use that knowledge to write yours in a way that will help you to stand out in the topic area. You may find a few articles that have good “parts,” but they fail to have a good “whole.” If you use the information from the good parts of several articles to create your own article, yours will stand out. It will be good in its entirety.

11. Write user-centered/valuable content. One big mistake a blog post can make is missing the mark of its readers, forgetting who they are and their needs and interests. If the content is user- centred, and knowledgeable, it will be a greater value to the reader. You may begin with one target market in mind, and see that a different market is reading your articles. Change direction, and focus your blogs on the needs and interests of those users. Give someone what they want, and they’ll come back to you again and again.

12.   Make sure your content is understandable.  Be sure to consider the reader’s character, context and respect for the reader’s reading level, articulate an old idea in a new way.  You

may want to give very technical information to an audience that isn’t really educated.  Break it down and present it in terms they can understand.



13.   Make your content actionable.  This means you should include a call to action, a place to comment, an invitation to share, links to related content, and a direct summary of what to do.  If they can take part in what you blog, they’ll feel like they’re part of it.  It will make them want to return.



14.   Don’t let the quantity of words dictate the quality of your post.  Some blogs have set parameters for optimal length and put a value on whether a post is short or long.  Instead of focusing on word count, a better use of your time and energy would be to focus on whether posts are optimized for mobile, use effective formatting, communicate in a clear manner and that outlining the points you want to cover.   If you’re restricted to shorter posts by the

parameters set up in advance for your blog, you can link to longer-form content you’ve developed around the topic.  Remember quality content will always reign over quantity.



15.  Determine what parts of yourself are you willing and able to share with your readers and share it.  Readers like to get to know how about writers and often appreciate hearing a few personal details and insights from the person who has taken them on a journey through a post. Business blogs shouldn’t be thought of as personal journal entries, however, you can tell your readers a little bit about how you operate.



16 Create a time and place where you can get into the zone for writing.  While it’s true that ideas for blog posts will come at all times, chances are good though that the actual writing of the post will happen in multiple drafts and revisions.   Once you’re in the zone, you can use those inspirations that came to you when you’re driving in your car, sitting at your desk, or even in the middle of the night, and go with them.



17. Begin with the ending in mind.  Think of an inverted pyramid when you write. Get to the point in the first paragraph.  Let them know what they’re going to take away from your post, and then expand upon it.



18.  Write short sentences.  Sentences need to be concise.  Use only the words you need to get the essential information across. Long “wordy” sentences can make a post difficult to read, especially when you’re scanning.



19.  Write only one idea per paragraph.  Web pages need to be concise and to-the-point.  As with articles, most people usually scan web posts, so having short, meaty paragraphs is better than long rambling ones.



20.   Write with action words.  Tell your readers what to do. Avoid the passive voice.  By using action words, it will help you keep the flow of your pages moving and make it more exciting for your reader.  Give them the actions they need to take to do something, and then tell them what they’ll achieve by doing it.



21.  Include internal sub-headings.  When you use sub-headings, you make the text easier to scan. Your readers will move to the section of the document that is most useful for them, and internal cues make it easier for them to do this.



22.  Make your links part of the copy.  Links will also help your readers scan pages. They stand out from normal text, and provide clues as to what the page is about.



23.  Put your readers at ease.  You are not writing for a medical journal or literary society. You’re writing to your peers on the Internet. Write in a simple style.  If you introduce new terms, define them for your readers.  Make them feel comfortable reading your material.  Everyone enjoys a good read.  Make your readers feel comfortable when they read, and they’ll feel your post is a good read.



24.   Don’t be afraid to share your trade secrets.  The more you tell, the more the demand you will create for your goods and services.  The more information you give, the more likely people will understand that you really are an authority on the subject that you

are speaking about.  You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Give and it shall be given unto you.”  Give readers the information they want, and they’ll give you their business.









25.  If you are a business, emphasize the benefits of your product or service. Benefits are what sell, not features. The benefits may be that people can get these items in one place without shopping around, that they can save time and money, etc.  You should mention the benefits that you offer to your potential customer often.  Everyone wants to know, “What will I get from this?”  Emphasize that, because that’s what’s important to them, and they will want your product or service, because it’s a means to get that benefit.  You already know what your customers are curious about and what they need to make their lives easier. Use that knowledge to create your website content articles to give them new information and help them find what they are looking for.  



26.  Give your readers resource information.  Let your readers know the addresses of websites where they can get more information on the subject that you are talking about. These can be your own websites or they can be other resources. Don’t worry about losing

customers.  Good outgoing links from your website are also helpful to your site’s page ranking and positioning in search engines.



27.   Get a second opinion.  Getting another opinion isn’t only necessary when it’s a medical issue.  Get another opinion on your article.  Show it to your friends and colleagues.  Don’t worry if they criticize you.  It is better that your friends find the mistakes than your readers. A good editor is a writer’s best friend.



28.   Be straight forward.  Talk to your reader. Write in a style that sounds just like you are chatting directly with them. This will engage their interest. Imagine you are sitting over a cup of coffee with them and write. That way you should avoid being too long-winded.



29.  Write what you know.  Knowledge is power.  Choose subjects you are familiar with.  If you do, writing will be less of a chore when you feel comfortable with the subject.  If you know your topic well and you’re passionate about what you’re writing, that passion will show through.  It will help the reader feel it when they read.



30.  Enjoy yourself when you write.  You’ve probably tried to read a book and failed.   It’s almost impossible to read books or articles we don't enjoy, so it figures that writing books and articles becomes more difficult when we don't enjoy what we are writing about.

Since posts are written regularly, they can sometime feel like a chore.  Even as children we learn to hate chores.  Writing about things you enjoy will make it more enjoyable to write.  This way, you’ll be writing because you WANT to…not because you feel you HAVE to.

31.  Be consistent with your postings. This is extremely important to creating quality content for any platform.  Many times, writers start projects with enthusiasm and energy.  If they don't see results right away, they stop. Readers want some expectation of when they will see a new post from you, so be consistent.  You don’t have to post every day, but if you decide to write once a week, don’t skip.  Let the reader know when they can expect the next post from you.  You can add things like, “Come back next Thursday for more great

tips on how to…” If they like what they read this time, they’ll write it down to visit your site again on that day for more information.



32.  Re-purpose your content.  You can use a good video you made, and create a post from it, get the video transcribed, or create a slideshow version, audio/podcast version, etc. You can also take your good postings and do short videos.  Not everyone likes to read, and some would rather read than watch videos.  This way, you’re getting your content out there in many formats, so you can reach a wider audience.

Online Writing and what it entails

STEPS IN WRITING PROCESS

Before you begin writing anything, it is important to understand the writing process. Writing is more than just putting words on paper. It takes thought and planning to produce quality content, and having quality content is more than important…it’s imperative! Never has the

phrase, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right,” more important than when preparing content for your site.

When you prepare to write an article, series of articles, blog posts, or

even a script for a video for your site, ask yourself what you are going

to write about and in what way are you going to talk about the topic.

Think about the final use of the article and tailor the article to suit its

purpose. Think about it: is it promotion, informative article with an

action involved from the reader, or is it purely for education purposes.

There are many different ways to write and many approaches you

can take. Look at all the ways you can approach the article, and

select the best approach for your purpose.

After you know your topic, brainstorm for ideas. This is simply writing

down ideas and thoughts about the subject. Jot down all of the ideas

you can come up. They might seem silly at the time, but write them

anyway. Jot down everything you can think of. You may find it

helpful to keep some means of writing ideas with you at all times. It

can be a note pad and pen, or an electronic device. Whichever it is,

you’ll be able to write down the ideas as they come to you. You don’t

have to use them all. You can decide that later. Just get your

You should prepare an outline of your article, blog post, or ebook.

Preparing an outline will help you to prepare quality content for your

website. It keeps you focused and on track. You know that your

content helps the websites web marketing, web ranking and content

marketing efforts. The outline will help you create a logical order and

flow to what you write, and improve your chances of higher web

rankings.

Once the outline is complete, you’re ready to begin writing. Follow

the outline, and use the information you know or the information

gathered from researching other resources to fill in the blanks. If you

remember the “fill in the blank” tests from school, you’ll know that this

is an important part of the writing process. If you don’t put the right

words in the right blanks, you fail the test. If you don’t fill in the blank

in the right way, your writing will fail. People will click on your site,

begin reading, see it isn’t quality content, and then click off. You’ve

probably done that yourself many times. The internet makes it so

easy it has become automatic to some people. Click on—read junk—

click off. It’s as simple as that. Filling in the blanks properly,

however, will cause people to click on to your site repeatedly.

There are three major portions to any written material: Introduction,

Body, and Conclusion. You should always start with a good

introduction. Then you prepare the body, which is the meat of the

material. Last, but certainly not least, is the conclusion. In the

introduction you should tell the audience what you are going to tell

them and what they can expect to learn. The body of the article will

include the details about the topic and mention different points that will connect to the reader. These details should give the reader what you told them they were going to get. The conclusion is where you summarize and state any conclusions that the reader should have come to once they’ve read your material. The conclusion is the last impression you will make on the readers, so you always want to go out in style. Let them leave feeling taking the time to read your material has been worth their while. Write your first draft without being over-critical. In your first draft, you’re basically getting all your information down on paper in a fairly logical format. Then, you go back and revise the draft in a more critical manner. It often helps to read the article aloud. As you do, make mental notes to fully pronounce every word. This will help you

find grammar errors and inconstancy in the article. It will also help you keep a good, steady flow to your writing that isn’t confusing. If you stumble over the words when you read it, so will your reader.

Once you’ve completed reading the material and any errors have been corrected, you’ll probably repeat the process again and again until the article is satisfactory to you. You may discover you need to:

• Rearrange paragraphs to make it flow better

• Reword awkward sentences

• Remove extra words, repetitive sentences, or even whole paragraphs

You need to realize that no one is perfect. Learning to write articles, blogs, or ebooks takes time, creativity, patience, and practice. You may feel you have something great and find out it wasn’t so good after all. Don’t be discouraged if you have to change your draft several times before you get it right. Just remember, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Once you have that article, blog, ebook, or video that you feel is “just right,” it will be worth it. Not only will you feel great about yourself, you’ll have quality content that is fit to reign. You’ll be surprised. Once you have been through the process of writing your rough draft and editing the drafts a few times, you’ll get used to all of these things. It will become automatic, unconscious competence writing and you’ll wonder why you ever thought it would be so difficult to start with.

If you follow the all of the above steps, before you know it you will be able to be a competent writer. Being a competent writer is the first step to creating that dynamic content you need for your website