by Writing a blog post is easy if you don’t care whether or not anybody reads it. Any AI interface can spit out 1,000 words on your subject of choice.
Creating a compelling blog post that ranks in search and engages your specific audience is a completely different animal. In these days of AI content glut, Google is looking for more than keywords. It wants content to reflect your Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T)—qualities that are personal and difficult to achieve with a few AI prompts.
Blog writing is intimidating for many people–so much so that they let their blogs die a slow death by not adding or updating content. But with some know-how and a manageable process, you can easily create a blog post.
Follow my step-by-step guide to create strong, compelling content for your blog. All you need to get started is your professional knowledge.
Do you lack time to devote to your blog? Emily Journey & Associates offers SEO services and website management plans to help your target audience find your website. Contact us to learn more.
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Why Have a Blog on Your Website?
A blog is a necessity for any small- to medium-sized business website. There are very few exceptions. If your website doesn’t have a blog section, you’re missing out on valuable site traffic and losing customers to the competition.
Regularly updated blog content with strategically selected keywords and E-E-A-T drives traffic to your site by helping it appear on search engine results pages.
Carefully crafted blog posts relevant to your industry establish your business as an authority and serve as a resource for customers seeking information on your product or service.
How to Write a Good Blog Post in 7 Steps—or 7 Days
Even if you’re not an avid writer, creating a great blog post is possible if you break it down into bite-sized steps. Strapped for time? Do one step per day to produce a new blog post in just a week.
1. Select a timely and valuable blog post topic.
What makes a good blog post? As an expert in your industry, you’re the best person to answer that question.
You know your customers. That’s where all good blog posts start. Answering these questions will always help you find a topic:
- What are customers curious about and searching for online?
- Is a particular product or service trending this season? Do you anticipate a trend for next season?
- Are there changes you are seeing in your industry?
- Is there a topic your customers would like to be educated about?
Your blog posts should always deliver value to your customers. After all, that’s what any customer is ultimately looking for. People want to be understood and they want answers to their business problems. Sometimes, they want inspiration. Keep those goals in mind, and you’ll develop a winning topic.
What shouldn’t you write about? Don’t fall into the trap of writing too much about you. Your readers should feel like you wrote your blog post about them–not to promote your products or services.
Identifying interesting, valuable topics is one of the hardest parts of the blog writing process. That’s why I’ve written a whole post dedicated to creating great blog topics.
2. Gather your resources.
Topic in hand, now you’re ready to pull together your materials. Save everything in a Word file or Google Doc to keep it organized and at your fingertips (and safe from forgetting). Here’s a quick list of things to create and collect:
- Write notes. Record your ideas based on your own experience and expertise (E-E-A-T). Your personal knowledge is valuable. Don’t doubt it.
- Do some research. Adding statistics or quoting another expert lends an extra level of authority to your message. Plus, linking to your external sources will help boost your SEO.
- Add visual elements. You can use your own photos or ones from a stock photo provider. Consider adding a video to your blog post to make an even bigger impact.
- Prepare a keyword list. Keyword research identifies the words and phrases your customers use in their searches. Incorporating these search terms in your blog will give it traction in search results. I like using Google Ads Keyword Planner to identify the keywords that will have the most impact. Other useful tools include Ubersuggest and Moz (though use is limited on a free plan).
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Contact our friendly office at (844) 972-6224 or send us a message through our website maintenance inquiry form.
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3. Set up your outline.
Your outline provides the supporting walls for your blog post. Quick thought prompts will establish the structure. These prompts can then become section headings. The outline should establish a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Here’s a basic template to follow:
- Introduction
- Identify the problem or question the reader has that you have the expertise to address.
- Assert the importance of solving the problem or finding an answer.
- Tell the reader what they will learn if they keep reading.
- Body
- Outline the solution or answer the question in detail.
- Break this section into easily consumed paragraphs, bullet points, or sections.
- When possible, link to other blog posts or site pages to demonstrate your breadth and depth of knowledge (and aid SEO).
- Conclusion
- Explain how you can help solve the problem or further answer the question.
- Invite the reader to contact you.
4. Write a rough draft.
How to start a blog post is often the most challenging part of the writing process. You want to draw the reader in immediately and keep them scrolling. You need a “hook" to grab the reader’s attention.
Types of hooks that I like include:
- A story or personal experience (as long as it’s brief).
- A bold statement that the reader isn’t expecting.
- Facts or statistics that will resonate with the reader.
Once you have your hook, you can flesh out your outline with the notes and research you gathered in Step 2. Don’t overthink this part of the process. Remember, you’re the subject matter expert. Fill your pages with the things you know best.
At this point in the process, AI can be a handy tool. An AI composer (I like Frase) lets you combine AI writing technology with your expertise to leap that writer’s block hurdle.
Some important things to keep in mind when you’re using AI:
- AI content is only as good as the prompts that you enter. You know the saying, “garbage in, garbage out.” Well, that’s definitely true of AI.
- Don’t be shy. You can get very specific with your prompts, specifying tone, reading level, style, length, and more. Keep refining the content until you’re happy with it (you won't hurt its feelings).
- Never paste AI-generated content into your draft without a thorough review. You’re the expert. Apply your knowledge and sound judgment to review and revise the text it generates. This is a good time to remember Google’s E-E-A-T. AI cannot convey experience; only you can personalize your blog post.
Improve SEO by placing keywords strategically in the text and subheadings. Ensure the keywords read naturally and aren’t grammatically forced.
When you finish the draft, sprinkle in calls to action throughout the blog post in appropriate places.
Writing compelling blog posts that get found online is easier when you understand search engine optimization. Learn how SEO really works with SEO training from Emily Journey & Associates.
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5. Edit your post and write an engaging title.
The title of your blog post is one key way that search engines will find it.
When deciding on a title, include your main keyword to boost SEO. Catchy titles are great, but being cute is secondary to working in your primary keyword.
When editing your rough draft, you don’t have to be an editing whiz to make your writing shine. There are tools available to help:
- Use AI to refine clunky sentences or paragraphs.
- Try a WordPress plugin like Semrush SEO Writing Assistant to help you enhance the quality and readability of your text. It identifies critical keywords based on metrics like search volume, trends, and competitor use. It also has a ranking tool to track your SEO performance after you publish.
- Blog posts with spelling and grammatical errors can do more harm than good. Grammarly is a great tool to ensure that your post is an A+.
6. Polish it off with SEO.
To give your blog post some extra search engine muscle, pay attention to these elements:
- Links. Internal links keep visitors on your website longer and demonstrate topical authority to search engines. External links add to the credibility of your message (just be sure that they open in a new tab). Both will improve your blog’s search engine results standings.
- Alt text and Image titles. Adding accurate descriptions to your images will make your blog post more findable.
- Path/slug. The path or slug is the final piece of the blog’s URL, appearing after the slash that follows the domain name and any subfolders. If you can, include your main keyword in the path.
- Meta description. Your post’s meta description is your first and best chance to get people to visit your post. Make it clear, concise, and compelling.
A WordPress plugin like Yoast SEO will make light work of your search engine optimization tasks.
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7. Publish, Promote, and Repeat.
You’ve worked hard. Go ahead and publish that post.
Be sure to share the blog post through your social media channels and encourage your readers to do the same. WordPress has social media integration capabilities for seamless engagement with social networks.
Email the blog post to your mailing list for further traction. If you’ve named or cited anyone, sharing the post with them is an excellent way to build goodwill and grow your network.
Your new post may not show up in search engine results right away. That’s okay. It can take time for Google to find and index your new website content. Read more about how long it takes for SEO to work.
Once you’ve successfully published that first blog post, use that momentum to establish a list of future blog topics and create a blogging schedule.
Establish Credibility, Build Trust
When your business keeps you too busy to develop your SEO strategy or create quality blog content, we can help.
As an end-to-end website service provider, Emily Journey & Associates offers SEO strategy development services and website maintenance plans that keep your site fresh and up-to-date. We also provide in-person SEO training to empower our clients to create effective SEO content for themselves.
Let’s talk about which approach is right for your business. Contact our friendly office today.
