How to Write a Blog: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

 

How to Write a Blog: A Step-by-Step For Beginners

Because you've arrived at this page, you're probably aware of how important blogging is to the success of your marketing efforts. As a result, it goes without saying that learning how to effectively start and manage a blog in a way that supports your business is critical.

Source: @Modern Online Businesses

Without a blog, you'll face a number of issues, including poor search engine optimization (SEO), a lack of promotional content for social media, little clout with your leads and customers, and fewer pages on which to share lead-generating calls-to-action (CTAs).

So, why, oh why, do so many marketers still have a laundry list of reasons why they can't keep a blog going?

Perhaps it is because, unless you enjoy writing, business blogging may appear uninteresting, time consuming, and difficult.

The time for making excuses is over, and this guide will help you understand why. We'll go over how to create and manage a blog for your business, as well as provide helpful templates to make your blogging efforts easier.

• What characteristics distinguish a good blog post?

Before you start writing a blog, make sure you have answers to questions like, "Why would someone read this entire blog post?" and "What entices our audience to return for more?"

1. To begin with, a good blog post is both interesting and educational. Blogs should answer questions and assist readers in resolving problems — and they should do so in an interesting way.
2. It is not enough to simply answer someone's questions; you must also provide actionable steps while remaining engaging. For example, your introduction should pique the reader's interest and entice them to read the rest of your post. Then, use examples to keep your readers engaged in what you're saying.
3. Remember that a good blog post is interesting to read and provides audience members with educational content. So, how do you go about writing one of these interesting and informative pieces?

• What Is the Best Way to Write a Blog Post?

Here are the steps you should take when writing a blog post.

1. Recognize your target audience.

Before you begin writing your blog post, make sure you have a firm grasp on your intended audience.

• Inquire, for example, "What do they want to know?" What will strike a chord with them? 

This is where the buyer persona creation process comes in handy. While brainstorming a blog post topic, consider what you know about your buyer personas and their interests. 

For example, if your readers are millennials looking to start a business, you probably don't need to give them advice on how to get started with social media — most of them already know that.

You may want to provide them with information on how to change their social media approach (for example, from a casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-focused approach). This type of tweak is what allows you to publish content on topics that your audience truly wants and needs.

2. Choose your Hosting site for your Blog:

Most website hosting services like Bluehost charge very little to host a unique domain — in fact, website costs as low as $2.99 per month when you commit to a 36-month term.

Here are three popular web hosting services from which to choose:

• Bluehost
• HostGator
• Elementor

Whether you create a domain or a subdomain for your blog, you'll need to choose a web domain hosting service.

3. Change the theme of your blog.

Once you've registered your domain name, customize the look of your blog to reflect the theme of the content you intend to create as well as your brand.

Green, for example, might be a color to consider when designing your blog if you're writing about sustainability and the environment.

If you already manage a website/blog and are writing the first post for that website, make sure the article's appearance and subject matter are consistent with the website. There are two ways to accomplish this, include your:

• Company's name and logo — it will remind blog readers who is publishing the content. (How heavily you brand your blog is entirely up to you.)
• "About" Page: You may already have a "About" blurb that describes yourself or your company. The "About" section of your blog is an extension of this higher-level statement. Consider it your blog's mission statement, which serves to support the goals of your company.

4. Create a working title for your blog post.

You might come up with a few different working titles — that is, different approaches to that topic — to help you focus your writing.

• For example, you could limit your search to "Tools for Repairing Leaky Faucets" or "Common Causes of Leaky Faucets." A working title is specific and will direct your post so that you can begin writing.
• As an example, consider the following title: "How to Choose a Topic for Your Next Blog Post." Isn't that correct? In this case, the topic was most likely "blogging." The working title could have been something like, "The Process of Choosing a Blog Post Topic." The final title was "How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post."

Can you see the progression from topic to working title to final title? Even if the working title does not become the final title (more on that later), it provides enough information to focus your blog post on something specific rather than a broad, overwhelming topic.

Pro tip: For your first blog post, avoid writing a "how-to" article.

Why?

Your credibility has yet to be established. Before you can teach others how to do something, you must first demonstrate that you are a thought leader in your field and an authoritative source.

For example, if you're a plumber writing your first post, you won't title it "How to Replace the Piping System in Your Bathroom." First, you'd write about modern faucet setups or share a success story about rescuing a faucet before it flooded a customer's home. 

Here are four other types of blog posts to get you started:

• Select a low-volume topic.

The first step is to search Google for a topic with few searches (we recommend sticking to about 10 to 150 monthly searches). These topics have less competition, which should make it easier for your new blog post to rank.

You can choose a topic through a traditional brainstorming session or through keyword research. We recommend the latter because you can see how many people are searching for that topic.

Don't be put off by the phrase "keyword research." It is not only for marketers, but also for new bloggers. And it's very simple to do.

To get started with keyword research, first identify the general topic of your blog.

Assume you're a plumber. Your broad, high-level topic could be "plumbing" (67K monthly searches).

Then, enter this term into a keyword research tool like:

• Ahrefs
• Moz
• Ubersuggest
• Wordtracker

When you run this term through the tool, it will return a list of related keywords. Scan the list and select the one with the lowest search volume. We'll use "under sink plumbing" in this example (1.4K monthly searches).

Re-enter that keyword into the keyword research tool. Examine the related keywords. Look for one with a low search volume. Repeat the process.

For this example, we'll use "plumbing issues under kitchen sink" (10 monthly searches). That is the subject of our first post.

Note: You can select a low-volume, low-competition keyword to ensure your first post ranks.

5. Create an outline of your content.

Blog posts can contain an overwhelming amount of information, both for the reader and the writer. The trick is to organize the information in such a way that readers aren't intimidated by the length or volume of content. This organization can take many forms — sections, lists-bulleted, numbered like this one, tips — whatever works best for you. But it has to be well-organized!

6. Compose your blog post!

The following — but not final — step is to actually write the content. Of course, we can't forget about it. I recommend you use Copy.io to help you write. Purchase their software for $35/month and its amazingly fantastic. 

• Now that you've created your outline or template, it's time to fill in the blanks. Use your outline as a guide and expand on any points that require it. 
• Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while properly attributing external sources. When you do this, make an effort to find accurate and compelling data to include in your post.

You're not alone if you're having trouble connecting sentences. Finding your "flow" can be difficult for many people. Fortunately, as mentioned, there are numerous tools available to assist you in improving your writing. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Copy.ai

Copy.ai is an Artificial Intelligent Writing Software that is intended to provide content that is useful to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. These includes posts on how-to guides, tips and tricks, and other business marketing-related topics.

According to their website they helped more than

1,000,000 professionals & teams!. So be next to testify. 

• They have an Unlimited offer for only $35/m that is 33% off, hurry before prices go up! Press here for your Unlimited Offer.

• Rytr

Writing high-quality content at a fraction of the cost is easy with Rytr, an Artificial Intelligent helper. 

- Produce outstanding content with ease: It's never been easier to come up with snappy, innovative, and high-converting copy for everything from blogs to emails to ad copy – all in a matter of seconds. Pick a scenario, add some details, and presto! Your copy is ready!

- To generate original content for practically any industry, we use the latest in language AI. 

- More than 30 use cases and templates are available for various types of writing projects.

- Write for your customers in their native tongue or in any of the other 25+ languages available to you.

- Express your feelings using 20+ different tones of voice when writing anything.

- Utilizes scientific copywriting algorithms such as AIDA & PAS to provide the highest quality output with the least amount of editing possible.

They have been recognized as one of the leading brands in AI writing space as per above picture.

They have the free version but if you want to get even more serious with your business or blog writing you can buy as little as $9/month plan or Unlimited plan for only $29/m.

Go for it and start creating your amazing content with ease.

7. Edit and proofread your post.

You're not quite finished yet, but you're getting close! Don't overlook the editing process when it comes to blogging. Copyedit and proofread your post with the help of a grammar-conscious coworker. Allow Rytr or copy.io help you write your content with ease.

If you're looking to improve your self-editing abilities, check out these helpful posts for some pointers:

8. Improve your on-page SEO.

After you've finished writing, go back and optimize your post's on-page elements.

Don't get caught up in how many keywords you should include. If there are opportunities to incorporate keywords you're targeting that won't detract from the reader experience, take advantage of them. Go for it if you can make your URL shorter and more keyword-friendly. However, don't cram keywords or aim for arbitrary keyword density — Google is smarter than that!

Here's a quick SEO refresher on what you should check and optimize:

• Description meta

On Google's search results pages, meta descriptions are the descriptions that appear beneath the post's page title. They give searchers a brief summary of the post before they click on it. They should be between 150 and 160 characters long and begin with a verb, such as "Learn," "Read," or "Discover."

While meta descriptions no longer play a role in Google's keyword ranking algorithm, they do provide searchers with a preview of what they'll find by reading the post and can help increase your clickthrough rate from search.

• Page Headers and Titles

The most important on-page SEO element at your disposal is your post title, which is used as your page title by most blogging software. However, if you've followed our formula thus far, you should already have a working title that incorporates keywords or phrases that your target audience is interested in.

Don't overcomplicate your title by cramming keywords into places where they don't belong. That being said, if there are obvious opportunities to add keywords you're targeting to your post title and headers, go for it. Also, keep your headlines short — ideally, less than 65 characters — so they don't get truncated in search engine results.

• Text for Anchors

The word or words that link to another page — either on your website or on another website — are referred to as anchor text. Select which keywords you want to link to other pages on your site with care, as search engines take this into account when ranking your page for specific keywords.

It's also critical to think about which pages you link to. Consider linking to pages that you want to rank for a particular keyword. You might end up getting it to rank on Google's first page of results rather than its second page — and that's no small feat!

• Optimization for Mobile Devices

More than 60% of organic visits are made using a mobile device. As a result, having a responsive website is critical. In addition to ensuring that your website's visitors (including those who visit your blog) have the best possible experience, optimizing for mobile will earn your website some SEO points.

9. Choose a catchy title.

Last but not least, it's time to spruce up your job title. Fortunately, we have a simple formula for creating catchy titles that will pique your reader's interest. Consider the following:

• Begin with your job title.

- keep in mind that it is critical that the title be accurate and clear.

- Then, work on making your title enticing, whether through strong language, alliteration, or another literary device.

- If possible, optimize for SEO by sneaking in some keywords (but only if it's natural!).

- Finally, see if you can cut it down any further. Nobody wants a long, obnoxious title — remember, Google prefers 65 characters or fewer before truncating it on its search engine results pages.

Let's go over everything we've learned so far.

- You've memorized the technical and practical information; now it's time to write your first blog post. 

- We mentioned it briefly in the previous section, that your first blog post should not be a how-to guide. Keep in mind that you have yet to establish authority in the field. Instead, focus on "low-hanging fruit," such as writing about a highly specific topic that serves a small segment of your target audience.

- That seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? More people searching for a term or a topic should translate to more readers for you.

- That, however, is not the case. If you choose a broad and popular topic that has already been covered by major competitors or well-known brands, your post is unlikely to appear on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs).