How to post on blog

 How to Write an Awesome

Blog Post in 5 Steps

Dan Shewan

Last updated: February 7,2021

Writing a blog post is a little like driving; you can study the

highway code (or read articles telling you how to write a blog post)

for months, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing like

getting behind the wheel and hitting the open road. Or something.

How to write a blog post student driving

“Wait for it… wait for it… BASS DROP.”

Now that I’m done thoroughly mangling that vague metaphor,

let’s get down to business. You know you need to start blogging

to grow your business , but you don’t know how. In this post,

I’ll show you how to write a great blog post in five simple steps

that people will actually want to read. Ready? Let’s get started.

How to Write a Blog Post in Five Easy Steps

[Summary]:

1. Step 1: Plan your blog post by choosing a topic, creating an

outline, conducting research, and checking facts.

2. Step 2: Craft a headline that is both informative and will capture

readers’ attentions.

3. Step 3: Write your post, either writing a draft in a single session or

gradually word on parts of it.

4. Step 4: Use images to enhance your post, improve its flow, add

humor, and explain complex topics.

5. Step 5: Edit your blog post . Make sure to avoid repetition, read

your post aloud to check its flow, have someone else read it and

provide feedback, keep sentences and paragraphs short, don’t be a

perfectionist, don’t be afraid to cut out text or adapt your writing

last minute.

Now let's review each step in more detail.

How to Write a Blog Post, Step 1:

Planning

First, a disclaimer – the entire process of writing a blog post often

takes more than a couple of hours, even if you can type eighty

words per minute and your writing skills are sharp. From the seed

of the idea to finally hitting “Publish,” you might spend several

days or maybe even a week “writing” a blog post, but it’s

important to spend those vital hours planning your post and even

thinking about your post (yes, thinking counts as working if

you’re a blogger) before you actually write it.

How to write a blog post planning stage

Does your blog post have enough circles and crosses?

Long before you sit down to put digital pen to paper, you need to

make sure you have everything you need to sit down and write.

Many new bloggers overlook the planning process, and while you

might be able to get away with skipping the planning stage, doing

your homework will actually save you time further down the road

and help you develop good blogging habits.

[ Learn how to write better ad copy with our free

guide: 10 Tricks to Get the Click ]

Choose a Topic That Interests YOU

There’s an old maxim that states, “No fun for the writer, no fun

for the reader.” No matter what industry you’re working in, as a

blogger, you should live and die by this statement.

Before you do any of the following steps, be sure to pick a topic

that actually interests you. Nothing – and I mean NOTHING – will

kill a blog post more effectively than a lack of enthusiasm from the

writer. You can tell when a writer is bored by their subject, and

it’s so cringe-worthy it’s a little embarrassing.

Don't go there.

I can hear your objections already. “But Dan, I have to blog for a

cardboard box manufacturing company.” I feel your pain, I really

do. During the course of my career, I’ve written content for

dozens of clients in some less-than-thrilling industries (such as

financial regulatory compliance and corporate housing), but the

hallmark of a professional blogger is the ability to write well about

any topic, no matter how dry it may be. Blogging is a lot easier,

however, if you can muster at least a little enthusiasm for the topic

at hand.

You also need to be able to accept that not every post is going to get

your motor running. Some posts will feel like a chore, but if you

have editorial control over what you write about, then choose

topics you’d want to read – even if they relate to niche industries.

The more excited you can be about your topic, the more excited

your readers will be when they’re reading it.

If you're really desperate for inspiration, check out our list of eight

blog topic generators to get you going.

Write an Outline For Your Post

Great blog posts don’t just happen. Even the best bloggers need a

rough idea to keep them on-track. This is where outlines come in.

An outline doesn’t need to be lengthy, or even detailed – it’s just

a rough guide to make sure you don’t ramble on and on about

something tangential to your topic.

For example, this is the outline for this post that I sent to my editor

before getting to work:

Introduction

[Quick summary explaining what the blog post will cover]

Section 1 – Planning a Blog Post

- Things bloggers should do before putting pen to paper –

outlining, research etc.

Section 2 – Writing a Blog Post

- Tips on how to focus on writing, productivity tips for bloggers

Section 3 – Rewriting/Editing a Blog Post

- Self-editing techniques, things to watch out for, common blogging

mistakes

Section 4 – Optimizing a Blog Post

- How to optimize a blog post for on-page SEO, social shares/

engagement, etc.

Section 5 – Conclusion

- Wrap-up

The purpose of this outline is to make sure I know what I plan to

cover, in what order the various sections will appear, and some

bare-bones details of what each section will include.

Outlines keep you honest. They stop you from indulging in poorly

thought-out metaphors about driving and keep you focused on the

overall structure of your post. Sometimes I’ll write a more

thorough outline (and sometimes I won’t bother with one at all),

but most of the time, something like the outline above is perfectly

acceptable.

Whether you write your outline in your word processor, on a piece

of paper, or even scribbled on a bar napkin, do whatever works for

you to keep you focused.

Do Your Research

One of the biggest secrets professional bloggers (myself included)

don’t want you to know is that we don’t actually know

everything. Truth be told, sometimes we don’t know anything

about a topic before we sit down to write about it.

Pro tip: you don't actually need a passport to write a travel

marketing post.

This doesn’t mean that all bloggers are insincere fakers. On the

contrary, many bloggers’ natural curiosity is what makes them

great at what they do. If you blog for a living, you have to be

comfortable jumping from one topic to the next, even if you don’t

know anything about it. What allows us to do this, and to write

authoritatively about subject areas that are new to us, is knowing

how to properly research a blog post.

It almost goes without saying, but relying solely on Wikipedia as a

primary source is almost always a bad idea. Yes, Wikipedia does

have thousands of excellently researched articles, but it’s not

infallible, and erroneous facts do make their way into articles

without site editors noticing. Plus, every verifiable fact on the site is

cited from links elsewhere on the web, so why cite the middleman?