Writing a blog post is not the same as writing a good one. So how do you write a good blog post? The answer lies in the details. The keyword here is quality. Quality is the standard of a text as measured against other similar texts, a degree of excellence.
This means you can excel above the competition if you take the time to write a blog post to provide your audience with an easy-to-read text full of information and valuable facts. This high standard of text is comprised of various elements, which is why I will show you what makes a good blog post next:
1. A good introduction
Most articles need a good introduction. Why is this so? First, you must catch the attention of your readers. You can have a great blog post full of exciting information, but if no one reads it, it doesn’t fulfill its purpose.
An introduction should tease what comes next or provide a framework to understand why you are writing the following paragraphs. It is a way to get acquainted with the reader. Maybe you’ll want to share some statistics to create curiosity.
2. Understand your audience
Naturally, you want to reach as many people as possible. But, in practice, that’s not pragmatic. If you take the time to think about your audience, they will be thankful. Maybe they are men or women of a certain age or with a specific condition. Maybe your target market has a standard set of beliefs.
Think about a time when you felt cared for and that your needs were being met. That’s the feeling you want to generate.
3. Article development
Once you’ve written a good introduction and you understand your audience, you can choose what type of article you will write. Will it be a how-to? Perhaps a questions and answers blog post. Maybe a review, news, or opinion post.
Since this part provides the most information, you will do well by sharing statistics and hard data on your subject matter. Try to give a complete overview if your time and budget allow it. Going the extra mile pays handsomely when you write for the web.
4. Add your point of view
Adding your opinion and expertise about a subject increases a blog post’s quality. You can briefly add your personal experiences about a topic. Stories are easily remembered by people at large. This means you are not only showcasing your content, but you are also making it easy for your audience to remember what you wrote.
An easy-to-remember blog post is a good blog post. Sharing what you know differentiates your content creation from other less valuable options.
5. Bullet Points
Once you’re writing your article, you want to make it readable to your audience. One way to do this is by using bullet points instead of comma-separated items. Bullet points will:
- Improve the document’s readability
- Makes it easy to scan the text
- Highlight important data
As you can see, it’s not only important to write, but also to adequate your text to the web. The internet has created new requirements when dealing with information. Making a text accessible to being scanned will make life easy for your audience.
6. Subheadings
How much do you plan for your articles? Having adequate subheadings ready before you begin to write is the professional way to do it. It also makes it easy to write when you have a logical order before you.
It’s a similar chore to write a 500-word article than a 1,000 one. You’ll just find more subheadings. Maybe there is more text below each subheading. Whatever the case, you need a specific order to arrange your ideas logically.
7. Short paragraphs
A block of text is intimidating. You must be attentive to each word you read to understand the paragraph. You can make it seem a little less intimidating if you use short paragraphs.
Just like bullet points are helpful and make a text more readable, the same principle applies to short paragraphs. Besides being an SEO feature (which we will explore in the following subsection), it makes it easier for humans to digest your text.
8. SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) begins with understanding your audience. That’s why you’ll use the right keywords when you write your blog posts. Although when it comes to practice, there are many technical details, you should know that algorithms try to reward a good customer experience. This means that SEO will take care of itself when you write for your audience and provide value.
There are a few guidelines, such as using your keywords on your text once or more than once -when appropriate- using short paragraphs, using related keywords, linking to related websites, and other essential information you can use to your advantage.
9. Great conclusion
By now, you’ve written your blog post. Some bloggers decide to end the text when they run out of subheadings. I recommend writing a conclusion when you can for one reason: Your audience will remember what you show at the beginning and end. This means you have a golden opportunity to make your point across.
You can recap what you’ve written so far or add some final insights. You can include some of the most memorable information here. Saying goodbye can create closure in your reader, which is satisfying and comforting.
10. Call to action
You need to add a call to action. From a marketing point of view, this is one of the most essential elements in your blog post. This way, it will be good for your reader and good for you as well.
You can ask your audience to visit a YouTube channel, sign up for an email list, click on a link – affiliate or not – visit a social media profile, donate to a cause, etc.
Conclusion
Just remember, these are just guidelines. You can break a rule occasionally if your blog post demands it. But, by having a set of guidelines you stick to, you are ensuring consistent quality for your readers.
How do you write a good blog post? You can try adding one of these guideline elements each time you write a blog post, this way, you will achieve the highest quality in a relatively short amount of time. A motivation to improve is what will set you apart from other bloggers. Following these elements, you will write good blog posts again and again.
