You can’t just write a blog post, publish it, and then hope for the best. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that bloggers do so they can create a great blog post and generate traffic to their blog. So, to carry on with my Blogging 101 series, I thought it would be helpful to share what to do before and after writing a blog post! These steps will help your blog posts get the traffic you deserve!
What to do before publishing a blog post
Outline
When writing a blog post, having an outline is extremely helpful. Write down all your main headings and then a few important points you would like to write about.
Of course, every outline will look different for every blog post. Here is an example of a common outline I would use:
Title – Introduction – Headline – Content – Headline – Content – Continued… – Closing.
write
Now that you have your outline, writing will be much easier. You will be able to get your points across quickly and you will have a well-structured and easy-to-read blog post.
Reexamine structure
Once you have finished writing, go over your post a few times to reexamine the structure. Some things that you could fix:
- shorten long paragraphs by splitting them into two or more paragraphs
- add bullets
- remove unecessary words
- fix long sentences
- make sure content is under the right heading
Proofread
Check to see if there are any spelling or grammar errors. I am not a perfect writer and I tend to write how I speak, so I was extremely happy when I found out about Grammarly. Grammarly is an extremely helpful online tool that can help with spelling and grammar. Even if you are a good writer, it is still helpful to have your work rechecked.
Check SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Having a good SEO allows for your blog posts to have a better chance of being found. If you haven’t installed the Yoast SEO WordPress plug-in, go do it now! I use it every single time I write a blog post. It helps to remind you of important things to do for your blog post such as:
-Adding internal and external links
-Adding keywords to the alt text section for all images
-Headings
-Making sure title, focus keyphrase, and meta description are all a good length
-etc.
Seeing that green light is an exciting moment and something that you should strive for when writing your blog post!
what to do after publishing a blog post
Share on socials
Sharing on Instagram, Twitter, and/or Facebook is a great way to get people to head on over to your blog!
Creat a pin on pinterest
Pinterest is like free marketing for bloggers. In my opinion, Pinterest is the best tool that you can use and is the best way to get traffic to your blog! Make a business Pinterest account so you can create pins and track your analytics. When you create the pin, make sure to add important keywords to the title and the section where you “Tell everyone what your pin is about”.
Email to your subscribers
If you publish often, you may not want to send out an email every time. Instead, I like to send out a weekly newsletter informing my subscribers of any new blog posts!
That is everything that I do before and after writing a blog post! I hope you found this helpful and learned something! If you would like to check out more from my Blogging 101 series, check out How To Start A Blog For Beginners!
Pin me!!