Preparing to write a new blog post is something I actually enjoy, but it wasn’t always easy. Before I had an actual plan and system in place for it, writing blog posts used to feel like a struggle. I enjoy writing and never wanted to feel any kind of way about it, so I knew that I needed to create a more effective way to go about preparing so that I could actually be more consistent.
I’m not gonna lie to ya’ll I didn’t have a COMPLETE system that I put into action until AFTER I did the Influencer Business Plan.In the business plan it encourages us to write down our processes/systems so that we can start to scale and essentially be more consistent in our posting and creating. Now that I have a complete plan that I have watched worked effectively this past September, I’m ready to share how I prepare to write a blog post.
Make a List of Blog Post You Want to Write About (Include What People Often Ask You About)
One of my favorite tools to use to for writing blog posts is Evernote. I used to hand write things, but I go through journals quite often and felt limited with editing that way so I started to use Evernote as a way to keep a running list of ideas, captions and basically anything I needed for my blog.
The reason why I keep a running list of blog post topics and ideas is because I never know when writer’s block will occur. I get a lot of ideas and thoughts while working on other things, but don’t always have the filler information that I need at the moment, so whenever an idea comes, I write it down so I can come back to it. When my audience asks similar questions, I write it down and see how I can turn it into a blog post or a caption.
What do people ask you about often? How can you turn that into a blog post? A caption? A video? A newsletter? How can you re purpose something you’ve already written? In order to be better prepared to write your blog posts, you have to set yourself up ahead of time and for me that is keeping a list and taking note of the things that people often ask me along with things that I feel are valuable to my audience.
Start with a Title
I promise this will be a game changer for you. When I first started blogging I used to write a whole blog post and then try to come up with a title. What’s the problem with that you ask? I could never properly title my blog post in a way that was SEO effective, but also in line with what the heck I just wrote. Coming up with a title AFTER you’ve written a post, while isn’t impossible, it’s not effective in my opinion.
Having a title first keeps you on track, keeps your keyword at the forefront AND reminds you of what problem you are solving. If you have been consistently reading my blog you know a lot of my titles consist of How To’s, # of Ways to, # Reasons Why. I use those types of titles because I want people to know before they click what they can expect to get from my post. Not only that we live in a time where people want answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. I’ve found that my blog post traffic has doubled and continues to grow the more I use blog post titles that share what problem I’m solving first.
This also becomes really helpful for SEO* and making sure your blog post gets seen.
*Linked at the bottom
Identify Your Blog Post Keyword (Should be In Your Title)
How will you know your keyword if you don’t have your title first? My keyword for this post is “blog post”. It’s in my title, it’s the one word you are going to intentionally see throughout this post, it’s the word and/or phrase that has guided my language and it is what I will use to make sure my search engine optimization is most effective.
If you write a blog post before you write a title, your main word could be ANYTHING. It might even be nothing at all, because you didn’t effectively use one word to guide your blog post. When you’re done reading this post, go through and see if you can notice how many times I use blog post or rather how many times you notice it. Upon this first read, you probably didn’t notice at all.
Identify Sections/What You’re Sharing
The moment I have my title, which also has my keyword, I start working on my sections. Sections are helpful because of course it breaks the content up, but it also keeps you on track and keeps you from rambling. This isn’t mandatory, you are free to format your blog how you want to, but I do tend to enjoy reading posts that have sections because sometimes a certain section may be all that your audience needs.
Organizing my blog post into sections also makes the rest of the work feel less overwhelming. I can focus on a section at a time and not be consumed by the entire document (this is especially helpful if you are writing a lot). There are times where I can knock a couple of sections out in a batch, and there are other times where a certain section might take longer, but again it feels less overwhelming.
Fill in the Body Under Each Section
After I’ve identified the sections of my blog post, I go back in to the sections and start to add the good stuff. It usually takes me a couple of days to get what I want to say “perfected”. I brain dump the first day, go back and clean it up a few hours later and/or the next day and then refine each section to make sure my keyword is found throughout and that I’m actually conveying what I want to say.
Upload and Format to your Website
Once I have a completed blog post in Evernote, my sections are clear and I feel like I’ve given all I can, I upload it to my website and format it to my normal post settings. During this time I go through and add my keyword, meta description, tags and categories (things for improved SEO*). I then preview it so I can see how it will look on my site, then I go in and add my photos.
*Linked below.
Select and Add Your Photos
I don’t add my photos into the blog post until I’m completely done with it and it’s loaded to my site. My system has that as one of my last things to do because it’s usually a pretty quick task once everything else needed to make the post successful is in place. I typically use stock photos because it takes the pressure and work off of me to create that type of high quality content.
I started a new membership with AFF Creative* and will share how I like it as I continue to use it. So far so good!
*Linked at bottom.
Proofread, Preview and Publish
Now don’t wait until the day your blog post goes live to proofread, you can definitely give it a once over, but proofread as you go along. How does it sound? Does your post have a bit of a flow? When you read it to yourself how does it make you feel? Is it too wordy? Did it say anything at all? I write long posts, but I work on not using too many filler words because my goal is to get you what you need.
Once you’ve read it over, made any last and final changes, it’s time to hit PUBLISH and share your value with the world. Make sure you publish it across all of your channels.
If you want to learn more about SEO and the things it takes to make it successful check out 7 Things You Need to Improve Your SEO for Blog Posts.
The new stock photo company I’m using is *AFF Creative Library
