How to write a blog post [Everything you need to know practically]

AI generated image from Canva

If you want to learn how to write a blog post, it’s easy. Just find the idea, learn about it, and write about it. Boom, publish it.

But, if you want to learn how to write a marketing piece that sells online, and helps your clients close deals and sell their products or services, it takes some effort, it takes some time to draft, and surely it does take some patience.

Learn how to write the perfect blog post for you and your clients.

Find a keyword that you can go with

The problem is, you don’t know what topic you’re going to discuss.

You want your blog post to be unique, but that doesn’t mean it should cover a topic that nobody is searching for.

It’s called topic research, which you can gather inspiration from anywhere.

Find the topic, run it through keyword research tools, and see how many keywords you’ve found with high-ranking potential.

Don’t spend more than half an hour on this because it’s very tempting to collect new keywords and save them on a Google Sheet, becoming a never-ending story.

Instead, just pick a topic, choose a keyword (high volume: low difficulty), do your research, and write.

You can always outperform any kind of website with “Great content.”

So don’t bother about your competitors who wrote on the topic or somebody has written a good blog.

If you know that you can provide value, don’t even stay a while back.

So, pick a topic and google it. Find the relevant keywords.

I wanted to write about “personal development” because I like this topic very much, and I also have got some knowledge inside of this topic.

So I am sure that I will bring a better copy.

In fact, the second I picked the topic, I had a vision of some key topics to discover and talk about. But I am not going to go with that, out of my gut.

One thing you have to understand when writing online content for clients or businesses: you’re not aiming to make the post go viral.

Your focused audience group is relatively low. You have to convey the message to the group of audience you’ve got for the keyword in your niche who are seeking out your client’s products or services.

The topic you might think could perform well may go under the radar of the target audience.

Make sure to check the volume first — don’t overlook the difficulty. Also, there are other things you need to consider: the SERP results and their ranking positions, backlinks for the keywords to rank, and so on.

However, I won’t cover all of them in this post.

In a single blog post, you can come across as an expert, sharing your opinion, highlighting what others have already said with thorough research behind it, or simply sharing trending stats on the topic.

However, this isn’t the only aspect to consider when writing your post. The way you choose to convey your point of view can take various forms.

For this particular topic, I’m not an expert myself.

Therefore, I’m seeking an expert who has written on the topic or introduced a new concept in productivity, which I’m eager to present to my audience with clear research supported by an expert’s opinion.

But don’t worry, it won’t always go smoothly. Just write with what you have.

Instead of just wandering around the Google space, I would conduct expert research because there are many people in the productivity and personality development space sharing deeply researched information.

So, I’m not just going to pick a topic simply because it has a high volume according to the keyword research tool.

Now, I have the broad keyword “personal development.”

In my research, I found topics within this broad niche keyword.

1. Cognitive bias — talking about the psychology
2. Nomadic lifestyle — sharing a different type of personality and lifestyle
3. Self discovery — understand the mindfulness — goal settings
4. Building relationship — how to communicate with people as an introvert

All fall under this big umbrella called “personal development.” Essentially, these terms are bound to intersect with your overarching topic in one way or another, serving as a pillar page.

I’ll choose one from the options above. I’m leaning towards cognitive bias, as it’s not easily discovered in a large volume.

In this case, if you’re selecting your main keyword, run it through a keyword research tool and check the volume.

If it’s high, specify your main keyword into a long-tail keyword.

Like this:

Cognitive bias — a very challenging keyword to rank

Cognitive bias + “use case” — “cognitive bias in personal development”

I won’t rely solely on cognitive bias here. With countless biases out there, I won’t include them all in the single blog post.

Instead, I’ve chosen one: the “Blind spot effect”.

Here is a thing…

It can become a huge issue. If I delve into it deeply, it could easily exceed 3000 words. But I’m not going to do that for a response post — in this case, I’m simply addressing how bias blinds you from personal development. I aim to keep it between 700 and 900 words.

I’ve identified about 3–4 supporting sub-keywords (and related keywords) and have conducted thorough research using keyword research tools.

1. “Cognitive biases in self-improvement”
2. “Personal growth blind spots”
3. The bias + [personal development]

I can utilize any type of developmental activity in that box.

Though the keywords are challenging, they won’t dominate the entire blog post.

The next step is to run it through the SERP and see what Google has already found for this main keyword. Google understands what kind of results to bring up for specific keywords.

You don’t have to tinker with it.

Run it through, and see if most of the posts are detailed 101’s, list posts, or WH posts. I conducted a SERP analysis.

I found some of them are listed based on “how to solve — solution given” posts.

It’s great to write something like “4 ways to improve personal growth” or “How to find blind spots in your personal development

Remember, you’re gonna switch up that headline at least 10 times. So ditch the perfection and keep it flexible.

“4 ways to find the blind spots in your personal growth” — I haven’t run it through Co-Schedule yet, knowing it’s just temporary.

Remember, your headline shapes how much room you have for additional ideas.

If you decide too soon it’s the final one, you’ll limit yourself from exploring the topic’s context fully.

Sure, I’m not taking it for granted; I’ll research more later on.

I know the topic will expand, and so will the headline. And always be ready to change it, even if you’re attached to it.

Don’t rush to create all the sub-topics too early, unless you have a structured content brief.

In-house content writers and freelance writers are often provided with detailed content briefs that they strictly adhere to. I don’t think it’s a wrong practice when it’s executed by an expert strategist or subject matter expert writer. They understand the concept, know the audience, and usually get it right.

However, if you’re just starting out as a freelance writer or individual blogger, there’s no need to quickly draft the outline. Doing so will only give you the satisfaction of moving forward somehow.

You can maintain a template or structure for your outline, but not the exact words those sections will contain. That’s the mistake your competitors are making, and you’re going to overcome it.

Take, for example, the outline I initially drafted for the title “4 ways to find the blind spots in your personal growth.

“Introduction: I’ll start by explaining what a personal growth journey looks like and how the blind spot effect plays a major role. I’ll aim to connect directly with the individual’s goals rather than lumping them in with the broader personal development crowd.

Way 1: I’ll delve into the importance of self-reflection and journaling, offering practical tips on how to identify personal feelings and behavioral changes.

Way 2: Next, I’ll explore how feedback and external thoughts can serve as valuable tools for uncovering blind spots in personal growth.

Way 3: Then, I’ll guide them to step out of their comfort zone. I won’t suggest they step onto the tracks when the train’s coming, but rather where they find certain situations challenging or uncomfortable.

Way 4: I’ll suggest mindfulness practices as a powerful means to reflect on their goals, including body scanning, refreshing the mind, and managing stress. I’ll provide practical explanations for each.

Take away: Finally, I’ll recap the key points discussed. If this is for one of my clients, I’ll integrate their product or service as a pathway for enhancing their personal growth.”

The four steps will be explained in detail, but I haven’t settled on the actual subtitles yet. Consider this a rough draft of what’s to come.

Do you see why I’m being so particular about this?

Content writers often receive an email with a topic, then they turn to search engines to see what types of blog posts competitors or already ranking blogs have.

This information is noted down, and making slight adjustments to the exact title and sub-topics has become the trending approach that freelance writers take with their outlining.

Start by actually drafting your content.

If you think I’ve missed research, no, I haven’t.

Actually, I do research when writing, periodically. It might give you new ideas every time you open a new tab on Chrome. So, it’s also hard.

So, first, gain some understanding of the topic you’re going to write about.

• You can listen to a video,
• listen to a podcast, or
• just read a relevant book if you’re going to write many blog posts on very specific topics.

This won’t give you the exact title you’re going to write on but will clarify the topic for you.

It’s like knowing the industry. If you doubt why it’s needed, look around, a lot of people are willing to hire subject matter experts.

You don’t need to own a degree to earn that title. But study it and just make yourself comfortable around that topic.

Once I get familiarized with the topic, I’ll start writing.

I’ve got the outline, so it’ll stop me from going off track.

One thing that I have to say: switch off your perfectionist for a while.

Give yourself 3–4 hours of time with your laptop. Start writing whatever you think is right. The first thing in writing is to break the block.

Maybe you prefer to start writing from the intro, or from the middle, or at the bottom of the call to action. Write it and move on to the next one.

Just write what you have in mind after the research.

This is a small piece of advice that I’ve learned online. I don’t even know if it’ll be effective for you or not. But just try it…

Don’t write on the Google Doc.

Like, if you’re going to publish a post on Medium, write it in Medium. If you’re writing for Quora, write it in Quora. If you’re writing for a LinkedIn post, write it in LinkedIn.

This trick is working really well for me.

Once your first draft is over, let’s have a deep look through concepts. Only the concepts, not the words, or punctuation, anything.

Find if you’ve missed or jumped off from the actual title of the blog post, did you nail the message.

Editing is the next phase…

Don’t stress too much about editing; it might throw you off track sometimes.

You’ve just flown a plane to the location above the landing pad

Now, it’s time to land it safely.

Chances are, you might have made thousands of mistakes in your writing so far, and you’re not going to fix all of them at once.

Remember, you’re not writing a landing page, a sales letter, or even a novel or book, which demands perfection. It’s a blog post. The reader’s concern is to get hooked into the point and get value delivered.

Just read it aloud.

Find the gaps where you see improvements needed, where it’s lacking.

It’s a bit awkward to read your own work aloud; it took some time to catch up with it.

Major mistakes can be spotted in the very first read.

1. Sweep away major grammar mistakes.
2. Give your readers some whitespace to process the information.
3. Adopt a 1–3–1 sentence structure, as suggested by Nicolas Cole.
4. Replace adjectives with alternative active verbs.
5. Identify and eliminate redundancy.

If you have some time, please take a look at the top 20 editing features from pro writers. They’ve even got a lead magnet available for free. Download them and understand what makes or breaks your blog post’s effectiveness.

Don’t download stock footage unless it effectively conveys your message

Let your images do the talking.

You have plenty of options: download stock footage, create infographics, or use AI-generated images.

Avoid using images just because they’re colourful and eye-catching. If you do, set them aside.

Ensure that the images you use support the blog post.

For example, if your blog post is titled “5 Major Copywriting Mistakes to Avoid,” consider displaying a board with the five mistakes written in short words.

This technique is called “Hooking.”

When someone searches for copywriting mistakes to avoid, your post may not rank high in search results, but the images section might give it a chance. If the reader sees relevant images, they’re more likely to click and read your post.

Don’t give your designer free rein to create a cool image unrelated to the topic. Provide clear guidance on the message the image should convey.

Publish it ASAP. Don’t wait for any approval.

What this generation of writers uniquely possesses is “the quick response rate.”

So, make the most of it. With thousands of people out there able to like, dislike, share, and comment on your post, you have ample resources to guide you on what to alter and what to stick with.

Rather than endlessly scrutinising the words, hit the publish button.

Let the people decide its quality.

Final thoughts

I think by now you’ve figured out that writing a blog post is just like building a dream house — a step-by-step process.

Land — Materials — Labor — Money — House

Keyword — Heading — Outline — 1st draft — Editing — Publish

It’s a common understanding, especially when you’re writing for the internet. Whether you’re a blogger or an SEO content writer who works for clients, the process remains largely the same.

Just focus on creating excellent content. That’s the key to success!