Easiest Checklist For Writing Your First Blog Post Smoothly!
Writing your first blog post doesn't have to be so difficult but it sometimes is, so why?
The thing is staring at the screen with a blank word document is kinda annoying… but it is something you need to do in order to move forward so here is a simple checklist to get you first post right.
You need to write for a while to templatize your blog post your writing style etc but it will only come with practice so to make things easier for you here is a quick checklist to help you on the go!
1) Craft Your Title Accurate And Genuine Rather Than Fancy:
Your blog post title would be your first and maybe only chance to hook your readers in so try to make it clear instead of clever.
According to HubSpot “Accuracy is critical when trying to finesse a title because it sets clear expectations for your readers” and “The ideal blog post title length is 60 characters”
Creating a great title is not enough you also need to be able to relate the headline with your content of the article or people won't come the second time.
When you would be starting to write your post you should brainstorm at least 4–5 headlines you can think of and then once you have done writing your draft you can come back and select the one that suits them best!
Getting feedback on your headlines is also a great thing, simply e-mail 4–5 headlines you can come up with to your friends or colleagues and then ask them “Which one of these headlines would you click on if you ran into them in your day to day life?” and then later than use it.
2) Just Start Writing:
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work” -Stephen King
Your first words and sentences don't have to be the ones you will end up publishing but they have to be written to get you inflow.
Actually when you will start to write your head will produce ideas relevant to your post so that later you can go back and edit your draft or maybe add something based on your researches.
Remember the process of writing is not linear you can always improvise and come back if you need to, so just write.
Just put your ideas and things in your head around that headline you can think of later you can decide which parts to edit add or remove after your review, we will talk more about that later.
Tip: Write as you talk i.e. make your written words more conversational not boring essays!
I sometimes record myself and then later turn that transcript into the article and in fact, a lot of people including interviewers do that too, give it a go!
Also try to write the blog post in the web editor online instead of a word document in your pc so that you don't have to get to the hassle of arranging the words, adding images again.
3) Find Credible Sources:
“People want an authority to tell them how to value things, but they choose this authority not based on facts or results.” -Michael Burry
Everyone has access to information just a few clicks or touches away so it is important to be responsible and share genuine facts and statistics while conveying a message.
A great way to ensure your blog post hit your mark is to be genuine and reliable, people don't want to come back to read articles based on hoax or rumors.
All the publications you read from have a solid foundation of credible sources and well research topic-driven articles.
Finding real resources won't be that hard if you are writing about the topic you have been following on major blogs of your niche.
Being a trustworthy resource that people can rely on would be also of great benefit to your personal brand aka reputation!
But when you are including a stat or report from other sites make sure to credit their authors or blogs.
4) Find Some Images To Add:
Would you read a 10 min blog post with absolutely no visuals on it….a lot of people including me won't!
The thing is a long-form of text written as essays make your readers lose their interests but adding visual contents where needed can help you to create chunks or breaks between texts!
That helps you to maintain interest in your blog post longer and make it more presentable and a lot easy for your users to consume.
According to HubSpot “ Content with relevant images receives 94% more views than content without relevant images.”
Everybody loves visual content so why not include them in blog posts.
Great writers suggest that you should include 3–4 images in your blog post to make it more visually attractive, credible, and easy for your readers to consume.
You can add images from royalty stock free sites like:
Pixabay, Unsplash, freepick, negativespace, etc or you can create your own through using tools like Canva, Kapwing, etc.
Don't get hung up on details and tactics because nobody will read your blog post only because it would have great pics so a good combination of content is needed!
5) Review the entire blog post after 30 minutes:
This is important to get yourself into your reader's shoes to scroll your blog post and find out the missing pieces or setting a proper tone in your writing.
The time break is needed to zone out of being a writer and perceive the draft as a reader.
It is time to re-edit things you have written in your draft, add the images or shift your sentences, adjust the sentence tone, etc
Now go through top to bottom read your blog post and ask yourself:
- Is this something my readers would be finding useful?
- Did I credit the creators of the photos I used?
- Is the conclusion really conclude what I have been trying to say?
- Did I make the post a little conversational?
Set your grammar, sentence tone, paragraph space, and other things correctly and then read it again.
It would be a great idea to send the unpublished drafts to your friends etc for getting feedback and making some changes.
6) Publish It!
Now you have done all the work to make things right in your post so now is the time to publish it.
Add relevant tags if you can post it on your social media accounts, tweet it out, ask for feedback, and see how things go!
Remember your first blog post might be far from perfect but you will learn along the way so don’t overthink it!
Learn along the way.
So to summarize:
- Craft Your Title Accurate And Genuine Rather Than Fancy
- Just Start Writing
- Find Credible Resources
- Find Some Images to Add
- Review the entire post after 30 minutes
- Publish It
Getting Your First Draft Out Shouldn't Be A Nightmare:
A lot of people don't write because they think they are not a perfect fit for writing because they didn't attend a writing course or universities but writing a blog post is not about how great you can write it is how great your readers understand and relate with the point you are trying to make. The best bloggers or people who write articles are not the best writers they are the ones who try to talk. Also, keep in mind the more you write the more you will understand how to make your posts better, interesting and fun so don't wait for the perfect timing to write.
Thank you for reading!
Let me know what you think.
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