Let’s dive into the art of writing impactful blog posts! How do you write an article for your website that excites your audiences and drives you a nice amount of traffic simultaneously? This comprehensive guide covers everything from choosing your topic to structuring content effectively to keep readers engaged and informed!
Blogging and me
I am a blogger. I like writing blog post articles because a blog post is usually not too long. It’s just the right length for my limited attention span. I’ve blogged on my personal blog, blogged for Yoast and PostStatus, and now for Progress Planner.
Blogging became prominent when the internet started growing. In the early days of blogging, people wrote very personal stories. I never did that, though; I have my diary for that :-). I used blogging to inform people about my career, all things SEO or WordPress. It can be nice to add a personal touch to a blog post, but that’s all up to the writer, up to you. So, let’s deep-dive into the world of blog post writing, shall we? We’ll start by exploring why you should write blog post articles and continue with a step-by-step guide to writing excellent blog posts.
Why would you blog?
Is blogging still a thing in 2024? Should you be doing it? And why is it important? Writing blog posts or articles is essential because it lets you tell more about yourself, your product, or your services. In a post or an article, you can provide information and context that’ll help tell your marketing story.
Of course, you can also do this in videos. Some audiences might be easier to reach with videos, while others enjoy reading more. The advantage of text is that people can quickly scroll through your article and (only) read the part they like.
The second reason you should blog is because it is a great way to attract audiences to your site. Blog posts could help you rank high in search engines like Google and drive traffic to your website. Next to that, well-written articles can be shared on social media and will attract traffic.
Blogging is still a thing in 2024. But it has evolved since the early days of the internet. Write something unique, offering your readers something they can’t read on 100 other sites. Make sure your article or post is well-written and easy to scroll through. Write something your audience wants to read more of. And get them to come back.
How do you write a fantastic blog post?
Let’s look at a simple step-by-step plan to write a blog post that is nice to read and that’ll make your audience want to engage with and come back to your site
1. Choose a topic
What do you want to write about? You’ll need some inspiration and ideas on what your articles will be about. Check out our article about how to come up with ideas for blog posts if you want inspiration to figure out the topic of your first article.
Make sure to do some audience research. You’re writing blog posts because you want your audience to read them, so make sure you’re writing about things your audience will enjoy reading. If possible, could you research and ask your current audience what topic they would enjoy reading about? You could do a pop-up survey on your website or send a survey via a newsletter, for instance. If you don’t have many visitors yet, talking to people who could fit your audience would be a great way to get a better feel for the topics you must address in your blog posts.
Next to some audience research, I would recommend doing keyword research as well. Blog posts are a great way to attract organic traffic to your website. Make sure to write about topics people are actually searching for. Check out Google Trends to see what words people are using while searching. Google the terms and topics you want to write about in order to check out the competition. Make sure to write something that stands out from all of the other search results.
2. Define the message
What do you want your readers to know or to do after reading your blog post? Do you want to convince them to buy your product or subscribe to your newsletter? Do you want them to take action? Or do you want them to know more about a certain topic and keep on reading? And what is it that you want them to know?
Every blog post has some kind of a message. This message is the purpose of that piece of writing – what do you want to say? A message can be very small. An article on your website could, for instance, inform people about the features of your product or explain the shipping process.
I always make sure to make the message of a blog post clear in the introduction and conclusion of an article. If you make your message explicit, it will help your readers better understand the purpose of your article. A clear message will also help with the writing process, as it will add clarity and focus to what your text is about.
3. Structure your text
Formulating a clear message will help you to find the correct structure for your text. Imagine you are writing an article about why writers and developers are so prone to procrastination. In your blog post, you want to give information and enhance the understanding of why people – all people – procrastinate to an extent and why writers and developers are particularly prone to procrastination. You’ll probably have some ideas about what you want to discuss in your article. The first step in setting up a structure for your article is to list all the causes you will discuss. A list could, for instance, look like this:
- wrong assumptions about future motivation
- time management issues
- signs of mental illness
- fear
- perfectionism
- present bias
While crafting a list of topics to address in a blog post, I usually do some research as well. I browse through the internet and through (scientific) articles to see whether or not I missed something that I want to embed in my article. I end up with a list of topics I want to address.
When you finish your list, you should look at the topics and put them in the order you want to address them. What makes the most sense? Can you bundle topics together in a logical way?
In most cases, you can decide to order thematically. If you want to discuss various aspects or angles of a specific topic, you should present every element in a new paragraph. Check out my article about why writers and developers procrastinate to see the end result of my article. Sometimes, it makes sense to order topics chronologically. If you have to explain complicated material, you start with the easy stuff and explain complex topics later in your text.
Before you start writing, you should have a clear idea of what you will write about.
4. Write and edit
Once the structure of your text is clear and you know what topics you are going to discuss in the article, the actual writing process will start! A lot of people have trouble coming up with that first sentence. Don’t worry about getting it all right immediately. Start writing the paragraphs about the topics you’re most excited about. You don’t have to start with the introduction of your article. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling in your first draft. Get yourself in the flow of writing and keep going.
While writing, try to stick to structure you have so properly established in your preparation phase. Write the paragraphs you have planned.
After your first draft, you’ll go back to your text and correct it. I often edit a paragraph after I write it. I’ll correct spelling and grammar and check whether the sentences follow each other in a logical order. After I’m done writing all the paragraphs, I usually make some more edits. I check whether the paragraphs follow each other in a logical way and whether the text actually makes sense. My editing process takes much longer than the actual writing. After I’m done writing, I usually ask a colleague to read and edit some more.
5. Create an awesome introduction
Your introduction should be really captivating. After all, most people start reading at the beginning of the article :-). Spend a little extra time drafting a good introduction; it’ll really pay off.
Write something that makes people want to read more. Introduce your topic, set expectations for what this article will be about and get people excited about it. They should feel curious enough to keep on reading!
Using statistics and data, as well as quotes, stories and anecdotes, will help make your introduction fun and unique. Research results will make your story convincing, while an example or some storytelling could help to make your introduction more entertaining.
Tip: Try to come back to your example, story or research result at the end of your blog post. That’ll tie your blog post up nicely!
6. Optimize for the search engines
If you write blog post articles, you should optimize them for the search engines. Blog posts are a great way to generate traffic to your website and get discovered by new audiences. Make sure to benefit from that. Although heavily biased, I highly recommend Yoast SEO to optimize your blog posts. Yoast SEO will help you write readable and well-written text while helping you get them suitable for Google.
Check out their checklist on optimizing a blog post for the search engines to optimize your post to the fullest.
Blogging: an ongoing process
After you’re done writing your blog post, you can hit publish. And I wish I could tell you that you’d never have to worry about that post again. But I will not lie to you. Most articles will need an update every now and then. You want the information to be correct and not outdated. And you want to add the latest information and insights to your article, ensuring your story is up-to-date and complete. Updating your articles should also be part of your SEO strategy. Google loves well-maintained blogs!
Not sure how often you should update your blog posts after you’ve released them? Check out our article about updating your website.