Who will oppose the importance of having a blog section on a website? Blogs are a great way for businesses to drive traffic to their website. But to gain this traffic it would need to enrich a blog with superb posts.

Many will answer that they already have an active blog but haven’t seen any benefits from it. I have heard several times, that so many people complain about their personal blogs, that I could write a book. Wait, I am actually writing a book about this!

Does it seem to you, like it takes for ages to attract people’s attention to your Blog? You believe that you are doing everything right, but still, you get next to zero followers and low sharing actions. Do you wanna know why?

Because successful blog posts have a certain structure and ingredients. Let’s go through them and shed some light on the mystery!

Why do we blog?

The need to share one’s passion is the ultimate booster for blogging. Next comes the need to create new ways to earn some extra financial income. Having as motivation, firstly to communicate and secondly to earn money, blogging has become a widely spread activity around the globe.

People want to grow awareness, traffic, new clients, and sell their work or services through different types of blogs, such as lifestyle blogs or fashion blogs, business or e-commerce blogs, journals or magazine blogs, and many others.

Blogging is another stream of income for people that carry an entrepreneur DNA. Decades before the term “startupers” emerge, a tribe of digital bees was actively writing and publishing their words in blogs. Back in the days, we called them: weblogs.

In a way, we can say that the journalists and writers, back in the early 1990s, showed us how to use blogs to make our voices heard. Today many bloggers earn their living through this activity. So from the days (1991-1994) when blogging was just a hobby, today it’s a business of billions.

From January 1994 when the very first blog was created up to today’s microblogging platforms, blogging is a major part of the internet’s growth and digital marketing evolution.

We must admit that today’s blogs and bloggers are quite different from the blogs of yesteryears. But no matter how conditions may have changed, blogs & bloggers are the running blood inside The Internet as we all know it.

It is obvious that blogging has changed the last 10 years, but the reasons or the goals that motivate each blogger, to type from 500 to 3000 words every day, have remained almost the same. Communication and self-publishing are the top answers for almost every blogger out there.

First of all, save 2 hours and sit in a quiet corner of the house. Then switch on your computer and start typing the title of your post. If you are an old-fashion writer, like me then start writing in your paper notebook. Before you even write anything, you need to pick a topic for your blog post.

All the Steps in a Glance

• Define your Blog’s Interests & Identity
• Pick a topic for your post
• Do keyword research
• Form a headline = Title
• Start writing your copy
• Use relative keyword phrases
• Pick interesting and SEO-friendly sub-headers
• Extend your copy above to 800 words
• Keep your copy SEO friendly
• Add relative visuals with descriptions
• Add Header Image with the fitting description, caption, alt text
• Add meta description
• Edit your grammar, syntax, and paragraphs.
• Keep sentences short.
• Add internal links
• Add SEO-sensitive tags and categories
• Craft a short social media message to introduce your post
• Add social media sharing options
• Optimize your visuals to be social media shareable

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1) Define Your Blog’s Identity

To make your life easier define from the very beginning: What need does your website/blog cover? For example, mine (ideadeco) is providing information about digital marketing, SEO, SEM, social media marketing, web design, digital ethics, digital technology, coding, digital marketing strategy, and seminars.

Knowing what is your blog’s mission makes it easier to understand what keywords to use in order to get the best results and high-quality traffic. You can even talk about a recipe for a cake in a more digital marketing frame if you have set from the beginning which keywords are the ones with the best impact on your digital assets.

Check. Optimize. Repeat. Check. Optimize. Repeat. Check. Optimize. Repeat. Be an optimization maniac just like me! We want our site and content to improve daily! It is the most professional way to manage your visibility online.

We want the love and attention of all Search Engine Spiders that are constantly crawling texts + links + picture descriptions and deep data. Keyword research can provide our content the indication of “relevant copy” and “authoritative source” to queries. Oh yes!!!

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2) Catchy Headlines

Headlines are the entrance door to your blog!

Choose witty and interesting headlines, with a solid idea of what to expect to read in your content. If someone has made a query at Google search machine: “how to create a blog” and your headline declares “How to Create a Blog in 10 Steps” it’s most likely to pop up as an organic (not paid) result, even at the first 2 Google pages.

But, to keep the visitor and the Google machine satisfied you should apply these four essential rules:

1. Stay focused and relevant to the headline-topic
2. State the facts and useful information
3. Use original and professional photos and videos
4. Apply all SEO best practices

Headlines are fighting for readers’ attention within 2-3 seconds, while they scroll the given results on their screens. So, make it clear and appealing enough, if you want them to click on your post. See these examples:

• We Will Show you in 10 Steps How to Create an Amazing & Sexy Blog
• Learn how to create a super blog in 10 steps
• The Best Way to Create a Blog

Which one would you prefer? Of course, the third one. It’s short, clear, and to the point. Remember that you will have to use similar “keyword phrases” in your copy and for your headings, too!

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3) Keyword Research is your new best friend

Learn how to use Keywords successfully. Attract the love and attention of all Search Engine Spiders and put your website and blog at the top. The right Keyword research can provide your content the pleasure of leading the listings of relevant and authoritative resources. Cheers to that!

Besides that, keyword research will provide you with the best possible headlines for your blog post. As we said before, strong headlines grab attention and generate more visits. Therefore, gradually your posts will rank higher and higher on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

My personal favorite tool is Answer the Public. As they describe it, you can find out what questions and queries your consumers have by getting a free report of what they’re searching for on Google. In other words, it provides many different alternatives to craft the perfect Headline, Questions, Content, and Descriptions. Twitter can be helpful, too. Type your keyword phrase and check the results. Some may have excellent ideas for your topic or even your headlines.

When I searched for “blog,” I found keywords and phrases with lower search volume but would be more specifically targeted to the audience I’m trying to reach. That is extremely important because certain keywords attract certain eyes. Your target audience’s eyes!

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4) Meta Description

If you neglect the meta descriptions then the search machines won’t be able to understand what is the content of a given web page. Also, the visitors need a short description before they click on your link. It works like a preview of each web page. Try to keep it under 155 characters.

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4) Sub-headers

Sub-headers are important to build an on-page SEO-friendly post. They work like intelligent organizers and break the post into sections of interest. The sub-headers are always written with H2 or H3 or H4. Be careful with this: we use H1 only for the title. Sub-headers must have relevant keywords that support the main keyword of each blog post.

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5) Featured Image

The right image can promote a story better than 1000 words. Featured images are inviting visitors to enter the door and read more of your blog post. There is a good reason that featured images are placed at the top of a blog post. It’s the best position to draw attention.

Featured images should reflect the atmosphere of your given story but in a more discreet way. It’s more effective to avoid too wordy visuals or too much noise. Pick images that create a mood and trigger curiosity to read more. Here’s an example of one of our featured images about blogging:

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6) Body 

We write blog posts to create a high-quality text body. Gradually, try to reach 2.100 – 2.500 words per post, if you want to make the search machines notice your blog. It gets easier with time and practice!

Provide valuable, well-written, easy-to-understand content with clear structure, syntax, and grammar. Write as you speak but use your best possible voice. Short sentences are the best choice for newbies in blogging. In general, too-long sentences can harm the readability score of your content.

We must stress the importance of backing up your arguments with strong data & detailed screenshots. Don’t just tell, show your data. Have in mind that in long-form posts, it’s more pleasant to add different types of visuals and elements. Such as:

• multimedia elements
• videos
• slideshows
• images with strong colors
• audio recordings
• social media posts
• infographics
• quizzes

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7) Add a friendly closure

It would be impossible to write a blog post to the infinity. Before you reach the end of your blog post, help your readers & visitors to get ready for the end. Walk them to the exit door with grace and in a good manner. Share your personal opinion or provide more resources to read. Close your blog post with the best terms.

In some cases, while you are writing your conclusion, you may add a call to action. Use the final lines as an invitation to participate in the conversation. Ask your readers to share their points of view on the topic. Or better yet, seek more information through their experience.

To be honest, I am fed up with old school closure practices, where the reader is pushed to download something or subscribe somewhere. I prefer to read good blog posts and learn something new. I give my time and attention, so I want to receive knowledge. Only.

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