Writing your first blog post can seem like such a daunting task, but it is all about jumping in with both feet! You can master the blogging world from day one when you follow a simple process for writing. No matter what your chosen niche may be, it’s time to start getting the blog going and we are here to help.
Writing Your First Blog Post
Create an outline. One of the best ways to begin working on any blog post is to create an outline of what you want it to cover. You can break down the initial idea by topics it is related to, or steps in a process. This works for nearly any blog post from creating recipes to tutorials or even a more personal post or rant about something in current affairs. As you see in most of our posts, they are laid out in an easy to read format that is punctuated by bolded phrases or bullet points. This helps break up the page, and makes it easier for readers to scroll and pick up on the general idea of the post right away.
- Start with an introduction paragraph.
- Body of the post should be broken down by bolded sections, topical paragraphs or bullet points.
- Wrap things up in a closing paragraph that brings the idea or topic together.
Fine tune your subject. Once you decide on a general topic, you will want to fine tune the subject using your outline. Add or subtract items that are relavent to the topic, and make sure that the flow of your blog post makes sense. If you are writing about how to sew a blanket using fleece, you won’t need to add in information on quliting or crocheting. You can however, make notes about those topics for future posts that would link back to the original post. While longer posts are welcomed by many, you will find that some things need to be broken down into multiple blog posts for the best experience for your readers.
Research keywords. This topic will be covered more in future posts about SEO keyword skills, but you will want to utilize keywords that are the focus of your topic and make sure that they are reflected well within your blog post. Simply doing a cursory search using Google Adwords or a Google search to see if the topic is being searched can help you focus the wording for better traffic to your site. I prefer to write my blog post first, then do research and weave the chosen keyword into my topic. This creates a more natural feel to the blog post.
Create great images. One huge factor in blogging these days is the use of social media. Social media requires great visual products to grab the attention of your readers. For each social media medium, there are different sizes of images that are more commonly used. You’ll find that you will likely create at least 1-2 for inside your blog post, but more is fine as well depending on the topic. You may even show only 1-2 in the blog post, but have more available for social media shares. Below are suggestd image sizes.
- Pinterest Image: 700 x 100
- Facebook Image: 700 x 435
- Instagram Image: 1000 x 1000
Decide on a call to action. When writing a blog post, you want to engage your readers. This is called a, “call to action”. Utilize this to draw your readers attention to signing up for your email newsletter, following you on social media, sharing the content to their social media channels, or even simply leaving a comment in answer to a question. The close of each blog post should have a clear call to action.
Leave room for monetization. While a beginning blogger may not be a part of ad networks or affiliate programs yet, you still want to make it easy to come back an monetize your post later. I encourage you to casually include thoughts or suggestions on products, books, or other tools that could be linked out via an affiliate program later.
Publish and share. Once you have your blog post written, images created, and the post edited to publish, it’s time to go live. Once you post that first blog post, you will want to share it to social media, your friends and family, and other common forums that support leaving links to blog post to begin creating traffic back to your site.
Getting involved in a blogging community like groups on Facebook or in blogging forums is a great place to begin gaining new readers and encouragement in your new writing process. Don’t hesitate to search for more blogging helps and groups to get the word out for your new blog and first blog post.