Tags: Search Engine Optimization
I thought I had a good idea on how to write blog posts simply by starting from questions that I find online. It turns out there is much more to this, and that an organized approach to writing blog posts is extremely helpful. We want to write a good post quickly, which means we cannot follow a haphazard approach.
We do start with an authentic question we find being asked. It can be a question found on an answer-site like Quora, or it can be the result of keyword searches. For example one can go to a search engine and for any phrase we type the search engine will show suggestions. Those suggestions are a clue to blog post titles, as are the results which show up, and the content of the posts that show up. There's no need for expensive SEO keyword research tools. Keyword phrases are easily findable through normal search results.
It's useful to create a document containing blog post titles we've generated from that research. That way if we find ourselves unable to come up with a topic, we have a list of ready-made topics to cover.
Once we have a topic we can start the blog post. The method works even if we know nothing about the topic, because what we'll do is start with searching for existing search results based on the question or topic. Existing information already available can be useful for your blog post. Your sources might be forum posts where folks are discussing the problem you're seeking to answer.
The beginning of the blog post contains two things:
- The first sentence - which sets the scene of the question, and connects with the readers
- A one paragraph summary of the answer
It helps for the blog post to not come off as an expert speaking from on high, but as a friend/neighbor who did some research to answer a question. This advice is geared to what some call a "Response Post" where the target is 1500 words that directly answers a question found online.
The next step is to structure the rest of the posting. One does this by creating 3-5 headers (that will be H2 tags) containing the outline of the blog post.
Yes you've already written the answer but that doesn't mean the blog post is finished. The reader will probably have additional questions or need more details. The purpose of the outline is to give them a fuller answer.
By creating an outline you've solved a big problem with writing 1500 words. You now do not have to write one chunk of 1500 words, but now you're writing 3-5 chunks of 3-500 words apiece. That's a lot simpler to accomplish.
The final step is to add one or more images. It's required to add one good image at the top. Then the topic may require additional images within the body of the article.
How to Write a Perfect Blog Post in One Hour
