How to Create a Great Writer’s Blog Post

By Mandy Eve-Barnett

We all want our blog posts to generate traffic, engagement and sales. Here are some tips on how to accomplish that. Before you start writing, ask yourself these questions:

1.  Why would someone keep reading the entire blog post?
2. What makes your audience come back for more?
3. What do they want to know about?
4. What will resonate with them?

Without interesting content, the post will be skimmed or even ignored. You need to catch the reader’s attention.

Rules to Remember

Take time to plan and research your content. Think about what this specific blog post will be about. Focus on one main topic or theme, don’t over complicate the post, keep it focused.

Write like you talk, the more natural the text sounds the more engaging it will be.

Make a plan so the blog post coincides with an event, a holiday, a news report, a TV show or movie, a book launch, a give-away – anything that makes readers click on the post. Reference in some way to the content of your book(s). I use reincarnation stories and research to link one of my novels and folklore for others.

Schedule your posts so that they will automatically publish. This ensures you don’t forget a post and are left scrabbling to hit the ‘publish’ button. Once followers know your schedule, they will anticipate the timing. I announce my yearly schedule in an annual post at the end of each year. This keeps me accountable and focused. Do some research so you can publish at the optimum time for your specific genre or content type; this can be found with an internet search or you can use your blog analytics, if your blog has been live for some time. I have found content for readers or writers are most common between 10 am and noon MST, but if your content is on a specific genre, search for other blogs with similar content and see when they post.

Create a magnetic, attention-grabbing headline to entice readers. You can use humor or a question. Use strong adjectives and verbs. Try out several headline structures to see which one catches the eye. Make your reader curious.

Look at your topic and see if you can add a unique perspective, experience, or twist to it, or indeed the content of your story’s narrative. Something readers aren’t expecting or are excited to find out about.

Most domain sites have media royalty free content you can search for use in your blog post.

Look for linking opportunities on your previous posts (two if possible). Match a phrase to the previous url.

End with a call to action. These include sign up for a newsletter, leave a comment, share the post on their social media, or buy a product. (Do not use all of them in one post though)

Don’t forget your SEO – include high volume focused keywords. These are words common to your overall topic of your blog. For example, I use – writing, manuscript, books, writer, author, book review, book titles etc. Use them in your title, subheadings and throughout the content.

You can use an internet search to find keywords. Put the topic in the engine and click – and a list will appear of related key words and also searches related to it. Utilize the list in your content and categories when creating your post.

Always proofread and edit your post prior to posting it live. Read them out loud – this will aid with sentence length, tone and grammar.

Get your blog featured in snippets by using such titles as: How to, Best of, Who is, What is & Why is – these have great success within search engines.

Ensure your blog is mobile optimized. If the content is muddled or unformatted, lacking images or is a stream of text it will be bypassed.

Utilize The Six Most Common Blog Posts Titles:

These ensure the search engine puts your blog post near the front page, if not top of the page in the search field.

1. The “How-To” Post
2. The List-Based Post
3. The “What Is” Post
4. The Pillar Page Post
5. The Newsjacking Post
6. The Infographic Post

Examples for these:

1. List post       

These are usually 10 – 25 bite-sized tips. The title states a benefit and the number of tips. The introduction states a ‘problem’ your reader has and the benefit of the tips. Add an overview of what the tips are and a clear benefit (use subheadings and images). At the end finish with a conclusion / call to action.

2. Step by Step post

These posts guide your reader with easy to use steps for a certain subject. Create a ‘how to’ title. Start with an intro – include how you understand the ‘problem’, present the solution briefly, and demonstrate your experience. Use numbered steps under subheadings in more detail. Summarize at the end.