Introduction
If you want to start a new blog or already started one, the next step would be to figure out how to write your first blog post. Whatever the purpose of a blog is, personal or business, content would play a critical role in blog success.
You need to realize that the internet is oversaturated with textual content. Thus, for your blog posts to stand out you need to invest serious effort to create great content.
In this article, we will show you how to write your blog posts and make them informative.
What is a blog post?
The blog post is a piece of content (article) in written form, published on a blog. It can include content in the form of text, photos, infographics, or videos. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational in nature, ranges from 1000 to 2,000+ words.
Blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can help you drive traffic to your website.
But in order to begin making posts for a blog — you have to learn how to start one, first. Let’s dive in.
The structure of a blog post
Following is the exact basic structure of a good blog post.
Headline
The headline, or title, of your blog post, has to capture the attention of potential readers. People may see it in their social media news feed or search results. Make sure you include the main keyword phrase that people could use when searching for the topic you are covering.
Introduction
The first paragraph of your blog post will either keep people reading or make people leave. Make sure that it compels people to read the rest of your content. You should use your targeted keyword phrase for search engines at least once in this paragraph.
Main content
It is the main part of your blog post content. Think of the headline as the promise and the main content as the fulfillment of that pledge. Your main content should please anyone who visits your post based on the headline. If you create content that does not meet the promises of your headline, people will start to identify your blog as unfulfilling.
Sub-headlines
Many people will scan your blog content as opposed to reading it word for word. Write subheads that break your content into digestible sections. Make sure those subheads represent the content within them.
Conclusion
The conclusion should be a paragraph or two at the end of your post to summarize the content you’ve written. The reader should understand what material you’ve covered. If they didn’t, chances are, they will go back to see what they might have missed.
Call-to-action
The last line of your blog post should be some form of a call to action. It can be as simple as asking readers to share their thoughts in the comments or to share the post on social media. If you wrote the post to promote a particular product or service, the call to action should encourage the reader to learn more about it.
How to Start a Blog
- Who is your target audience.
- Check out your competition.
- Determine what topics you’ll cover.
- Identify your unique angle.
- Name your blog.
- Create your blog domain.
- Choose a CMS and set up your blog.
- Customize the look of your blog.
- Write your first blog post.
Who is your target audience.
You’ve heard the term “target audience” a few times by now, but what exactly does it mean? In the context of a blog, your target audience is a specific group of people you’re writing to each time you publish new content on your blog. Put simply, your target audience is the people who are likely to be most engaged with your content, and self-identify as having an interest in your blog’s niche.
Check out your competition
What better way to draw inspiration than to look at your well-established competition?
It’s worth taking a look at popular, highly reviewed blogs because their strategy and execution is what got them to grow in credibility. The purpose of doing this isn’t to copy these elements, but to gain better insight into what readers appreciate in a quality blog.
There are multiple angles you should look at when doing a competitive analysis:
- Visuals: Look at the blog’s branding, color palette, and theme.
- Copy: Analyze the tone and writing style of the competition to see what readers respond well to.
- Topics: See what subject matter their readers enjoy interacting with.
Determine what topics you’ll cover.
Before you write anything, pick a topic you’d like to write about. The topic can be pretty general to start as you find your desired niche in blogging.
Some ways to choose topics to cover include asking yourself questions like:
- Who do I want to write to?
- How well do I understand this topic?
- Is this topic relevant?
Identify your unique angle.
What perspective do you bring that makes you stand out from the crowd? This is key to determining the trajectory of your blog’s future and there’s many avenues to choose in the process.
- What unique experience makes you a trusted expert or thought leader on the topic?
- What problem will you solve for readers?
- Will you share your opinions on trending debates?
- Teach your readers how to do something?
- Compare or share original research?
It’s up to you to decide the unique angle you’ll take on topics.
Name your blog.
This is your opportunity to get creative and make a name that gives readers an idea of what to expect from your blog. Some tips on how to choose your blog name include:
- Keep your blog name easy to say and spell.
- Link your blog name to your brand message.
- Consider what your target audience is looking for.
If you still need more assistance, try using a blog name generator.
Make sure the name you come up with isn’t already taken as it could lessen your visibility and confuse readers looking for your content.
Create your blog domain.
A domain is a part of the web address nomenclature someone would use to find your website or a page of your website online.
Your blog’s domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. The name between the two periods is up to you, as long as this domain name doesn’t yet exist on the internet.
Want to create a subdomain for your blog? If you already own a cooking business at www.yourcompany.com, you might create a blog that looks like this: blog.yourcompany.com. In other words, your blog’s subdomain will live in its own section of yourcompany.com.
Some CMS platforms offer subdomains as a free service, where your blog lives on the CMS, rather than your business’s website. For example, it might look like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However, to create a subdomain that belongs to your company website, register the subdomain with a website host.
Most website hosting services charge very little to host an original domain — in fact, website costs can be as inexpensive as $3 per month when you commit to a 36-month term.
Here are five popular web hosting services to choose from:
Choose a CMS and set up your blog.
- GoDaddy
- HostGator
- DreamHost
- Bluehost
- iPage
A CMS (content management system) is a software application that allows users to build and maintain a website without having to code it from scratch. CMS platforms can manage domains (where you create your website) and subdomains (where you create a webpage that connects to an existing website).
HubSpot customers host web content via CMS Hub. Another popular option is a self-hosted WordPress website on a hosting site such as WP Engine. Whether you create a domain or a subdomain to start your blog, you’ll need to choose a web hosting service after you pick a CMS.
Customize the look of your blog.
Once you have your domain name set up, customize the appearance of your blog to reflect the theme of the content you plan on creating and your brand.
For example, if you’re writing about sustainability and the environment, green might be a color to keep in mind while designing your blog.
If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for that existing website, ensure the article is consistent with the website in appearance and subject matter. Two ways to do this are including your:
- Logo: This can be your business’s name and logo — it will remind blog readers of who’s publishing the content. (How heavily you want to brand your blog, however, is up to you.)
- “About” Page: You might already have an “About” blurb describing yourself or your business. Your blog’s “About” section is an extension of this higher-level statement. Think of it as your blog’s mission statement, which serves to support your company’s goals.
Write your first blog post.
Once you have your blog set up, the only thing missing is the content. While the design and layout are fun and functionally necessary, it’s the content that will draw your readers in and keep them coming back. So how do you actually go about writing one of these engaging and informational pieces?
Let’s walk through this process.
Choose a topic you’re passionate about and knowledgeable about.
Write a Catchy Headline, Using your research, you should craft an attention-grabbing headline for your blog post. Your headline is what will draw people to read your post. The topic can be pretty general to start. For example, if you’re intending to sell VPN products, your post might be about the importance of using a VPN software.
Target a low-volume keyword to optimize around.
Finding a keyword with low searches in Google (we recommend sticking to about 10 to 150 monthly searches). These topics offer less competition and should therefore allow your new blog post to rank more easily.
To choose a topic, you can either do a traditional brainstorming session or carry out keyword research. We suggest the latter because you can actually see how many people are looking for that topic.
Now, don’t be intimidated by the term “keyword research.” It’s not just for marketers, but for new bloggers, too. And it’s really easy to do.
To jumpstart your keyword research, first begin by identifying the general topic of your blog.
Say you’re a plumber. Your general, high-level topic might be “plumbing” (67K monthly searches).
Next, put this term into a keyword research tool such as:
- Ahrefs
- Moz
- Ubersuggest
- Wordtracker
When you run this term through the tool, a list of related keywords will appear. Scan the list and choose one with a lower search volume. For this example, we’ll use “under sink plumbing” (1.4K monthly searches).
Run that keyword in the keyword research tool again. Look at the related keywords. Find one with a lower search volume. Do that again.
Find questions and terms related to that topic.
You’ve got a highly unique topic that’s been covered by just a few people so far. It’s time to flesh it out by covering related or adjacent topics.
Use the following tools:
- Answer the Public: When you place your keyword into this tool, it will give you a list of questions related to that term.
- Google: Google is your best friend. Search for the term and look under “People also ask” and “People also search for.” Be sure to touch upon those topics in the post.
You can also use these keyword research tools we mentioned above in step one.
Come up with a working title.
You might come up with a few different working titles — in other words, iterations of approaching that topic to help you focus your writing.
For example, you may decide to narrow your topic to “Free SEO tools” as opposed to say “SEO Tools”. A working title is specific and will guide your post so you can start writing. Narrowing down will help you to remain on course and at the same time deliver precisely.
Create an outline.
Sometimes, blog posts can have an overwhelming amount of information — for the reader and the writer. The trick is to organize the info in a way so readers aren’t intimidated by length or amount of content. This organization can take multiple forms — sections, lists, tips — whatever’s most appropriate. But it must be organized!
Write an intro (and make it captivating).
First, grab the reader’s attention. If you lose the reader in the first few paragraphs — or even sentences — of the introduction, they’ll stop reading (even before they’ve given your post a fair shake). You can do this in a number of ways: tell a story or a joke, be empathetic, or grip the reader with an interesting fact or statistic.
Then, describe the purpose of your post and explain how it will address a problem the reader may be experiencing. This will give the reader a reason to continue reading and show them how the post will help them improve their work or lives.
Build out each section of your outline.
The next step — but not the last — is actually writing the content. We can’t forget about that, of course.
Now that you have your outline or template, you’re ready to fill in the blanks. Use your outline as a guide and expand on all points as needed. Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while providing proper attribution when incorporating external sources. When you do, always try to find accurate and compelling data to use in your post.
If you’re having trouble stringing sentences together, you’re not alone. Finding your “flow” can be challenging for a lot of folks. Luckily, there are a ton of tools you can lean on to help you improve your writing. Here are a few to get you started:
- Power Thesaurus: Stuck on a word? Power Thesaurus is a crowdsourced tool that provides users with a number of alternative word choices from a community of writers.
- ZenPen: If you’re having trouble staying focused, check out this distraction-free writing tool. ZenPen creates a minimalist “writing zone” designed to help you get words down without having to fuss with formatting right away.
- Cliché Finder: Feeling like your writing might be coming off a little cheesy? Identify instances where you can be more specific using this handy cliché tool.
Publish and promote your first post any way you can.
As a new blogger, you likely don’t have a social media following yet. Thankfully, you don’t need a huge following before you can create a promotion strategy.
A promotion strategy is your master plan for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content. It helps you take advantage of social and digital technologies to share your business, or in this case, your content. Having a solid promotional strategy offers your audience from different marketing channels more ways to find your blog posts.
What makes a good blog post?
Before you write a blog, make sure you know the answers to questions like, “Why would someone keep reading this entire blog post?” and “What makes our audience come back for more?”
To start, a good blog post is interesting and educational. Blogs should answer questions and help readers resolve a challenge they’re experiencing — and you have to do so in an interesting way.
It’s not enough just to answer someone’s questions — you also have to provide actionable steps while being engaging. For instance, your introduction should hook the reader and make them want to continue reading your post. Then, use examples to keep your readers interested in what you have to say.
Remember, a good blog post is interesting to read and provides educational content to audience members.
Quick Blog Writing Tips
- Conduct research if necessary to convey your point.
- Make your content skimmable; break it into digestible chunks.
- Include interesting quotes or facts for emphasis on the subject.
- Paint a full picture with images, graphics or video.
- Use Grammarly to catch mistakes.
- If you don’t know where to start, start by telling a story.
- Reference social media posts.
- Each sentence should convey a single idea.
While you have several tools and tips already, we wanted to provide you with some formatting guidelines to use before you publish your own.
Blog Format Guidelines
- Include H2s to arrange ideas.
- Center your Images.
- Add alt text.
- Keep your sentences clear and concise.
- Use media with purpose.
Include H2s to arrange ideas.
When you begin typing your blog content, it’s important that you divide paragraphs into sections that make it easier for the reader to find what they need.
If you’re just starting out, then focus on the overarching H2s you want to talk about, and you’ll be able to branch off into subheaders and more naturally as you continue.
Center your images.
This is a simple practice that can help your content look more professional with little effort. Centering your images keeps the reader’s attention drawn to the subject — not searching for elsewhere.
Centering also looks better when translating from PC to mobile devices. As formatting transitions to small screens or windows, a centered image will remain the focal point.
Add alt text.
So those images you centered earlier, make sure you have descriptive alt text for them, too.
Image alt text allows search engines, like Google, to crawl and rank your blog post better than pages lacking the element. It also leads readers to your blog post if the keywords included are what they searched for in the first place.
Besides SERP features, image alt text is beneficial to readers by providing more accessibility. Image alt text allows people to better visualize images when they can’t see them, and with assistive technology, can be auditorially read aloud for people to enjoy.
Keep your sentences short and concise.
When you begin working on the body of your blog post, make sure readers can clearly understand what you’re trying to accomplish.
You shouldn’t feel pressure to elongate your post with unnecessary details, and chances are that if you keep it concise, readers will derive more value from your work.
Use media with a purpose.
Break up the monotony of your blog post with some multimedia content where seen fit.
Your reader will enjoy visiting a blog page with images, videos, polls, audio or slideshows as opposed to a page of black and white text.
It also makes it more interactive and improves your on-page search engine optimization (SEO).
Now, do you want some real examples of blog posts? See what your first blog post can look like based on the topic you choose and the audience you’re targeting.
How to Write a Blog Post
- Draw from your buyer personas and what you know about your audience.
- Pull from your content strategy and/or brainstormed topics.
- Identify what’s missing from the existing discourse.
- Choose what type of blog post you’re writing.
- Generate a few different titles and choose the best one.
- Create your outline and designate keyword-rich H2s and H3s.
- Write your blog post!
- Proofread your post.
- Add images and other media elements to support your ideas.
- Upload your post into your CMS.
- Determine a conversion path (what you want your audience to do next).
- Add calls to action to guide your audience to take action.
- Link to other relevant blog posts within your content.
- Optimize for on-page SEO.
- Publish and promote the blog post.
- Track the performance of the blog post over time.
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