If you want to be a blogger, you should know the basics about writing a blog post. You will need a computer, a laptop – or maybe an IPad, whatever you prefer. Apart from the computer, you need to have a website. Of course, you will also need a pen and a piece of paper so you can start with the first step of brainstorming.
Brainstorm
In this step, you will need to decide what you are going to write about. If you have a content calendar, you will want to open that and see what you will write about today. But – if you don’t have a content calendar yet – all you need to do is grab a pen and paper and start jotting down some ideas about the posts that you want to write about.
More importantly, you want to keep in mind your audience and what they want to see on your blog. If you have no idea what your audience would like to see on your website, your next step is to do your research.
Research
The next step is to perform some research so you can get a clearer idea about what your viewers want to see on your website. You might want to start with your keyword research so that you know what keywords you will include in your title and your blog post.
You can also do your research as a way to see what other people are saying and what you can say on the topics that they aren’t talking about yet. There are loads of blog posts, pieces of content, and information out there, which is why you need a strategy in place so that your piece of content can be found.
This aspect means that you have to write about something that no one else is doing. Yes – you will have to write a topic that other people have written a blog post on, but you want to ensure that you aren’t copying them and saying the exact same thing.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to bring up some good points that you would like to bring up in your post. But when you do your research, you want to figure out what other people aren’t saying so that you know what to include in your blog post that is going to stand out and capture your audience.
Create an Outline
Now that you have done your research and you know what others aren’t saying and what you could say to include in your post and bring value to your viewers, you will want to grab a pen and paper to start outlining the content.
This aspect is incredibly important to the structure of the blog post. If you have simply come up with a topic idea and you start writing, there is a great chance that you end up being all over the place. So, you will want to sit down and outline the main bullet points that you want to cover within that piece of content.
The main bullet points in your outline will end up becoming the heading of your blog post. If you aren’t good with pen and paper, you can also use one of the best chrome writing apps that will help you streamline your workflow and make it easier to jot down the blog post.
You will want to ensure that you are outlining the main bullet points and then you will want to include the backup points underneath each bullet point so that you don’t forget them when you are writing your blog post.
After you have completed the outline of your blog post, you can start the writing process. It is not recommended to open your website and start typing everything directly into the website. Ideally, you will want to use a Word document so you have a second backup – in case something happens and it doesn’t get saved online.
So, grab your laptop and start writing your blog post from beginning to end.
Write As You Speak
Now when it comes to writing a blog post, you should know that there is so much that goes on in writing a blog post. As a rule of thumb, you will want to write as if you are talking to a fourth-grader. If a fourth-grader cannot understand what you are saying in your blog post, people are going to ignore your blog post.
Of course, it might be so hard to do as we are taught in schools to write in a structured and professional manner with a five-sentence paragraph and backup points, topped up with a conclusion. However, when you are writing a blog post, no one wants to see that kind of structure.
No one wants to feel like they are reading a scholarly manuscript – the viewers will feel out of place and leave your website. No one wants to read big, chunky paragraphs. All those rules that you were taught in school, you want to throw out of the window when you are writing a blog post.
The best thing that you can do is to write like you speak.
Read Your Blog
After you have completed writing your blog, the next step is to read it out loud. There will be sentences that feel wrong and that will choke you up and won’t seem natural to you. Once you know the sentences, you will want to write them down, change them, or delete them.
You want to make sure that your content sounds natural and that it can connect with your audience. A quick tip is to call out your audience and include them in your blog post. This way, you can form a connection, and your audience will feel like you are actually addressing them and talking to them.
Make sure that your paragraphs are three lines of words and not five lines of words. You will want to break down your paragraphs into two or three lines.
