What is your objective behind publishing a blog post? Obviously, you want that more people read and share it. But, it is not easy to stand ahead of the curve especially when the Internet has a plethora of blogs across almost every niche. Just like you cannot write a blog in an hour or two, your blog also cannot get overnight success and attract people toward your business.
When it comes to blogging, you need various resources like the content creator, editor or proofreader, social media marketer or digital marketer, graphic designer, etc. at once. Apart from that, you need to consider some key aspects before and after hit the ‘Publish’ button for your blog post. I know, you’re eager to know these aspects, and this is the reason why you are reading this blog, right? Okay. Let’s go to these major points straightaway.
If you want to make your blog posts popular, then I am sure, this post will help you. Here we have classified your tasks into two categories- One, before you hit ‘Publish’ and two after you hit ‘Publish’. We will also give you a table at the end of this blog for a quick reference in the future.
Before Hitting Publish Button
1. Creating an Outline
Have you ever experienced that you’ve lost focus or direction of your blog in the middle? It is necessary for you to stay around the central idea of your blog, and outline creation can serve this objective. An outline not only streamlines the process of writing but also assists you to remember the ideas of your blog. This is particularly helpful in a longer blog containing 1000+ words.
You can separate sub-topics by bullet points and additional information by using dashes or roman numerals. Once you are used to this tactic, it helps you write any sort of content ranging from articles, blogs, reports, etc.
2. Catchy Header or Headline
When it comes to promoting your blog post, a catchy headline can play a vital role. It can draw the reader’s attention and compel them to read your blog. A weak title, however, fails to appeal to people even if you have written quality content. You can keep 3 aspects in mind while thinking of an excellent headline for your content.
Contains keywords– The title or a headline is important from the SEO perspective of your blog, and therefore, you need to include at least one keyword in the headline. For example, if your blog is about work from home ideas, the title should include the keyword “work from home jobs” for better visibility in the search engine ranking pages.
Remains specific– Well, this is necessary because your headline is the first impression for your blog in people’s minds. Readers want to know what they will get on clicking your website’s headline. You can also consider keeping the headline in two parts- one is a theme and the other is an argument and features.
Offers value– Blogs are considered as a solution to people’s problems or an answer to their interest in learning new stuff. Your headline should reflect the central idea and attract visitors or existing customers to read the complete blog.
3. Inclusion of Headings and Subheadings
Heading and subheadings can increase the readability of your post. Readers can read such posts with ease from their smartphones or tablets. It is better to include just three sentences in one paragraph. Headings can more effectively convey your message and readers can get acquainted with your thought process. You can also make your post more digestible and encourage your readers to read it till the end.
4. Give Interlinks
If you’ve gone through many blogs, you may have noticed that links of previous posts are given in the current post. You can do so in your post to boost its ranking on various search engines. It can also provide more relevant and useful information to your readers and engage them in reading your blogs one after another.
5. Visual Elements are Must
Well, you may agree with the fact that only text cannot serve your purpose in today’s age of graphics and animation. Advancing technology and the rise of social media channels have reduced the average attention span to just 8 seconds. In such a situation, writers find it difficult to grab and retain the attention of people for a long time.
There, visual elements come into the picture. Videos, infographics, images, and GIFs not only make your blog more appealing but also increase traffic and retain people through an interactive experience. Users who want to get extra information without increasing the blog length can get good value from a visually rich blog post.
6. Ask Question at the End
Asking a question at the end of your blog post motivates people or users to participate in the discussion. It can make them feel like their opinions are valuable and the writer invites their views. This feeling can compel people to come frequently to read your blog posts. Here, you need to ensure that you ask a relevant question with a view to getting people’s viewpoint.
7. SEO Optimization
By adding keywords in your content, you make the post optimized for SEO. But, what about the images you have used? First of all, you should check whether images reflect the core aspects of your blog? Such core elements include fonts, color scheme, and overall design. You can create a few templates for storing images and graphics.
Also, just like text, you can also include keywords in the image title. Adding alt text can ensure access of image to people who have screen readers. You can also add pin descriptions to your images.
Also Read: Does Blogging Help SEO? Blog SEO Tips
8. Give Featured Image
A picture speaks louder than text. Every day, the importance of relevant and appealing pictures is increased as it can readily convey the message of your blog to your readers. It indicates the need to use a featured image in your blog. A featured image can make your blog more sophisticated and reader-friendly. It motivates people to read the entire post.
Finally, you should use the Yoast SEO plugin for a WordPress blog and implement a proper SEO strategy for blogs other than WordPress. Right planning for SEO can lead to increased visibility and higher web traffic for your blog. Also, never hit publish before proofreading your blog thoroughly. You should go through your blog post for finding trivial mistakes including a lack of a comma, a misspelled word, and the like. Also, you need to correct typos and put your efforts in reducing the number of such mistakes.
After Hitting Publish Button
1. Make and Manage Anchor Board
You must have heard the name of Pinterest, right? Okay. I recommend you to make a Pinterest board for your blog. It will be your “Anchor Board”. It hosts all pins from your blog. So, every time you create a new pin for a new blog, you can add it to this board. Pinterest marketing is gaining ground these days and you can leverage its benefit through an Anchor Board.
2. Pin to All Relevant Pinterest Boards
The next step is to pin your blog onto other boards that have a mixture of pins from various blogs and people. It will keep your pins circulating across the boards. Also, when you become a part of any group boards, you will also wish to share your pin there. You can either do it manually or with the help of a scheduling tool like Tailwind.
3. Update Social Media Channels
This is one of the most necessary steps after you hit the ‘Publish’ button. Apart from Pinterest, you need to update all your social media profiles with your blog post. You can share your blog on the Facebook page or Facebook group. You can create a Facebook story and an Instagram post. You can also post it on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Regular updates on your social media accounts can help you promote your content and gain credibility as a writer. Here also, you can use scheduler tools like Tailwind for Instagram and Buffer for Facebook.
4. Go for Instagram
Instagram has become popular in the recent time. We can say that Instagram stories are the future. You can connect with your audience as well as other bloggers in an innovative way thanks to Instagram. From asking questions to your audience to show behind-the-scenes of your blog, Instagram stories can serve multiple objectives.
Also, these stories assist you to meet various expectations of your audience. For example, you can reach a large audience through Instagram stories and provide them either written or audio-visual content.
5. Count on Facebook Groups
Facebook groups can be your another powerful option. Here you can promote your blog on daily threads, ask questions or seek suggestions from the audience, collaborate with other bloggers, and get new clients. The only condition is you need to find selected active groups on Facebook and spend enough time to remain consistent in posting your blog there.
Also Read: How to Effectively Promote Your Blog on Social Media
6. Send Emails to Your Audience
Though we live in a social media-driven age, emails are still an effective and powerful way of communication with the target audience. You can send an email to your audience at least once in a week with blog updates, exclusive content offers, and the like. It can help you gain a loyal client base and genuine lovers of your blog posts.
It is possible that everyone in your email list may not read all your blogs; therefore, you need to notify them when you come up with a new post. Email is a bit informal way to communicate and people like it as a means to stay updated with the latest offers and freebies.
7. Stay Active on Social Media
Social media channels are like a double-edged sword. You need to remain active all the time to make the most of them. For example, people keep on commenting on your social media accounts. Some of them criticize you and some of them praise you. It is better to respond to every comment with a positive mindset to boost your online reputation. If you do not answer to negative comments, a clear message goes as you feel annoyed, and as a result, more people will start writing such comments over the period.
You should also keep on checking Google Analytics frequently to find out the performance of your blog post. Vital stats like page views, number of shares and comments, etc. cannot be ignored to get a clear picture. These numbers can give you an idea about the topics that readers like or dislike. As a result, you can come up with better and more popular blogs in the future.
Last but not least. You need to keep your blog post updated frequently and regularly. It is because people’s moods and mindsets change rapidly and your blog needs to relate their lifestyle as well as modern trends. If you do not get much free time, you can consider posting one blog every two months. Up-to-date, SEO-friendly content with excellent images can get success in the online world.
In a nutshell
You may feel that this is a plethora of information, but believe me, these tips will lead your blog post toward success by reaching a huge audience globally. This checklist is comprehensive and includes all the necessary tips from scratch. Still, if you find any point is missing, do write it in the comment section and we’ll include it. And yes, don’t forget to point out your most favorite tip from this exhausting list as well.
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