There are two kinds of bloggers in the world: the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants blogger, and the planner. Pants bloggers post when the mood strikes, write about a wide variety of subjects, and hope for the best. Planners have a system. They have a schedule, clear guidelines about subject matter, and are consistent in their marketing efforts.
You’ve probably already figured out that planners tend to build a better blog. Which one are you?
Does Your Blog Post Have a Purpose?
Knowing what you want to achieve with your blog post (and your blog) is the first step in forming a plan. Your blog can be entertaining, informative, incite controversy, sell a service or product, or encourage people to think differently. But unless you know what your purpose is in writing, you aren’t likely to achieve any of those objectives.
Do You Know Your Keywords?
Keywords not only help searchers find your blog, they also help you write your blog. Keeping your primary keyword in the front of your mind while you brainstorm topics and outline post ideas will help you stay focused, and make your blog easier for readers to connect with.
Did You Craft a Compelling Title?
I use an RSS reader to keep track of blogs I like to read. The trouble is, there are far more blogs in my reader (167 at last count) than I have time to read, so I scan the titles to see what looks most interesting. You might have written a fascinating article discussing the merits of veganism, but if your title is “Why Meat is Bad for Your Health” I’m not going to read it. “17 Ways Meat Will Kill You Before You Retire,” though, will have me on your page before you can say free range chickens.
Did You Write a Meta Description?
This one is just for those who come to your blog via a search engine. It’s that short bit of text that Google serves up just under your title and before your URL, and if you don’t tell Google what text to use, it will simply pull an excerpt from your page. Better to retain control by writing your own if you can, but try to keep it under about 160 characters.
Did You Include an Image?
It’s not critical (though the alt attribute is a good place for keywords), but including an image is a good way to add interest to the page, and it gives the reader a place to “rest” her eyes. You can also use pull quotes, block quotes, bullet points, and subheadings to break up the text and make it more readable.
Do You Have a Strong Call to Action?
This is arguably (copywriters and SEO guys will disagree) the most important part of every blog post. The call to action tells the reader what to do next. Leave a comment. Click here for more information. Sign up to receive updates. Whatever it is, you need to tell your reader. Don’t rely on them to guess what you want.
Building a better blog takes determination and consistency. Not every post you write needs to be meticulously planned and thoroughly marketed, but most of them should be.
So are you a pants blogger or a planner? Let us know in the comments.
Great post! I strongly believe that these 6 questions are really important to ask when i create a blog. I try to respect all these elements as much as possible to get a bigger audience and improve the SEO.
gta5´s recent blog post ..GTA 5 Super Mario Bros
Thanks GTA5. There’s a bit more to great blogging, but these six points are important, and too often overlooked, in my opinion. Sometimes I even overlook them myself!
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Murder Your Darlings
Does Google think placing image would have more weight in SEO?
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Hey E.T.,
I don’t work for Google, so I can’t tell you what weight they put on images. But I can tell you that they want – above all else – to present searchers with the best possible results for their search. Images on a blog make for a better user experience, so if I had to guess, I would say Google would prefer an article or post with an image to one without. Plus, it’s one more place where you can say, “Hey, this is what my page is about.”
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Murder Your Darlings
Twitter: shaxx
says:
more and more things to learn. thanks!
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Just don’t get so caught up in learning that you neglect to actually DO.
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Murder Your Darlings
Cindy – Planning definitely helps make a much better blog. I think the most important advice you gave here is to have a strong call to action.
It’s always a good idea to tell your readers at the end of a blog post to share your article via Facebook, Twitter, or tell them to leave you a comment. I have seen studies from people who’ve researched this that people are a lot more likely to retweet your post or share it on Facebook if you tell them to.
However, it’s like you said, if you want to build a better blog you will need some determination and consistency. And planning really helps a great deal.
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Hi John,
Consistency is really important! I can watch my blog traffic grow daily when I post consistently, and it will drop like a stone if I miss a few days. Good tip!
And yes, you really do need to tell your readers what to do next. Otherwise, they get to the end of your post and, with nothing left to do or see, they leave.
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Twitter: BacklinksMarket
says:
Cindy
there are two things that I have already learned from you:
First you structured your article nicely: you divided the post into smaller sections, and gave each of them a title, which allowed me to go exactly to the one I wanted to read. That saved my time…and shows your respect for me…that is huge
the second thing is the call to action- in the blog articles!
yes, so many people just spend hours on the internet without a real purpose…and they unfortunately do what you tell them to. Why unfortunately ?
People are the best when they are their true selves…ah, it’s a cliche, but so so true
best wishes dear
Nicole
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Thanks Nicole!
I rarely read an entire article online, so I love content that’s built for skimming. It lets me see the important points, then read only the details that are relevant to me. And I write with me in mind.
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment!
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Why Accountability Partners Fail- and What to Do Instead
Twitter: craftybegonia
says:
Thank you so much for the tips. I discovered there is one thing I have not been doing.
craftybegonia´s recent blog post ..Gemstone Warmth
Hey crafty,
So what was the thing?
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Why Accountability Partners Fail- and What to Do Instead
keywords and meta tags are hard for me!
i have a blog with a made up word and i am nowhere to be found on google since i dont write about my blogs name! sucks
I am still trying to rank for other keywords and I am slowly climbing but still nothing too major
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No one is likely searching for your blogs name, zoopco, they’re searching for the topic you’re blogging about. It looks like your blog covers a pretty wide range of subjects, so just make sure you know what the main topic is for each post, and use that keyword.
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Why Accountability Partners Fail- and What to Do Instead
Twitter: webduck
says:
I’m mainly a genealogy niche blogger and try to stick to that topic or the associated one of history, both of which words are in my blog title. I do try to find appropriate images to put in the posts too because I find them engaging and useful for comment generation. Now and then, I do give a little general blog creation advice too.
Genealogy is a subject I’ve always been interested in. I just don’t have the patience to pursue it. So cool that you blog about it. I bet you find some fantastic photos for your blog posts!
cindybidar´s recent blog post ..Why Accountability Partners Fail- and What to Do Instead
Twitter: AlisonMSmith
says:
Very solid post with great info. Will put on my client-share list!
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Thanks Alison, I’m glad you found it helpful!
Twitter: BelindasBuzz
says:
Cindy -
Thank you for this post. I am brand new to blogging. I have been taking Lynsey Jones’ Blogging 101 class @PartyPlanDivas. I printed this article so that I can refer back to it with each post I write.
I have not been a planner – but now I know what steps to follow.
Thank you!
Compelling Title — it needs to study!
Sometimes the name boring. How to learn, what the text good, if the name not the interesting? Thanks so much, it is perfectly written, but keywords to me it is still difficult
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Twitter: blogjunk
says:
i like the first point its the best question. i havent asked myself till now that does my post has any purpose. this is a great point thanks for sharing this. from now i have to ask myself the question when ever i write a post. whithout any purpose it will be useless.
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The soul of the article lies in your last sentence ” Building better blog require determination and consistency”.
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Really nice advice Cindy, those things are really important for all bloggers but I think they are also sometimes forgotten. Thanks for reminding us!
tantan´s recent blog post ..Some Suggestions for SEO Pressor Users
Very great tips for writing a blog post. Next time onwards i will check everything before i post new article. Let me tell you thanks…
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Wow, great writing tips! I’ll rewrite and check all my blogs now!
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Twitter: craftybegonia
says:
Thank you for all the suggestions. I had already done some but not others.
craftybegonia´s recent blog post ..Gemstone Warmth
Thanks Cindy for reminding us about our focus. Whether we are new to blogging or not, these are all things to consider. Be well.
Twitter: RetroCollage
says:
I realize that the call to action is something missing from many of my blog posts. It seems a little difficult to add when I am writing about the history of collage or amazing animation from the 1950s.
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These are some great tips. I need to work upon the last point. Thanks for the info.
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Maybe its possible to be somewhere in between? I like to blog on something spontaneously when it comes up in health news and I like to think about where I’m going on certain subject. I’m a new blogger and finding there soooooo much more to it than what I ever thought. But you’ve got my vote. Especially about titles- I’ll be thinking about that a lot from now on.
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Twitter: lineshjose
says:
Cool Tips . i will check those tips before i post . once again thank you