Blogging is considered as a process. When you are in a process, you focus, aspire, strive, give-out all you gat and forward towards making a community of success.

As a blogger, you need to be yourself (being unique). You know you need to start blogging to grow your business, but you don’t know how. In this post, I’ll show you how to write a blog post in five simple steps that people will actually want to read. Ready? Let’s get started.

You might spend several days or maybe even a week “writing” a blog post, but it’s important to spend those vital hours planning your post and even thinking about your post (yes, thinking counts as working if you’re a blogger) before you actually write it. Many new bloggers overlook the planning process, and while you might be able to get away with skipping the planning stage, doing your homework will actually save you time further down the road and help you develop good blogging habits.

Choose Your Favourite Niche

No matter what industry you’re working in, as a blogger, you should live and die by this statement. Before you do any of the following steps, be sure to pick a topic that actually interests you. Nothing – and I mean NOTHING – will kill a blog post more effectively than a lack of enthusiasm from the writer. You can tell when a writer is bored by their subject, and it’s so cringe-worthy it’s a little embarrassing.

Set Out The Best Outline for Your Posts

We always talk of best bloggers. Who are they? How do they get their feeds? We go about asking the How, When, Which, Whom, Where, What and more.... Let me tell you a secret, Even the best bloggers need a rough idea to keep them on-track. This is where outlines come in. An outline doesn’t need to be lengthy, or even detailed – it’s just a rough guide to make sure you don’t ramble on and on about something tangential to your topic.

For example, this is the outline for this post that I sent to Elisa before getting to work:

  • Introduction
-          Paragraph(s) explaining post

• Section 1 – Planning a Blog Post

-          Things bloggers should do before putting pen to paper – outlining, research etc.

• Section 2 – Writing a Blog Post

-          Tips on actually writing a post

• Section 3 – Rewriting a Blog Post

-          Editing techniques/things to watch out for/common mistakes

• Section 4 – Optimizing a Blog Post

-          How to optimize a post for on-page SEO, social shares etc.

• Section 4 – Conclusion

-          Wrap-up

We do this in order to make sure I know what I plan to cover, in what order the various sections will appear, and some bare-bones details of what each section will include. Outlines keep you honest. They stop you from indulging in poorly thought-out metaphors about driving and keep you focused on the overall structure of your post. Sometimes I’ll write a more thorough outline (and sometimes I won’t bother with one at all), but most of the time, something like the outline above is perfectly acceptable.

Whether you write your outline in your word processor, on a piece of paper, or even scribbled on a bar napkin, do whatever works for you to keep you focused.

Go for Thorough Research either Online or whereever to Get the Best.

One of the biggest secrets professional bloggers don’t want you to know is that we don’t actually know everything. Truth be told, sometimes we don’t know anything about a topic before we sit down to write about it. This doesn’t mean that all bloggers are insincere fakers. On the contrary, many bloggers’ natural curiosity is what makes them great at what they do. If you blog for a living, you have to be comfortable jumping from one topic to the next, even if you don’t know anything about it. What allows us to do this, and to write authoritatively about subject areas that are new to us, is knowing how to properly research a blog post. It almost goes without saying, but relying solely on Wikipedia as a primary source is almost always a bad idea. Yes, Wikipedia does have thousands of excellently researched articles, but it’s not infallible, and erroneous facts do make their way into articles without site editors noticing. Plus, every verifiable fact on the site is cited from links elsewhere on the web, so why cite the middleman?

Can You Prove Your Fact? Clear Them!

A few years ago, I edited a piece written by a colleague focusing on the highlights of a major technology conference. The writer, under a seriously tight deadline, had done a bang-up job of writing great copy in virtually no time, but he failed to properly check his facts. He cited an article from Forbes in which the writer claimed Steve Jobs was using PowerPoint on stage – something that never happened. It was lazy journalism on the part of the Forbes writer, and an easy mistake to make on my colleague’s part, but the result was the same; one poorly researched article directly impacted another because both writers failed to do their due diligence. All it takes to tank your credibility is one glaring error. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s crucial to avoid gaffes like this. If you’re just starting out, your credibility and authority will take a major hit if you publish inaccurate information, and even if you have a blog with millions of loyal readers, your regulars will be all too eager to jump all over your mistake – just take a look in the comment sections of publications such as Wired or TechCrunch to see how quickly this can happen.

In the event that you fall prey to a well-executed hoax, repeat widely circulated misinformation, or simply make a mistake, own up to it right away and be transparent about your edits. If you try to slip something past your readers, you can bet that they’ll call you out on it, further compounding the damage. Be honest, be accountable, and fix it – fast.


Make Headlines In Your Posts

Some say you should be as specific as possible (to avoid misleading your readers and manage their expectations), while others recommend taking a more abstract approach. Vague headlines might work just fine if you’re Seth Godin, but for most of us, being specific is better. There are two main approaches you can take to writing blog post headlines. You can either decide on your final headline before you write the rest of your post (and use your headline to structure your outline), or you can write your blog post with a working title and see what fits when you’re done.

Personally, I don’t adhere to a rigid strategy one way or the other. Sometimes I’ll come up with a strong headline from the outset and stick with it, whereas other posts will take a lot more work. Although sites such as Upworthy arguably ruined internet writing with their clickbait headlines, the process behind the site’s headlines has merit, as it forces you to really think about your post and how to grab your audience’s attention.

Use Images Effectively in Your Posts

Writing for the web is an entirely different animal than writing for print. Oftentimes, people simply don’t have the time, will, or ability to focus on lengthy blog posts without some visual stimulation. Even a well-formatted blog post consisting solely of text is likely to send your reader screaming back to Reddit or Twitter within minutes, which is why it’s so important to include images in your posts. 

Take all of these very serious and consider it important:

  • Read Your Post Aloud to Check Flow
  • Have Someone Else Read Your Work
  • Keep Sentences Short and Paragraphs Shorter
  • Accept That Your Blog Post Will Never Be Perfect
  • Don’t Be Afraid to Make Cuts or Adapt on the Fly
Blogging is one of those jobs that seems easy until you have to do it. Fortunately, it does get easier, and with time and practice, you’ll be blogging like a pro in no time.

If there’s an aspect of writing a blog post that I didn’t cover, or you have specific questions about my process or anything generally blog-related, let me know in the comments – I’ll answer them as best I can.

Now take up thy pen, go forth, and blog like never before.



Have any questions? Feel free to ask me via the comments section! Remember to share this tutorial with others on Facebook, Twitter & Google Plus.