Blogging Checklist
Ever feel like you wrote a blog, but it’s missing something? Or how about that you felt it wasn’t good enough? This blogging checklist has 5 things listed to show how you can write a better blog, and feel GREAT about it!
Create a catchy title
Just like you skim the cover of a book to determine if you will read it or not, people do the same thing with blog posts.
Yep… I am guilty of that one.
You will need to have a catchy title if you want your blog read or shared by others. A good headline will be read by 80% of people, with only 20% that actually read the entire article.
Make it stand out!
Listed below are a few tools you can use that will help you with your title:
- CoSchedule
- Advanced Marketing Institute
- Portent’s Content Idea Generator
- Hubspot
- Link Bait Title Generator
Make it Easy to Read
- Create short paragraphs. No longer than 3 sentences or 3-4 lines is recommended.
- Use bullet or numbered lists (As I am doing here)
- Subheads every 200-300 words or when you’re moving onto the next topic.
- I like to use H3 for my subheads.
- Bolding and Italics – ONLY when necessary.
- I usually do italics for my disclosure at the top of my articles.
- Internal links that go to other content or articles on your site.
- GREAT for SEO because it helps with increasing pageviews!
Awesome pictures
Not only should you have a kick-ass featured image at the beginning of your post, don’t be afraid to add other photos throughout the post.
Seriously… you need to include pictures in ALL of your posts. Make sure the pictures are relevant though. You don’t want a picture of a whale if your post is about flowers…you get my point?
Here are some of my favorite places to get free stock photos:
*Although these sites offer free stock images, some may require you to enter your email address or sign up to receive photos.
Call to Actions
Call to what?
Do you want more subscribers? Or followers?
YESS! Then you need to have a call to action.
A call to action is usually located at the end of your article. It can be anything from asking your readers to follow you on social media, asking them to leave a comment on your post, or purchasing something you have to sell.
SEO your Blog
SEO is very important for your blog. Why you ask??
When you optimize your web pages and posts, you’re making your website more visible by Google.
So how do we do that?
- Use long tail keywords.
- Enter your keywords in the title, header, body, URL and meta description.
- Add alt text to your images.
- Use internal links to other posts you have written.
- Don’t overuse topic tags.
- If you have too many similar tags, it appears as if you’re showing the same content multiple times.
- Enter meta description.
- Ensure your site is mobile friendly.
- Have a secure domain
- Google places secure domains above insecure domains.
* Although there are many SEO plugins, I like to use Yoast SEO to optimize my site.
So there you have easy, simple steps on creating that perfect post.
Until next time!
Readability is my biggest work. Thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome Lorie.
Love this checklist. I always enjoy blog posts that have short paragraphs.
Thank you, Melissa.
Very helpful! I expecially like the simplicity of your SEO explanation!
Thank you, Hillary. SEO was a bit difficult for me at first so I figured I would mention it.
I love your tips!! We can never stop learning and being reminded of things in the blogging world!!
Thank you, Sara. I agree; I like to have reminders.
Pictures are so important! I started investing in my photography more and it definitely enhances my posts!
Yes, photos definitely help with posts and also on Pinterest.
This is such a great list for bloggers like me. Thank you for this, it definitely helps to have a detailed checklist for posts
I agree, Anitra. Blogging checklists help others that may have missed something when writing a blog.
All great tips! I’m definitely trying to focus more and more on these things.
-Lauren
That’s great Lauren!
Loved this post! Thanks so much for the tips on SEO and the free stock photos! I hadn’t heard of some of those sites before!
You’re welcome Meredith. I am glad you are enjoying the free photos.
The call to action is my weakest area! I really need to work on it.
It’s mine too, but I went to your site and I think you are doing great. I like the popup to join. 🙂
This is such a good list and reminder for me. SEO can get very boring for sure.
I am glad this article has helped you, Corey.
Great tips! I love popping into Google Adwords to hone in on my title – really helps with SEO. Like you said, ensuring that your focus keyword(s) are located everywhere (including the image name) really does help! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Sophie. I never thought of going into Google Adwords for this article. I may have to update it. 🙂
I think your observation about having a catchy title, and having 80/20 engagement is spot on! Thanks for the reminders about everything that needs to be thought out to go into a successful post, this was a great round up.
Yes, it has definitely helped me.
I just got a secure site! Hoping it makes a big difference in my SEO!
Zahra, it definitely will. Google prefers secure sites over non-secure.
Kelly,
This is a fantastic list to have when writing a new blog post. As bloggers, I think we’ve all forgotten one or two items on your list from time to time. This list will also come in handy for revamping old posts. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I can see this one as being updated quite a bit. There is so much to learn when starting out.
Thank you for sharing your great pointers and reminders. I always appreciate reading about other people’s wisdom around resources, hints for blogging, etc. So thanks for your post! I plan to check out the sites you mentioned for good photos!
Thanks for great reminders and sharing your insights. It is always really helpful to read what others do, resources they access, things they consider a priority, etc. I appreciate it!
I am glad you enjoyed my article. Thank you Anne.