How To Write Your First Blog Post & Absolutely Kill It
So, you want to be a blogger aye? Well, welcome to a world filled with more than 440 million blogs. But, don’t let that discourage you. I am going to tell you how to write your first blog post and absolutely kill it doing so.
Decide On Your Blog Topic
As a first-time blogger, you have the opportunity to write your blog post on just about anything you want!
But first, take a second to think about it. You really want to make a killing with your first blog post, don’t you?
When choosing your blog topic, consider:
- Your blog’s niche
- The audience you will be writing for
- The extent of your knowledge on the topic
- If it is actually worth writing about
- If your future audience will be interested in the topic
Now, we’re not saying your topic should reflect all things considered, but keep them in mind when choosing not only your first blog topic but every blog topic you decide on down the road.
Have fun with it while you can! Once you’re a popular blogger, choosing a topic will keep getting harder and harder as your list of topics dwindle.
If you ever get stuck on coming up with a topic to blog about head on over to Google Trends. Google Trends is a great tool for finding trending topics that people are searching for all around the world.
Find The Perfect Keyword To Focus On
Oh no! I am sorry, but you’re going to have to do a little research.
Sparring you a full-blown lesson on the importance of keyword research, I will give you just a quick summary.
Basically, keywords are the words or phrases your audience will use to search for your topic.
Google is smart enough to identify if your blog has these words or phrases throughout your blog post. Therefore, you need to find a keyword you can use throughout your blog and in your post’s title.
Alright, there it is…your SEO lesson for the day.
Here are 3 easy ways of finding and choosing a focus keyword for your blog post:
1.) Google Suggestions
Real quick…head on over to Google and begin typing your topic of choice into the search bar. You will notice that Google will begin spitting out suggestions to you even before you finish typing. Although these are not necessarily keywords (these are LSI words/phrases), they serve a similar purpose.
You can use one of these phrases as your focus keyword. Type in different variations of your topic and take note of all the possibilities you can use.
The Google Keyword Planner is my tool of choice for finding keywords. Type in your topic in the “Discover New Keywords” option and Google will provide you with a list of keywords and phrases relating to your topic.
Along with each keyword, you can see the average monthly search volume and competition level. Choose a focus keyword that has a high average monthly search volume and a low competition rating.
3.) WordStream
WordStream is a website for quick keyword research. Simply type in your topic, select a relating industry (if applicable), select a country and hit Search.
WordStream will provide you with a list of keywords relating to your topic along with the keyword’s Google Search Volume.
Take your time researching possible keywords for your blog to focus on. Make sure you can incorporate them into your writing organically.
Using keywords in your writing will help Google and other search engines rank and identify what your blog post is about, as well as, help your audience find your post through search engines.
Choose A Blog Template
Now that you have your topic and keyword it is time to decide on a blog template to follow. Templates can make writing your blog easier and are important for constructing your blog’s structure.
Below are some types of blog templates that popular blogs use:
1.) How To Blog Template
A How-To blog template is written as a step-by-step guide that an audience can follow. You literally use this template to tell your audience How To do something!
2.) What Is Blog Template
A What Is blog is for when your audience is looking for an answer. These blog templates are great to use if you want to showcase your knowledge on a topic, as well as, for providing a further explanation on a subject.
3.) Infographic Blog Template
Oh yeah, this is a good one! This blog template is a graphic designer’s dream! Infographic Blogs are known to facilitate the most engagement, especially if they are strikingly appealing.
With this blog template, your focus should be more on creating an Infographic opposed to writing the blog itself. There is a lot of extra work but definitely worth it.
4.) List Blog Template
Do you really need an explanation for this one? These templates are for blogs you write where you list off just about anything of your choosing. List blogs include lists of examples, tips, resources, etc.
5.) News Blog Template
This blog template is for when you want to bank off of a journalist’s work by writing about a trending news story or topic. These types of blogs are perfect for if you have an opinion on something that is currently headlining.
To find a blog template, turn to Google and search for one of these templates. There are plenty of blog templates available online that can be downloaded as word docs or as PDFs.
Outline Your Writing
Organize how you want your thoughts to appear on the page before you start tapping away on the keyboard.
You will thank your 10th grade English teacher for this. Remember all those steps you had to take when writing an essay for school? This is essentially one of those steps.
You want to gather your thoughts and outline how you’re going to write your first blog post.
Typically, you will have your amazing title which translates to the H1 of your blog post. This is then followed by an introduction to your piece.
From there, you can break up your writing into sub-sections, starting each section with a second header, also referred to as your H2.
Outlining will help you stay organized and will provide you with a visual on how your ideas connect and flow with one another.
Write! Write! Write!
Finally! Now you can begin writing!
I am not going to tell you how to write but take into consideration your target audience. Cater your writing to them. Or don’t, it’s your blog, I can’t tell you how to write it.
Consider the length of your piece though. For a first time blogger, it is recommended that you focus on creating lengthy and high-quality writing pieces.
If you are using examples or references from other people’s work, give credit to the source by adding a link back to where you found your information.
Proofread! Proofread! Proofread!
Even famous authors have someone proofread their work before it is sent for publishing. And I hate to break it to you, but you’re most likely not on the same level as Steven King or Ernest Hemingway.
You need to go back and reread your work.
Again, this goes back to writing essays in 10th grade, except it’s more exciting.
Instead of a book essay where you are trying to analyze whether or not you successfully explained what the author meant by “the curtains were blue,” you are rereading your work on a subject you actually care about.
You will thank yourself for doing this. A few things are going to happen when you proofread.
First off, you will realize how bad your grammar is. Below are more reasons why you need to proofread your first blog post:
- To catch any spelling errors.
- To see how your ideas and thoughts connect.
- To get a feel of the overall flow of the post.
- To see if you’re writing actually makes sense.
- To find spots where you can add more information.
- To identify any other flaws in your writing.
Find The Perfect Image
Simply put, people love visuals.
Not only can it be appealing to the reader, but the media also breaks up your writing. Visual breaks throughout your piece will make your first blog post look less intimidating.
Media helps craft the story and contributes to telling it. It engages the reader, keeping them on your page and urging them to finish reading your post.
It is just as important as having a catchy title. They will catch the reader’s eyes, creating curiosity.
After proofreading, find some images to incorporate into your writing.
It is encouraged to create your own but if you don’t have time to do so, much like me, you can look for free images to use online.
Pixabay and Pexels are two image sharing websites that allow you to download and use stock imagery for free.
If you’re pushing more towards using images, check out how to use images in your blog. Neil Patel does a great job explaining how to incorporate images into your blog posts.
Get A Second Opinion
Before you leap out of the plane, you should probably get a second opinion before doing so.
The same goes for your blog post. Get a second opinion on your writing before uploading it for the world to see.
I recommend going with an unbiased acquaintance or someone who tells it how it is.
Avoid handing it over to people who are nice to you. As much as you love your mom’s approval, she’s not going to give you the best feedback.
If you have a group of asshole friends you’re golden. They will criticize the hell out of your writing which in the end will better your first blog post altogether. They will be the ones to point out the flaws and mistakes.
If you don’t know anyone who can provide this kind of feedback, I suggest you start hanging out with meaner people.
Any unbiased opinion on your writing will help you in the long run.
You can tailor your writing to their criticisms and make the necessary edits before uploading it to the internet, which doesn’t have a track record of being the nicest place.
Like seriously, people are brutal on there.
Upload Your Post To Your Blog
After fine-tuning your first blog post, you can now upload it for everyone to see.
Most blogging platforms have a self-explanatory way of uploading blogs, but there are a few aspects that I want to cover so your blog not only looks beautiful but kills it overall.
I want to cover the tags you will be using when uploading your blog to the internet:
- <h1>: This is the tag you are going to use for your title.
- <h2>: You use these tags for your sub-headers throughout your blog post.
- <p>: p tags are paragraph tags. In-between your p tags are where you will put your paragraphs.
- <a href>: Is a tag you will use for any resource links you are including throughout your blog.
- <strong>: strong tags will bold any words you have in-between them.
- <em>: em tags will italicize any words you have between them.
- <li>: li tags are used for making lists. They will display bulleted points.
When posting, you need to come up with a title and meta description for search engines. Your title should be catchy and your meta should describe what the post is about. Both the title and meta should include the keyword you chose earlier.
Other steps that can be included when uploading your blog post are choosing and category as well as creating a slug for your blog post’s web page.
Promote Your First Blog Post
Congrats! Your first blog post has been uploaded, but your work is not done yet!
How are people going to know about your super-amazing blog if you don’t tell them about it?
Head on over to every social media account you have and blast the news in everyone’s face repeatedly!
Encourage them to share your post, leave their thoughts, etc. You want to encourage as much engagement on your blog post as possible.
The more your first blog post is shared the better your chances are for reaching a wider audience.
Eventually, you should create social media accounts specifically for your blog feed. This is a necessity for when you reach stardom and need to separate your personal social accounts from your blog.
Use any social media platform you want. Check out the differences between social media platforms. Pinterest is great for gaining traffic, Facebook is great to stay in touch with your audience, Instagram is perfect for highlighting your visuals and LinkedIn is…well…just LinkedIn.