What to write about
Let’s take a look at how to find blog post ideas. it is very common to get a writer’s block you sit near the computer and you do not know what to write. If we have structured our blog properly using the method we had described earlier then it kind of becomes easier to think of Ideas to write about.
Since we have the topics in mind, specifically the different categories we would like to write about, we have a fair Idea on what areas we should be writing about.
Example if your blog is about toys for kids, you know that you need to write about maybe
- Educational toys
- Engaging Toys
Structuring a website makes the entire blog creation process very streamlined and easy.
Stay focused on the subject matter of your blog write only about the categories you have selected when you were structuring your blog.
Once you become an authority in your niche you can branch out into other categories for your blog. If you start writing about everything when you start a blog it will dilute the authority of your blog. You start losing focus and you might not be able to rank well in the search engines as well.
So the key is to keep your focus on the categories which you have selected.
This is how I grew my Blog from 0 visitors to 100 visitors ( and growing) per day.
Can I copy someone’s blog post?
Apart from the ethical aspect of copying where it is wrong and should not be done, there is an SEO penalty which you can incur. Google will penalize your website if you copy content. You will also receive the Duplicate Content penalty, that means that your content is a duplicate or plagiarised.
So the short answer is no.
Blog Post Styles
Let us take a look at the various types of Blog posts you can write on your Blog.
#1 How to type articles
These are the easiest type of articles to write for your blog. Using the above example you can write about how to assemble a particular toy or how to use a particular toy.
Such articles are extremely helpful and get shared social media channels.
#2 Information Guides
You can create a super long blog post, which is basically an information guide for your product or service.
Examples
- Best places to visit in –
- How to buy toys for 12 year olds on a budget
Information Guides are usually long guides. They get shared quite a bit on social media. These articles can take some time and effort to write but they are really worth it.
Since they can be super long and can take a lot of time to write you could write one or two such articles every month.
Everyone has something or the other they have learnt over the years. As an example, if your website is about parenting tips you must have learnt so many things.
Share these experiences as blog posts. Do not hesitate to share your experiences. It is natural to think that your experiences are nothing worth sharing. To the contrary your experiences could help someone who is really struggling with a similar issue.
#4 Reviews
Review type articles are the best articles to write because they are very easy and you can make money from such articles quickly. before people buy any product or service they usually ask for recommendation for reviews. the search online for the product name or Service + review.
Product name + review
Service + review
They are trying to find how this product works, is it worth it, what exactly are the features of this product and most importantly will this product serve their need.
#5 List Posts
List posts are very easy to write and people love to share such posts. You can create a list about anything.
These articles are extremely easy to write and also very popular. Share a goal such as lose 10 kgs by December 2019 via a Blog post. Sharing your goal publicly makes you accountable. You now find that you stick to that goal because everyone knows about it.
Also your blog readers will feel like they are watching a reality show. They will come back every week or month, whenever you post the update.
#7 Curated Posts
Research a question or topic and find solutions for that issue. Now curate the content and put together one post answering the issue.
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#8 Question and Answer Posts
I love this post format it is very simple and very powerful. this is the common format which I use for my blogs. When you are writing about a particular topic think about all the possible questions you might have about that particular topic.
Now write these questions down. Next start answering each question. once you are done answering all the questions you have a huge blog post ready to be published.
For example if you are writing if you have shortlisted say10 questions and each of the answers is say 100 words each. Then your final blog post will have 1000 plus words. That’s a long blog post with lot of words with minimal effort.
#9 Other Blog Post Ideas
- Interviews
- Inspirational Posts
- Travel experiences
- Giveaways
- Linky Parties
- Thoughts on some world Topic
- Weekly Favourites
Write a Blog Post
Pick any of the blog topic ideas presented above and let’s get started writing a blog post. Remember that writing for Blogs is very different from writing for a publication or newspaper. The tone of a blog post is more conversational and does not sound official or crisp.
While writing a blog post imagine that you are speaking with a friend. Now type what you would have spoken. Your Blog post is ready.
Yes that is how simple writing a blog post is.
We can take the time and enhance our blog post or make it better once we have written the basic content. Just adding a few extra finishing touches will make the Blog post more helpful and will generate a better response.
How long should you a blog post be
Typically the length of a proposed depends upon what type of blog post you are writing. if you are working on a guide type of a blog post then it could go on to 5000 words or more. Typically other blog post can range anywhere between 700 to 1500 words.
Instead of focusing on the blog length, focus on putting your message across. If it means that you can explain the topic in 1000 words, then the blog post will be 1000 words long.
Search engines tend to rank longer posts higher. It has been found that a minimum of 1300 words is required for good rankings. this does not mean that shorter blog posts do not rank or do not perform well.
I have very small blog post around 300 words long which are performing really well for me. Try to write as much as you can and make them as long as possible but do not let this stop you from writing a blog post.
A detailed blog posts explaining the topic is very helpful for the readers. They will take the time to share your posts and become advocates for ou, promoting you and recommending you.
Effective Blog Post Structure
I find that this particular blog structure which I am about to share with you is easy to write, easy to follow and also gets me a good response. Without a Blog post structure in mind we end up writing random posts in a random format.
What we are looking for is a structure which is easy to work with and gets us results.
Having a blog post structure in mind makes it very easy to write blog post which are helpful and useful to the readers. They have the right key elements which are necessary for triggering a response and evoking an emotion with your readers.
Let’s look at a general structure for a Blog post.
- Post Title
- Header Image
- Introduction
- List of Contents
- Article ( main content)
- Conclusion
You can always skip a section or add new elements to a section. For example I always try to add infographics and videos to the article section.
Post Title
The title of the post is very important for the post. When a visitor lands on your blog if your title is not catchy they will not click through to your article. Spend some time in researching some quality titles for your blog post.
Here is a simple trick on how to do that.
Go to buzzsumo.com and Type in your keyword or topic
Look at the Blog Post titles of Top ranking blog posts for that topic.
Format your Blog post title similarly.
Header Image
Try to Include an image in your blog post. If the image could be a summary of what you are trying to achieve through the blog post it would be very helpful. Adding an image to the blog post adds to the visual appeal of the plug post.
It also adds a backlink in Google. People can find your blog post via images.google.com
Sometimes it is easier to rank an image in Google than ranking your blog posts.
Introduction
Follow the image with an introduction to the blog post. In this section tell what you will be what can be expected in this blog post. Inform the reader of the benefits they will get from the post. Once again remind the reader regarding the problem which your article will address.
Examples of Introduction
- In the introduction you can ask a question which you can then answer in that article.
- Describe a problem which the blog post is trying to address.
List of Contents
After the introduction it would be best if you could give a summary of all the points you will Writing in the blog post.
Article
In this section you will actually write the article. be as detailed as you can answer every question the user might have regarding that product or service. in depth answers automatically mean that your blog post will be thorough and long. Google and all search engines love long content. Your visitors will also engage better with longer articles. Metrics such as the time on site, bounce rate will will also improve. These in turn will help improve your search engine rankings.
Conclusion
In the conclusion section summarise the article and reiterate the main points. In this section we are simply trying to bring a kind of closure to the article.
Ask for Comments and Feedback
Towards the end of the article ask your readers for feedback or ask them a question. Unless you ask somebody they will not leave you a comment or provide any feedback. You can even ask them to share your article with their friends.
How to make a Blog post better
You can increase the visual appeal of the Blog post as well as provide more value by incorporating some of these elements.
- Images
- Videos
- Citations
- Infographics
- Podcasts
Different people assimilate information differently. Some are visual and like videos and images. Others like to listen to podcasts. You can target different categories of people if you diversify the medium.
Caution: Do not diversify too much or you will lose focus. Take it step by step.
Infographics are a combination of graphics and information. They are a visual representation of your article.
What is Video Blog Post
Think of a blog but as a video – that is a vlog. How this is done is you research a topic, shoot a video and upload it to a video sharing site such as YouTube.
A video blog post is a blog post which includes content in a video format. The video could be the major part of the content in the blog post or it could be used to help users understand the topic better.
This is what how I use the power of video to supercharge my blogging.
- I think of a topic and create a Blog post.
- Since I have already done the research for the Blog post, I have an outline for my video. Usually the video is similar to the Blog post, just in a video format.
- I film it using my smartphone. Yes, video quality is better with a recorder like Canon, but I prefer my smartphone.
- Next you edit the video. Delete all sections you do not want. Film sections which you might have missed or that need rework.
- Add a intro to the video and an outro. Intro could be a general script which you always say at the beginning of the video. Outro is what you always say at the end of the video. ( check the format below)
- Upload it to YouTube or Vimeo or Instagram or Facebook. I upload to Youtube
- Embed the video into the Blog Post
Example Intro
Hi my name is —- I make videos about —- In this video we shall be reviewing ——. To watch more such videos do remember to hit the red subscribe button below and turn on the notifications.
Outro
So that was how —- What is your favourite method of —-? Leave me a comment and hit the like button if you love watching… videos.
Be creative, and make videos with enthusiasm. Try to inform as much as you can and you will find that you will get more and more subscribers.
Read Next – How to promote a Blog Post ( Increase Traffic, Get Noticed, Fast) Effectively for Free
This post first appeared on indianmomvlogs.com
This article is a part of the #startablog series and appeared first on indianmomvlogs.com
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