Ever wonder what all to include in a blog post before you publish it? I know, the blogging world can get overwhelming with all the jobs that we have to do on a daily basis. As bloggers, we normally have to be the writer, editor, social media manager, graphic designer, SEO expert, email marketer, and more! Bloggers + Biz owners wear A LOT of hats!
Did you know that most companies have a different department + workers for each of those roles listed above and we tend to do most of those roles ourselves!
So I decided to write this post filled with helpful tips on what to add to a blog post before you publish it and what to do right after you publish it. The second post will be up next week!
The methods listed in this post have helped me maximize my exposure, grow my traffic and get over 1k shares on most blog posts throughout social media.
Ready to move on with awesomeness?!
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Table of Contents
What To Do Before You Publish Your Blog Post
1. Add Value To The Post
Ever heard of the saying “Content Matters?” Well, it surely does! It’s very important to make sure that you pack your blog posts with a TON of value that your readers can take away with them after reading your posts.
Most readers like it when writers include things such as data charts, photos, and more because they normally want to see “proof” of how you achieved your goals. So, pack your post with high-quality photos and with a ton of helpful tips and/or encouragement to help solve your reader’s problems.
If you aren’t sure where to find high-quality stock photos for FREE check out this post that lists 20+ places online to find FREE stock photos by clicking here!
Additionally, most posts that I have read with a lot of value often are 1000+ words. Not only do most readers like it when you write longer posts with value but Google favors it too.
I always focus on what my readers will gain when they read my posts and try to fill them with helpful tips to help them on their blog + biz journey. Most of the time my posts are 1500+ words.
2. Add A Catchy Title With Keywords
One of the most important pieces of your blog post is the title. A blogger can have the BEST content in the world but if their title is not strong it might not get the attention it deserves. This means most people will overlook the post and never see that person’s awesome content.
So, make sure to add strong and relevant keywords to the title of your post. When a person creates a strong and catchy title with relevant keywords it stands out and has a higher chance to very be successful if the post is followed with great value and helpful content.
If you are Looking for the best headline titles for your blog posts check out CoSchedule headline analyzer! It’s a free tool you can use to help develop strong blog post titles. It also gives you a score to help analyze your titles and strengthens them. Check out the app here! You can also check out this helpful article on how to write strong titles by clicking here!
3. Research! Research! Research!
Make sure to go the extra mile and do a ton of research on your topic. Also, find out what’s popular in your niche and then focus on those areas when you write posts.
Not sure what’s popular in your niche? Check out BuzzSumo!! With this site, you can enter relevant niche keywords and it will show you the most shared articles in your niche! Pretty cool, right?!
4. Check For Grammar Errors
Ok! This is what I will be hiring an intern to help me with this fall. With so many things to do to run a successful business, I definitely need the extra hands-on board to help with proofing reading Arts and Budget’s weekly blog posts.
The truth is, nobody is perfect but I highly recommend reading a post multiple times to check for errors!
I know how easy it can be to overlook a misspelled words and other grammar errors so I started using a tool called Grammarly which has helped me with checking for errors in my posts. If you are looking for a FREE tool to help with grammar errors for your posts, check them out!
Additionally, creating posts with no grammar errors helps your audience “trust” your writing and it also shows that you took the time out to develop a well-written post– and that will go a long way with your readers.
5. Make Sure it’s SEO Friendly
During my first year of blogging, I didn’t focus on SEO really at all– Don’t make that same mistake. SEO is super super super important! I mean super important! ( ok! I think you get it, ha)
But, with the RIGHT SEO, your blog has the opportunity to drive massive traffic to it and grow a TON because it will drive people from search engines DAILY to your blog! That’s huge, Yo!
So, add relevant keywords to all your titles & your posts! Also, If you want to go the extra mile add keywords to all your images in your post as well.
I recently became very focused on SEO and how to find the best keywords for each of my blog posts. To help with this, I started using the WordPress plugin SEO Yoast and the Google site, Google keyword planner! Both tools have been nothing short of AMAZING!
6.Add Links Of Past Blog Posts
This is a huge GEM that I recently started implementing on my posts and it has worked wonders! To increase your page views add links of past posts into your new posts also known as interlinking. Make sure that the other post(s) are relevant and on topic with the new post topic.
For example, if you write a blog post on “Ways To Make Extra Money” then you might include past posts such as “ How To Make Money Traveling”, “How To Pay Down Debt To Increase Income” and “Creative Ways To Make Money In Your Town” in the new post. All the posts focus on ways to make or save money.
If you look closely at the beginning of this post you will find relevant past posts linked in this post.
7. Ask A Question At The End
One of the best ways to spark engagement on your post is by asking a question at the end of the post. A lot of time readers need a reason to comment and most of the time leaving a question at the end helps spark that type of engagement. It also gives you a chance to connect with your readers on a more personal level.
8. Make Multiple Images For Each Post
Before I publish any post I also create different social media images for each post. For example, for Pinterest, I like to design 2 to 3 pinnable images for each post.
Then I put the images that I created at the beginning of my blog post. It makes it much easier to pin right to Pinterest from the post. So get creative and make 2 to 3 different images for each post for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc!
So there you have it! What are some ways you get your blog posts ready before you publish them?!
This list is perfect! The only thing I don’t do on this list is ask a question at the bottom of my post. I used to, but realized that no one ever answered the question! Also, my husband and I were just talking about all the different roles I play in my business. It’s insane!
OMG!! Yesssss, it truly insaneeeee! I was just talking to my husband about the same thing. I
never realized how many hats bloggers + Biz owners wear until I wrote this post, lol! 🙂
Thanks for stopping, Tiffany! You Rock! 🙂
Great post and tips that I will use today. I am always about maximizing my traffic and these are good ideas to keep in mind during my writing especially about SEO.
I’m working on getting my blog posts to that 300-word comment level… 🙂
I will be trying to incorporate all of these tips in my next blog post! You are a gem 🙂
Great info! This post is super helpful; not only new bloggers, but there’s even some things experienced bloggers can take from this!
I need to check out BuzzSumo! I’ve heard great things about it, but it looks awesome! Heading over to check it out now, thanks for the recommendation!
Content truly does matter. There are so many blogs out there now and it’s important to not only create good content, but unique content.
I love your tips and I love your site!! I’ve been really trying to focus on SEO lately and picking my keywords wisely!
This is a good list and very helpful. I definitely like asking a question to help engage viewers and get their opinion.
Very good reminder for fellow bloggers. I always make sure that I have pictures on my post as it boosts the appeal to readers. SEO friendly posts are definitely important if you want more traffic! Love these tips!
Thanks for all the tips. Grammar errors always stand out to me and kill credibility.
Really great tips. It easy to look past things when you are trying to get your content out, but with a little extra work and time you can create really engaging posts for your readers.
This list is great! These are some things that I do before publishing a post. I don’t always post to older posts, but I’m trying! What I really can’t stand is when big companies work with bloggers that have horrible spelling! It irks me. Like why pay someone big bucks if they can’t even spell?
This is wonderful. I know this will help a lot of people. Making sure the post is SEO friendly is something I have been working on lately and it really does help a ton
These are such great tips! Thanks so much for sharing!
LOVE this and thank you for sharing. I absolutely needed a few tips here to enhance my blog such as the CoSchedule. I will check that out ASAP. Thanks once again.
This is all wonderful advice! I’m sure new bloggers will appreciate this insight!
Great idea! There are so many things you should do to get maximum exposure. I’m going to follow this!
This is so important, thanks for sharing. They do say that writing is the least of the work and everything else follows.
It’s important to research about the topic especially if you’re required to write something that you know little about. These are all great tips! Perfect for bloggers who’d love to improve on their blog posts.
These are great tips, I agree with the length-people have short attention spans, but not THAT short. I feel ripped off when I come to post and it has just a paragraph or so. The title too is so important. I read a great tip about titles by another blogger who said to ensure it’s not just catchy, but also relevant. That was pretty big for me to read…I come from a fiction writing background, and with stories, you make pretty strange titles that don’t always make sense or reveal anything at the start. It’s different for article, so that was important for me to grasp. Catchy, but also relevant!
Blogging is a challenging but rewarding thing to do. I totally agree with your tips! This is a very helpful post especially for newbies.
What a great list! I’ve been blogging for several years, but just recently have been implementing ways to increase exposure. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
These are great tips! I work for a marketing firm, and you’re so right: SEO is huge! Can’t wait to read more!
Great tips! Bookmarking Google Keyword Planner now! Thanks!
What a great list you’ve made! I absolutely hate working on SEO but it’s super important to grow and allows readers to find you!
What great tips to ensure your blog work gets noticed! I’ve done mot of these but haven’t on some! Definitely going to try these new ways and see how it does for me! Thanks!
Thanks for your tips they are amazing. I really do need to start paying more attention to SEO so that my blog can grow..
I’m definitely bookmarking this post. This sums up everything I ever needed to know. Thank you
This is such great advice. I know that I try so hard to do everything but there are some things on this list I need to remember.
Especially loved the buzz sumó suggestion!!!! Thank you!
Thanks for the tips. These are very useful for me! Bookmarking this!
Lots of great value in this post. Way to share and be unstoppable!
Awesome resources! I will have to check them out!
These tips are so different from what I’ve seen before and so handy! Thank you for this post xx
http://www.pagesfrombeth.co.uk
This was a very helpful post. I like how you didn’t just give us the tips, you also provided links to resources that would help us be able to complete the list.
Very good tips especially for people who are beginning and even for us who need a refresher! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Great tips, thanks so much! I love the headline helper. I try to focus on SEO, but even when I do keyword analysis and then use Yoast SEO, I’m STILL not really getting any organic search hits to my posts. I wonder if it takes awhile for Google to rank websites and show blog posts in search results. I only started a couple months ago.
Yes! Love this list. Adding a question at the end is one of those things I only do semi regularly so thanks for the reminder!
Great last! I had to go back and add at least one more Pinterest graphic to each of my posts.
One thing I would add is I always use Pinterest keywords in my description of my images in the alt section so if somebody pins a photo from my page, my description and my keywords accompany that graphic.
I just started really getting into SEO and I have definitely seen positive results! Now I would like to work on including more links in my posts and creating more pinnable images. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Hi Latasha, great post!
I’m so glad to be reminded about BuzzSumo and CoSchedule. They offer great tools to help take blog posts to the next level for sure. 🙂
Another great SEO keyword tool is Keysearch. It is a paid tool, but I’ve found it invaluable! I’ve just started to get my SEO game going, and it’s hard but rewarding at the same time.
Keep up the good work!
Stephanie
Healthy, Savvy & Wise