5 Easy Steps To Acing Your First Blog Post

As a small business, having a blog post is essential as it's a brilliant way to generate leads and drive traffic to your website. You may be wondering how to get started or what are the different elements required to create a standout blog post. In this post, I outline a step-by-step process you can follow to create a simple and engaging post. 

1. Pick Your Topic 

A great way to select a topic to expand on is to start by choosing a subject which relates to a product you sell or service you provide. Choose 5-8 topic categories and write your posts based on these. This process will help you stay focused and will ensure your posts remain relevant. Selecting a topic will also save you time in the long run and will prevent you from falling into the rut of not having any topic ideas. 

2. Brainstorm Ideas 

Brainstorm ideas of what you want to talk about by dividing the topic into subheadings. Think about five different points or content categories that you can discuss. Consider exploring the different pain points your target audience experiences and provide solutions to them in each section. Answering a question or addressing a pain point also has the added benefit of increasing your search engine rankings online. 

3. Do your keyword research.

Keyword research is essential because it helps with your SEO, which means that it helps your audience find your content online. Use a search engine tool to find out what competition and volume your content idea has. What you want is to find a keyword phrase that is high in volume but low in competition. The longer the keyword phrase, the better especially when it comes to your blog post phrase. Longer keyword phrases have less competition and improve your chances of your post coming up in the search.

4. Write a catchy headline or title. 

You want to make sure your headline includes your chosen keyword phrase. The catchier the phrase the more likely your audience will click through it. Also, increase the click-through rate by adding numbers to your headline. It's a tactic that newspapers and tabloids use, and you can utilise it too.

5. Outline your blog post

An outline is a simple plan of how your blog content will look within the post. Outlining ensures that your copy flows and can be a remedy for writer's block. This outline will help you with making sure the text flows and that you haven't missed any critical elements. To get started, simply write down a few bullet points or subheadings of what you want to write. And, if you need to, you can do some research at this point to help you with fleshing out and writing your blog post.

So are you ready to jump in and ace that first blog post? Start small, start simple and start today. You can certainly do it and just remember, your audience will appreciate you sharing those golden nuggets of wisdom.