One thing I am really passionate about is passing forward and sharing what I learn, especially if I find it quite valuable.
And one of the ways that I like to pass forward and share is through my blog posts.
One thing that I have learned, that I am going to pass forward is the step-by-step guide that I use to write high quality blog posts… especially when I don’t have any time or ideas.
I want to always make sure that I have countless ideas on hand, and that I’m always able to have blog posts published regardless of how busy my schedule is.
This is something that I hope would help you out as well, whether or not you’re a beginner.
Just like with anything else in our lives, when you consistently develop and practice routines over a long period of time, you would eventually perfect your skills and your content, growing from there.
You can read further, or you can just go straight to the YouTube video:
How to Write High Quality Blog Posts QUICK – write content quickly & never run out of ideas!
Step 1 – Coming up with Ideas
For me, I get the ideas for my blog posts from the books that I read, podcasts, audiobooks, YouTube videos, and even Instagram posts.
But I’ll be honest here, the only time that I come up with ideas for my blog posts, is when I don’t plan to write.
It’s only when I am not writing, I come up with all the ideas for my next blog post.
When I think of an idea, I immediately list them down, and then eventually when the time comes for me to begin writing a new blog post, I have a whole bunch of ideas to choose from.
Since I only spend a small part of my day writing, and the rest of the day doing other things, I tend to come up with blog post ideas then. My brain is on a endless loop of ideas 24/7 and that’s how I never run out of stuff to write about.
If an idea pops into your head, my number one recommendation is that you write it down right away. It can be through your phone or on paper, it doesn’t matter, as long as you write it down.
The last thing that you want is to forget something that could’ve easily been an incredible blog post.
The more times you list ideas, the better, and it decreases the chances of having writer’s block.
What’s also important as well when it comes to creating content in general is that you actually create content based on what you enjoy.
Think about what content you actually want to create on, because it’s the drive of creating something you enjoy that would make the process worthwhile.
And you don’t even have to come up with ideas on your own, you can find books, podcasts, or even YouTube videos to do some of your research and share your perspective. As long as it’s something you’re interested in.
Step 2 – Dot Points (outlining & formatting)
Obviously, we want the blog posts to be easy to understand and is clear to read.
Before you proceed with getting straight into writing, you want to first outline what you’re going to write in the blog post. You want to format it clearly so that it will be easy to read for your readers and it’s easy to understand.
Because if you just go straight into writing, you will end up being unsure on what direction you’re taking that blog post. Then it’ll be hard for your readers to understand because you’ll be talking about one thing, and then talking about an entirely different thing. That’s why it’s important to outline what you plan to put in your blog post.
Put dot points in and then just expand them briefly.
Another reason why putting it in dot points helps is that it makes the entire writing process seem less dreadful. You get a whole outline completed, and all you have to do is expand it.
Step 3 – Turn the dot points into paragraphs
This is where you turn those dot points into paragraphs and expand on them. It’s easier to write more now since the blog post is already outlined, and all you have to do is expand on the dot points you have already written.
The blog post would be able to properly flow and is easy to read and understand.
This is an easy step of the writing process, especially since you already have a clear outline on what you’re going to write.
Soon enough, once you expand all the dot points into paragraphs, you already have a blog post almost completed!
Step 4 – Add in featured photos
I don’t really focus much on the featured photos on my blog posts, unless it’s a travel blog post.
I usually add photos in my blog posts if I feel like it’s relevant to what I am discussing and talking about in the post.
The most important photo that I focus on however is the featured photo. It’s the cover photo of the blog. It’s the photo that people would see before they click on the blog post.
Don’t underestimate the importance of having a good cover photo for your blog. Having a good cover photo for your blog is the same as having a good YouTube thumbnail for your video.
People would click on a video based on how they like the thumbnail, it’s the same with a blog post as well.
I always want to make sure that the cover photos that I pick not only is relevant to my blog post, but is also still matching the colour theme to my website.
For example, I look for photos already on my phone’s camera roll. I wrote a blog post on how starting something new is like being on a roller coaster. Obviously, the photo that I picked was of a roller coaster that I took when I went to Disney California Adventure.
You don’t have to be a professional photographer to have a good cover photo for your blog post, all you need is a photo that is relevant to whatever you’re talking about!
Step 5 – TITLE
This is the last thing to do after writing your entire blog post. This is because the title needs to relate to the content in your blog post, and it’s hard to do the title in the beginning if you don’t have your content written yet.
I used to ignore having a good title for my blog posts before. But then I noticed how I click on articles based on whether I liked the title of it. Hence, I had to do the same thing for my blog posts as well.
How you can decide on your titles (how I did so as well!) is to read over your blog post, and pick up the most frequent key words or ideas that you always bring up, and then formulate your title from there.
For instance with my blog post on how starting something is like going on a roller coaster, I picked up on how I was always mentioning the roller coaster analogy in the post. From there, I formulated my title based on what has been frequently mentioned.
I like to make use of the Headline Analyser that WordPress provides to show how clickable and searchable your title is. I make use of it each time and it gives me a good idea on how good my title actually is. Because I may think that a particular title is good, but then it turns out to not be searchable or clickable at all.
Step 6 – Proofreading
This is a bit of an obvious one.
You don’t want to lose credibility for a simple silly grammar or spelling mistake.
This is my biggest nightmare, and honestly my proofreading takes forever.
For some reason, it’s only after I had proofread my blog post three times I start to pick up on the mistakes that I have made.
I made it a rule to not publish my blog post until I have proofread it three times without having to make any edits. This is something that you can do as well.
Proofreading once is good, but honestly, it’s only after you have read it over and over again you start to pick up on some mistakes.
It’s like with an assignment… you don’t really notice the small mistakes the first time, but then the teacher ends up picking up the mistakes that you didn’t even notice.
It’s the same for a blog post, except you’re going to pick up the mistakes before anyone else does.
Start Writing Your Blog Post Now
So yeah, just start! It doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as you give it a go.
Writing one blog post is just the start, but when done consistently overtime, you’ll continue to maximise your skills, just like with anything else you implement!
Again, you can watch the YouTube video below:
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