From conception to promotion, there’s a lot of effort that goes into a single blog post. New bloggers might be wondering how to get started with blogging and maintain a process that works for them.
Remember that blog posts, like any online content, are much easier to produce and promote when there’s a system in place for you to work within. Chris Ducker has created a blueprint for the blog post process, which covers the four main stages of blogging:
Creation
- Research and write the content
- Decide on a keyword-rich title
- Add sub-headings so that readers can scan easily
- Do a spell check on the post
- Add links to archived content as well external sources
Tip: Always write the post in Word (for example) instead of the CMS so that you don’t accidentally lose all your work.
Layout
- Insert relevant, high-quality images
- Embed any audio or video (instead of linking to it)
- Choose some great SEO tags
- Schedule or publish your post immediately
Tip: The correct SEO tags include the post title, meta description, keywords and the “alt tag” on an image.
Promotion
After your post goes live, it’s time to promote it. Makes sure that you link to it in email newsletters and on all social media platforms where you’re active. (Twitter is one place where you can promote your post often without coming across as spammy.)
Try to extend your post’s reach by mentioning it in podcasts and/or videos, linking to it with popular hashtags, and posting it in (relevant) community forums.
Ongoing Marketing
You can keep you blog post alive by doing the following:
- Use social media schedulers (like Buffer) to regularly promote the post.
- Whenever you create new content that’s similar to the topic of a previous blog post, make sure to link to it within the text or add it as a related article somewhere.
- Link to valuable blog posts in email signatures and auto-responders (within reason).
Check out the blueprint for creating and promoting a blog post perfectly every time:
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