How to write a blog post for better SEO

Do you want to know how to write an article blog so you can communicate more effectively with your customers?

Although blogging is essential to growing your business, it can be difficult to know exactly where to start.

The good news is that it's easy to write solid blog posts if you have a good system in place, and that's why we're writing this article.

In this comprehensive guide, we will show you step by step how to write an article blog post that ranks highly in Google search and engages your audience.

What is a blog?

Before you can learn how to write a blog post, you need to know what a blog post is.

Blog posts are unique pieces of content that are published on a website or blog.

The term 'blog' is short for what used to be called a 'weblog'.

Some blogs are standalone websites with nothing but blog posts as their content.

In other cases, a blog is a section of an e-commerce website that typically posts company information, industry news, or informative articles.

Usually a blog post will include media such as images or videos.

However, written content is the key to blog posts.

YouTube channels are not blogs because they are just videos.

Likewise, an image feed such as an Instagram account is also not a blog.

Why are blog posts important for bloggers?

Here are some of the main reasons why your business can benefit from the Content marketing.

Build credibility
Brand promotion
Relationship Building
Generation of leads. According to Kapost, Content marketing can produce up to three times more leads than you can earn with paid search.

Here are some statistics that demonstrate the benefits of blogging.

Le Content marketing is 62% cheaper than traditional marketing methods. Because blogging is easy to do and so affordable, it's a simple way to add value to your business.
Blog posts influence about 6% of e-commerce sales in an online store. When companies blog consistently for a year, that number doubles to 12%.
Less than 89% of marketers say content marketing is an essential marketing strategy.
Americans spend three times as long to read blog content than they spend to read email content.
When you have a blog on your business website, your chances of ranking higher in Google increase by 434%.

Are you convinced? Let’s dive in and learn how to write a blog post.

What makes a good blog post?

It's easy to learn how to write a blog post and you can have content in minutes.

But what makes a blog post exceptional enough to stand out from the crowd (and rank in Google)?

First, a good blog post should fill a need for your readers.

Is there a need or demand for the content you write?

Second, your blog post should directly address a problem or concern your reader is trying to address.

A blog post should provide a complete solution.

Finally, keep in mind that your readers are the people you are writing for.

If you were looking for a query on Google, what would you read?

A word of caution

If you have any ideas, cover them in detail.

Don't aim for 2000 words. Quality objective.

Otherwise, writing long articles just to fill words adds no value to your audience.

If your readers are unhappy with your articles, they will not share your content and attract no comments or backlinks.

Choose an interesting topic that interests your readers and fill it with detailed information without any problem.

So there's no point in writing detailed content if you have nothing to say.

Steps needed to write a blog post

Writing an effective blog post is simple when you break the process down into steps.

Below, we take you step-by-step through the blog post writing process from start to finish.

Step 1: Planning a blog post

Before you start writing your blog post, it's essential to do some solid planning and research.

Subject

What topic should you write about?

The options for a blog post idea are infinite, but what you write depends on:

From your expertise: What are you most qualified to write about? What topic do you know better than anyone?
Market need: What are your potential readers looking for?
From your own interests: It's important that you enjoy writing about it. If you don't, the process will be miserable for you. If you're determined to produce content on a topic you're not passionate about, you can outsource the writing. We'll discuss that later.
From the niche: For example, if you have a WordPress cooking blog, we don't recommend writing about unrelated topics like technology. How your content fits into your overall website is something Google takes into consideration.
Research statistics: Doing some research to find out what's popular and frequently searched for in Google can give you some ideas for topics. For this research, you can consult your competitors or explore Google Trends.

Research of competitors

Now that you've identified a great blog idea and are ready to learn more about how to write a blog post, the first thing you need to do is conduct competitor research.

There are several great tools available that can streamline this process for you, but you can start with a Google search for your topic.

Your competitors are the websites that rank on the first page of a Google search for your topic.

Look at their articles and take a close look at what they are doing that has brought them to the top.

How is their title structured?
What are the keywords in their titles (H2 and H3)?
Is there anything they haven't covered that you can add to your blog to be more comprehensive?
What did they do extremely well in their article and how can you improve it?
How does their target audience engage with the content? Here are some examples: social media and blog post comments.
Is their website mobile-friendly?
How much traffic do they get for their article?

To determine how much traffic a blog post is getting, there are some great tools that can help.

Pro tip: use a tool like Frase.io

Phrase.io is one of the best affordable tools for researching and creating competitive content.

Frase.io sorts through the best search results for your query and identifies the most relevant content for what you are looking for.

Once you enter your query into Frase.io, the tool produces rich summaries that include:

Key stats that competitors' articles mention
Similar topics found in competitors' articles
Relevant summary points that your competitors are using

Search by keyword

You have identified your topic and conducted the planning for your blog. Now is the time to find the keywords that will help you land on the first page of Google.

Search intent

Your content should focus on search intent. Search intent is why people search for information, and it's also what they expect to find.

Before you start researching your keywords, spend some time analyzing a potential reader's search intent.

Here's what happens when you pay attention to search intent:

It helps to assess the competition
It improves the chances of ranking for primary keywords
It satisfies your audience
It builds credibility

There are four main types of search intent.

Informational intent: Readers are looking for information and knowledge. They may be looking for a quick answer to a question or a deeper understanding of their search query.
Transactional intention: The visitor is looking for a place to buy an item.
Browsing intent: The visitor knows where he wants to go and looks for how to get there.
Business intent: The customer knows that he wants to buy a product or service, but he is looking for brands, types of products or looking for special offers.

Keyword research tools

Let's summarize four of the most popular keyword research tools:

Google Keyword Planner
Google Trends
Surf SEO
Ahrefs

1. Google Keyword Planner

When it comes to classic keyword tools, the Google Keyword Planner is excellent.

Although Google's tool is a bit clunky, the information it gives you comes directly from Google, so you know it's completely legit.

Google Keyword Planner is also free, so that's a huge bonus.

Here is a complete Google Keyword Planner tutorial.

2. Google Trends

Another great tool from Google, Google Trends finds search trends and new keyword ideas.

The first thing to do is to search for specific keywords.
Look at the section called “Related queries”.
Use the graph to see if the keyword has shown growth in popularity.

You can also use Google Trends to do YouTube keyword research.

3. Surf SEO

Priced at $49 per month, Surf SEO is an affordable user-friendly tool for bloggers on a smaller budget.

How it works Surf SEO?

The tool analyzes and compares 500 different factors of your blog post content with your top 10 competitors.

Here are some of the factors that Surfer SEO looks at:

Number of title
Page speed
Text length
Keyword density
Domains and URLs referencing content
Number of images
Structure of meta tags

4 Ahrefs

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer gives detailed information about each keyword.

You get the standard data like search volume, but you also get a full breakdown of your top competition.

In addition, the Ahrefs Keywords Explorer shows you the difficulty of the keyword and the number of backlinks you need for ranking on the first page of Google.

Here's a video that explains how to use Ahrefs for competitor research and SEO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06bDot0C7Cc&ab_channel=Loris-SEO

Other SEO tools

In addition to these four tools, your keyword research can be done using some of the same tools we mentioned earlier.

Long tail keywords

Because the key to writing a blog post that ranks is keywords, I want to mention one last thing about keywords.

Whenever possible, include long-tail keywords in your blog.

A long-tail keyword that usually contains four or more words.

A study found that half of all search queries are at least four words or longer.

What does this tell us? When people search, they tend to search for something specific.

When you identify long-tail keywords for your content, you can increase sales and drive traffic.

Long-tail keywords are generally easier to rank for in Google.
When you use long-tail keywords, you can promote your services, content or products

Choose long-tail keywords with competition between 100 and 2000.

Target audience

One of the best tips we have for creating a blog post is: Identify your target audience and write as if you are writing your content directly to them.

Then, do some research so you can find out all about their demographics, including:

The residence or country where they live
The name if possible
The level of education
The age group
The level of commitment
The type of job

Using this information, you can start building your average reader's profile or description.

Once you know who you are writing for, identify the points that hurt your audience.

Ask yourself these questions:

What problem can you help them solve?
Do I have information that my audience will find valuable?
How can I present the most concise and effective content that will help my audience?

Item Type

There are countless types of blogs, and you can get as creative as you want when you learn how to write a blog post.

In this section, we'll go over some of the most popular types of articles.

vector illustration showing a generic layout of the types of blogs that make money

1. General information articles

A general information blog post can cover just about any topic under the sun.

Most of what we read online are general informational blog posts.

General information articles can also be practical articles.

How-to articles are the most popular types of content.

2. Ultimate Guides

When someone wants to go deep to learn something new, they look for an ultimate guide type blog post.

What is an Ultimate Guide?

These articles are long guides (such as the article you're reading right now on how to write a blog post) that have these things in common:

The ultimate guides go in depth on a broad topic.
An ultimate guide will contain several different chapters or sections that cover a topic from several different angles.
The ultimate guides are written by an industry expert, thought leader, researcher, or authority in the niche.

3. Product review articles

A product review article introduces and briefly explains a service or product.

Usually, if you are doing a product review, you must have actual experience using the product.

Otherwise, you risk losing credibility with your readers.

In most cases, a product review article will provide pros and cons.

Then the article is closed with a recommendation or two.

Product review articles can also examine multiple items.

For example, you can create a blog post comparing five (or more) online training courses that you like.

4. The type of list items

People like to read list type articles because they are very scannable.

By their nature, list-type articles consist of short information and laid out in a way that makes it easy to read.

You can create long or short list type articles.

For best results, use numbered subheadings, then a few paragraphs below the subheadings.

5. Roundup Items

A Roundup-style blog post is similar to a list-style post, and these types of posts are a great way to create concise, impactful content that will attract readers.

Roundup-style posts are easy ways to structure a blog post, and you can use them to bring together experts in your blog's niche.

You can also use roundup posts to link to other good content or web content.

For example, a post that features "Best Chicken Recipes" could link to recipes on your blog or other recipes on the web.

6. Items X vs. Y

An X vs Y article is also called a comparison article.

In this type of article, you compare two similar products and give the pros and cons of each.

For a comparison article, you don't go as far as you do with a product review article.

Instead, you compare similar features and highlight the benefits of each tool. Determining that one is better than the other is optional.

7. Alternative Items

An alternative blog post informs readers of alternatives to whatever they are looking for. Here are some examples.

11 Alternatives to Photoshop
13 alternatives to the Apple Watch

People looking for an alternative article usually use very specific keywords in their searches.

How long should a blog post be?

How to write an article blog long enough to rank high in Google?

A blog post can be any length.

However, Google favors longer blog posts.

Blog posts should be between 1200 and 2500 words in length.

When the text of a blog post is longer, it gives Google more clues about what the content is about.

However, according to Yoast, as long as a blog post is at least 300 words, it can technically rank in Google if the information is relevant and high-quality content.

The key to blog post length is this: quality trumps quantity.

Search rankings have less to do with article length.

On the contrary, these three factors have an impact on the performance of your content in search.

Quality of blog posts
Repetition in the text
Relevance to search intent

Your goal is to add value to your content so that it meets the needs of your audience.

I recommend that you never add fluff to your content just so you can prolong it.

Your readers are looking for useful and detailed articles.

Step 2: Structuring a blog post

To understand how to write a blog post and use it in your writing process, it's important to have a solid understanding of the different parts of a blog post.

There are four basic components of a blog post: title, introduction, body, and conclusion.

The most important part of your article is the title, also known as the H1 title.

A great headline sums up your main point and has these qualities:

Your target keyword is at the beginning
A length between 6 and 13 words
Concise
Only
Create curiosity
Has between 60 and 70 characters (for SEO and readability)

An effective title should make your readers want to read your blog post and learn more.

Here are some tips for creating the best titles.

Use numbers and statistics. Research shows that odd numbers are more effective. Example: 21 ways to cook chicken
Address the reader. Example: Chicken Recipes You Must Try
Use the words “how”. Example: how to cook the best chicken
Ask a question. Example: how can you make the most tender chicken?

Analyze your competitors' headlines to get ideas and inspiration for your headline. Just be sure to make your headline unique by adding your own perspectives.

Introduction

Think about the last time you searched for something in Google and clicked on one of the top links.

How long have you been on this page?

If the intro didn't grab you, chances are you skimmed it.

Your blog post introduction is key to encouraging visitors to keep reading.

Also, the introduction is important in terms of SEO.

Follow these guidelines for writing an effective introduction.

Keep it short. You need 75-100 words in an introduction.
Use your exact target keywords somewhere in the introduction.
Speak like the author. Readers are more engaged if they feel connected with a real person.
Explain why the blog topic is important. Address the reader's needs and explain why you wrote the content.
Tell your reader what to expect. Visitors to your website need to know what they will gain by investing their time reading your content.
Keep the introduction relevant to the reader's search query. The introduction is one of your blog's most valuable pieces of real estate.
Use active language and metaphors. It makes your content more appealing to the reader.

Body

Do you know that the average reader spends around 37 seconds on a blog?

When learning how to write a blog post, this is the most important thing to keep in mind.

Although an alarming statistic, knowledge is power.

Now that you know your readers are going to spend seconds on your article, you can create your blog in a way that keeps your readers engaged.

Your headline sums up your main point and draws the reader in, and your introduction inspires them to keep reading.

However, the body of your blog post is what will keep a reader on the page.

Later in this article, we'll give you some tips for keeping your blog visitors engaged.

In the body of your blog post, be sure to use plenty of headings to break your content into sections.

This will allow you to write and get into a good flow when you write.

However, titles are also important for SEO and for your reader's ease of consumption.

Conclusion

In your conclusion, you will conclude the key points of your blog.

The conclusion should be between 50 and 75 words, and it would help if you include a compelling call to action.

A call to action can be an invitation to:

Subscribe to your newsletter.
Leave a comment on the blog.
Follow you on social networks.
Visit another link on your blog.
Share the link with a friend who may find the content useful.

Follow these tips for the best conclusions.

Short and sweet.
Link to your similar content.
End with a question.

Step 3: Describe a blog post

You've decided on a blog type and title, learned how to write a blog post, and now you're ready to start writing.

When you're faced with that blank page, it can be daunting to know where to start.

This is where a plan comes in handy.

Once you have your plan, you can just fill in the blanks.

Plan creation

An outline is where the structure of your blog post really starts to come together.

Although you're not technically writing at this point, you do list the information, points, and sections you want to cover in your blog.

Writing a solid plan is key to creating blog content that ranks on the first page of Google.

Plan to spend a lot of time creating your plan.

For example, while writing this article, I spent three hours writing my plan.

One of Frase.io's most valuable tools is its outline builder.

By using the titles your competitors use in their content, you can create an interactive outline for your blog post.

We recommend that you check out this article to see step by step how to use Frase.io to create your plan.

Step 4: Writing a blog post

Now that you've identified your topic idea, learned how to create a great blog post, created your content plan, and researched your competition, it's time to expand your plan into a full blog post.

image showing an illustration of how to write an ebook

Internal vs External

Since you have a blog, you are probably passionate about your niche or industry.

You can write your content yourself (in-house), but not everyone likes to write. In this case, you can hire someone else to write your (external) content.

Many companies start by writing their own content in-house with plans to outsource the content at a later date.

However, unless you have a full-time writer on staff, it's best to work with external writers such as freelance writers or a content agency.

Internal writing

There are two types of internal writing: write your content from scratch or use an AI Writing Tool.

write from scratch

If you want to write all your content in-house, you can write it yourself or hire someone to write it for you.

In-house content writing is perfect for people just starting out or for bloggers with a limited budget.

However, this method is not a scalable long-term solution unless you have someone who has written a blog post as part of their job description.

Use an AI writing tool

If you manage all written content in-house, you can use an AI writing tool such as jasper.ai.

Tools like Jasper are becoming more common, and the writing they produce looks almost identical to content written by a real person.

You are LITERALLY minutes away from seeing mind-blowing results that work.

It's only $29 to start and if you don't like it for any reason, the Jasper team will refund your payment. 100% – no questions asked.

Outsource to a freelance writer

Successful bloggers who produce a lot of content usually work with freelance writers who can produce high-quality content for them.

In some cases, this content may be written by ghosts, and in other cases, the author may have a byline.

You can find writers on Fiverr.

Writer's Process

When working with a freelance writer, the more information you give them, the better the content will be.

Instead of ordering a blog post and giving the author vague instructions, be as specific as possible.

For example, if you provide the blog outline for your writer, they may provide exactly what you are looking for.

Also, if you're going to be working with freelance writers or a content agency, take the time to develop your own style guide for your writers to follow. It will save you a lot of work in the long run.

Professional Tip: Writing a Source in a Managed Agency

One way to get amazing content is to work with a managed agency.

Here are some benefits of working with content agencies.

The agencies do all the tracing and handle the tax paperwork.
They require contract writers to complete a thorough hiring and vetting process that includes writing tests, so you can relax knowing you're going to end up with quality content.
You can have more than one writer on your team. This means that even if your regular writer isn't available, you can still get the content you need.
When the content arrives on your desktop, it will be edited and ready to publish.

It can take a while to find the right writer with an agency, but it can save you a lot of time.

Tips for writing

Remember, once you get your article link clicked, the goal is to keep them on the page.

In order for your visitors to read, your content must be engaging and easily digestible.

Here are some tips to help you create better content, increase readership, and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

1. Easily readable

Most blog visitors want content to be easy to digest.

The best way to make a successful blog post easy to scan and read is to allow plenty of white space.

Here are a few other ways to make your blog post easily readable and scannable.

Use bulleted lists.
Numbered lists also work.
Use headings (H2, H3, H4, etc…) to divide your content into sections.
Make sure there are no more than 300 words under each title.
Use images, embedded social media posts, and embedded YouTube videos liberally.
Bold keyphrases to make them stand out to your readers. But do it selectively so it's not overdone.

2. Short sentences

When you write a great blog post, try to keep your sentences and paragraphs short.

People like to skim through an article and walls of text are hard to read, especially on mobile devices.

Also, Google doesn't like walls of text either.

Paragraphs should also be kept short. Plan to have no more than two or three sentences per paragraph.

3. Use images

We've mentioned the importance of images a few times in this article because they simply matter.

In the section below we give more information on how to find royalty free images.

4. Quality Content

There's a lot of unwanted content on the internet, but Google and other search engines have gotten a lot better at filtering it out so it doesn't land on the first page.

What is High Quality Content? Good content is:

Useful
Full
Educative
Useful
Specific
Grammatically correct

If you're like most people, the first time you see a misspelled word or incorrect grammar on a blog, you're done with the blog.

Also, readers don't like fluff and chatter. Go straight to the point and stay on point.

5. Get the facts right

Consumers have become increasingly wary of the media, and that wariness can quickly transfer to even an innocuous blog if you have incorrect information on your website.

When using facts, be sure to back them up with links that support your article.

More than ever, it's important to make sure the content you put on your blog is accurate, up-to-date, and correct.

6. Post Often

A HubSpot Study found that businesses that publish at least 16 blog posts each month generate nearly five times more leads than businesses that publish four or fewer blog posts.

Step 5: Improving a blog post

When you've written your blog post, you can use media and tools to enhance the content and prepare it for publication.

Optimization of semantic tools

Understand what semantic optimization is, think about topics and their associated keyphrases.

These related keywords provide context that naturally surrounds your main keyword.

In short, semantic SEO brings us back to the search intent of a website visitor.

In 2015, Google confirmed RankBrain, their algorithm based on machine learning.

RankBrain has essentially turned Google into a semantic search engine. This means that Google can understand the content of a page and match it with a user's search intent.

Google has become more human with its semantic approach, and bloggers can use this to their advantage when ranking blog posts.

With semantic SEO, Google takes into consideration the natural language processing and deep learning algorithms that make the search engine the giant at what it does.

If you use semantic SEO strategies, you are more likely to present a topical authority in your niche or industry.

Our favorite tools

There are several great tools to help you with semantic SEO, and our two favorites are Surfer SEO and MarketMust.

Surf SEO (Ideal for low budgets)

If you have a lower budget or are just starting out, Surf SEO is a great semantic SEO tool.

Surfer SEO does a great job of analyzing your competitors' pages and can help you provide actionable, data-driven insights to plan your writing and content.

Here are some of the Surfer SEO features:

Content editor
SERP Analyzer
SEO audit
Keyword search
Free Google Chrome extension
Blog post template options

As of this writing, Surfer SEO starts at $49 per month.

MarketMuse (Best for larger budgets)

If you have a larger budget, MarketMuse may be your best bet.

This tool generates content that includes recommended subtitles, word counts, external links, internal links, and keywords.

For each item, MarketMuse compares your content with that of your competitor and provides a personalized difficulty score that assesses how well you have covered the same topics.

MarketMuse services are provided in several applications.

Content strategy: Provides metrics that help you find successful blogging opportunities
Content search: Includes an inventory of blog topics and content that includes in-depth competitive analysis
Content creation: Provides detailed, comprehensive outlines that include writers' submissions with subtitles, keywords, link building recommendations, and reader questions
Content optimization: Analyze your content to provide a score that compares your content to your competitors

MarketMuse offers a free plan and paid plans start at $7 per year.

Add media and graphics

Studies show that a blog post that features an image for 75-100 words will get twice the number of shares as blog posts that don't have images.

In addition to images, you can use other media to break up your content.

Screenshot
Graphics
Infographics
Gifs
Memes

Places to get royalty-free images

Images are key to a good blog post, but should you take your own images?

You certainly can, but you can also find high-quality images that other people have taken and provided for free.

There are several different websites that offer royalty-free images that you can use in your blog posts.

Here are some of our favorites.

Pexels
Unsplash
Canva
Pixabay

Using Alt Text in Images

Alternate Text ( alt text ) is also sometimes referred to as alt descriptions, alt attributes, and alt tags.

Alt text is used in your blog post's HTML code to describe the function and appearances of the images you use on a page.

Why do you need to use alt text?

Alt text is primarily for web accessibility for visually impaired users. These readers use screen readers that will read the alt text aloud so the user can understand what the image is.
If an image fails to load, alt text is displayed instead so readers know what the image should be.
Alt text helps Google and other search engines index your images correctly.

Here are some tips for writing good alt text.

Use your main keyword or related keywords. Since Google indexes images based on alt text, this is a great opportunity to get your images to the top of Google's image search results.
Don't do keywords. While Google won't penalize you for poorly written alt text, it will penalize keyword stuffing.
Keep it short. Most screen readers cut alt text at around 125 characters.
Describe your images as precisely as possible. Remember that the main purpose of alt text is to convey value and meaning.
Do not use the words photo of or image of. Google knows this intuitively, and so do your readers.

Reduce image size

High quality images, too large images slow down your website and slow down your blog post loading.

Studies show that half of mobile users will abandon a website if it has to wait more than three seconds for it to load.

Slow loading web pages also do not show up in Google.

Another problem with large images is that they eat up a lot of space on your website.

Do not confuse image size with image dimensions.

An image can be small in dimension and still have a larger file size.

To minimize the size of your images, you can use a tool like TinyPNG ou img2go.

Step 6: Editing a blog post

Now that you've written your high-quality blog post, it's time for the final edit to prepare for publication.

Whether you're editing the blog post yourself or working with a professional editor, the tips below will help ensure your blog post is as perfect as possible.

Ensure correct grammar

Imagine you are searching Google for a solution to a problem you are trying to solve.

If you land on a blog post that has poor spelling and grammar, do you consider the author an authority?

More importantly, they can affect your SEO because errors and typos can create problems for Google.

In fact, Google's John Mueller states that grammar and spelling should have higher priority for most websites than broken HTML.

Finally, blog posts with poor grammar get 4% fewer site visitors, and they also have a higher bounce rate.

Search Engine Optimization (Best Practices)

The purpose of creating a blog post is to drive search traffic to your website.

Whether you're earning ad revenue from your content, trying to generate leads, or attracting potential buyers, if search engines can't find your website, you won't get visitors.

Here are some quick tips to optimize your blog post for SEO:

Use the keyword in your title, preferably at the beginning.
Make your keyword part of the post URL.
Create a meta description that clearly describes what your blog post is about and includes the keyword. The meta description appears in Google along with your title.
Use a tool like Rank Math or Yoast to help you easily optimize your blog post for SEO.

Pro Tip: Use Rank Math or Yoast

Optimizing your blog writing for SEO is easy with great WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math.

These plugins give you all the SEO suggestions you need for your blog.

All you need to do is follow a checklist.

Yoast has been around since 2010 and is considered the gold standard of SEO plugins.

The best of all, Yoast SEO has an extremely robust free version.

However, the premium version of Yoast has powerful features such as the ability to use multiple focus keywords and related phrases.

Rank Math launched in 2018, but it was in development for several years before the launch date.

Rank Math pricing starts at $59.

Like the premium version of Yoast SEO, Rank Math is loaded with features that can address most of your SEO concerns.

Optimized for readability

Yoast and Rank Math have built-in tools for measuring readability.

However, much of your effort will come from your own insight.

To make sure your blog posts are readable, use some of these tactics.

Pictures
Bold text for key points (but don't overdo it)
Navigation tools such as “back up” or table of contents buttons
Embedded videos
Infographics
Dark screen and light screen options
Yoast plugin

Pro Tip: Use Hemingway

THEHemingway Editor (also known as the Hemingway App) can be used as a web tool or a downloadable application for Mac and PC.

An important part of SEO is readability.

Experts suggest writing most blog posts for readers at level 5 or 6.

Although most people can read above this level, keeping your writing simple is better for your readers and your SEO.

Along with making your content more user-friendly and readable, the Hemingway app will also fix these issues:

Sentences that are too complex
Confusing language
Overuse of the adverb
Passive voice

The web version of the application is free and the desktop version costs $19,99.

Step 7: Publishing a blog post

Now that you've gone through the entire process of planning, writing, optimizing, and editing your blog, it's time to publish.

Analyze the article before publishing

Before hitting the publish button, verify that these tasks have been completed:

Read your article one last time.
Run the blog Copyscape (to check for duplicate content on the web), Grammarly and Hemingway App.
Add a featured image.
Watch the article in preview mode to see how the published article will appeal to readers.
Edit the URL if necessary to incorporate your keyword.
Add internal links to other relevant content on your website.
Include some external links to authority websites.
Make sure your main keyword is in the introduction and conclusion.
End your conclusion with a call to action.

Share the article

Once your blog post is published, it's time to share it with the world. Although SEO will drive traffic, it takes time.

The best way to get traffic quickly is to share your article as widely as possible.

Submit to Google Search Console

Another free Google tool, Google Search Console gives you valuable data about your website traffic.

Google Search Console can show you:

Who links your blog and how often.
The keywords you rank for.
Structure of your website.
Whether or not you have duplicate metadata (and how you can fix it).
How many times you are shown in a search.
The number of clicks you have on your indexed blog posts.

Share on social networks

You probably already have a social media presence, but if you don't, it's time to start building one.

We suggest that you focus on a few social media platforms rather than trying to be on every platform there is.

Post the link to your blog on your Facebook page or in your Facebook group.
Create an image for Pinterest and upload the image to the Pinterest board you created for your blog. Be sure to optimize the image using Pinterest tools and put the pinnable image in your post.
If your blog post is of interest to Twitter users, share it on your Twitter account with the relevant hashtags.
Download one of the best images on Instagram with the link to the blog in the Instagram post.
If your blog content is a good fit for video, consider creating a video of yourself talking about your blog. You can do it on TikTok, Facebook Live, Instagram, or YouTube.

Share with your email list

One of the best ways to make your blog known to your readers or customers is to send it to your email subscriber list.

To manage your email subscriber list, you can use a tool like Mailchimp or Convertkit.

What should you email your subscribers?

You can submit your entire article, but ideally your subscribers should visit your website.

If on-site visits are your goal, include an engaging snippet of the article title in your email.

Link building

For the long game, we recommend emphasizing link building.

Although link building can be time-consuming and tedious, if you can get an authoritative website to link to your blog, it can help you rank better in Google.

One of the best ways to get backlinks to your blog is to post articles on other blogs.

To do this, identify high authority blogs in your niche and offer to write a free article for them.

Most blog owners will allow you to put a link to your blog in your guest post.

For organic link building, keep writing high-quality content that other blogs will want to share.

Follow the article

How can you know how well your article is performing?

Luckily, there are some tools and metrics that can help you see how your post is performing.

Article feedback and engagement with readers

The first thing you can do to understand the effectiveness of your blog post is to carefully monitor your readers' engagement.

Are people commenting on your article? When you share on social media, do you get interaction?

Social actions

Monitoring your social shares and engagement can let you know if your blog content is resonating with readers.

Post Views

One of the best tools you can use to monitor the impact of your blog is Google Analytics.

Since Google Analytics is a free Google tool, you know you're getting your information straight from the source.

Another tool you can use to monitor your site traffic is the WordPress plugin. jetpack. However, keep in mind that Jetpack can slow down your website.

You can also use tools such as MonsterInsights.

Layout: How to Write a Blog Post in 2022

You've created your blog, optimized it and maybe monetized it.

You now know how to write a blog post that will be engaging and effective, so it's time to shine.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know below or connect with us on social media.