Have you been squirming on your seat for quite some time, trying to get that precious little blog post right? And catchy; and resourceful? We understand! Let us put it this way, a blog is a reflection of your ideas, thoughts and proposition, and may not necessarily be constricted to any design. But if you “need to”, then, it could be a huge struggle to fit those free-floating ideas and opinions into a frame-work with well-defined boundaries and regulations.We are here to take you through the foundation-building of an effective and well-structured blog.
To begin with, whether you are writing a blog to grab some attention or to educate your audience, be convincing and gain some authority. Use the language of the common, if you want to appeal to the masses. If you are writing for a business, first get to know how frequent updates of blogs help businesses?
Different genres of blog require different structures, and styles. The trick is to identify the unique style and format that best suits your genre. If you unravel the mystery to that, you have solved half your doubts and will be able to place your thoughts in a better format.
How to construct a great blog step by step
Writing a value-adding blog could be a task if you haven’t done it before. Though there is no fixed norm to writing a ‘perfect’ blog, the industry has set up some guidelines that the business blogs maintain to get enough traffic. As per the framework,, you need to prepare yourself chronologically by following these steps:
1. The Topic- What matters is the ‘MATTER’. That is true in every sense. You need to choose a subject of interest - a powerful, blazing content. - that would entice readers to go along with you. As you roll up your sleeves, thousands of questions must be buzzing within your brain on the why, how and who?
a)Why would people read it?
b)How will it make a difference?
c)Who is your target audience?
You must proceed with your blog only after answering these questions yourself!. To begin with, you should choose a topic that is relevant to your target audience, benefits them, and engages them thoroughly.
2. Add a terrific title- We often hear people phrasing “Do not judge a book by its cover”. Agreed. But we do definitely judge a book by its title! The plot may be nail biting. However, if you do not choose a catchy title for your book, few hands would pick it up! This applies to a blog as well. Titles, or headings, are significant and are the baits that hook a reader.
How would your audience know about your blog? You need to use the perfect words that would catch the attention of your target audience and navigate them to your blog. The title must evoke an urge to be clicked. We swim through an ocean of articles and blogs online every hour. What do you think is striking about your title that attracts the attention of a prospective reader ? Other than coining a beautiful phrase that crowns your content, read a bit on SEO-based titles that would bring in a swarm of target readers.
3. Research deep- A good professional blog is the work of sufficient research. Even the most casual ones need a bit of homework before being presented to the readers. It is crucial that your blog needs to be authentic about the information that you provide. Even if all that you do is to review the James Bond movies! Good research can open up interesting aspects of a topic and can turn a seemingly mundane subject lively and engaging.
4. Create a strong outline- Your research should practically hold up in the outline of your blog. Outlines are meant to guide you structure your blog. An outline is the basic foundation, or the “skeleton” as some call it, upon which you build your content and decide its progress and conclusion. It helps readers get the jist of the subject even if they skim through your blog.
A good outline should clearly narrate the “story” or “message” or “information” you intend to present; beginning with an interesting introduction into the topic, progressing into the pros and cons with ease, highlighting the essentials that you plan to showcase and finally come to an apt conclusion that you intend to present through the preceding information or arguments. Appealing headings, subheadings, bullet points, pointers etc are essential to bring in a well built structure for your blog.
5. Shout out for SEO- All is not in the mind, but on the internet, explained, referenced and optimised! “SEO-optimised” to be specific. SEO experts ask us to ‘mind our keywords’. What is the relevance? The digital sphere of the content relies on keywords, descriptions and meta tags, as they are supplementary food for your content. The deficiency of these would bring all your efforts down to nothing. Do your keyword research before you sit down to write. Check out on these tools to amplify your creative content.
6. Format your work- If you have ever edited your pictures, you know what we are talking about. Editing, proofreading, formatting are all tricks to maintain a look of visually pleasing design. First impressions are the best impressions. Ask yourself, when you see a blog what do you observe? Do you observe how enriching it is, or how strong the keywords are? No, perhaps even before you observe the essence of the content, what catches your attention, mostly, is the presentation of it.
The font, the order and physical structure of the content, the style of writing, the vocabulary, and the ease of reading. A blog with tiny or complicated font with a sea of content without subheadings, can be confusing and chase the reader away! Eliminate grammatical and syntax errors that, to be honest, always creeps in. Create an impression that you have handpicked and moulded the entire page and not just scribble down a list onto a piece of paper!
7. Use powerful imagery- You should be extra careful when choosing an image. Make sure they align with the agenda of your write-up, do not step on copyrights, and are visually pleasing. Always remember to insert your primary keyword to every mage description. Try to avoid stock images, unless they are entitled for re-use. Remember, you are trying to create a brand image of your own, copyrighted images would spoil your efforts.
Religiously follow these above steps to create a great blog post that you have been contemplating for so long! Do your research well, make it visually appealing; Decide on your USP, note it down, and make it your selling point; Hit your target with catchy titles. And mind those SEOs, your dream blog better be “pitched perfect”. And blog all the way up your dream!