Good Blog Post ; 9 Essential Elements to Write a Great Blog

In the general scheme of things, a good blog is one that gives its users great content, regularly. Content that enriches those readers’ lives, and gives them something to look forward to for the next time. A good blog is one that compels the reader to tell all their friends about what they’re reading. Moreover, it’s one of the main pillars of your website or social media SEO.

How to Write a Good Blog Post ?

1. An Attention-Grabbing Headline

A good blog post is about one topic, one story, one idea. Not 57. Not 101. Just one.

Before you begin blogging, figure out what you want to write about. Choose a mock headline to give yourself some structure (you can always change it later), and start writing.

In short, blog headline has to:

Give some indication of what your article is about.
And Make the prospect want to at least check out your first paragraph.

In other words, it needs to be magnetic—it needs to pull people in.

Sometimes adding emotional words to the headline will give it the added magnetism required. In other cases, the information you’re offering will, on its own, be enough of a draw. However, even when you’re presenting great content, spice up your headline with a word or two that will grab readers and make it stand out. People are moved to act by their emotions.

2. Compelling lead

In news reporting, a lead should pull together the important points of the news story. But that’s not necessarily true in a blog. The first sentence or short paragraph of your blog must compel visitors to read your second paragraph you want to draw your readers in. Don’t take forever to get to the point, and make sure there’s sufficient build up so that readers will want to know more about the information you’re presenting and appreciate it once they understand your ideas.

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3. Good Blog Tips: Interesting supporting points

This is the body of the article. It’s the “meat” of the post what will back up your main topic or argument.

Every story you tell or idea you share needs to have supporting rationale, something the readers can sink their teeth into. They don’t all need to neatly fit into a three-point argument or a seven-step process, but you can’t be all over the place.

So, consider what you want to say and how you will back it up. A great way to organize is to make a list of bullet points. Then, write the body of the post using these as your main sections (if appropriate turn the points into subheads, like I did with this post).

If your blog post is a road, these points are the street signs leading your reader to the end.

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4. Powerful Call-to-Action

Almost every blog article should have some kind of call-to-action, which can take a variety of forms and be achieved through different tactics. Therefore, your first step is to decide what action you want your visitors to take. It might be to make a comment. It could be to read another blog on your site, or to check out a product or service you offer. You also could get a prospect’s contact information by offering exclusive content in exchange for an email address.

5. Anatomically Correct

A blog post contains several areas that require our attention and care. Pamela Seiple refers to six parts of the anatomy of a good blog post:

Eye-catching title
In-text links to landing pages
Sidebar/banner calls to action
Social sharing buttons
Call to action at the bottom
Relevancy—making sure the post is relevant from top to bottom

6. Good blog posts are quick and easy to read.

Just because something is short doesn’t mean it’s easy to read. Make posts easy to skim by cutting content up into sections and lists. In fact, I’ll bet most people reading this post will simply skim the bolded description for each point, and read the explanations for the points they don’t understand. If I’m wrong and you’re reading every point word for word, prove it with a comment.

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7. Blog Categories

Whether your new blog post is a stand-alone article or part of a series you’re writing, it should fit into your blog categories as well as your overall corporate content strategy. Meaning that you want to stay on topic and have your posts fit into the categories you’ve established.

For example, HubSpot has nine categories on their blog. Posts are written to fit in with each of these categories. Writing about category topics such as analytics, blogging, email marketing, HubSpot TV, etc., allows both readers and writers to stay focused on what they can expect to see on HubSpot’s blog.

When you choose your categories, ask yourself, do they make sense, and do they fit into the objectives of my business? Having clearly defined blog categories will help you continue generating meaningful content and topics for your blog.

8. Killer SEO and Blog Design

Cyrus Shepard makes an important case for having a beautiful blog. He says, “…the overall design of your site is the first thing visitors see and it significantly influences bounce rate, page views and conversions.”

Cyrus suggests that certain elements on the page will add to a blog’s success and your SEO rankings:

Search box
RSS feed
Breadcrumbs (helping users navigate),
Flat site architecture by minimizing the number of clicks it takes to reach your content
Images
Keep your best content above the fold
Link to your best content
Don’t overdo links
Watch ad space
Encourage comments
Add sharing buttons
Test the blog for speed
Check your blog in different browsers
Pick a powerhouse blogging platform (e.g., WordPress, Posterous, Tumblr)

9. Best tips: Blogging Platform

By knowing the ins and outs of your blogging platform, you’ll ensure that your posts look as good as they can. Take the time to master the visual editor (or raw HTML, if you prefer) so that you know how to format a post, insert an image and embed a video or podcast.

Best Blogging Platform

WordPress.or
Constant Contact Website Builder
Wix

WordPress.or

WordPress.org is the world’s most popular blogging software. Started in 2003, WordPress now powers more than 39% of all websites on the internet.

Note: It’s easy to confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com, which is a blog hosting service mentioned later in this list. See our guide on the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

WordPress.org is an open source free blogging platform that allows you to build your website or blog within minutes.

It is a self-hosted solution which means that you will need to sign up with a WordPress hosting provider. WordPress is a great option if you want to have full control over your blog’s future.

Pros

WordPress.org gives you control over every aspect of your website.

You can grow your blog and add extra features like forums, online store, and paid membership. This makes WordPress the best blogging platform to make money.

There are thousands of free themes available for WordPress. This allows you to create a beautiful website that stands apart from the crowd.

You also get access to more than 58,000 free plugins. These plugins are like apps for your WordPress blog that allow you to add features like contact forms, galleries, etc.

WordPress is search engine friendly. You can easily create SEO friendly URLs, categories, and tags for your posts. Plus, there’re a good number of great SEO plugins for additional features.

Cons

Managing your own website comes with a bit of a learning curve.

You will have to manage your own backups and security.

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Blog Platforms: Constant Contact Website Builder

Constant Contact Website Builder is an intelligent A.I. powered website builder that allows you to create a free blog, business website, and even an online store within minutes.

You can start with their large templates collection and customize your website design using an easy to use drag and drop interface. You also get access to other helpful tools such as a custom logo maker, professional stock photo library of over 550,000 images, online store, and a whole lot more.

Pros

Easy-to-use drag and drop website builder with no technical skills required.

Quick and easy setup, since Constant Contact will host your website for you.

Free 60 day trial that allows you to try out the service and even build an online store before buying.

Free SSL certificate is included with all paid plans.

Cons

The developer ecosystem is small, so there aren’t as many third party plugins like WordPress.

Limited integration with third party platforms.

Exporting your site from Constant Contact website builder to another platform is difficult.

Wix

Wix is a popular hosted platform to build websites. Their drag & drop website builder offers a solution for small businesses to easily build a website. You can also add a blog to your website by adding the Wix Blog app.

Wix.com was founded in 2006 as a platform where anyone could create their own stunning website with no coding skills required. It has currently over 110 million users across the globe.

Pros

You can customize your site using dozens of templates and third party apps.

Build your site with easy drag and drop tools; no coding skills required.

Setup is quick and easy.

Cons

The free account is limited and shows Wix branding and ads on your site.

Free third party apps are limited.

Once you choose a template you cannot change it.

Ecommerce features are limited to paid plans, and even those features are limited.

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Conclusion

Follow this process every time you publish, and you’ll struggle a lot less with coming up with great content. The structure may feel kind of stiff at first, but this is like any practice you do. Eventually, it starts to feel normal. The constraints can lead to greater creativity.

It may not always be easy, but you’ll have a structure for when you get stuck. And you’ll always know how to begin.