How to Create the Perfect Blog Post

Thomas Griffin May 19, 2021

Is there such a thing as a ‘perfect’ blog post?

While there are different types of blog posts and articles for different industries, there are tried and true principles for what makes a post good.

If you know how to structure your blog post, you improve the chances that your post gets read, and even better, it gives you the results you’re looking for.

In this post, I’ll share how you can structure your post so that it’s as close to perfect as it can be. And by this, I mean that a well-structured post will be:

• Readable
• SEO-friendly
• Gets shared on social media and
• Generates leads and sales

What you’ll see here is a basic post structure and other tips that will help you build the perfect blog post. You can make necessary tweaks to suit your business purpose and your audience.

Let’s get started.

Use a good blog post structure

A good blog post has a central idea wherein it answers a specific question or provides relevant information on a topic.

It helps to use a sensible structure that lets your content flow. Here’s how you can build your post and group content so that it meets your readers’ needs.

Create an impactful title: It’s been proven time and again that certain types of headlines just get more attention. You need to keep your post title short, mention the central idea, and use power words. To make this easier for you, use a headline analyzer.

Hook readers with a powerful introduction: The ‘hook’ is a well-known literary and content marketing technique where you create an opening statement so compelling, that readers are hooked from the beginning. You can create hooks by asking questions, making a statement or by presenting a statistic. You also provide background and context in this section.

Present the main body: This is the part where you provide the main information. You do this with a logical sequence of points that illustrate your main idea.

Add a strong conclusion: Here, you can recap your post and ask the reader to take action.

If this sounds similar to essay structures in school, it’s for a good reason. Organizing your content makes it easy for people to read. Always avoid a stream of consciousness way of writing for your marketing posts.

Write like you’re talking to your readers

Your audience may enjoy reading complex sentences when they’re sitting down with a book to give themselves some leisure time. But when it comes to online content, especially on your website, trying to sound ‘clever’ will usually backfire.

People look for content online with specific intent. If your blog post isn’t easy to read right off the bat, they’ll quit your site and never return.

You can vastly improve visitor retention on your website by making your content simple. Use the following tips:

• Use a readability editor to check your work. You can also use an SEO plugin with a content analyzer that will tell you whether your content is at a comfortable reading level for all audiences.
• Make sure that each paragraph consists of just three or four sentences.
• Use bullet points, divide your content with subheadings, and make use of the ‘bold’ and ‘italics’ formatting sparsely but meaningfully.
• Speak to your audience directly. Address your readers by using ‘You’ in your writing and you’ll catch their attention.

When you write in a friendly and conversational way, you’ll ensure that readers remember your work. And doing so also improves your SEO score.

Use visuals

Images illustrate your points and also break up long posts. Adding an image or a video can substantially improve engagement and keep people longer on your site.

Try to find pictures from your own business or experience to highlight key points. If you do borrow images from other websites, make sure that you provide a reference for them.

Don’t leave the user hanging

Once users have come to the end of the post, they need to be directed to either read more content or take a specific action.

Add a section at the bottom that invites them to read related posts. And add a call to action that helps them engage with you more.

Here are some examples for calls to action:

• Ask people to leave a comment
• Make a request that your readers share your content on social media
• Get people to sign up for your newsletter
• Drop a link to your product and ask them to buy it

  

  Add a call to action at the end of your post or even in between if it fits the context

Choose just one call to action in your post. It’s a good idea to refer to your blog content and the intent of your user reading your material. If your post was about reviewing your product, it makes sense to redirect your users to buy from you.

If your post was more general in tone, then ask people to sign up to receive your newsletter.

Conclusion

The suggestions in this post will bring your blog post to as perfect a state as it can be. Of course, a lot depends on the amount of research you did to provide helpful content. And it also depends on your industry and your own business.

By following the tips given here, you ensure that your post is easy to read and organized. You also stand to boost your SEO and generate more traffic. Get started on your own blog content today and you’ll see tremendous results that grow your business.

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