How to Write a Successful Blog Post

byPaulREvans57

1.4K followers

Updated 5 years ago

I was asked not very long ago by a fellow Wealthy Affiliate, how to write a successful blog post, this occurred after I was telling him how easy it is, and how I have simplified the process to just five steps.

The five steps that I use to write good quality blog posts is one, keywords; sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, later. Secondly, I then plan my attack; I like the simple approach for this. The third step is the most important. So, important, I will divulge it here. Just write, never edit until you have finished! In the next stage, I have the most fun, and that is reader engagement. Be mindful of who you are writing for, and be entertaining as well as informative. When you have completed all the above tasks, it is finally time to edit your efforts. Proofread, checking your spelling and grammar. That's all there is to it, job well done!

Choose Your Keywords

There are two ways to approach this task. Either, research your keywords and then decide what you ware going to write to answer the keyword phrase, or write what inspires you at this moment in time, and research the appropriate keywords to match what you have written. I prefer the later, which makes the writing so much easier. When the writing becomes more fluent, and the task is so much more fun!

When you are looking for keywords, try not to worry too much about "finding the right phrase". If you have written a "killer" article and feeling rightly proud, what would you type into your preferred search engine to search for what you have written? I can assure you, whatever you have written, there will be thousands of internet users who are interested in what you have written about.

Through my own experience in my professional life, before affiliate marketing, it has been proved time and again, whatever it is, I do not understand, and I am looking for a solution, someone else has already been there and has probably already written about it! I am not one for reinventing the wheel. Google for many years, has been my friend. Sticking to this rule has saved me many fruitless hours, and it is heartwarming when the solution resolves my problem. I don't like making life harder than it has to be?

Wealthy Affiliate's "Alphabet Soup" in the Jaaxy keyword research is a fantastic tool, and I recommend that you give this a try.

Planning to Succeed

The planning stage is the area where you can relax, have some fun, and not worry about writing. I like to keep things simple. I am a confessed techno-geek, but some things are still more natural the non-technical way. For planning and general brainstorming, there is no better way than the old sticky notes!

Get to your favourite stationers, or your nearest dollar store and buy a bundle of small coloured sticky notes. While you are there get yourself a marker pen. The 'Sharpie' is my favourite one for this job.

If we take this blog as an example; I am aiming for 1,500 words. If we break this down to more manageable numbers, then around five or six sub-headings will not only break up all that text, but the challenge of writing 1,500 words is reduced to writing five or six 250 word mini-blogs. Many successful affiliate bloggers use the very technique for writing three to five thousand word blogs relating to "Best of" or "Comparison" reviews. In which case they might have 12 to 20 sub-headings, each of around 250 words.

When the fear of writing drags you down, then I suggest taking this approach to achieve your goal of writing that killer blog. Set yourself one section per day for five days, with the aim of writing 250 words in each chapter, every day. Aim to go over the 250-word mark rather than under, and you will reach your goal. If you do this regularly, and you will be publishing a successful blog every week. Keep this up for the next six months and BINGO! You now have Twenty-Six excellent articles on your website. You are now ranking highly in the search engines, and your traffic is increasing with each passing month. Well done, You!

Your best friend, in planning and getting your blog written, is the Site Content tool within Wealthy Affiliate. The templates help to complete the tasks using this method very well. I created my content template within Site Content, for writing 1,500 words, using 10 paragraphs, in 5 headings. As it turned out, my final tally was 1,570 words, 23 paragraphs and 5 headings.

Don't be afraid of failure. Failure is just a lesson, not an endpoint. Read my blog regarding "Fear":

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Keep On Writing

Don't beat yourself up about the writing. Relax, take three deep breaths, calm your thoughts and focus on what it is you want to write. Let your mind have free rein, and set it free. Once you recognise the story unfolding in your mind, start writing. Smile, because this is the fun bit! Try and keep up with your thoughts. Once I became mindful of this happening, I did have a smile on my face, and typing as fast as I could to keep up was an exercise in itself.

Once I had experienced this style of writing a few times, I was hooked and never again was I afraid of writing. My inner-self always had a story to tell, and was still eager to let me follow - "Come on, keep up!" All I had to do, was to be conscious of this fact, relax and start typing. Some people may want to try dictating their story rather than the "laborious" typing. Unfortunately, my speaking deafens my listening, so typing it is.

Using this method, you must not allow yourself to stop or be distracted! In this I mean, do not interrupt for edit what you have written, correcting spelling and grammar. Keep following your story, don't lose sight of it. When your flow has run its course, then you can take a breather and edit your work.

I really would love to hear about your experiences with this method. If you have had fun or you write with a smile on your face then leave a comment below. Once you get into this mindfulness thing, writing is a pleasure and very therapeutic.

Entertaining Your Readers

You will frequently hear the term "Reader Engagement". As affiliate marketers, our foremost task is to inform the reader, and give value for money, for this I mean, was reading your blog worth the reader's time? Our second task is, to entertain or engage with our audience long enough for SEO to take effect.

In 2018, search engines are looking for well-written articles that answer the question that the search engine user has typed in. The search engines do this by monitoring how long each user spends on your website. If your blog is a few thousand words in length and entertaining and engages the reader for several minutes, and they don't leave in a few seconds. Search engine analytics will reflect the activity on your website and your "Bounce Rate" should be low, and your "Session Duration" should be a few minutes or even longer. These figures, over time, and if you consistently achieve these figures, will get you higher rankings in the search engines.

The better you get with allowing your mind to lead, is that the brain improves with use. Perhaps, our consciousness influences our, and the mind learns. Either way, very quickly, your brain will weave a story. The better the story, the better the engagement, and you will have done your job well in entertaining your reader.

In Conclusion

I hope you understand why content is king, but engagement sits on his right-hand side! If your visitor is still reading at this point, one excellent way to improve your SEO is to encourage your visitor to leave a comment, or better still, to ask a question.

As an example and allow me to prove my point; what do you think of this article? Did this blog inspire you in any way? Do my words fall on deaf ears? Can you share with me your favourite method on how to write a successful blog post?

I didn't think I would write this blog, as I had already written this article on my website. So, be aware that someone in my WA network had explicitly asked this question, I decided to re-write this article but with a different viewpoint. Strangely enough, it wasn't challenging to write the same material again but without repeating myself. It is uncanny, but maybe it is all to do with letting the mind weave the story, accept it, and all we do is record the experience. What do you think? How many writing styles are there?

As always, your comments are always welcome. If you need my help in writing your blog, then tell me where or why you are stuck, and I will help all I can to get your word count up. I respond to all your comments within 24 hours, I'm not always at my desk, so I can't always respond immediately.