How to Write the Perfect Blog Post

What is a blog? What are the basic steps of blog writing? explain

You might be a world-class writer, but without a clear structure, your blog posts may still be difficult to read.

With that in mind, let’s look at how you can write a well-structured blog post, even if you’re a complete beginner. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the topic you want to read about:

1. Start With the Right Blog Post Topic

2. Create a Descriptive and Compelling Headline

3. Write a Clear and Concise Introduction

4. Break Up Content with Headings

5. Add a Table of Contents

6. Keep Paragraphs and Sentences Short

7. Add Images, Video, and Other Media

8. Wrap Up Blog Posts with a Conclusion

9. End With a Compelling Call to Action (CTA)

10. Preview Your Blog Post and Do Some Final Touch ups

1. Start With the Right Blog Post Topic

The first thing you need to do is pick the right topic to talk about in your blog post.

If you run a personal blog and you just want to share stories on your website, then the blog post topic ideas can be anything you want. But if your goal is to build an audience and ultimately make money from your blog, then the first step is to do some keyword research.

Keyword research means finding what kind of search terms people use on search engines to find topics related to your blog’s niche. For example, WPBeginner is all about WordPress, so we’re constantly on the lookout for WordPress-related queries.

2. Create a Descriptive and Compelling Headline

Once you have a blog post topic, then you can think about the blog post’s headline.

Your post’s headline is usually the first thing people see. No matter how good your blog’s content is, you’ll struggle to get readers with a boring title.

A compelling headline will catch a person’s attention no matter whether they spot it on social media, an RSS feed, in their search engine results, or some other location. (RSS feed also known as Really Simple Syndication feed is an XML-based format for your content.)

That said, the headline should describe what the post is about, while also making people want to read it.

BuzzSumo also found that more people engage with headlines that include the current year.

Even simply adding a year to the end of a title may be enough to increase your blog traffic.

People are also more likely to share headlines that suggest newness, so you may want to try including phrases like ‘for the first time.’

Another trick is teasing must-have information by saying things like ‘need to know,’ ‘you need to,’ or ‘the best.’

3. Write a Clear and Concise Introduction

Every great blog post needs a clear introduction that tells visitors what the post is about. This helps people decide whether they’re interested in the topic.

Just like the headline, it’s not enough to simply state what the blog is about. You also need to make the visitor want to carry on reading.

People don’t want to waste time on blogs they’re not interested in. Having said that, your introduction should be short and to the point. Ideally, you should aim for 1-3 paragraphs.

4. Break Up Content with Headings

No matter how good your writing is, all your hard work will go to waste if readers can’t concentrate on more than a few paragraphs.

That’s why we recommend using headings to break your post into bite-sized chunks.

Headings help readers skim (move)the post and find the content they’re interested in reading. It also makes it easier for them to revisit sections they want to read again.

Before you start writing, it’s a good idea to map out all the headings you’ll use and the content you’ll add to each section. This will keep you focused as you write the post.

Ideally, your headings should summarize each major point you want to make. In fact, readers should be able to understand the flow of your blog simply by scanning the headings.

After creating your headings, organize them so your content flows logically.

5. Add a Table of Contents

A table of contents lists the post’s main points and provides links to specific sections. This gives visitors an overview of what the blog covers while allowing them to jump straight to the content they’re interested in.

This can keep visitors on your website for longer, even if they’re only interested in part of a blog post.

A table of contents can even improve your WordPress SEO, as Google often uses the table to automatically add ‘jump to section’ links in search results.

6. Keep Paragraphs and Sentences Short

Imagine opening a blog post just to find a wall of text. Chances are, you’d leave the page immediately. That said, it’s important to break your blog into short paragraphs and sentences. These are easier to skim and look much less daunting, especially on mobile devices.

A good trick is to avoid long and complicated words, intricate metaphors, and flowery language. All of that to say: keep it simple. You’ll lose people if you try to be too clever.

Ideally, you should aim to make a single point per sentence, using as few words as possible.

Often, you can break grammatical rules if it gets your point across in fewer words. This may mean starting sentences with things like ‘Or,’ ‘And,’ or ‘But,’ or using more casual language and fragments rather than full sentences.

You should also organize your sentences and paragraphs to give the reader the most important information first, and then go into finer detail from there. This makes it easier for the reader to skip sections they’re not interested in.

7. Add Images, Video, and Other Media

Visitors don’t want to feel like they’re reading a novel when they visit your blog. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to add visual content like photos, infographics, screenshots, graphs, and diagrams.

Immediately, this breaks up your text, but it also helps visitors see what each section is about, at a glance. Each piece of visual content is also another opportunity to grab the reader’s attention as they scroll through your post.

It even seems like blogs with visual content are more popular. According to our blogging statistics research, posts with more than seven images get 116% more organic traffic compared to posts that have no images. Similarly, blogs with videos get 83% more traffic than those without video.

If you’re writing ‘how to’ blogs, then images help visitors understand what they need to do. For example, this PushEngage blog uses screenshots to show readers what to click next in order to create a landing page in WordPress.

8. Wrap Up Blog Posts with a Conclusion

A good conclusion summarizes all the points you’ve made throughout the blog, without introducing any new information.

Depending on the topic, you may sometimes want to suggest an actionable solution or share your top pick of all the products, WordPress plugins, travel destinations, and anything else you’ve compared or reviewed throughout the blog.

However, as a general rule conclusions tend to be pretty short, so don’t worry if your conclusion is one or two sentences.

9. End With a Compelling Call To Action (CTA)

When the reader reaches the end of the post, you need to tell them what to do next. This should be an action that keeps them engaged with your blog or gets them to convert, which is known as a call to action.

In the following Easy Digital Downloads post, you can see several calls to action on the page.

A good call to action is clear, asks for the user to take precise action, and has a sense of urgency. For example, you might ask them to download a PDF or subscribe to your email newsletter.

Even if you use the same call to action, it’s a good idea to customize it for the individual post.

Another option is to suggest some posts the visitor might want to read next.

For the best results, include links that relate to the current blog in some way, which is exactly what AffiliateWP does on their affiliate marketing blog.

10. Preview Your Blog Post and Do Some Final Touchups

Once you have a blog post draft with all the images ready, you need to make sure that everything looks right. This means there are no grammar or spelling errors, the images look clear, your content is easy to understand, and so on.

What you can do is preview the blog post before publishing it. Simply click the ‘Preview’ button on your block editor, like so:

Then, you can use a grammar checker tool to check for language-related errors in your content. We have some recommended tools you can check out in our list of the best online grammar checkers for WordPress.