Happy Grey Lucky How To Start A Blog
Since you're on this page, you probably already know how integral the process of blogging is to the success of your marketing efforts. Which is why it goes without saying that it's exceptionally important to learn how to effectively start and manage a blog in a way that supports your business. Without a blog, you'll find yourself experiencing a number of problems such as poor search engine optimization (SEO), lack of promotional content for social, little clout with your leads and customers, and fewer pages that you can use to share lead-generating calls-to-action (CTAs). So why, oh why, do so many marketers still have a laundry list of excuses for why they can't maintain a blog? Maybe because, unless you enjoy writing, business blogging might seem uninteresting, time consuming, and difficult. Well, the time for excuses is over and this guide is here to help you understand why. We'll cover how to write and manage your business's blog as well as provide helpful templates to simplify your blogging efforts. Let's get started with an important question. A blog post is any article, news piece, or guide that's published in the blog section of a website. A blog post typically covers a specific topic or query, is educational in nature, ranges from 600 to 2,000+ words, and contains other media types such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive charts. Blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. They can help you boost brand awareness, credibility, conversions, and revenue. Most importantly, they can help you drive traffic to your website. Today, people and organizations of all walks of life manage blogs to share analyses, instruction, criticisms, product information, industry findings, and more. There are many popular blog formats, but here are six of the most common: Save time and download six blog post templates for free. So, how do you ensure your blog post catches the eyes of your target audience, buyer personas, and customers? Before you write a blog, make sure you know the answers to questions like, "Why would someone keep reading this entire blog post?" and "What makes our audience come back for more?" To start, a good blog post is interesting and educational. Blogs should answer questions and help readers resolve a challenge they're experiencing — and you have to do so in an interesting way. It's not enough just to answer someone's questions — you also have to provide actionable steps while being engaging. For instance, your introduction should hook the reader and make them want to continue reading your post. Then, use examples to keep your readers interested in what you have to say. Remember, a good blog post is interesting to read and provides educational content to audience members. (Want to learn how to apply blogging and other forms of content marketing to your business? Check out HubSpot Academy's free content marketing course.) So, how do you actually go about writing one of these engaging and informational pieces? Here are the steps you'll want to follow while writing a blog post. Before you start writing your blog post, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience. Ask questions like: What do they want to know about? What will resonate with them? This is where the process of creating buyer personas comes in handy. Consider what you know about your buyer personas and their interests while you're coming up with a topic for your blog post. For instance, if your readers are millennials looking to start a business, you probably don't need to provide them with information about getting started in social media — most of them already have that down. You might, however, want to give them information about how to adjust their social media approach (for example — from what may be a casual, personal approach to a more business-savvy, networking-focused approach). That kind of tweak is what helps you publish content about the topics your audience really wants and needs. Don't have buyer personas in place for your business? Here are a few resources to help you get started: Next, you'll need a place to host this post and every other blog post you write. This requires choosing a content management system (CMS) and a website domain hosting service. A CMS helps you create a website domain where you'll actually publish your blog. CMS platforms can manage domains (where you create your website) and subdomains (where you create a webpage that connects to an existing website). HubSpot customers host web content via CMS Hub. Another popular option is a self-hosted WordPress website on a hosting site such as WP Engine. Whether you create a domain or a subdomain to start your blog, you'll need to choose a web hosting service after you pick a CMS. Your blog's domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. The name between the two periods is up to you, as long as this domain name doesn't yet exist on the internet. Want to create a subdomain for your blog? If you already own a cooking business at www.yourcompany.com, you might create a blog that looks like this: blog.yourcompany.com. In other words, your blog's subdomain will live in its own section of yourcompany.com. Some CMS platforms offer subdomains as a free service, where your blog lives on the CMS, rather than your business's website. For example, it might look like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. However, to create a subdomain that belongs to your company website, register the subdomain with a website host. Most website hosting services charge very little to host an original domain — in fact, website costs can be as inexpensive as $3 per month when you commit to a 36-month term. Here are five popular web hosting services to choose from: Whether you create a domain or a subdomain for your blog, you'll need to select a web domain hosting service after choosing your CMS — this is true for every blogger seeking tostart their own blogon their own website. Once you have your domain name set up, customize the appearance of your blog to reflect the theme of the content you plan on creating and your brand. For example, if you're writing about sustainability and the environment, green might be a color to keep in mind while designing your blog. If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for that existing website, ensure the article is consistent with the website in appearance and subject matter. Two ways to do this are including your: Before you write anything, pick a topic for your blog post. The topic can be pretty general to start. For example, if you're a company that sells a CRM for small-to-enterprise businesses, your post might be about the importance of using a single software to keep your marketing, sales, and service teams aligned. Pro tip: You may not want to jump into a "how-to" article for your first blog post. Why? Your credibility hasn't been established yet. Before teaching others how to do something, you'll first want to show that you're a leader in your field and an authoritative source. For instance, if you're a plumber writing your first post, you won't yet write a post titled "How to Replace the Piping System in your Bathroom." First, you'd write about modern faucet setups, or tell a particular success story you had rescuing a faucet before it flooded a customer's house. Here are four other types of blog posts you could start with: If you're having trouble coming up with topic ideas, a good topic brainstorming session should help. In the post I've linked, my colleague walks you through a helpful process for turning one idea into many. Similar to the "leaky faucet" examples above, you would "iterate off old topics to come up with unique and compelling new topics." This can be done by: You might come up with a few different working titles — in other words, iterations of approaching that topic to help you focus your writing. For example, you may decide to narrow your topic to "Tools for Fixing Leaky Faucets" or "Common Causes of Leaky Faucets." A working title is specific and will guide your post so you can start writing. Let's take a real post as an example: "How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post." Appropriate, right? The topic, in this case, was probably "blogging." Then the working title may have been something like, "The Process for Selecting a Blog Post Topic." And the final title ended up being "How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post." See that evolution from topic, to working title, to final title? Even though the working title may not end up being the final title (more on that in a moment), it still provides enough information so you can focus your blog post on something more specific than a generic, overwhelming topic. We've written more specifically about writing captivating introductions in the post "How to Write an Introduction," but let's review, shall we? First, grab the reader's attention. If you lose the reader in the first few paragraphs — or even sentences — of the introduction, they'll stop reading (even before they've given your post a fair shake). You can do this in a number of ways: tell a story or a joke, be empathetic, or grip the reader with an interesting fact or statistic. Then, describe the purpose of your post and explain how it will address a problem the reader may be experiencing. This will give the reader a reason to continue reading and show them how the post will help them improve their work or lives. Here's an example of an intro we think does a good job of attracting a reader's attention right away: "Blink. Blink. Blink. It's the dreaded cursor-on-a-blank-screen experience that all writers — amateur or professional, aspiring or experienced — know and dread. And of all times for it to occur, it seems to plague us the most when trying to write an introduction." Sometimes, blog posts can have an overwhelming amount of information — for the reader and the writer. The trick is to organize the info in a way so readers aren't intimidated by length or amount of content. This organization can take multiple forms — sections, lists, tips — whatever's most appropriate. But it must be organized! Download These Templates for Free Let's take a look at the post, "How to Use Snapchat: A Detailed Look Into HubSpot's Snapchat Strategy." There's a lot of content in the piece, so it's broken up into a few sections using descriptive headers. The major sections are separated into subsections that go into more detail, making the content easier to read. To complete this step, all you really need to do is outline your post. This way, before you start writing, you'll know which points you want to cover and the best order to do so in. And to make things even easier, you can download and use our free blog post templates, which are pre-organized for six of the most common blogs. Just fill in the blanks! The next step — but not the last — is actually writing the content. We can't forget about that, of course. Now that you have your outline or template, you're ready to fill in the blanks. Use your outline as a guide and expand on all points as needed. Write about what you already know, and if necessary, conduct additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to back up your points, while providing proper attribution when incorporating external sources. When you do, always try to find accurate and compelling data to use in your post. If you're having trouble stringing sentences together, you're not alone. Finding your "flow" can be challenging for a lot of folks. Luckily, there are a ton of tools you can lean on to help you improve your writing. Here are a few to get you started: You can also refer to our complete list of tools for improving your writing skills. And if you're looking for more direction, the following resources are chock-full of valuable writing advice: You're not quite done yet, but you're close! The editing process is an important part of blogging — don't overlook it. Ask a grammar-conscious co-worker to copyedit and proofread your post. You may also consider enlisting the help of The Ultimate Editing Checklist or using a free grammar checker like Grammarly. If you're looking to brush up on your self-editing skills, turn to these helpful posts for some tips and tricks to get you started: When you're ready to check your formatting, keep the blog elements in mind: Choose a visually appealing and relevant image for your post. As social networks treat content with images more prominently, visuals are more responsible than ever for the success of your blog content. For help selecting an image for your post, read "How to Select the Perfect Image for Your Next Blog Post" and pay close attention to the section about copyright law. No one likes an unattractive blog post. And it's not just pictures that make a post visually appealing — it's the formatting and organization of the post, too. In a well-formatted and visually-appealing blog post, you'll notice that header and sub-headers are used to break up large blocks of text — and those headers are styled consistently. Here's an example of what that looks like: Screenshots should always have a similar, defined border so they don't appear as if they're floating in space — that style should stay consistent from post to post. Maintaining this consistency makes your content look more professional and easier on the eyes. Tags are specific, public-facing keywords that describe a post. They also allow readers to browse for more content in the same category on your blog. Refrain from adding a laundry list of tags to each post. Instead, put some thought into a blog tagging strategy. Think of tags as "topics" or "categories," and choose 10-20 tags that represent all the main topics you want to cover on your blog. Then stick to those. At the end of every blog post, insert a CTA that indicates what you want the reader to do next — subscribe to your blog, download an ebook, register for a webinar or event, read a related article, etc. After your visitors read your blog post, they click on the CTA, and eventually you generate a lead. But the CTA is also a valuable resource for the person reading your content — use your CTAs to offer more content similar to the subject of the post they just finished reading. If you're not sure how to get started, take a look at some CTA examples. In the blog post "What to Post on Instagram: 18 Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration," readers are given actionable ideas for creating valuable Instagram content. At the end of the post is a CTA prompting readers to take a social media certification course: See how that's a win-win for everyone? Readers who want to learn more have the opportunity to do so, and the business receives a lead they can nurture ... who may even become a customer! After you finish writing, go back and optimize the on-page elements of your post. Don't obsess over how many keywords to include. If there are opportunities to incorporate keywords you're targeting, and it won't impact reader experience, do it. If you can make your URL shorter and more keyword-friendly, go for it. But don't cram keywords or shoot for some arbitrary keyword density — Google's smarter than that! Here's a little blog SEO reminder about what you should review and optimize: Meta descriptions are the descriptions below the post's page title on Google's search results pages. They provide searchers with a short summary of the post before clicking into it. They are ideally between 150-160 characters and start with a verb, such as "Learn," "Read," or "Discover." While meta descriptions no longer factor into Google's keyword ranking algorithm, they give searchers a snapshot of what they'll get from reading the post and help improve your clickthrough rate from search. Most blogging software uses your post title as your page title, which is the most important on-page SEO element at your disposal. But if you've followed our formula so far, you should already have a working title that will naturally include keywords or phrases your target audience is interested in. Don't over-complicate your title by trying to fit in keywords where they don't naturally belong. With that said, if there are clear opportunities to add keywords you're targeting to your post title and headers, feel free to take them. Also, try to keep your headlines short — ideally, under 65 characters — so they don't get truncated in the search engine results. Anchor text is the word or words that link to another page — either on your website or on another website. Carefully select which keywords you want to link to other pages on your site because search engines take that into consideration when ranking your page for certain keywords. It's also important to consider which pages you link to. Consider linking pages that you want to rank for a specific keyword. You could end up getting it to rank on Google's first page of results instead of its second page — and that isn't small potatoes! More than 60% of organic visits are carried out on a mobile device. As such, having a website with a responsive design is critical. In addition to making sure your website's visitors (including your blog's visitors) have the best experience possible, optimizing for mobile will score your website some SEO points. Last but not least, it's time to spruce up that working title of yours. Luckily, we have a simple formula for writing catchy titles that will grab the attention of your reader. Here's what to consider: Let's summarize everything we've learned. If you've mastered the steps above, learn about some ways to take your blog posts to the next level. By now, you should know who you're writing for, have a blog all set up, and understand the basics of writing a blog post. While it's easy to understand the practicalities of writing a post, it's difficult to get started on your very first article. Let's go through the process of writing your first blog post. You've got the technical and practical tidbits down — now it's time to write your very first blog post. And nope, this isn't the space to introduce yourself and your new blog (i.e. "Welcome to my blog! This is the topic I'll be covering. Here are my social media handles. Will you please follow?"). We've briefly touched upon it in the previous section, but your first blog post shouldn't be a how-to guide. Remember: you've yet to establish authority in the field. You should instead start with "low-hanging fruit," writing about a highly specific topic that serves a small segment of your target audience. That seems unintuitive, right? If more people are searching for a term or a topic, that should mean more readers for you. But that's not true. If you choose a general and highly searched topic that's been covered by major competitors or more established brands, it's unlikely that your post will rank on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). Give your newly born blog a chance by choosing a topic that few bloggers have written about. TLDR; Your first post should cover a niche, low-volume topic. As you write more and more on your blog and establish topical authority, you can begin to cover more highly-searched keywords. Let's walk through this process. The first step is to find a topic with low searches in Google (we recommend sticking to about 10 to 150 monthly searches). These topics offer less competition and should therefore allow your new blog post to rank more easily. To choose a topic, you can either do a traditional brainstorming session or carry out keyword research. We suggest the latter because you can actually see how many people are looking for that topic. Now, don't be intimidated by the term "keyword research." It's not just for marketers, but for new bloggers, too. And it's really easy to do. To jumpstart your keyword research, first begin by identifying the general topic of your blog. Say you're a plumber. Your general, high-level topic might be "plumbing" (67K monthly searches). Next, put this term into a keyword research tool such as: When you run this term through the tool, a list of related keywords will appear. Scan the list and choose one with a lower search volume. For this example, we'll use "under sink plumbing" (1.4K monthly searches). Run that keyword in the keyword research tool again. Look at the related keywords. Find one with a lower search volume. Do that again. For this example, we'll settle on "plumbing problems under kitchen sink" (10 monthly searches). That's the topic for our first post. TLDR; Choose a low-volume, low-competition keyword that will ensure your first post ranks. For more help on keyword research, here are more resources you can use: You've got your topic — now, double-check that the user's search intent would be fulfilled by a blog post. What does that mean? If someone is looking for "plumbing problems under kitchen sink," they might be looking for a tutorial, a diagram, an article, or a product that can fix the issue. If they're looking for the first three, you're good — that can be covered in a blog post. A product, however, is different, and your blog post won't rank. How do you double-check search intent? Google the term and look at the results. If other articles and blog posts rank for that term, you're good to go. If you only find product pages or listicles from major publications, then find a new topic to cover in your first post. Consider the term "under sink plumbing bathroom" (30 monthly searches). It seemed like a perfect fit because it had low monthly searches. Upon Googling the term, we found product carousels, product pages from Home Depot and Lowes, and guides written by major publications. (You'll also want to avoid topics that have been covered by major publications, at least for now.) TLDR; Before writing your first blog post about a low-volume topic, double-check the user intent by Googling the keyword. Also, don't forget to take a look at who's written about that topic so far. If you see a major brand, consider writing about another topic. You've got a highly unique topic that's been covered by just a few people so far. It's time to flesh it out by covering related or adjacent topics. Use the following tools: You can also use these keyword research tools we mentioned above in step one. Now, it's time to outline and write your first post! With your niche topic and related questions as guideposts, you can now write a post that's highly relevant to your niche and doesn't have as much competition. Use the how-to guide we shared in the previous section to help you write a great first post. Don't forget to: As a new blogger, you likely don't have a social media following yet. The solution? Build a few backlinks to the post to get it off the ground. Backlinks are a major ranking factor, but you don't want to use black-hat methods such as spamming the comment sections in other blogs. Instead, reach out to people and let them know this new resource exists so they can link to your post. If you're a plumber, for example, you might reach out to your local plumber's association. Here are more blog post promotion resources: Stuck? Let's take a look at some first blog post ideas. Want some real examples of blog posts? See what your first blog post can look like based on the topic you choose and the audience you're targeting. List-based posts are sometimes called "listicles," a mix of the words "list" and "article." These are articles that deliver information in the form of a list. A listicle uses sub-headers to break down the blog post into individual pieces, helping readers skim and digest your content more easily. As you can see in the example from our blog, listicles can offer various tips and methods for solving a problem. Thought leadership posts allow you to share your expertise on a particular subject matter and share firsthand knowledge with your readers. These pieces — which can be written in the first person, like the post shown above — help you build trust with your audience so people take your blog seriously as you continue to write for it. Curated collections are a special type of listicle blog post. Rather than sharing tips or methods for doing something, this type of blog post shares a list of real examples that all have something in common in order to prove a larger point. In the example post above, Listverse shares eight real examples of evolution in action among eight different animals — starting with the peppered moth. SlideShare is a presentation tool that helps publishers package a lot of information into easily shareable slides. Think of it like a PowerPoint, but for the web. With this in mind, SlideShare blog posts help you promote your SlideShare so that it can generate a steady stream of visitors. Unlike blogs, SlideShare decks don't often rank well on search engines, so they need a platform for getting their message out there to the people who are looking for it. By embedding and summarizing your SlideShare on a blog post, you can share a great deal of information and give it a chance to rank on Google at the same time. Need some SlideShare ideas? In the example above, we turned our company's "Culture Code" into a SlideShare presentation that anyone can look through and take lessons from, and then promoted it in a blog post. "Newsjacking" is a nickname for "hijacking" your blog to break important news related to your industry. Therefore, the newsjack post is a type of article whose sole purpose is to garner consumers' attention and, while offering them timeless professional advice, prove your blog is a trusted resource for learning about the big things that happen in your industry. The newsjack example above was published by Houzz, a home decor merchant and interior design resource, about a new mobile app that launched just for interior designers. Houzz didn't launch the app, but the news of its launching is no less important to Houzz's audience. For example, when you're looking to share a lot of statistical information (without boring or confusing your readers), building this data into a well-designed, even engaging infographic can keep your readers engaged with your content. It also helps readers remember the information long after they leave your website. For this example, you need not look any further than the blog post you're reading right now! How-to guides like this one help solve a problem for your readers. They're like a cookbook for your industry, walking your audience through a project step by step to improve their literacy on the subject. The more posts like this you create, the more equipped your readers will be to work with you and invest in the services you offer. Additionally, these posts give your blog variety in topic and viewpoint. If your customer has a problem you can't solve, a guest post is a great solution. If you begin accepting guest posts, set up editorial guidelines to ensure they're up to the same standards as your posts. Blogging can help you build brand awareness, become a thought-leader and expert in your industry, attract qualified leads, and boost conversions. Follow the steps and tips we covered above to begin publishing and enhancing your blog today. Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. 
What Is A Blog Post?
What Makes A Good Blog Post?
How To Write A Blog Post
Blog Post Examples
What is a blog post?
What makes a good blog post?
How to Write a Blog Post
1. Understand your audience.
2. Create your blog domain.
Choose a CMS.
Register a domain or subdomain with a website host.
3. Customize your blog's theme.
4. Identify your first blog post's topic.
5. Come up with a working title.
6. Write an intro (and make it captivating).
7. Organize your content in an outline.
Featured Resource: 6 Free Blog Post Templates
8. Write your blog post!
9. Proofread and edit your post.
Featured Image
Visual Appearance
Topics and Tags
10. Insert a CTA.
11. Optimize for on-page SEO.
Meta Description
Page Title and Headers
Anchor Text
Mobile Optimization
12. Pick a catchy title.
Your First Blog Post: Choosing a Topic, Writing the Post, and Actually Getting Hits
1. Find a low-volume topic.
2. Google the term to double-check search intent.
3. Find questions and terms related to that topic.
5. Outline and write the post.
6. Promote your first post via outreach.
First Blog Post Ideas
The Difference Between [Niche Topic] and [Niche Topic], Explained by a [Niche Expert]
The 10 Best and Worst [Niche Tool] for [Niche Activity]
8 [Niche Activity] Common Mistakes (+ Ways to Fix Them)
9 Proven Tips for [Niche Activity]
Why We/I Switched from [Niche Tool] to [Niche Tool] (Comparison)
[Niche Tool] vs [Niche Tool]: Which [Tool] is Best for You?
The Ultimate Roundup of [Niche Activity] Tips and Tricks
Blog Post Examples
1. List-Based Blog Post
List-Based Post Example: 17 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid in 2021, According to HubSpot Bloggers
2. Thought Leadership Post
Example: How HubSpot's Customers Are Shaping the Next Normal
3. Curated Collection Post
Example: 8 Examples of Evolution in Action
4. SlideShare Presentation
Example: The HubSpot Culture Code
5. Newsjacking Post
Example: Ivy Goes Mobile With New App for Designers
6. Infographic Post
Example: The Key Benefits of Studying Online [Infographic]
The infographic post serves a similar purpose as the SlideShare post — the fourth example, explained above — in that it conveys information for which plain blog copy might not be the best format.7. How-to Post
Example: How to Write a Blog Post: A Step-by-Step Guide
8. Guest Post
Example: Your Bookmarkable Guide to Social Media Image Sizes in 2020 [Infographic]
Guest posts are a type of blog post that you can use to include other voices on your blog. For example, if you want to get an outside expert's opinion on a topic, a guest post is perfect for that.Ready to blog?
Originally published Apr 15, 2021 7:00:00 AM, updated November 23 2021
Happy Grey Lucky How To Start A Blog
Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-start-a-blog
Posted by: whiteprodins.blogspot.com
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