Pretty much every business owner needs a blog these days, whether you’re an influencer or running your own online store. However, writing a blog post is easier said than done, which is why I’ve put together this simple step-by-step guide on how to write a blog post. 

Step 1: Know Your Audience

The secret to writing a killer blog post is to really know your audience. Before you put pen to paper, sit down and ask yourself: who are you writing for? What do they want to know? What do they already know?

Knowing your audience will help you figure out what type of information to include and how to choose the right tone of voice. If you don’t take the time to think about this beforehand, you’ll be lost! 

Step 2: Do Your Research

The end goal of your blog post should be to bring value to your audience. Usually, this means teaching them something. 

Think about this blog post that you’re reading right now. You’re probably not here for me, are you? You’re here because you want to know how to write a blog post. 

Make your blogs informative. Focus on answering your readers’ questions. It’s great to include personal anecdotes and weave your personality into your work, but don’t lose sight of why you’re writing in the first place.

All of this means that thorough research is really important. In fact, the more in-depth your research, the easier it will be to actually write the blog post. 

Take the time to comb through reliable sources of information and always double-check your facts. If you spout incorrect information, you’ll lose credibility. 

Step 3: Create an Outline

Now it’s time to compile all of that great research into a logical structure. This will help your writing to flow and stop you from tying yourself up in knots.

I like to outline what my headings and subheadings are going to be, then paste the appropriate research underneath. I also jot down any ideas and phrases that come to mind as I’m doing this. Then, when it comes to creating my first draft, the sentences pretty much write themselves!

Step 4: Come Up with a Snappy Headline 

If you don’t come up with a good headline for your article, the body of it will receive very little attention. A snappy headline is what makes people click on your blog, so it’s worth taking the time to craft a good one.

Fortunately, there are plenty of useful tools out there to help you with this. My personal favorite is CoSchedule’s headline analyser which gives you a score out of 100 and helps you to tweak your choice of words accordingly.

Just a note, however: don’t let these kinds of tools ruin your creativity! They’re very useful but they shouldn’t dictate how you run your blog.

Step 5: Start Writing 

Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Just get up and get going.

For a long time, I thought that I always had to be in the right mood and frame of mind to write. As it turns out, the better you get at sucking it up and just going for it, the more you improve as a writer. Who knew?

Trust me, I know that it’s so easy to sit there and analyse every single word, but don’t torture yourself. When I’m struggling with writer’s block, I simply promise myself that I’m going to write a bad first draft. It doesn’t matter how awful it is – having a shoddy first attempt at least gives you something to work with later.

Often, when you come back to this draft, it actually won’t be as bad as you thought. However, even if it’s not great, that’s okay. Now, you can go through and improve it – you’re not starting from scratch! 

I find that this approach really takes the pressure off when things just don’t sound quite right or I’m struggling to think of the correct word. Sometimes, I highlight sections I don’t like in red so that I’ll remember to review them later. 

Step 6: Create a Second Draft

As I said above, it’s now time to go back to your first draft and make it better. You’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to look at your work with fresh eyes. 

I always recommend leaving a few hours between your first and second drafts, but it’s even better if you’ve got time to come back and review it the next day. Of course, that’s not always possible due to time pressure but the more distance you can get, the better! 

Step 7: Final Revision 

Once you’re happy with your beautifully written blog post, it’s time for a final read-through to check for typos and silly mistakes. 

My two main techniques for doing this are:

1. Change the font. It’s so much easier to spot typos with a different font to the one that you’re used to. I also like to enlarge it by a few sizes, too. For some reason, it just feels more like I’m looking at the document with a pair of fresh eyes.
2. Read my work aloud. When you read your work aloud, you automatically have to pay closer attention to what you’ve written. Plus, it helps you to really understand whether a sentence actually sounds “off” or if you’ve just been overthinking it.

Step 8: Practice Makes Perfect 

The first blog post you ever write is unlikely to be your masterpiece. Or your second, or your third, or your fourth, for that matter. That’s just not the way it works.

It doesn’t matter if what you write never wins a Nobel Prize. The important thing here is that you keep going, keep practicing and keep honing your craft. There’s no such thing as overnight success in the blogging industry – or any industry, for that matter. 

All of the top bloggers admit that they read over their old posts and cringe – and that’s how it should be!  Keep publishing away and over time, you’ll find your voice and create your own signature style. As I always say, consistency is key. 

For more on blogging, don’t miss this article on the best platform to choose or my guide to increasing your traffic!