Owning a blog is not a big deal today. Yet, ensuring the fact that it is updated and has quality content is all that matters. Frequent posting of quality content as your blog posts assures that the readers are engaged and get your blog more following by staying in the newsfeeds of its followers. As a matter of fact, even after following all the perquisites and essential steps, if your internet connection is not reliable and ditches you at peaks hours – all the efforts are useless. Make sure you have Spectrum internet which you can get here or if that is not available in your area, get something that has your back every time. Now that I have reminded you that without internet you cannot post any content on your blog, you are qualified to learn the below mentioned effective steps for writing blog post content:
- Separate Research from Writing
In my opinion, research is the best part – its fun. You read lots of different articles and blogs to find relevant content. You browse the internet for hours without writing, collecting content from the website to Wikipedia. Some writers start writing during their research while some writers don’t prefer doing both alongside. The best practice is to make notes while researching and use them later for the blog content. Get the right tools to get the best results such as plagiarism checkers, Evernote, Dropbox, and such for organizing your writing content better and ZenWriter, Hemingway App, Grammarly for improving the acquired and written content, and Canva or Photoshop for making your content visually appealing.
- Write First, Edit Later.
When you start writing, don’t break your flow – even if a fact or something bothers you, make a note or color that text so you can verify and correct that later. Don’t break your tempo, keep going. Stephen King says, “To write is human, to edit is divine.” You make the first draft of writing, then edit that by proofreading and improvising the content. The process of tidying up all the messy researched content and bringing into a proper structure. Professional writers keep writing, they don’t stop every sentence and confirm. The best idea is to proofread yourself so you can verify, tweak and modify as much as you can to bring it in the best shape.
- Write an Outline
Like we used to write in essays where there an introduction to the subject matter, the body where the discussion takes place and finally the conclusion where the crux of the story with e verdict is given. For the longer posts, extra sections can also be added while transitioning. It is recommended and comes under best practices to make an outline with the help of bullet pointers. It will take some extra minutes but it will make the structure of your blog post. An outline will also bring ease for you as a writer when everything will be self-explanatory and in proportion including the word count.
- Stuck? Write Your Conclusion First.
If you get a writer’s block or get stuck due to any given reason –don’t stop. Write your conclusion first. Conclusion carries the call-to-action or writer’s verdict. It will help you write the narrative as well. Proving a point is also not compulsory, leave it open-ended. Give room to the readers for thinking, if you are writing something influential or thought-provoking. Mention the essential points discussed above and highlight the essence of the subject matter.
- Write Your Introduction Last
Before you wonder why let me first mention that first line holds the power to make or break the tempo of any reader. There is a reason people invite their most time in titles and first paragraphs. The first line counts as one of the most significant. Write without wasting two hours on the first paragraph and start writing the rest and you will save your energy for the best introductory paragraphs. Focus after outlining, researching, writing and editing the content of your blog post. You will know what to tell the reader first.
- Forget About Being Perfect
Getting too focused on writing perfectly will stress you out. Keep in mind your targeted audiences. You are not writing literature, right? It goes without saying that poor grammar, typos, common sense, negligence in writing or structure, incorrect quotation of facts, spelling mistakes are not acceptable. But, aiming for perfectionism takes too much time and is not crucial. Maintain quality. Digital posts come with lots of conveniences too where you can always edit later if you find any mistake in published content.
- Practice, Practice and Practice.
When I started writing professionally, my only concern was that how will I learn more and can become a writer at par with time. The only answer I could find online and after interviewing writers was to Practice. The more you write, the most comfortable you are with writing. Writing frequently will also enhance your vocabulary, sentence structure, the shape of the blog post, and the website.