Blogging is a wonderful creative bubble that can even become one’s profession. If you think that there are too many blogs in existence already, and that you probably can’t stand out, think again. I’m gonna let you in on the recipe for amazing blog posts, and tell you how you can get started with a bang by taking care of few essential points in the beginning.
Last month I wrote about blogging and how it’s making a big return this year. The industry is going through a maturing phase right now, with rules and regulations being honed while followers and consumers become more selective on which kinds of blogs they prefer to follow.
I’ve been blogging semi-professionally for almost a year now. Before that I blogged as a hobby for 8 years. Within the past year I’ve built my first ever website from scratch.
I’ve also started following statistics, made enormous efforts to hone my SEO skills and even managed to secure some collaborations within months from starting. For someone who got into the game and learned to use Google Analytics only a year ago, I’d say I’ve done quite well so far.
So, I should be able to give some insight onto what it actually takes to run a professional blog that isn’t just a hobby on your spare time. I want to start by revealing my strategy for creating amazing blog posts.
Like we know, many people who have never blogged can easily make the mistake of thinking that it doesn’t take much to write about your everyday life and add a few photos here and there. But oh dear, aren’t they wrong.
Random writing is completely okay, and I actually encourage it, but to gain and keep followers takes a lot of work and effort. Amazing blog posts don’t just sprout out of thin air, right?
Let’s not forget that this is one of the most competed industries in existence at the moment, so in order to publish that winning blog post, it has to tick couple essential boxes. Let’s go through the most important aspects to remember:
The (Not So) Secret Recipe for Amazing Blog Posts
A Fresh Take
Whatever subject you’re writing about, you’re not going to be the only one. Fashion, beauty and travel are among the most popular blog categories. And those are exactly the categories that a lot of us like to write about, right?
So, it’s inevitable that there will be plenty of posts covering the exact same subject that you are writing about right now. In fact, the last time I opened my Bloglovin’ feed, there were altogether 3 posts by different bloggers promoting the exact same perfume.
That’s why it’s very important to always have a fresh take on things. The aforementioned link has some great and very valid points, but I’ll give you a few points to pin down right now:
Your fresh take is the thing that makes you unique as a person. It may be as simple a thing as your writing style or your personality. Or sometimes it comes from the idea or the argument behind your blog post.
For example, the challenge with the aforementioned 3 similar blog posts was that they were all promoted posts. And the brand in question had apparently had quite a lot of control over the content:
One of the bloggers had taken a more personal approach and explained what the scent reminded her of. The other 2 concentrated on explaining the product’s features thoroughly, and even covered the brand’s history and vision.
All posts covered the brief, clearly. But the first one stood out by taking a different angle, a personal angle. It was a perfect example of how you can let your personality shine, even on branded posts, and thus give your posts a unique note.
A Snappy Title
In order to get people to click on your posts and spend the time to read it, you need a snappy title to draw them in. All amazing blog posts start with an amazing title! The important things to take into account when planning a title for a blog post are:
- make sure it isn’t too long
- make sure it isn’t too short
- point out that you’re providing an answer to a question (‘How to…’, ‘Why I…)
- use attention-capturing and flashy words
- don’t give up all the information straight up, leave questions unanswered.
There are plenty of headline analyzing tools online that you can use to check the strength of your headline. Headlines are one of the main aspects that Google analyzes when determining the quality of your blog, so it really matters.
Think about what kinds of titles and headlines you yourself tend to click, and try to incorporate the same structure to your headlines, then see how it affects your follower statistics.
Good Quality Photos
No matter how great you are at writing, you need to break the text up with photos to make the reading experience more fluent. A long slab of text with no breaks is just the thing to make people distracted.
Going through my old blog I cringe because the photos are quite awful quality-wise. They are full of memories and meaning to me. But for someone who was not part of my life when I lived in London, those photos probably don’t seem that interesting. And let’s be honest, my old blog just looks completely unprofessional.
Good quality photos don’t need to mean that you need a professional camera that will break your bank. These days phones have cameras that can easily rival with professional cameras in quality.
But the photos in their original state aren’t good enough anymore. You need to bring your photos to the next level so editing them is a must. The fact is, you’re far more likely to get people sharing your posts if they’ve got lots of good images on them.
There is an abundance of photo editing tools for both, desktops and mobile devices to choose from. In lack of a proper laptop I use Snapseed and VSCO on my phone to edit my photos.
Proper Spelling and Grammar
Now, I am (probably unhealthily) obsessed with grammar and spelling. I can’t stand it if a blog post is teeming with spelling mistakes.
In the long run I think this is a very important ingredient for amazing blog posts. Not just because good grammar and spelling make reading your text easier. It also makes you seem like a more trustworthy content creator.
Your readers trust the information that you provide because it’s given in a professional manner. My advice is three words; proofread, proofread, proofread.
I read each of my posts at least 3 times before publishing them, and attempt my utmost to find and fix each and every spelling mistake and unclear sentence. This is all for your benefit, my darling reader. Because I know how hard and uninteresting it is to read a text where you spend ages trying to guess what the person is in fact trying to say.
If proofreading sounds closer to a curse word than salvation to you, check out this quick guide on how to edit and proofread your texts.
Or just write your text on a Word file, choose the right language and make the tool do the checking for you. That still leaves you the part of checking the sentence structure, though.
A Call To Arms
We’re almost done! You’ve got the text, you’ve come up with a brilliant headline, and you’ve proofread the text and added amazing imagery on it. There’s only one thing left to do!
Social media is, of course, the best platform to showcase and market your blog posts, on which you put so much time and effort. So, remember to shout out about it; ask your readers to subscribe to your newsletter or to leave a comment.
In addition, ask them to follow you on social media and share your posts. That’s a brilliant way to boost your following quickly as well.
Now you’ve got everything you need to know to create those winning blog posts! Time to get cracking!
As last advice I’d recommend never to try and be someone you’re not. Because you are unique just as you are, and that’s exactly what’s going to make your readers love you and your content. Keep it real, lovelies ♥
Let me know what you think, I’d love to know whether you found this post helpful! Please comment below and let’s chat!
Follow me on Instagram and use #styleoutlandish to showcase your style! I’m always on the lookout for outfit inspiration.
