How to Write an Engaging Blog Post in 5 Steps

SEO is great. Good grammar is great. But knowing how to craft a blog post that does its work? This is a rare skill that not many writers have.?

In this guide, I will share with you 5 simple steps that will enable you to write an engaging blog post. Ready? Let’s go.?

First, What is the function of a blog post?

To learn how to write a better blog post, we should first understand the function of a blog post. Why do people write blogs? Why do people read blogs??

The main purpose of a blog post is to educate and inform. Blogs are not selling materials. They are not copies, and their purpose is not to get people to buy your products or hire your service, but to get them to have a good understanding of your products and services.?

This is where a lot of writers get it wrong.?

When you see a blog that is focused on selling, you can tell. It usually contains a lot of; “Buy Now”, “Order Now”, “Book a session now” and other promotional phrases. Is this bad? No. It is okay to promote your services in a blog. After all, the ultimate purpose is to build enough knowledge and trust in your potential customers that they eventually trust you enough to proceed with the buying. However, this is not the focus, so it should only be done moderately.?

So, in summary, the function of a blog post is to build a relationship between your company and your audience, nurture this relationship, and grow to a state of credibility where customers can trust you enough to purchase from you.?

Let me show you 5 secrets to crafting a valuable blog post that your audience will appreciate you for;

The Planning Process

Every professional writer can attest to the fact that the actual process of writing only takes a few minutes. If you have everything else planned out, then writing will be smooth and easy. This is why the planning stage is very important.?

Here are the key details of the planning process;

• Topic selection.?

As I write this topic now, I am relaxed and the writing process is easy because I have chosen a topic that I love. The process of writing is one that I am familiar with, so I can talk about writing effortlessly.

You must choose a topic that you are interested in. This way, even if you do not have enough knowledge about this topic, you will be inquisitive enough to research properly.?

Remember the old saying; No fun for the writer, no fun for the reader.

• Outlining.

The next best thing you would do in the planning process is outline. Creating an outline saves you a lot of time in the long run. Try this the next time you want to write a blog post; instead of jumping head-on into the writing process, take some time to create an outline first. See how fast you are with the writing.?

An outline consists of all the headers and pointers that you will discuss in the blog. It is very brief, more like a rough draft.?

For instance, my outline for a blog post on how to make chocolate cake will be;

• Introduction
• What makes cake chocolate?
• What materials and ingredients do you need to make a chocolate cake?
• Steps to making a chocolate cake
• Mistakes to avoid when making chocolate cake
• Conclusion.

It is just a draft, but it will serve as a guide as you write.?

• Research

Now that you know what you want to write about, it is time to get information about this topic. It is here that you will need to conduct keyword research to see the ranking keywords in this subject matter and check how you can infuse them into your writing.?

You will also need to research the topic. You probably already have your own opinion and knowledge about the topic, but you will need to check top authoritative sites and get their points of view, then compare and contrast and write your blog.?

Another important research to conduct is competitor research. The competitors in your industry might have written on a similar topic. It is a good idea to check out the first 5 blogs when you insert your topic. Check the word count, the style of writing, their points, their take, everything.?

Make sure the information you get is from a reliable site. You do not want to write a blog that has false information in it. Take your time to research and get credible information. Also, make sure the information is recent. Sometimes, information can be outdated thereby incorrect.?

Craft a Great Headline

The headline is the first thing your reader will see when your post pops up. Remember that the attention span of human beings is reducing drastically. It is now down to 8 seconds. So this means you have 8 seconds to convince an adult swiping through his phone on a busy day to stop at your post because your headline caught their eye.?

There are two major approaches that writers take to create headlines. Some choose to write the headline last, after drafting the full content, while others choose to create the headline first and draft the rest of the content to suit the headline. Either way, just ensure that your headline is catchy.?

There are different types of headline strategies that you can adopt. The one you choose will depend on your audience. Here are five headline strategies that work;

1. The number strategy: 5 ways to grow your website in 2023, 98% of men say they do this every morning, etc.
2. The questioning strategy: What does Uber really want? How can you leverage AI in 2023 as a plumber??
3. The secret strategy: Finally revealed! How celebrities are staying fit in 2023.
4. The objection-solved strategy: Find clients on LinkedIn even if you are a beginner.
5. The urgency strategy: Take action now: How to drive traffic to your website.

Whatever you do, there is a headline commandment and it is that no matter what you do, do not use a deceptive headline just to catch attention. This is tacky, and it usually backfires by making you lose credibility.

The Writing Proper

So you have done your research and you have all your facts in place. You have also crafted an attention-grabbing headline. Now, you are ready to begin writing the blog post.

Usually, there are two major approaches that writers use to work. One is working in short bursts and the other is completing the writing at a stretch. There is no wrong or right approach, just find the one that works for you and use it.

In the writing process, all you need to do is insert the information you gathered from your research into the right section of your outline.

The best pieces are the ones that are relatable, so try to make your content as relatable as possible to your reader. When you are writing, do not aim for perfection. There’s something called the first draft and this is you just expressing yourself. After this, you should revisit the work and edit it to suitability.

Here is a hack that will make you a better writer; as you write, put yourself in the shoes of your readers and answer the questions you would likely ask if you were reading this article.

An important part of the writing process is the conclusion. This is how your article ends and it is a very crucial part of the entire blog. Ideally, every reading piece should have a call to action.

Now that you have given your audience relevant information, what do you want them to do with it? If someone spent their precious time going through your blog and gets to the end of it, it certainly means that they love the content. They trust you and they want you to tell them what to do.

Here are some bang conclusion ideas;

• Give them a pep talk
• Tell them to connect with you on your social media platforms or subscribe to your newsletter for more information of this sort.
• If you have just written about the product or service that you offer, then this is a good place to ask them to purchase this product or service if they want to experience the full benefits you’ve just discussed in the blog.
• Ask for their feedback. You can make them feel even more drawn to you by asking them questions that would prompt them to leave comments.

Editing

As a professional writer, your first draft would probably be great. However, there is always a chance that you have made some errors. So, as a writer, editing your content is non-negotiable.

For this, I suggest that you give your content a break before returning to it for the editing process. When you come back, you’d likely have a fresh perspective of it and deliver better content.

Here are some essential editing tips;

• Edit the content structure:

People have a short attention span, it is only expected that you would make reading easier for them. You need to break your sentences into short and interesting paragraphs that are easy to skim through and understand.

Also, use bullet points and headers properly. Scannable content is easier to read and will keep the attention of your audience.

• Check the flow of the content:

Every paragraph should seamlessly integrate with the next for easy reading. Check to see that you have put each paragraph in the right place.

• Do the grammar check

As a writer, it is almost forbidden to have tons of grammatical errors in your content. It is your job to read through everything you have to ensure that there are no grammatical errors.?

Use software like Grammarly and Hemingway to aid this process. You can also check your readability score to confirm that your content is easy to read.

A bonus tip for editing is to read your content out loud. When you read out, you tend to pick up errors that you might have skipped while skimming through.

On-page SEO

Now that you have concluded, you need to make sure you put all the measures in place to see that your blog ranks high on Google.

One of the ways you can do this is by optimizing your page for search engines. Here are a few on-page SEO practices;

• Link insertion. Inserting links to authoritative sites will improve your authority ranking.
• Keywords addition
• Optimize title tags
• Write an optimized meta-description
• Adding images and alt-text?

A good on-page SEO practice will double your chances of your blog ranking high on Google.

Conclusion?

Remember that the purpose of your blog post is to nurture your audience. When you follow these crucial steps listed above, you will notice that your audience will begin to trust you more and become more interested in following your calls to action.