Best practices for writing quality blogs

Great idea

I recently started blog writing and found out the hard way that it was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. Although not impossible if you work through it.
But in my experience I agree.

Sentences need to be short.
Keep the main ideas simple.
It has to flow. together
There needs to be visuals.

That's what I think.
But I also think quality overrules quantity in the blogging space.

add one more thing to your list, it should be "value added" :-)

Only one important question you need to answer:

What makes YOUR blog different?

Don't write large paragraphs of text. It's not an essay, too large of a paragraph and people will get bored. Break your text into shorter and easier to read sections.

Writing a blog is very difficult work but you may write a blog very easy way .
select the topic
Divide into multi headlines
write in 500 to 700 words

I usually go a different way when planning my posts out, generally a simple process.. So I will get the topic name do a quick intro and let the readers know what I am going to give them in the article.. Breakdown the main body as in all the bells and whistles and what not, then I will wrap it up with a conclusion as to where my thoughts lie on the topic! But always give value where you can!

Unique value added content reigns supreme for blogs for sure, but that also needs to be balanced properly with quantity/frequency. Some topics require frequent blog posts while others can stand to be weekly. Either way though, it needs to be consistent so your readers know when to expect the next post.

A personal connection can make it much stronger.

Define Your Ideal Readers

Keep heading for the Blogs
Add keywords for the topics basis

Here's a few more...

- Write article titles that hook people in, and that imply some kind of a benefit to the reader. (The "What's In It For Me? Why Should I Care?" factor.)

- Don't make the article look like an essay. Use short sentences and paragraphs. As I say: "Make it easy to read, and LOOK easy to read."

- For blogs associated with products, in each blog post, aim to make at least one point that moves readers closer to where you want them to be. Example: You're selling a "Learn The Piano" product. Write an article giving the sense that "learning the piano is easier than you might think."

Make it simple yet catchy, and informative.

Use of sub-heading and try to clarify the topic in the first paragraph you also be a good practice in that case.

Using relevant keywords in Title TAG and URL.
Unique and Easy to Read Interesting Content including; images, quotes, videos.
Internal Linking.

Quality above quantity indeed. A blog post needs to be engaging for the reader, so build it up with an intro, a middle and a conclusion. Use short sentences (as has been said before) and don't forget proper headings (H1 / H2 / H3 etc) to make it easy to read. A reading progress bar or "minute read" indication urges people to read imho, though I have not hard evidence for that.
Humour is also very important, in my experience it is used less and less because we are so afraid to offend people, but it is a powerful way to engage your reader.
I always try to find some kind of long tail phrase to focus my post on, and then weave that and parts of it and alternatives all through the post, but not too much (my keyword density is very low, I write for humans). But I do use it in headings.
Internal links (also said before) are important.
Totally agreed: my blogs with eyecatching images are read way more than blogs without, and I mean 5 to 10 times as much. For blog posts this even works better than video in my case.

You can choose a topic which is largely enquired by the people or on the topic which might pull audience interests.
Don't make large paragraphs or long sentences. Make it short and crisp.
Add pictures, or statistics report which will prove your words worthy and true.

How to write a great headline
8 out of 10 people will read your headline. 2 out of 10 will read your rest of the post. Statistics like the 80/20 rule from Copyblogger show that the title determines the failure or success of any material. So how to write a successful headline?
Let's start with the length.
The reader perceives the first and last 3 words from the title. Of course, a very small number of titles consists of 6 words. In view of this, it is necessary to make the first and last three words reflect the essence of the post to the greatest extent and attract the reader's attention. Below is a list of high-quality headers that successfully perform their main function.

A great summary of what a good blog should look like. Let me add that the heading should be between 40-60 characters. Avoid staffing the blog with the KW. If you are targeting the search engine let the kw appear 3 times; in the first paragraph, if possible in the first sentence, in the middle and the last sentence of the last paragraph.

Search your keyword on buzzsumo.
Buzzsumo will show you all articles related to your keywords "those got maximum shares on social media sites such as facebook".
Now pick 3 most shared urls from there And try to write your content "better" than them.

Hi Paul! Thanks for sharing. Those are actually the fundamentals which I agree on. But of course, we can always put in a few extras to make it stand out more. One has mentioned "value-added" which should also be on the core of your articles. All the best.

Blogging is an excellent way of driving traffic to your website. It helps in engaging new visitors, and retaining your existing clients. Just make sure you define your target audience and then create blog posts accordingly. Choose blog topics that are most likely to be shared on social media. Writing in a conversational tone is helpful to connect with your audience in a personalized way. Also, make sure you include short sentences and short paragraphs. You can use the Yoast SEO tool to check the readability score of your blog posts. Use your most important keywords in your blog title as well as sub-headings.

Simplicity is the best Fundamental of any blogging. So you have covered almost all the points

when I just started my blog I did not know how to do it. Now I agree with your advices and want to say that some thing depends on place of blogging - Instagram blog or your own site ....

Hey guys, I will be trying to rank a new site soon. Regarding content, due to budget reasons, I will have a choice of getting either one weekly blog of 500 words or 2 bi-weekly blogs of 1000 words, which would be the better option please?

Know the difference between copywriting and blogging.

They're very different types of writing.

1. The weight of the blog is not high, the choice of keywords to long tail words
2. The main purpose of a blog is to provide content, from the user's point of view

BE THE ONE THAT ADDS VALUE

You should always make sure your content adds value to the lives of your readers in one way or another.

It's easy to overthink this so beware. The best way to approach it is to put yourself in the shoes of your potential reader and simply think about what you would like to read yourself - the subject matter and the voice - usually friendly and approachable is best.

Write in your own style, if you don't think you have one, you'll find it will surface as you write more.

Deliver information, help, advice, tips, and opinion that you yourself would be interested to read and you won't go far wrong.

Remember your readers are just like you and me, ordinary people who'll appreciate your honest views and opinions.

The more your readers relate to you, the more successful your blog will likely be. Just be yourself and connect with your audience on their level

Keep it simple
Stick to the point
Make it eye-catching (even 1 strong feature image will do)

Are all conventional things which one should follow if he or she wants to become a successful blogger. But some points which I would like to add are:
Make writing a habit
If you want to be a successful blogger then writing should be your habit, not a hobby. Writing will help you reach a level of competency.

having complete knowledge of basics
Writing a blog or any piece of content means one should have complete knowledge of the language in which the content is written. The content should be free of grammatical errors to increase the readability.

Proofreading
As humans, one is bound to make errors, errors such as:
spelling mistakes
commas
and other punctuations
Proofreading can relief you from any such errors. Proofreading is all about reading your article thoroughly for checking correcting errors manually.

Keep it to the point
Writing is a good thing but when it comes to blogging, one should keep articles to the point. This will help the reader to reach to conclusion quickly. Do not fall into the trap of believing that longer articles are always better.
Why use 1000 words when your thoughts can be conveyed in 100 words?

Read, Read and Read
For being a passionate writer you have to be a passionate reader. Reading has many benefits such as:
Enhancing Vocabulary
Staying updated with latest blog topics
Help you understand other writers writing pattern

Writing Style
Blogs are merely non-living pieces of words, but your writing style can put life into it. Try to build your own writing style, it could be anything from announcement to conversations. Content should keep the reader interested and engaged and that's what writing style is all about.

These were some tips that I follow for writing content. I hope these are good.

Thank you and happy writing.

We're a direct response agency, so one of our frequent services are soft-sell blog articles. We've written articles that have helped entrepreneurs sell $100K+ worth of products... articles can be super powerful if you know how to do them right.

Here are some of the principles we live by when it comes to engaging blog content:

• Professionally research the niche and have ~20 hyperlinks per 2000 words to relevant content (usually statistics and the like).
• Write LONG pieces -> 1200 words minimum.
• Cross-linked with other content from the website (this is very important to drive readers around to other relevant content and also create the interlinking search engine crawlers love to see).
• Use several direct response techniques to subtly influence the to your POV, usually through some form of story-telling.
• Use strong graphics. You can get professional images (stock images, CC0 licensed -> check out: this, this, this for free images), or annotated images, screenshots, etc. like Neil Patel uses. You can create those with Skitch. Annotated images WILL help make the blog post more interactive, and unique.
• Always check grammar (we recommend Grammarly).
• Always check plagiarism (we recommend you start with CopyScape).
• Always check Readability & SEO Optimization with Yoast Real-Time Content Analysis.

I think the job of a Content creator needs to go a few steps further. People are in general going to blogs to do what? to learn right? Did you know there are basically 7-8 learning styles? ( https://www.skillsyouneed.com/rhubar...ng-styles.html ) Some of this applies and others do not, given the platform we are working with. So there are probably only 4 that you really need to focus on. ( https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/ed...arning-styles/ )

Visual Learners: words on a page is not enough. the addition of VIDEO, images, and infographics go a long way in helping these people appreciate your content.

Auditory learners: Video is the fast track to these folks.. a pod cast would be another method.. and again words on a page are not enough.

Kinesthetic learners: I reach to these folks often in my Content creation. You can create bubble block that include "Kinesthetic" activities through out your content "Create a list for this" Do this by doing this and this and that.. create the physical tactile interaction these folks crave.

Reading / Writing learners. these folks will actually for the most part be blind to your other efforts to communicate to the other groups. they are concerned with the actual words on the page - a good thing.

In essence you need to be speaking the same message across 4 different levels of learning to get YOUR message across to as many people as you can. A page of text only and you have literally just alienated about 60% of the people looking at your page.

Blogging has massively developed over the past 10 years. Many people seek to make money from their efforts, but this should not be your core intention because this will become very obvious to readers, even if you manage to build an audience.
Building an audience today very much depends on how much value you are providing, this is not just a side-issue, it is the core issue.
Value, and accuracy, always choose to write for subjects you can truly deliver some value in, the days of mass-produced mediocre content are finished forever.
I work in 3 different areas:
1. Alternative journalism and media
2. Manifesting your life's journey
3. IT and WWW
All of these subjects mean something to me, they are of direct interest and value to me, which makes it easier to do a good job.

Always write not less than 3000 words article with full of info. Start from the basic info and end up with the advance contents. "Step by Step procedure" contents work very while when it comes to SEO. Write one long article about the topic rather than producing a few short articles. etc. 500 words article. Use infographics, images, and screenshots to make the content more appealing.

1. Do not sell but recommend products
The same way you recommend goodies to your friends and family. People hate being sold to.

2. Use good headings
Visitors usually scan a page and rarely read every single thing on it. Don't complain as you do the same I am sure ;-) So it is better to use captivating headings so the "scanning" eye can easily capture it.

3. Include a conclusion and make it good
I've noticed that many visitors skip to the conclusion especially when the post is too long. That's a very nice spot to add a link to anything you promote. I usually add a link on the introduction, middle way and on the conclusion.

4. Make short paragraphs
I have a max of 4 lines per paragraph. No one wants to read a huge block of text. I know I never do :-D you can call me lazy

5. Use good images
Good quality images that you can find online for free. And if you need to, you can edit and transform pictures to you liking with text, colors ect.

6. Everything you mentioned above

I have so many more tips, but these are my main ones.

Tons of good tips here, but the main thing I have done on my current project and in the past is, as MrFume indicated: write about things you know about. Your content will be 10x better, you'll write it 10x faster, and there's a much higher chance it will be unique content. Following all the best SEO practices and blog practices in the world isn't going to help if it takes you 2 days just to research each topic well enough to barely right about it at an amateur level.

I'll leave you a couple of resources you can also check out:

https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/content-marketing
https://mktodyssey.wordpress.com/201...c%8d%ef%b8%8f/
https://zest.is/

The general idea remains to just go with the flow once you find your own style of writing. And make sure you're in the right industry so you're not writing about cooking in case you hate it.

Keep your user engaged its such a waste when someone has done everything correctly to get me to their article and within seconds I realize I am reading click-bait BS. And honestly it wouldn't have been too expensive to Just hire someone to write you a quality article. The value of having the right tone and writing style to keep eyes on your words, the longer you have them the more chance you have at a ROI conversion in what ever way you have monetized your website.

I came across an infographic that state there is no difference between a short and a long content. Some people want short; some people like to read a lot. The best way to determine this is to do split testing.