Anatomy of a Good Blog Post

The single most important piece of content that you will create as part of your content marketing strategy will be the blog post. A great blog can drive traffic to your website, increase search engine rankings, but also provides a starting point for all other content. Now that your website has that shiny new blogging platform and you’re prepared to attract and engage with your audience, it’s time to get down to business and create those posts. There is one small hurtle to overcome; how should you format the blog post? What is the best structure for a successful post that will get your article found, get them to read, and hopefully get them to act?

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Headline: It all starts with a good headline that grabs the reader’s attention. Since most people don’t usually get past the first phase of clicking on a blog article, you need to do everything you can to come up with a string of words that are meaningful and relevant to your target audience. Brainstorm a few titles and pick the one that you think will resonate. Research keywords that will perform well in search engines. An ideal title length shouldn’t be more than 60 characters. Think about formatting the headline for social media posts; Twitter should be 8-12 words and Facebook is 12-14 words.

Example titles could include the following:

• How to ... [How to hold a drumstick]
• The secrets of … [The secrets of twirling a drumstick]
• Little known facts about … [Little know facts about famous drummers]
• You should know about … [You should know about hand exercises]
• (numeric) ways to … [5 ways to practice rudiments]
• Ask a question [Do your hands cramp up after playing]
• Provide interesting data [4 out of 5 drummers do yoga]
• Quick tip or advice [Do this to build up drumming endurance]
• Offer a negative angle [How important is keeping, really?]

Image: Add one image that represents the article. Stock images are ok, but originality is better. Be sure to provide alt tags if possible to help with search engine optimization. Keep social media formats in mind when creating the image. Facebook uses 1,200 x 628 pixels, Twitter uses 1021 x 512 pixels, and LinkedIn uses 1200 x 630 pixels just to name the big three. It’s impossible to format for all, but they all have an auto-resize functionality to fit their systems. Use the following two templates:

• Horizontal – 1024 x 512
• Portrait – 800 x 1200
• Or play it safe with a 1:1 square format ratio

Introduction: Convince the reader to continue reading. Let them know if the article is part of a series and might be a continuation from a previous article. Link back to those articles. This section doesn’t need to be long, just clear and concise.

Conclusion: Similar to the intro, keep simple and concise. Let them know if there will be a follow-up article and what that article might be about.

Call-to-action: This section is all about getting your audience to do something. You’ve brought them on this journey, now it’s time for them to act by offering additional information in the form of a video or ebook. It could be for them to request a quote. Perhaps there is additional sources that you’d like to share with them. It could be anything, but their journey should not end with your blog article.

Comments: It’s good practice to allow your audience to leave a comment about the article. Even if it’s negative, it will allow you to start a conversation. If you as the author remains positive and professional, then you will continue to build trust with the other readers. Sometimes people start a comment negatively just to get a reaction, to get you off balance. Stay calm and reply with kindness. If they persist then there is nothing you can do, and you can communicate that there is nothing you can do for them. If the person commenting finds an angle that you never realized before then give credit where credit is due. We’re only human, we can’t possibly know everything.

Blogging is an amazingly powerful marketing tool. It not only allows you to attract an audience, establish authority, tell your story, engage with potential customers, but it’s also great to organize your thoughts and fill in the gaps in the topics you’re writing about. Blogging in many instances requires you to research topics, things you may have had some knowledge about suddenly becomes clearer to you and provides you with the expertise to share with others. That’s why PhD graduates research and write excessively, to be experts in their field. You’re an expert in your field, let the world know about it!

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