Writing your first-ever blog post can indeed be a very confusing task.
I’m guessing you are confused too, am I right?
Well, getting confused about so many things is easy when you are just a beginner blogger. Your mind may be flooded with so many questions like-
“How to write your first blog post which would make a great impression on my readers?”
“How do I find topics to write?”
“What should be the first step to write a blog post?”
“What should I be careful about while writing blog posts?”
Now, what the heck is SEO?”
“How can I make my blog post more interesting?”
I had the same queries when I was a brand new blogger and learned many things over the years to improve my posts.
I can very much relate that it’s confusing when you are just getting started because blogging seems pretty simple but there is a lot that you need to do to get your blog up and running.
That is the purpose of this post, to make things easier for you and help you write your first-ever blog post.
In this post, we’ll discuss everything you’ll ever need to do to write your first blog post such as important elements to include, how to find a topic to write on, how to create a structure of a blog post, and many other tips.
So, let’s not waste much time and get started!
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WHAT SHOULD YOU INCLUDE IN A BLOG POST?
Before discussing how to write your first blog post, let’s discuss some of the most important elements that you must include in your blog post.
Your blog post needs to be good enough for both Google and humans to love it and you can do that by including the following elements:
1. THE TITLE
Your blog post title is the first thing to include before you start writing your blog post to let your readers know what it’s about.
Craft a title that is clickable and explains clearly what your post is about. We’ll discuss more about how to craft a blog post title later.
2. SUBHEADINGS
Besides the title of your blog post, other types of headings are equally important for your blog post known as subheadings.
These subheadings are called H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6.
The subheadings are used to explain a topic in detail. More subheadings mean you have discussed that topic in much more detail which search engines like Google adores a lot.
3. IMAGES, VIDEOS, GIFS ETC.
Search engines love blog posts which include images, videos, or any type of media. If the images you use are fresh then it’s even better!
Use infographics, and video content to make your content stand out for search engines.
4. LINKS
There are three types of links: outbound links, inbound links and incoming links
Outbound links mean linking out to other websites in your blog posts.
Inbound links mean linking to other pages of your own website.
Incoming links mean links from other websites to your website, also called backlinks.
All three types of links are equally important for your blog post and you must include them.
5. INTRODUCTION
The intro of your blog post is important for so many reasons:
- It tells your readers what you can expect from the post
- You have to include the keyword in the intro
- You can share personal stories to keep your readers hooked
You can’t start your blog post without an intro, it’s important to include it. A strong introduction is key when figuring out how to write your first blog post that hooks readers.
6. CONCLUSION
Just like the intro, your blog post conclusion is also important. You can include the following things in your blog post conclusion:
- The focus keyword of the post
- A call to action
- Ask your readers a question
- Summarize the blog post
- Ask readers to share the post with others etc.
When thinking about how to write your first blog post, make sure to add a call to action at the end to engage your audience further.
7. BODY
Last but not least, the body of your blog post.
You must write the body of the blog post in such a way that your readers won’t have any problem skimming through it.
We’ll discuss more on how to make your blog post body more reader-friendly.
After using all these elements, you’ll create a structure for your blog post and it will look something like this ↓
This is just a rough idea. It’s not necessary to create the same structure for your post. You can make tweaks according to your choice but make sure you’re doing everything the right way.
HOW TO WRITE YOUR FIRST BLOG POST IN 9 STEPS
Let’s discuss how to write your first blog post that your readers and search engines will absolutely adore.
If you haven’t started a blog yet, then you can follow this how-to-start-a-blog tutorial for complete beginners.
Before we jump in, keep in mind that writing a blog post takes time and a strategy.
The more time you invest in it, the better the outcome. You have to be dedicated to it and work hard because it’s not something that you can do in a couple of hours.
There’s no shortcut to the writing process because as a blogger, you’ll need to write a lot consistently.
So, if you are ready to do that then you are welcome to follow these steps 🙂 And Don’t stress! Understanding how to write your first blog post can be simple and fun.
Let’s dive in!
STEP 1: FIND A TOPIC TO WRITE ON
First things first, you’ll need a topic to write on and for that, you’ll need to do some research.
Before finalizing the topic, you have to make sure that:
- It matches your niche
- People are searching for that topic on the internet
- The topic solves a problem or provides value to the readers
- The topic is not very competitive
Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything one by one.
To find a topic to write a blog post on, you can:
- Take a look at what other bloggers in your niche are writing about. To find other bloggers, you can do a simple Pinterest or Google search and then look at their content. You can either write on similar topics or you can modify the topic too. It depends on your niche too.
- Brainstorm topics to write on. Take a pen and notepad and write down some blog topic ideas you think your audience would search for. Think like your audience, find out what problems they are facing and what topics they would search for.
- Ask in communities. Join Facebook groups, Reddit communities, and online forums within your niche and ask other bloggers for blog topic ideas.
After finalizing a topic for your first blog post, you’ll need to do further research about it which is more SEO-focused.
This will include finding a keyword for your post, finding out if people are searching for the topic or not, and what’s the competition of the topic on the internet.
The key to success lies in knowing how to write your first blog post that resonates with your audience.
Let’s discuss this!
STEP 2: PERFORM KEYWORD RESEARCH
Now that you have finalized a topic to write your first blog post, it’s time to perform keyword research.
WHAT IS KEYWORD RESEARCH?
A keyword is a phrase that people use to search for something on the search engines like Google, Bing, etc.
“Summer outfit ideas”, “chocolate cake recipe”, “best tennis shoes for men” – these are all keywords.
There are mainly two types of keywords: long-tail keywords and short-tail keywords
- Long-tail keyword: Consists of more than 3 words. For example, easy chocolate cake recipe without eggs
- Short-tail keyword: Consists of less than 3 words. For example, female puppy names
Now you have to figure out how a particular keyword is performing on search engines. You have to make sure that after using that keyword, you get good results.
HOW TO DO KEYWORD RESEARCH?
To do keyword research, you’ll need a keyword research tool that will tell you details about a keyword such as how many people are searching for that keyword, the competition of the keyword, etc.
I recommend using Google Keyword Planner to do keyword research for your blog posts. This tool is perfect for beginners!
Think about what your readers would search for that topic on Google and pop the keyword in this tool. You can change the location too according to your target audience. Set the location to ‘all locations’ if your target audience is worldwide.
After popping the keyword in the tool, you’ll see the following results ↓
Now keep this in mind:
Remember to choose a keyword that has high search volume and low competition to make your content rank much faster. (Just like shown in the image above)
That’s it!
You can now use this keyword in your blog post. I have a separate post on where to use keywords in your blog posts. You can check it out!
STEP 3: CREATE AN OUTLINE
So far, you have a topic and a keyword for your first blog post. Now the next step is to create an outline of your post.
Before you sit down to write and edit your blog post, you need to create a rough outline of what you’re gonna include in it.
Take a notepad and start planning.
Write down what you can include in the headings and subheadings of your blog posts. If you are planning to write a listicle post then write down the things you want to include in the list before editing the blog post.
Tip: Use Google autosuggest to write subheadings. For example, if your blog post is about a chocolate cake recipe then perform a simple Google search to find out what you can write as a subheading.
You can also use ChatGPT to create an outline of your post. Just ask ChatGPT this:
I want to write a blog post on the topic [enter blog topic]. Create an outline of the post and include the keyword [enter your keyword] in the headings and subheadings.
Creating an outline will give you a better idea of your blog post structure and help you write faster. I do that too and it makes my blog writing speed much faster.
STEP 4: CRAFT A TITLE
Not just a simple title. Craft a title that is both SEO-friendly and clickable too. Your blog title will be the first thing a reader will notice, so make sure to put some effort into it.
First things first, make sure to include the focus keyword in your blog post title. This is a very important step for SEO. DO NOT MISS THIS!
Let’s say your focus keyword is ‘female puppy names’ then the blog post title can be something like this:
50 Adorable Female Puppy Names That Will Melt Your Heart
Simple, straight to the point, and also contains the focus keyword. Yikes!
Another important thing to keep in mind is that your blog post title must be less than 60 words or else it will look something like this ↓
See how you cannot read the full title. This can be inconvenient for readers and is also not a good SEO practice.
So in short, keep in mind that your blog post title:
- is less than 60 words
- contains focus keyword
- contains a power word to make it more clickable such as amazing, popular, adorable, best, etc.
Install the RankMath SEO plugin and use it to enter the title and description of your blog post. Don’t forget to include the keyword in both places.
This step is more SEO-focused so I recommend checking out this detailed tutorial on how to do SEO for your blog posts.
STEP 5: STRUCTURE YOUR BLOG POST
Now it’s time to start writing and editing your blog post. This is what I do to create a structure for my blog post before writing the main body ↓
Remember how we created an outline of the blog post in step 3? Yeah! Use that outline and start making a structure for your blog post.
When learning how to write your first blog post, remember to focus on creating a clear structure.
Follow the steps:
- Write an intro of your blog post
- Add the featured image of your blog post before, in between, or after the intro
- Add a table of content
- Add subheadings (H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6)
This way you’ll create a rough structure for your blog post and you’ll get a better idea of what you are working on.
Since you already have an outline of your blog posts, you can also create graphics or infographics before writing the body of your blog posts.
This is what I normally do. I create graphics first because I have an image of how I want my blog post to look. It makes me create, write, and edit the posts faster because I can upload the images and write.
I think you get what I’m trying to say here 🙂
I have a full tutorial on how to create a structure for your blog posts very easily. You can check it out too!
STEP 6: WRITE THE BODY
Now comes the most important step of this post because we are focusing on how to write your first blog post and the body of your blog post, without a doubt, matters a lot.
There are some things that you must include in the body of your blog posts:
- Internal/inbound links
- External/outbound links
- The focus keyword
- Bullet points for better structure
Let’s discuss some points on how you can write a better body of your blog post.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE WRITING THE BODY OF YOUR BLOG POST:
- Write short paragraphs: Imagine this- You read two blog posts. One has short paragraphs of 10-15 words each and the other has big, chunky paragraphs which are difficult to read. Which one would you prefer? Of course the first one! So, make a habit of writing short and sweet paragraphs.
- Link out to reputable resources: Including external links is a must for your blog post. So, while linking out to the resources, stats, or tools in your blog post body, use reputable sites for external linking.
- How many times to use the focus keyword?: The straightforward answer is to use 1% of the total word count. So if you’re writing 1,000 words then use the focus keyword 8-10 times.
- How many internal links?: If your blog post is more than 1,000 words then include 2-4 internal links.
One thing to know is that you’re writing your first blog post which means you can’t do much internal linking for now.
Don’t worry, you can skip the internal linking for your first blog post. Publish at least 5-6 blog posts and then edit the first blog post later.
One more tip. Don’t overstuff the focus keyword. Use them naturally in your blog post body or else it would be weird to read it. So, keep this in mind.
On to the next step!
STEP 7: USE IMAGES, VIDEOS, GIFS, INFOGRAPHICS, ETC.
The focus of your blog post is to make it stand out from others and inform your readers through it.
The competition in blogging is very high nowadays and you have to put effort into it to make it unique.
One way to make it make your first blog post stand out is to use images, videos, or infographics.
Search engines love blog posts that contain images or any kind of media because the algorithm sees them as more informative. If your content is of high quality and informative then search engines gives priority to them.
Some tips:
- Use infographics where possible in your blog posts
- Use your own created graphics
- Video content is one of the most high-quality media you can use in your blog posts
- Google doesn’t prioritize free stock images. So, keep it minimal.
- You can use funny gifs in your blog posts to make them more interesting.
Some benefits of using images, videos, and gifs in your blog posts:
STEP 8: DO SEO
We can’t forget about SEO because your blog post needs it to grow on the search engines. Doesn’t matter if you’re writing your first blog post or 100th.
Although I have a separate tutorial on how to do SEO for your blog posts, I am still going to discuss the most important SEO practices in brief.
The first thing you’ll need is an SEO plugin. I use the RankMath SEO plugin because it is very simple to use and offers clear instructions. This plugin is only available if you have a WordPress site.
So, if your site runs on WordPress then install this plugin.
While editing your blog post, the plugin will appear like this ↓
As you can see, the plugin gives your blog post an SEO score of your blog post. The SEO score should be green in color.
You can also edit the meta title and meta description of your blog post and control how you want it to look on search engines. Like this ↓
Things to keep in mind:
- Meta title must contain the focus keyword and less than 60 words
- Meta description must contain the focus keyword and of 150-160 words
- The permalink or URL of your blog post must contain the focus keyword and must be less than 90 words
- Your blog posts subheadings must contain the focus keyword
Go through all the instructions that the RankMath plugin advises you to follow to improve the SEO of your blog post. You can also follow this blog post SEO tutorial.
STEP 9: PUBLISH!
And that’s it!
All there’s left to do is to publish your post. BUT WAIT! WE HAVE A FEW THINGS TO RECHECK HERE.
Before publishing your post, make sure:
- to re-read it
- that you used the correct links
- that you used the headings in correct hierarchies (H2 then H3 then H4 then H5 then H6)
- to recheck your images
Recheck everything and hit publish!
There you go! You just published your first-ever blog post!!
Now, there are some things that you have to keep in mind while or before writing your first blog post. Let’s discuss it!
IMPORTANT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
There are many important things to keep in mind before writing your first blog post. Let’s discuss them one by one.
NO INTRODUCTION POST IS NEEDED
I saw many new bloggers getting confused about it. Should you publish an introduction post or not?
The simple answer is no, you don’t need to do that.
An introduction only makes sense for social media but blogging is different from social media.
You’ll get very low page views in the first 4-6 months of blogging because it takes time to build authority and trust.
DON’T CHASE PERFECTION
This is only your first blog post and it can be pretty overwhelming to handle everything all at once.
But keep in mind that you can always come back and make changes. Don’t aim to write a perfect blog post in the first go.
Otherwise, you’ll end up burning out.
Take your time to learn stuff and make efforts every day, even if they are small. Nothing is perfect.
Not only while writing your first blog post but in general, avoid chasing perfection in blogging and don’t compare yourself to others.
> Related: 14 ways to stay motivated as a new blogger
YOU HAVE TO LEARN SEO
SEO is the backbone of your blog. You can’t escape it.
So take your time and learn SEO. It can be confusing at first but you’ll get the hang of it after some time.
3 main things to focus on in SEO:
- Blog post SEO
- Site SEO
- Building backlinks
As time is passing by, it’s getting harder and harder to get ranked on Google’s search engine result page so SEO is a must if you want to bring traffic to your blog.
OVER TO YOU!
And we’ve reached the end of this post. Did you find this useful?
Now that you know how to write your first blog post, it’s time to take action, start writing, and let your voice be heard!
As I said, take your time to learn and work on your skills consistently. You’ll definitely see the results!
Share this post if you find this useful!
