There is a whole lot more that goes into writing a blog post than just brainstorming and proofreading. Truth is, there are many tiny details that go into every blog post that are key to helping every post be as successful as possible. One of the best feelings as a blogger is hitting publish on a post and feeling completely confident and proud of what you’ve created.
It’s crazy how once you become a serious blogger you realize how much goes into every single post. Before I started blogging seriously, I would just write a post and publish it whenever I was finished reading it through. The issue with that was that I didn’t take the time to ensure that my posts were set up for success.
Today, I’m going to chat about 10 highly important things that every blog post needs before it’s published.
10 THINGS EVERY BLOG POST NEEDS BEFORE YOU HIT PUBLISH:
1. At Least One Vertical “Hero” Pinterest Image // Pinterest is one of the greatest promotional tools around for bloggers and we need to be taking full advantage of it. Vertical images are key for Pinterest, as Pinterest chooses to show vertical images over horizontal images. It goes without saying that vertical images on Pinterest draw the eye more than horizontal or square images. The perfect Pinterest pin size is 735px wide, 1102px high. One of the easiest ways to create the perfect vertical pinnable image for Pinterest is by using the free online design app, Canva. When you go to create a new design in Canva, you’ll find the Pinterest graphic dimensions all ready to go for you. Super simple! Stay vertical!
2. Label All Photos Correctly // While we’re still on the topic of photos, let’s get down to something I have noticed a lot of bloggers forget about when finalizing their blog posts: labeling all of your photos correctly. There have been so many times I have gone to pin an image from someone else’s blog post only for it to pull up the original title of the image (usually something like “IMG_7820”). When you go to add an image into your post, make sure you change the title of the photo and the alt text of the photo before inserting it into your post. You can also change the description and caption if you’d like to.
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3. Use Proper Categories & Tags // Organization is huge when it comes to keeping a clean blog, as well as keeping it as easy to navigate as possible. Not only is organization key for us bloggers, but it’s huge for our readers, too. If a reader is looking for a specific topic, but it’s not easy to be found, they will most likely move on to the next blog. I typically add 3-5 relevant tags for every blog post. Adding the right categories and tags will help your readers looking for similar content to be able to find it easier, which in turn, helps to lower bounce rates (improve overall page views).
Related Post: 10 Things Your Blog Must Have
4. Edit The Permalink (URL Title) // After adding the proper categories and tags to your post, be sure to edit your posts’ permalink. Edit it to what you want it to be permanently. Changing the permalink is another way to make your post easier to find. If you’re on WordPress, you can edit this right underneath the title of your post. Shorter permalinks are better for SEO and sharing purposes, especially if your blog post title is really long.
5. Link To Any Relevant Past Posts // When you link to any relevant past posts that you’ve published in a current post, it helps to maximize your page views. Linking to previous posts also helps you to establish your authority as an expert in certain areas. Depending on your writing style or the post category, the two best ways to do this are to either link to the post as you reference it in a paragraph or to simply write on a separate line: “Related Post: ________”.
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6. Maximize Your SEO // SEO can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but you have to put time into working it out. If you’re on WordPress, I highly suggest getting the Yoast SEO plugin! It has seriously helped me SO much with my SEO game. It makes it super easy to customize your meta description, which helps your post seem more appealing and click-through worthy to readers. Customizing your description and by adding relevant keywords helps increase your click-through rate, as well! The best part about the Yoast SEO plugin is that it’s built in below where you’re editing your blog post, making it overall convenient and easy to remember to do.
7. Choose Your Featured Image // The first image you choose to upload in your blog post is often times automatically your featured image. RSS feeds, like Bloglovin’, will automatically pick the first photo that’s uploaded, so always be aware of what you’re uploading to your post first. Always make sure that the first photo you’re uploading is relevant to the entire theme of your post. In WordPress, you’ll see a spot labeled “Featured Image” in the right sidebar as you’re writing your post. There, you’re able to quickly assign which photo you’d like to be the featured image of the post.
8. Have Social Share Buttons/Click-To-Tweet Inserted // Social sharing is the main way that your blog post gets out to your audience and even further than that. Make sure that you have a social share plugin that is automatically inserted into every blog post. There are tons of great ones to choose from. If applicable, try adding in a click to tweet box into your post at least once. I have found click to tweet boxes to be a huge engagement booster! It helps others to share your content faster, as it’s more convenient than them having to personally schedule the share into their scheduler.
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9. Have A Solid Call-To-Action At The End Of Your Post // Call-to-actions are so important when it comes to engaging your audience! Ask some questions at the end of your post that will help strike up a conversation in the comments section. I always aim to ask at least 2-3 questions at the end of every post, but I highly suggest having at least 1. You’d be surprised at how many people would jump into a conversation if only they were invited. Invite your readers in! Build engagement.
Related Post: How To Genuinely Engage With Your Readers
10. Schedule Social Media Promotions // On top of scheduling when you want your post to go live, scheduling social media promotions is just as huge! I love using Buffer and Tailwind to schedule out the majority of my social media promotions. Super convenient! Anyway, always make sure you have Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter promotions scheduled, as well as Instagram posts planned out.
Related Post: How To Keep Social Media Social (Without Spending All Day On It)
Do you have all of these tiny details figured out in your blog posts? Which is one you’ve overlooked before? How can you grow in this area? Let’s chat, blog friends!
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