You came here to take your blog to the next level.
So we put together 10 easy blogging tips from experts to help you get there.
You’ll get tips from experts and an example for each.
Let’s dive in.
10 Easy Blogging Tips To Use For Your Next Post
Below are 10 blogging tips you can use to improve content:
1. Provide Answers
2. Spark Action
3. Use Tools
4. Plan Content
5. Use Rich Media
6. Be Relevant
7. Be Unique
8. Provide Resources
9. Understand Readers
10. Capture Interest
11. Pagezii Bonus Tip
Now you have the list of expert blogging tips. But don’t stop here. Keep reading and learn how to use them through expert insights and examples.
1. Provide Answers
Julie Graff, Social Media & Content Marketing Strategist, Pole Position Marketing
Answer your audience’s questions. It’s such a simple and effective technique, but it’s criminally underutilized.
This technique works because it creates automatic value and establishes you as an authority. Both are a plus for your customers.
These are the same questions your audience is typing into search engines. So writing blog posts that answer these questions can also increase visibility in search engines.
To use this technique, you first have to identify your audience’s questions. Talk to your sales and customer service teams, scan industry forums and Quora, and look at your competitors for potential content gaps.
Once you have a list of questions, write blog posts that answer those questions thoroughly. Strive to provide the best answer on the internet for that issue.
Here’s an example of how we do this at Pagezii:
When I’m looking for new post ideas, one technique I use is to sift through search analytics. You can do this using Google Analytics or Search Console.
Here’s what search query analytics looks like in Google Analytics:
See that query highlighted in orange? It’s a perfect topic for a blog post.
Here’s why:
- I know users are searching for it. So my post won’t fall on deaf ears.
- We haven’t published any posts relating specifically to the topic. So I’m filling a tiny hole in our content gap.
So, I wrote the post, and now have a valuable piece of content for search engine users to stumble upon. This is how you can answer questions with your blog.
2. Spark Action
Maciej Fita, Founder, Brandignity
Call to action items are important when it comes to blog success.
Yes – you’re giving out free information, tips, news, etc… but the goal for many businesses that have blog readers is to convert a percentage of those readers into leads.
Here are a few tips:
Make sure your sidebar is robust. Have a newsletter sign up form, widgets from your social channels and any important links back into the website that could convert a visitor into a lead.
Also, include relevant links in your blog content. Make sure to link like-minded blog posts and product or service pages when possible.
Finally, I like to include a banner advertisement to a specific service page if the blog centers around that service.
Think of your blog as a platform to develop relationships.
Because your prospects want to learn, and you can use content to share knowledge.This is the driving force behind relationship-building.
And after building relationships, you need to show your prospects what’s next.
Enter the call-to-action.
I like to use a call-to-action in all my blog content. Because after all, blogging is business writing. And the goal of any business writing is to generate action.
Remember Maciej’s expert blogging tips? Here are a few of them in action on the Pagezii blog…
3. Use Tools
Danny Garcia, Marketing Manager, Stacklist
I run marketing at Stacklist, and we rely on content marketing. And my one tip is this: use a variety of tools.
To develop successful content, use tools like BuzzSumo to figure out trending topics. Then try out Keyword Planner to figure out SEO keywords to use in your blog. Using Google Docs is a must for easy collaboration. And when you finish drafts, run everything through Grammarly for editing.
For some finishing touches, design images using Canva to make the blog post stand out.
We recently wrote about blogging tools for beginners here at Pagezii – and here’s why:
If you’re building a house, you need to use the right tools. Sure, a hammer works for piecing the house together. But to get the job done right, you need a nail gun.
Apply that mentality to your blog. Because doing the job right means you’re taking your content seriously. And your visitors will thank you for that.
4. Plan Content
Chris Brantner, Founder, CutCableToday
We started CutCableToday in 2015 and now we get over a million hits a month thanks to our blogging efforts.
The number one blogging tip I can give is to keep an editorial calendar to organize your content plan. Without that, you’ll get burnt out and have an erratic posting schedule.
We use Coschedule, which allows us to manage everything including social shares in one location. It’s nice that it integrates directly with WordPress too.
An editorial calendar helps you coordinate your efforts. And when it comes to your blog, this is important. Especially if your content is driving in serious traffic like Chris.
Here are a few ways editorial calendars can help:
- Post Frequency – Your calendar keeps you publishing regularly. And fresh content keeps visitors coming back.
- Content Quality – When you know your post deadline, you can develop it tactically. You can do the research to see what existing content is out there and how you can be original. You can then write drafts, giving yourself time to edit. You can also include the finishing touches, like asking other industry professionals to share their insights.
- Team Coordination – If you have more than one writer, this is going to help keep your blog posting organized. You can see which writers are focusing on what topics. And as a content manager, you can oversee your blog’s production.
5. Use Rich Media
Jason Parks, Founder, The Media Captain
Embed a correlating video on your blog that provides more insight on the topic you’re writing about.
This will show off your personality to the reader and separate your blog from other sites through rich media.
Blog content is great. But so are other forms of content – like video. And when you build a beautiful post featuring different types of media, you readers are going to engage.
Embedding media like a video is not a difficult task. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to do it with YouTube videos:
Head over to YouTube and find the video you want to place inside your post. Then, under the video title, click the Share text. You’ll see a few options drop down.
From there, click the “Embed” option:
Next, copy and paste the <iframe> code into your text editor:
And voila – you’ll have a video embedded in your post that looks like this:
6. Be Relevant
Laura Mecoy, President, Mecoy Communications
As we say in California, catch the wave! Pick up on a hot trending topic, a well-known celebrity’s news or a cultural event that’s already generating lots of attention, add your expertise and watch for a tidal wave of clicks.
Among our most successful we’ve had are: Using Sony’s notorious hack attack to provide email tips, tapping into Taylor Swift’s last tour launch with marketing ideas and taking a lesson from Hillary Clinton on how to recover after a major gaffe.
Why do trending topics work? Because you readers are aware. But there is one important element here to keep in mind:
Always tie the trending topic back to a useful piece of knowledge for your reader. Doing this right portrays your blog as a relevant through-leader. But doing this wrong, and not tieing your ideas to valuable concept relating to your expertise throws readers off.
Here’s an example from The Write Practice:
For some context, here’s a shot of my Twitter trending topics page:
Learn More:
7. Be Unique
Janet Manley, Head of Content, Fueled
The content creation field has become so, so crowded over the past five years that no matter the SEO imperative of the moment, you must use voice.
A user lands on a page in a state of hibernation and often bounces before they realize the right information was there right in front of them.
But copy with a unique voice can shake them out of that passive state.
You can liven up content by using creative tags or breadcrumbs that act like a punchline (e.g., 10 Best Apps for Couples what happens *after* you swipe right) without harming SEO.
If you’ve got the perfect blog post ready to go, sometimes all you need to breathe life into it is to drop a comedic rule of threes into the opening paragraph.
Digital marketing is competitive. It places many demands on copywriters to optimize SEO, use CTAs, and avoid using words like ‘deprojectize.’
I said this earlier in the post – Blogs are a platform to develop relationships. And to do that, you have to:
A) Provide value.
But equally as important, B) be original.
And that’s exactly what Janet is talking about. Because content marketing is a crowded space – there are over two million blog posts published every day…
So make sure you’re breaking the mold with your unique voice.
8. Provide Resources
Lauren Stafford, Outreach, Discover CRM
When writing a blog post it’s key to link to other relevant pages on your site as a way of promoting existing content.
Internal links help site visitors navigate their curiosity, which is particularly important if lead capture is integral to your business model.
But strategic internal linking can also contribute to your SEO efforts. You should aim to include links in your blog post that will add value to the reader’s experience and boost your search ranking.
Internal linking is simple, but be wary of bad practice. For example, a poor choice of anchor text such as ‘click here’ won’t help search engines identify keywords for your page. Stick to highlighting phrases that are related to the topic you’re writing about that read naturally within the context of your blog post.
Internal linking is an underrated blogging technique that anyone can use. And why wouldn’t you? It benefits readers because they can explore topics further. It also benefits your blog SEO by helping Google crawl your content.
Need an example? Check out how Smart Blogger uses internal links:
9. Understand Readers
Anne Janzer, Author, Writing Coach, Speaker
Plan for the target reader.
Before you write any blog post, identify the target reader. Too many businesses focus on filling the blog rather than filling reader’s needs. Your blog as a whole may serve many audiences, but each post should focus on the needs of one set type of reader.
Having a target reader in mind helps you create content that is relevant and useful. You’re also more likely to write in the appropriate tone and style for the audience.
Speak directly to one specific reader rather than indirectly to different personas. And you can target a specific reader before you even begin typing. The key is to align your topic, content, and reader.
Take this blog post for example.
- 10 Easy Blogging Tips From Experts [Plus One Bonus Tip]
Let’s break this down:
- Topic = Simple tips for blogging.
- Content = List style post featuring easy-to-use techniques.
- Reader = Content Marketer, learning tricks of the trade or brushing up on the basics.
So with this breakdown, I can begin to write with my target reader in mind. I know I need to provide concrete tips. And because I want to earn the readers trust, I’ll show them examples of how I use the specified techniques in action. And I also know I’m writing for a reader who also writes. So they’ll enjoy a more conversational post with length.
10. Capture Interest
Seth Worby, Founder, Champ Solutions
Everyone knows great headlines can make or break a blog post.
But many bloggers neglect to dedicate the same time and energy into crafting killer subheads.
Subheads allow readers to scan a post and determine if they want to invest the time into reading the entire piece.
Here’s a few subheader do’s:
- Use subheads as a road map to guide readers through your post
- Use attention grabbing copy in your subheads
- Use subheads that create curiosity
- When crafting your subhead focus on the main points you are trying to convey in that block of text
This was one of the more “outside-the-box” expert blogging tips I came across. But it’s bang on.
Everyone knows headlines are important. Because it’s what sparks initial interest in your post and gets visitors to actually visit. But how do you keep visitors engaged once they are reading your blog post?
This is where subheaders come into play. And they’re important for couple reasons.
For starters, they help break up your content and map out the piece. Not every reader is going to consume your post from start to finish. Instead, they may skim pieces of your content looking for nuggets of info.
They can also boost blog SEO. Using keywords in subheadings won’t have a major impact on your post rank, but subheadings offer a chance to strategically use your target keyword. Just keep in mind your blog post is for humans, not Google. So don’t spam your subheadings with keywords.
11. Bonus Tip – Keep Your Content Fresh
You made it to the bonus tip – your blog is definitely going to breakthrough to the next level…
…So, let’s finish up with our last blogging tip:
Keep your blog as fresh as a daisy by updating your old blog posts. This is another one of those underrated blogging tips. And the reason I mention it here today is because you’re looking at an updated post. Pretty cool, huh?
Want to know what I updated specifically? Here were my changes:
But why update blogs when you can just create a new one?
The idea behind updating is to get more mileage out of your existing content. I’ve already created content on this topic. And instead of bloating my blog and leaving my past content in the dust to grow stale, I updated it. And you should too.
Use These Easy Blogging Tips From Experts Today
The idea behind this post is simplicity. You can implement the techniques you learned here today into your next blog post. So make the most of them, and help your blog break through to the next level. AKA more, traffic, more engagement, and more conversions.
And after you’ve created a few masterpieces with these tips, analyze your blog with Pagezii’s new WordPress plugin.
Have an expert blogging tip to share? Let us know about it in the comments below.