Blogging Bootcamp: How to write a blog post in 7.5 simple steps
This is the exact template I use for every single client blog post I write. This template is more flexible than a level 3 Pilates instructor and can be adapted to any damn topic you please.
This post is a follow up to an Instagram tutorial I gave on blog writing. (you can check out the original story in my highlights under ‘Blogging Bootcamp’).
This piss-easy, step-by-step blogging guide is for you if you:
😍 want to whip up a blog for your business but can’t figure out how to write a blog post
😰 have been staring at a blinking cursor on a blank Word document for over a week
😩 don’t even enjoy writing that much but can’t afford a wordsmith right now
🙃 will slap the next person who offers to sell you a blog writing course
Ready? Here we go.
👉 Research: resources, references + inspiration
This is the 0.5 of a step you need to take before you dive into your writing adventure, and it’s all about your topic research. Find out what you’re up against, find out what else is out there. Who’s writing the best blog posts about your topic? What’s missing from their blog post? Can you explain the topic better? These are a few nuggets you should consider in your planning.
Blogging is not a pub crawl. You don’t knock-back 32 Google searches and throw up everything you’ve read the next day. You sit back and uncork each resource you find, then you slowly absorb each piece, taking in the primary aromas and letting the flavour, memory and feeling of all your researched words colour the post you want to create.
Research is a quality-over-volume process. Don’t spend longer than a few hours on research; you’ll end up overwhelmed off-topic, and probably knee-deep in dancing cat videos. Done well, the research stage of blogging might even take longer than the actual writing. Solid-ass research is the foundation of (fast) quality content creation.
🔥 Pro tip
Set up Google Alerts for the topics you’ll write about most. Anytime there’s breaking news about that thing, you’ll be the first to know about it. Google Alerts mean you get the freshest content about your topic, and you can use this fresh juice to fuel your content machine, so you aren’t up-cycling stale insights and advice for your audience.
Now that we’ve laid the foundation, it’s time to do battle with the blank page of doom. I shred an average of 850 - 1200 words with this guide, so kiss your white page goodbye and maybe order another keyboard because your keys are about to get battered like the peeps in that hallway fight scene in Old Boy.
👉 Title: give your reader an idea of what to expect from your blog post
You don’t have to create your title first, but for me, it helps to have a working title before I begin. The important thing about the title is that it sets the expectation for the reader. Your title must represent what you end up writing about, so if you say you’re going to write ‘3 ways to get rich quick’, you must deliver three ways to get rich quick.
Don’t confuse your reader with a title that doesn’t relate to what you write about, and don’t disrespect your reader with deceptive clickbait. Remember, you’re trying to build credibility with knowledge. If you fail to deliver what you promise in your title, your audience is very unlikely to give you another chance. There’s a whole internet of bloggers out there, and you’re not the only person peddling words.
🔥 Pro tip
Blogging doesn’t have to be hard. Pick one of the below popular blogging titles as a prompt, and run with it. You can figure out how to be a maverick of originality later:
💡How-to guides (like this one)
💡Why you need to…
💡The best/easiest/quickest way to do something
💡*insert number* reasons why/tips/tricks/steps to…
💡Interesting/funny/weird questions
💡Mistakes to avoid
👉 Intro: give your reader a reason to read on with a hook
Once you’ve got a title (or not, this isn’t an IKEA instruction manual, you can start wherever you like and I promise you won’t end up with a wonky BILLY bookcase), you need to come up with a captivating first sentence that’ll hook readers and get them to read on.
🔥 Pro tip
💡Use short sentences
💡Use shocking/surprising statements
💡Use a real story about your life
Example: If my topic is ‘3 tips to get rich quick’ I could open with a scene-setting slap in the face that says ‘hey, I’m living proof that you can get rich quick’:
“A year ago I was making £100 a month. Today, I’m making £10,000 a month, and I’ve got an Italian coffee maker worth more than a family car. Here’s how you can make bank too.”
Twist the curiosity dial up to 11, and watch how readers stick around despite themselves. When I’ve got readers who don’t even care about my topic engaged, I know I’ve done a good job.
👉 Idea 1: give your reader context with history
I like to help people really contextualise the subject matter by giving them some background information. So if I’m talking about the history of getting rich quick, I can talk around the subject and mention side hustles, fraud, cash-in-hand jobs and other things people do to get rich quick.
I see the blog post’s history the same way you’d see a literature review for an academic paper. You wouldn’t dive into a study about wealth inequality without some background on how wealth inequality came to be, because no one would understand the point of your research. Don’t assume your reader knows your topic as well as you do; context warms your reader’s brain up, so they’re primed and hungry for more.
🔥 Pro tip
History doesn’t mean ancient history. It could be recent events in the media or a famous example of someone getting rich quickly. Make it interesting.
👉 Idea 2: give your reader a reason to believe you with science
Including science in your blog post is the easiest way to include proof that what you’re talking about is accurate. So if one of your get-rich-quick tips is ‘make investments’ then include a statistic or numerical fact from a recent research paper or reputable media source like; “roughly nine out of 10 US households that earn over $100,000 own stocks.”
🔥 Pro tip
Don’t use statistics older than two years, the fresher your claim, the more relevant to your reader. It’s vital not to link or reference dodgy/suspicious links. Google will penalise you for this. Including external links in your blog post helps build ranking power, and this is an essential part of SEO.
👉 Idea 3: give your reader a solution to take with them
Solve it! The best thing about writing a blog post is that you’re helping people solve problems or create solutions for themselves through what you know about. So for example, if I’m a wealth coach, and my ultimate goal is to help my audience get rich, then the key takeaway for my blog post is to convey how they can action what I’ve taught in the post, and implement it in their lives so they can get wealthy too.
🔥 Pro tip
Actionable, solid advice helps you establish yourself as a thought leader and authority with your audience. A well-written blog post allows you to confirm your authority because you’re talking in-depth about a subject. The worst kind of blog post is a vague, fluffy bit of writing that doesn’t leave you feeling smarter or better off at the end.
You never want to waste your precious reader’s time.
👉 Conclusion: give your reader a summary and wrap it up
You don’t want to be writing forever, so you’ll be pleased to know this is where you get to wrap this thing up. Take this opportunity to recap all the points in your blog post, and embed your main ideas in your conclusion (in our example, this is our 3 ways to get rich). You can also provide additional resources for your readers so they can get even more valuable information about your topic.
🔥 Pro tip
If you’re old enough or American enough to remember the Jerry Springer show, you’ll recall how at the end of every episode he’d share a ‘final thought’ to validate the 43-minutes of carnage he’d created. Your conclusion is the perfect spot for a ‘final thought’ moment. I like to embody Jerry and leave my readers with an opinion that shakes them out of their existing views or asks them to consider something new.
👉 CTA - give your reader somewhere to go
Woohoo! You’ve made it to the end and before you push ‘publish’, you need to make sure you add a call-to-action (CTA) to your piece. Whenever you publish content online for your business, you want to make sure your audience’s content journey doesn’t stop abruptly like a train on a bad bit of track (whaddup, Snowpiercer).
Show them where else they can go to be with you. Is it booking a free consultation? Or a newsletter sign-up form that promises more of the same incredible content that you’ve just shared? Think about why you’ve written your blog post and how you can maximise your words’ impact and shelf life.
🔥 Pro tip
Blog posts can have an incredibly long lifespan online. Their impressive digital shelf life (up to two years) means people might stumble across and read your post years after it’s written, so don’t forget to revisit your blog posts once in a while and update outdated bits.
Final Thought
If you’ve read through this absolute dream of a blog post without immediately dashing off to write a 5000-word-strong blog-a-tron, then I’m impressed. We’re done now, so you’re free to release your fingers from the tiny straitjacket they’ve been restrained inside, and set them loose on your keys.
If you’re still struggling to blog after reading this frankly, life-changing guide, then that’s okay. That’s why I’m here. You can drop me a message or book me in for a chat if you’d like to hire me to do this kind of thing for you.