Imagine you just checked your favorite blogger's website and they did it again. Their latest post is flawless—engaging, well-written, and full of value. If only you knew how to write a blog post like that.
How do others do it? How do they write post after post, and it always comes out right? Why can't you seem to do the same?
Here's the secret: all successful bloggers have a process. They follow repeatable steps that result in a polished, high-quality post, almost like it's on autopilot.
Here's our step-by-step guide to writing blog posts that will wow readers, please search engines, and help you grow your blog.
1. Choose a Topic That Stands Out
The first question is what you're going to write. You want to cover topics that meet the interests of your audience. Otherwise, why would they frequent your blog or find your posts in their search results?
There are several ways to uncover topics:
- Do keyword research: Find phrases your audience types into search engines to learn what they are interested in. You can use tools like Keywordtool.io, Ubersuggest, Semrush, or Ahrefs for that.
- Look at trending topics: What's something everyone in your industry is talking about right now? Providing a resource about that topic may be timely and helpful for your readers.
- Check your competitors: Look at existing blogs and blog content. What are others writing about? Are there any gaps? Is there anything you can add to the conversation?
- Lean on your interests and experiences: Choose a topic that excites you and that you know a lot about. When you talk about something personal, your enthusiasm will shine through and help you be authentic.
- Read forums: Check Reddit, Quora, and other online communities to see what people in your area of expertise want to know more about.
- Look on social media: Keep your ear on conversations happening on social platforms to find topic ideas.
- Cover reader comments and questions: Gather ideas from comments or emails from your existing audience.
When deciding on a topic, try to find a fresh angle and include your unique insights to add value beyond basic information.
By the way, if you come up with more than one topic, feel free to add the others to your editorial calendar so you can come back to the others later.
2. Adopt a Reader-First Mindset
Blogging is all about your audience. Who you write for should always be at the forefront of your mind when writing a blog post because it's their questions you need to answer.
To be able to do that, you need to get to know your readers. Writing a blog post is like buying a birthday present; it's much easier when you know the person you want to give it to well.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Who is this content intended for?
- Who will benefit from this post?
- How do they feel about the topic and why?
- What are they most interested in?
- What questions do they have?
- Which problems are they trying to solve?
- What have they tried before, and why hasn't it worked?
By clarifying these questions, you can put yourself in your readers' shoes and deliver what they need.
3. Determine the Type of Blog Post You Will Write
You can cover a given topic in many different ways, but the right approach depends on the topic, audience, and outcome you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to educate, entertain, persuade, engage, inform, or something else entirely?
There are a ton of different blog post styles, but here are a few common ways to structure a blog post:
- List posts: A blogging classic, and for good reason. These types of posts are easily digestible by your readers because the topics are naturally divided into numbered sections. This article is a good example of that!
- How-to guides: These provide your readers with step-by-step instructions for how to achieve a desired outcome.
- Personal stories: You can share personal experiences and lessons learned through these types of posts.
- Case studies: Report on a product or service and how it helped produce a certain outcome, usually for a customer.
- Feature articles: Provide an in-depth analysis of a singular topic, like our post about PHP.
- Interviews: Talk to someone who knows more about a topic than you, or interview several people for an expert roundup.
- Product reviews and comparisons: Evaluate a product or service, or compare several with one another.
- News articles: Provide time-sensitive updates on your industry or your company.
This list isn't exhaustive, and you can also combine post types. For example, how-to articles are also often list posts.
If you're not quite sure which post type best suits your topic, check out which formats are already ranking for that keyword.
For example, when you google "bread baking," most of the results are recipes. If you want to appear in search results for this keyword, you will likely also want to post a recipe with your own spin.
4. Craft a Compelling Headline
In Ogilvy on Advertising, legendary advertiser David Ogilvy wrote that five times more people read a headline than the body copy.
That means, your headline is the main element that decides whether someone clicks on your post in search results or on social media.
For that reason, you should spend plenty of time crafting it, writing several iterations and trying different angles, formats, and wording.
Here are some tips for writing an effective headline:
- Be descriptive, as readers should be able to clearly understand what your post is about from that headline alone (or intrigue them enough to click through to read the whole post)
- Use emotional, curiosity-driven, or benefit-focused wording to hook readers
- Keep it concise, ideally under 60 characters, so your headline doesn't get shortened in search results
- Include numbers in your headline. They set clear expectations and make information appear more easily digestible.
- Use brackets and parentheses to provide additional information and context as well as make your headline stand out visually
- Mention your main keyword/topic, preferably toward the beginning, so anyone skimming search results can easily tell what your post is about
Here are examples from our blog that use these principles:
A good way to get started is to familiarize yourself with common headline formulas. You can also consider using a headline analysis tool like those by CoSchedule or Sharethrough.
Finally, if you're struggling with writing an intriguing headline, you can revisit it after you finish writing the blog post. Sometimes that's easier because you'll have a better sense of the main message, key takeaways, and tone. With that clarity, you can craft a headline that grabs attention and accurately reflects the value in your post.
5. Outline Before You Write
Creating an outline means laying out a roadmap for your work; you can draft its overall structure and evaluate your main points.
An outline makes your blog post writing much easier because it's a lot more comfortable to work alongside a roadmap than it is to try creating a ready-to-publish blog post out of thin air.
To set up your outline, first plan your main sections, like the introduction, main points, and conclusion. If you're blogging on WordPress, you can easily do that with headings directly inside the editor.
Use H2 for main sections, then break them down further with H3 and H4s. Switch on the Outline feature in Document Overview in the top-left corner for an overview.
Then you can brainstorm the content in each section. Jot down important items as bullet points or lines of text. Make sure you cover every important aspect of your topic, adding your unique experiences or perspectives to each point. Optionally, include links to sources or examples you are going to use to support your ideas.
Finally, examine your outline for logical flow—each section should naturally lead into the next.
6. Write an Engaging Blog Post Introduction
The best way to draw readers into reading your blog post is to start with a hook. Hooks can come in the form of an interesting idea, a bold statement, a question, a story, or a relatable scenario.
Jon Morrow, who is one of the most prolific bloggers out there, definitely manages to do that with his introductions.
Once you have hooked readers, convince them to keep reading by clearly stating what they'll gain from your post. This makes it much easier to move them on to the main event.
Be aware that readers are busy, so keep your introductions concise and free of fluff.
Sometimes it's helpful to write your introduction last; having the main body of your post ready can help you have a better understanding of what to say in the beginning.
7. Develop the Main Body with Actionable and Unique Insights
The body of your post is why readers came to your site in the first place. It's where you address what's most important to your audience—their problems, questions, objections, and fears.
Your first job is to simply fill in your outline. Build out the points you noted with examples, resources, and additional information.
It's not just about what you say but also how you say it. To make the main body most effective:
- Strive for clarity and a logical order.
- Explain concepts and jargon not everyone may be familiar with.
- Link to trusted sources to support your arguments.
- Include links for additional resources where readers can go to learn more about the topic.
- Provide examples and personal anecdotes to clarify and amplify.
- Plan space to use visuals to further enhance your message.
8. Keep Your Writing Conversational and Authentic
A blog post should feel like a conversation with a friend—write the way you talk. Write your blog posts the way you talk, and let your tone, humor, and quirks shine through. This introduction for a post on Pinch of Yum is a great example.
Bringing warmth and humanity into your writing helps readers connect with the real you instead of a fake blogger persona. In contrast, stiff and formal language makes your writing dull, lifeless, and hard to read.
A great way to make writing relatable is to tell personal stories. Make points by sharing anecdotes about yourself and your friends or family. Communicate your own struggles or what event made you want to look into this particular blog topic. Discuss how you were feeling and take readers on an emotional journey.
Finally, keep it simple. Simple writing is clear writing. Avoid the urge to use long paragraphs and complicated words.
You will find that writing simply is its own challenge that takes plenty of practice, but it makes your blog post more accessible and personable.
9. Edit Ruthlessly (More Than Once!)
The essence of writing a high-quality blog post is editing and rewriting. That also means you shouldn't despair if the words don't come out right the first time around. The first draft doesn't matter; it's only supposed to give you a starting point, not a finished product.
When editing, be sure to:
- Correct spelling and grammar mistakes.
- Cut unnecessary words and fluff.
- Strengthen clarity, logic, and flow.
- Ensure everything is factually correct.
- Add links and other important elements.
Reading your blog post out loud mirrors how readers process it in their minds.. It helps you get a better sense of how the text sounds, if it flows well, and if it's clear.
In addition, because editing is so important, it's best if you do it more than once. Each additional pass strengthens your blog post.
For best results, put some space between writing and editing. Come back to your article the next day with a fresh mind and some distance. In addition, you can use tools like Grammarly or Hemingway for some automated help or ask someone you trust for their input.
10. Format Your Blog Post for Visual Appeal
The presentation of your content matters as much as what you say in it. If you write your blog post in a way that it's overwhelming to look at, it turns readers away before they have time to give it a chance.
One part of the presentation piece is formatting your post for readability by:
- Using short sentences and paragraphs.
- Including bullet points, lists, and tables.
- Using enough headings and subheadings.
- Bolding or italicizing text for emphasis.
Healthline does this very well—shorter paragraphs encourage readability and bold text draws your eye to important text.
In addition, your blog post shouldn't be a text-only experience. Enhance it with relevant visuals to help break up the text, make your post more engaging, and clarify key points.
Consider adding some of the following visual elements to your blog posts:
- Screenshots
- Photos
- Stats and graphs
- Quotes
- Infographics
- Embedded social updates
- GIFs and video embeds
When you've finished formatting your post, scroll through and see how it makes you feel. And don't just do this for the desktop version—also check how it looks on mobile, as many readers will visit your site on their mobile devices. In fact, the majority of internet traffic now comes from smartphones so your blog post also needs to be readable and appealing on small screens.
11. Optimize for SEO Without Overstuffing
Polishing your blog post for search engines helps readers find your content when they search for specific topics or keywords.
Good SEO means mentioning your main topic or keyword throughout your blog post. Use your keyword naturally and include variations, synonyms, and secondary keywords. Additionally, include links to relevant posts and pages on your blog, as well as to credible external sources. It helps you establish your expertise and gives readers natural next steps if they want to learn more.
After that, it's important to optimize the parts of your post that appear in search engines:
- Post URL: Make the URL short and descriptive, divide words with hyphens, and include your main keyword (e.g., yourgroovydomain.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe).
- Title: Your title tag could be your headline, or you could further optimize it for search results. If you're on WordPress.com, you can easily optimize your post's title tag with the Jetpack plugin.
- Meta description: This is text that may appear beneath the post title in search results. Use it to accurately summarize the post content and include the main keyword to encourage readers to click through to read your full blog post.
- Image alt text: You can use this to describe image content for search engines and accessibility.
But don't overdo it. Over-optimizing will do more harm than good. Write your blog post for people first, meeting their needs and search intent.
12. Add a Conclusion With a Strong Call to Action (CTA)
You have multiple ways to finish your article:
- Give a summary: Sum up the key points you covered in your post.
- Provide a takeaway: Leave readers with one main idea, often an angle you established at the beginning of the article.
- Redirect readers: Link to another article on your blog so readers can dig even deeper into the topic or a related topic.
- Leave a bonus tip: Offer one final tip to readers as they apply the knowledge in your post.
In addition, you should leave your audience with a call to action. After all, the goal of a blog post isn't to just attract traffic—you're usually trying to achieve an additional outcome, like building leads, growing your newsletter, or selling a product.
But to do that, you need to clearly and explicitly tell readers what you want them to do. This is known as a "call to action" and might prompt readers to:
- Leave a comment.
- Share the article.
- Sign up for your email newsletter.
- Download a free resource.
- Read more blog posts.
- Check out your shop.
You can also have more than one CTA that may take one of these forms:
13. Publish and Promote Your Blog Post Strategically
At this point, your blog post should be ready to go live and be published.
Publishing content is just one half of running a successful blog—the other half is promoting your content. Without a plan to spread the word, your blog post is less likely to get the traffic it deserves.
We have 21 different ways to increase blog traffic listed here, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Share on social media: Post key insights on social networks with a link to the original post. Use appropriate hashtags, attractive visuals, and other ways to increase reach and attention. Automating social sharing makes this a lot easier.
- Send your new post in a newsletter: If you already have an email list, be sure to let subscribers know about your latest post.
- Share it in relevant communities: There are many places where members of your audience congregate, including Discord, Reddit, Slack, Quora, and Facebook groups.
- Repurpose your article: Turn your blog post into other pieces of content to increase reach. This could be a LinkedIn post, Bluesky thread, script for a video, slide deck, infographic, or Medium article.
Part of content promotion is also keeping existing blog posts up to date. You spent all this time getting each article ready for search engines—it would be a shame to just let it slide into obscurity over time.
Therefore, regularly revisit older posts and update them with the latest information, improve the writing, and use newer visuals. This keeps them fresh and relevant as well as helps you retain search engine positions.
14. Track Performance and Improve
The final step in writing a blog post is tracking its performance and iterating on it. For this purpose, you can use analytics tools like:
They allow you to track search engine performance, views, reader engagement, conversions, comments, shares, backlinks, and more. This helps you understand what kind of content resonates most with your audience and what doesn't.
This is invaluable information because you can use it to grow your blog. Figure out what makes existing posts work and apply that knowledge to refine your content strategy and blog writing process.
What Kind of Blog Post Will You Write?
Writing a gripping and informative blog post is neither an accident nor raw talent. Most of it simply comes down to knowing what your readers need and applying that knowledge. The rest is just practice.
Use the blueprint above as a basis to step up your blog post game. Add to your own blueprint as you continue to write blog content by integrating your own insights and findings to make it your own.
We want to hear from you! Leave a comment below—what's the top tip you'll apply to your next blog post, and what will you write about?
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