9 Steps to better content
Content creation is a ton of work.
Creating a blog post takes me a lot longer today than it did a couple of years ago.
Part of it is due to the fact that I am in a competitive niche and I need to create better content. But part of it is because I know more about blogging and content creation than I did back then.
In the beginning, I was not aware of the importance of my blog headline. I barely used images in my posts. And my content included far less information.
Today, a blog post is a ton of work.
And if we invest this much effort into creating a post, we want to make sure that we have the best piece of content we could create.
The writing of a blog post or other content is only one step. Before you hit that publish button, you should perform some basic checks to make sure you have everything in place and optimized.
Here is a quick checklist to finish up your blog post:
#1 The topic
Right, you should check this before you write your post. Don't invest much work in topics that are not the right topics.
- Is this topic of interest to your readers/audience?
- Is this topic relevant to your line of work? Are people interested in this topic also interested in what you offer?
- Did you already cover this topic before? Should you rather aim for updating existing content?
#2 Copy
Re-read your content. It sometimes helps to let it sit for a day or two. Re-reading it then will provide you with a fresh pair of eyes.
- Does the opening paragraph introduce the topic and capture attention?
- Is the content well-written and easy to read and understand?
- Does the content tell a story?
- Do the content and arguments flow?
#3 Fact Check
The more content I create, the pickier I get with data and studies that I quote in the content. Many numbers floating around that do not hold up to inspection and there are statistics quoted in new articles that are already years old.
You can do better.
- Do your facts hold up to inspections?
- Do you provide proof for your arguments?
#4 Grammar and spelling
Yes, I know how easily some spelling and grammar mistakes slip through.
I use Grammarly to help find them.
- Did you reread your content for spelling and grammar mistakes?
- Did you run it through a spell-checking tool?
#5 Structure
My paragraphs got shorter over the years. I had to learn that blogging is not writing a novel.
Online content needs more structure than a book.
- Are you utilizing subheadings and paragraphs?
- Are your paragraphs short (2-3 sentences?)
- Are you using images in your content?
- Is your formatting consistent?
- Can you turn some more of your content into bullet lists?
#6 Attribution
It is not just about giving credit. Proper attribution will also emphasize your arguments and provide context.
- Do you always mention a source for data and numbers you are using?
- Is your data current and not outdated?
- Do you always mention owners/sources of images?
#7 Title
Your headline can easily make all the difference between success and failure.
- Does your title follow best practices?
- Did you create multiple headlines and chose the best?
- Does your headline introduce the topic?
- Does your headline include your main keyword?
#8 SEO
This is not an email about SEO. But for every piece of content you create, you should perform some basic SEO tasks.
- Have you done your keyword research and found related keywords?
- Does your content include related keywords?
- Does your content follow on-page SEO best practices?
- Do you provide a catchy and concise meta description?
- Di you add internal links to older content?
- Did you plan some internal links from existing content to your new content?
#9 What else
There is always something more to optimize.
- Did you include a lead magnet and a call to action?
- Did you check that the links work?
I hope these help!
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