Take Your Blog From Good to Great With My Foolproof Blogging Formula

05 Nov Take Your Blog From Good to Great With My Foolproof Blogging Formula

Posted at 21:02h in Blogging by Monika Jansen 0 Comments

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This blog post is an excerpt from my first ebook, The Small Business Guide to Blogging, which will publish in March. Enjoy!

Blogging is definitely as much science as it is art. Over the years, I have developed what I think is a foolproof blogging formula that I follow every single time I blog.

Will it propel your blog posts to instant fame? Um, no (but wouldn’t that be nice!). What this formula WILL do is provide you with a framework that will help you write actionable, useful, and engaging blog posts. Oh, and it will make blog writing go a bit faster – a nice bonus.

Step 1: Write a blog post topic, not a title

I rarely start a blog post with a definite title, as the direction of the blog post may change a bit as I write. Instead, I start with a topic that can be shaped into a title.

Step 2: Open with a story-focused introduction

Next, I write an introduction that reads like a story. My goal is to pique your curiosity, so I might start off with:

A confession: “This is so embarrassing, but I’m going to put it out there anyway: Even though I am always a font of blog post ideas for clients, I get stuck on topics for my own blog all the time!”
A declaration: “Blogging is hands-down one of the best marketing strategies for any small business.”
An attention-grabbing statistic: “Did you know that 81 percent of US consumers trust advice and information from blogs?”

Then I weave a story around my opening line, explaining how the topic I am writing about affects my audience, aka, you, the reader.

Step 3: Explain what will be taught

Now that I have made my case for why this topic is important, I explain what you are going to learn in the blog post, whether it’s a list of blog post topics you can turn to anytime or what information to include in your blog post to build trust with your audience.

Step 4: Turn your wisdom into actionable items

I actually break this step down into 2 parts. First, I list out all action items in bold. If I decide this will be a numbered list (“10 Ideas for…”), I number each action item. Then I add 2-3 sentences that add more context to, and fully explain, each action item.

Step 5: Close with a conclusion and call-to-action

Almost done! My conclusions are always a question or two to spur engagement and encourage a conversation. I tend to ask what the reader thinks, what they do, and what works or doesn’t work for them. Then I add a call-to-action to hopefully drive further engagement or a purchase.

Step 6: Write your official blog post title

Go back to your makeshift blog post title, and write a real one using the formula I shared earlier in this ebook: Number or trigger word + adjective + keyword + promise.

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