Blogging Series Part I: The Anatomy of a Blog Post

For the next few Thursdays, I’m going to be talking about best blogging practices! We had some great and very useful information come out of the Fitness and Health Bloggers Conference, including stuff that has nothing to do with Fitness and Health but instead, blogging in general, and no matter how long a person’s been blogging, there is always just more to know. I feel the need to share it with you all, too, I mean, if I didn’t, it would be almost criminal, really!

Blogging: So Easy a Baby Can Do It. OK not really, but still!

There is so much that we can all do to boost our SEO, to boost our influence, increase our readership and even make some money at it too if that’s our goal. So these are the topics I’m going to touch on over the next couple of weeks:

• The Anatomy of a Blog Post (today)
• Blog SEO
• Blogging for Business
• Blog Design & Sourcing

In no particular order.

We shall, however, begin with The Anatomy of a Blog Post with tips from Alexandra and Kymberly at Fun and Fit. These ladies are absolutely tops in my book! Plus they keep mentioning me and Audrey Hepburn in the same sentence and honestly just being in the same sentence with her warms my cockles.

Ok so let’s dissect!

How DO YOU write a blog post? Do you start off with, “Hey! How’s it going?!” or do you get right to the point? According to Kymberly, most readers read the top of a blog post, skim the middle, and read the end.

Hopefully you’re not doing that right now because I’m breaking the rule. The point is, in “news” speak, don’t bury the lead. If you put all your good stuff in the middle, there’s a chance your readers are missing it. Booooo.

So.

1. Have a purpose statement for the post which addresses these questions:

• I am writing to _____.
• The reason I’m blogging is ______.
• This post is to tell you that ______.
• The purpose of this proposal is _______.

The purpose statement will not only catch your reader’s attention, it helps your blog post with search engine optimization if you have your key words or phrases at the top. If you can’t whittle down the purpose statement of the post to 1 or 2 lines, then that could mean you don’t have it clear in your mind and you should work with the idea and do some more brainstorming.

2. Count your use of first person words, like “I,” “me,” “mine” and count the use of “you,” “your,” “yours,” and “our.” Shift your post to the reader’s perspective and replace those first persons with the “you.” For instance, instead of:

“I’m sending you…”

write:

“You are receiving…”

It makes a person feel like they’re getting something and that you have a service to provide them, rather than the other way around.

3. Make sure that with every sentence that you write, you are asking yourself the following questions: “Why should my reader care?” “So what?” and “What’s in it for my reader?”

4. Spell check (though don’t rely on it and know that autocorrect can stink too), use correct grammar and be professional. Someone (I’m not saying names but it rhymes with Schmalexandra) said no cursing but I am known to let one slip now and then because I am just that classy passionate sometimes. Preferably no potty mouth if you want to work with brands. And they do know they’re stuff since they work with a lot of brands.

5. On the flip side (while still writing all professional-like) DON’T WRITE TO BE LIKED. This one is a really big one and it’s really hard to do. But be yourself. Be genuine. Don’t try to impress people, just be who you are, just like in real life. Everyone loves original and guess what? You’re original. Don’t be afraid to be controversial, either. Take a stand on something if that’s how you feel. This is something that I am working on myself. (I am a people pleaser.)

6. Ask questions from your readers and give them a reason to interact with you.

7. Most of all, have good quality and frequent content. Good content helps you boost your own search engine rankings and it makes for interesting and shareable writing! If you find yourself stuck in your writing, just close it up and walk away and come back later. Sometimes you just stare at stuff too long.

Thanks to Alexandra and Kymberly at Fun and Fit for this awesome information! I couldn’t have put it any better myself!

Do you have any questions about blogging? Feel free to leave them in the comments! 

Next up is boosting your blog SEO! Stay tuned…

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