Do you find that writing your blog is only half the battle?
Yep, you nutted out a topic, you got those words down on the page, and it all delivers value to an expectant audience.
So why is it that, this is the time that the wheels fall off the process?
How many blogs have you written that have made it to this stage and not progressed any further?
Probably heaps.
Why do these glorious pieces not make it out into the world like they should?
The most likely reason is that the fear gets you.
Putting yourself out there into the public realm opens yourself up for judgment, right?
… What if they don’t agree with what I say?
… What if people dispute me?
Chances are, both of those things will happen. But, will you believe me when I say that is actually a good thing.
It might be hard to handle if it does occur, but the truth is that you can’t please everyone. Some people will disagree with what you say and make it known.
Yet, even more will resonate with your message. Those are the people you want anyway. They will be the ideal kind of client who is ready to pay for your expertise.
The fact of the matter is simple… your blog deserves to be out there in the world.
Shelve the self doubt and do these things before you hit publish. Then you will be able to put your blog out there with confidence (and say a virtual stuff you to any Negative Nellies that try to tell you otherwise).
What To Do Before You Hit Publish On Your Blog
Proofread
This one is a bit of a no brainer. Read through your content to check that everything makes sense, that there are no spelling mistakes and you have your punctuation correct.
Now, it doesn’t have to be 100% perfect as everyone is human and typos do happen. But run a quick spell check or even run your piece through Grammarly to ensure there are no glaring errors.
It can help to read your piece aloud and listen to the parts where you naturally pause. Those pauses should be the place where you add a comma or a full stop. Be mindful of super wordy sentences. They might be grammatically correct, but shorter sentences do better with web readers and SEO rankings.
Check Your Messaging
Once you have the spelling and grammar correct, it is time to check your messaging.
Does what you have written sound like you?
Does the piece align with your business visions and values?
If not, you may confuse your audience. You want your messaging to be consistent across the board to continue to build that relationship of trust with your readers. Know what your readers will connect with.
Remember, Vegans aren’t going to be singing the praises of bacon to their audience! So, don’t make the same mistake in your content.
Take A Visual Look
While your blog is mostly about the written content, you have to make sure it looks good on the page too. And that it is easy for your audience to read.
Having one big wall of text is hard to read and can be offputting for your readers. So, make sure you space your content out by using sub-headings. This is also useful for the people who scan read your content, they can then stop and read the parts that interest them.
If the content calls for it, you can also slip in an image or two, some graphs or a video version of the blog.
SEO It
You want to maximise the chances of all that great content being found online. So, ensure that your blogs are SEO friendly.
Choose an appropriate keyword and make sure it is peppered throughout your content. Also, try and make sure it appears in your blog title, the url for the blog post, your subheadings, and also your Meta Description
Remember that even though you want to tick your SEO boxes, you are writing for people first. The written content should flow naturally and the keywords should be integrated into the text so they read like a normal sentence.
Add An Image
You will need to add a featured image to your post. This serves a couple of purposes, visual interest on the page, makes your link pretty for social media sharing, and ticks another SEO box.
Choose an image that both matches the content and represents your brand. Choose something that your audience will resonate with and will want to click on.
Don’t forget to add your keyword to the image as an alt tag to it so that it can help to boost your SEO. Google search algorithms can’t read pictures, but they can read the word tags you assign to them. Also, make sure the image is resized for the web so it doesn’t increase the load time of the page.
When it comes to blogging, you have to feel the fear and do it anyway! But, if fear or time, or procrastination, or writer’s block, or something else is stopping you from getting your blogs out there, then let’s talk!
Book a convenient time to chat with me about progressing your blogs forward and getting some content published!