3 Things to Always Include in a Successful Blog Post

Hello Writer Bees!

Before it’s out in the world, all of us bloggers give our content a quick once-over. It’s good to get in the habit of proofreading an article before it gets published. Not just grammatical errors, but to make sure the other elements that make a post stand out are present and accounted for. No matter what you blog about, make sure your posts have these three elements at publishing time.

Feature Image

A feature image is like a book cover. And sometimes, a potential viewer may judge a post by it’s title image. Consider a feature image as a visual hint to readers of what the article is about. Before publishing, make sure you have a solid image(s) attached to the article. No image may lead to less traction with readers. If you have a personal, diary like blog, snap a photo of the world around you, or a cute selfie. If you’re writing on a specific niche, try Search Engines and Pexel Free Photos for copyright-free images. Take it a step further with custom title cards. You don’t need a master of photoshop to create a cool feature image. Between you and me, some of my images were made on MS Paint. See above. They’re not great, but they get the job done and tell my readers this is part of a series.

Tags

On WordPress, you can add tags to your post. These tags help readers find posts related to their interests. Think of it as casting a wide net. The more tags connected to your niche; the more readers you will catch the attention of. At least ten tag words would be enough, the more the merrier. By utilizing tags, your audience will grow and expand. Every time I post anything, I use every word associated with my umbrella topic; Creative writing. I use a plethora of writing related key words. That way, other writers and creatives can find my blog without too much digging. It may seem tedious, but trust me, it works. I’ve found plenty of amazing writers and bloggers to follow just by searching the ‘writing’ or ‘fiction’ tags.

Examples

Tags I Use: writer, write, writers, writing, creative writing, fiction writing, fiction, short story, story, amwriting, writing community, writing tips.

Tags for a recipe: cooking, chef, recipe, recipes, taco, Spanish, Mexican, one pot, vegan, spicy, few ingredients, party food.

Socials

Stay connected with your audience and with social media. When you schedule a post for publication, be sure to plan a post on social media coinciding with its release. Pairing social media with your blog will give you a better opportunity of more eyes seeing your content. You can find sites from awesome creators through platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Patreon. I’ll give you an example from my experience blogging. when I publish on WordPress, I also compose a Tweet. Setting them to publish at the same time, I get to spread the word about my content on multiple platforms at once. Easy, right?

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I treat the above like a grocery shopping list. Anytime I’m about to publish, I ask myself “Okay. Image? Check. Tags? All there. Tweet? Ready to go.” Over the years, I’ve gotten in the habit of going over this checklist every time. When I first started blogging, I didn’t think any of this stuff was important. Now, I’ve learned these elements can be a total gamechanger when creating content. I thought I’d share these tips with you all, so we all can become better bloggers and creators.

What do you think is the most important element to a successful blog post? Talk to me in the comments.

Stay safe out there and stay creative.

Write with Heart,

Lady Jabberwocky

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