by Tenns Reid
We all want to blog better, in order to best serve our audience, increase stats, and possibly make money. It’s especially important if you blog for your business because you want to ensure that they way you’re conveying your content benefits, promotes, and supports your business. It’s one of the main reasons that I use a blog post checklist to up my blogging ante. By using a checklist, I can ensure that I’m not missing any major or minor areas that may affect my content not being as impactful as I set out for it to be.
The Benefit
A post checklist allows you to save time and prevents you from having to go back and add or redo things later down the line with your blog posts. Writing a post and immediately hitting publish sets up to miss out on so many things and it can be your biggest blogging mistake.
I benefit from using a checklist for all of my posts because as I check off each item, I check for optimal quality across the board with the post. I can think critically about if my headline is appealing, what keywords I’m using throughout the post, and what the tone of my post is. These are all things that affect your post’s ability to resonate with readers, and in turn, their willingness to promote and engage it.
How & When to Use It
I use my post checklist throughout the post-publishing process, from beginning to end and I recommend anyone that uses one to do the same. I do this because can follow along the checklist and mark off things as I do them. It saves me a lot of time in the end when all I usually need to do is check for grammatical errors and schedule my post in my dashboard and on social media.
Using a checklist is essential for SEO purposes because optimizing my post for SEO while I’m writing it is much easier than having to go back through and place keywords through it. In addition, I can ensure that everything flows smoothly from the introduction to the conclusion and that my call to action is clear.
What It Includes
A blog post checklist should include some key areas to ensure that your post is not only high quality but that it’s epic and people have no choice but to love and share it. Here’s what it should include at a minimum:
A compelling and relevant headline
An introduction that hooks readers in
Content that is unique, accurate, backed by research and facts
Contain a post image – *optimized for Pinterest (2:3 aspect ratio, min 600 px wide)
Organized paragraphs with subheadings
Keywords sprinkled throughout post
Internal (and external) links
Clear call to actions
A solution to the issue presented in the headline
Proofreading for grammatical and spelling errors
SEO
Social media scheduling
If you don’t already have a checklist on hand that you’re using, you can this handy one that I’ve put together here. A checklist will encourage accountability and increase the quality of your posts. It’s an essential tool you need in your blogging toolkit to ensure you are publishing content that will get found, resonate with your readers, and position as an authority on the topics you write on.
Tenns Reid is the voice and one-woman-show behind the branding, design, and coaching boutique, Bliss & Faith.
She helps fellow busy and creative female solopreneurs and entrepreneurs who are passionate about blogging and business bring their brands to life! Her goal is to provide a resource to help them reach their goals, embrace their passions, and strive for success. She is committed to educating, informing, and sharing with those who want to achieve their dreams.
Tenns holds a degree in Business Management with an emphasis in HR and a minor in Sociology. She has worked in many industries including Retail, Restaurant, HR, & the Military, which has given her a wealth of knowledge and experience. In being a Brand Stylist, Business Coach, Designer, and Blogger, she is able to combine both the creative and artistic side of her brain, with the technical and analytical side. Tenns loves learning, researching, and solving problems and is so happy to be able to do a job every day the marries so much of who she is, while being able to help others and make a difference in their lives.
6 Replies to “Up Your Blogging Ante By Utilizing A Post Checklist”
Jennifer @ TheHousewifeModern
Dropping by from Lou Lou Girls “Fabulous Party #68”! [Bliss & Faith has a link, which led to you]
Great advice. I already had a checklist, but had gotten lazy about using it. And after reading your post remembered all the benefits. I also updated it to include a couple of things on your list. Thanks for sharing about the 2:3 ratio!
Jennie
Tenns Reid[ Post Author ]
Thanks so much Jennifer! It can be so easy to let our checklists go by the wayside, but they can really be a huge help. So glad it was useful and that you stopped by!
Podium Wisdom
Thank you for these tips – all instantly applicable! This is especially great for a beginner blogger like me. I do have one ignorant question: what’s an “SEO”? (You can tell I’m a novice just by the question)
Tenns Reid[ Post Author ]
Hi there! Thanks so much and I’m so glad you found the post useful. Yes, as a beginner its the best time to start out with a checklist. Your posts will be good to go off the bat, and you won’t have to go back and redo to edit them heavily down the line.
SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Its basically having your content optimized so that it can be found easily by search engines and appear high up in the results. This increases the chances of your content being clicked on and checked, increasing your traffic and hopefully sharing and engagement. 🙂
Emma @ Life, kids and a glass of red
Some great pointers – thanks! At the moment I blog for the love of writing, but had better pull my finger out and sort all this stuff out. That way when one day someone wants to start paying me to write, I’m all set to go! #TurnItUpTuesday
Tenns Reid[ Post Author ]
Thanks so much Emma! Yes, the earlier you can implement the things on the checklist the better! It really will pay off in the future and save you so much time, plus it makes your content be that much better! 🙂
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