You’ve just written amazing content and are itching to publish your blog post. But before you share it with the world, take a moment.

You want everything to be perfect and in place before you offer it up to the blogosphere, which is why it’s a great idea to check these ten things before you publish your blog post. I promise, it’ll be worth it.

1. Write A Catchy Title

Catchy titles grab eyeballs and are more likely to get clicked on. People have very limited attention spans so keep your title short, persuasive and make sure it gives a good idea about the content that follows.

Certain phrases like “this is why”, “can we guess”, and “the reason is” are popular headline combinations. “Will make you” seems to be the most popular. These headlines make people curious, which is why they attract. (I should have captioned this post “10 things that will make you a successful blogger”, shouldn’t I?)

“X reasons why”, “this is what” and “this is how” are other engaging combinations that have been proven to work. And “this” is literally the most popular first word.

Emotional headlines like “make you cry” and “melt your heart” are crowd pullers, simply because we’re such softies. And an oldie but a goodie—Lists, 10 being the most engaging number.

2. Make It Easy To Read

Be kind to your reader! Break your article into bite sizes.

Use bullet points and subheadings. Use short sentences and simple words. And write an interesting introduction to hook your reader within 3-4 short paragraphs.

3. Use Keywords

Keywords are so named because they’re key to your blog post being discovered.

Use words that are closely associated with your topic and scatter them through your caption, your subheadings, your content, your image name, and your URL. But it is important to do it in a natural way.

You write for your audience, not SEO.

4. Proofread Always

People notice misteaks in grammar and spelling. (You saw that, didn’t you?)

Get someone else to proofread what you write. Or else, read your post backwards, to identify mistakes.

Same goes for your website content. We have a checklist for you to tick off before your website goes live.

5. Use Images

Pictures break your text into smaller sections, making it easy to read. They also support text making it easier to understand.

Use an attractive featured image, and blog post images that suit the font and colour of your post. Name them wisely.

6. Reduce Image Size

Optimise your image size to ensure that your page loads quickly.

People don’t wait longer than 2-3 seconds for their page to load. If you have large images that increase loading time, you’ve lost a large chunk of your audience already.

7. Link To Previous Posts

If in your post, you mention a certain topic that you’ve written about earlier, then link back to that previous post. Your audience will get more information on the topic, and stay longer on your site. Two birds, one stone!

It is my favourite tip when it comes to publishing a blog post.

8. End Well

End your article with a final, conclusive paragraph. Else, the post will look unfinished. Use this last paragraph to review the most important points, or write a conclusion to help your readers focus on relevant ideas.

9. Ask A Question

Don’t you just love receiving comments? Ask questions that encourage discussion and interaction. These nudge your readers into sharing their opinion. This also makes for loyal readers as it shows you value their opinion.

10. Credit your source

For references from other blogs or quotes from people, make sure you credit them with a link back to their website. This is not just good netiquette, it’s also a good idea to let them know in case they want to share your post, which means a boost in your traffic.

Checked everything? Then you’re good to go. Go ahead, publish your blog post!

Smiles,

Marie

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