Information for this blog post was obtained from SEMrush.com and Hubspot.com.
META: This blog outlines essential steps to create the BEST blog. Topics include optimal title and content length. Structure and image placement are discussed.
By: John Timothy Katzen, MD
Date Written: April 7, 2024
Read time: 14 minutes.
Photo Courtesy of Upsplash
Are you getting started with trying to find a source for authoritative blog writing? Or have you ever wanted to write the best blog? Or have you ever written the best blog you thought possible and yet no one has read it?
In this blog, we will discuss the 10 best practices for optimal blog writing. If you follow these 10 blog writing rules, you will have an SEO-optimized blog. For clarity, we will start at the beginning.
1) Title
The title should be compelling, POP, and catch the reader's eye. It should also encourage the reader to look more deeply into your post. According to Hubspot, you have 8 seconds to catch the reader's attention, and 60% of readers don't read past the headline (Barron, 2022). The title should be relevant to the reader's search intent. It should be the hook and indicate which questions you're answering (Loktionova, 2021).
You should include long-tail keywords. The title should communicate the value and the intent of the post. The title should be less than 50 characters long (Loktionova, 2021). Your associated URL should be less than 60 characters long (Loktionova, 2021). According to Hubspot,
Headlines between 8 to 12 words are shared most often on Twitter.
Headlines between 12 and 14 words are often liked on Facebook (Barron, 2022).
Interestingly, titles with brackets perform 38% better than titles without that clarification. Hubspot also suggests running your title through SEOmofo and X to see how it will appear on SERPs (Barron, 2022).
Ideal Title length according to Hubspot (Barron, 2022).
2) META and Reading time
METAs are important. METAs are an HTML attribute that describes the contents of your blog. METAs tell Google about your blog. METAs are a preview or short description of what your page is about. Your META should be short, compelling, and to the point. Your META description should include your keywords and some of your main subtopics. The META description should be less than 155 characters (Barron, 2022). You should also pay attention to the time required to read your blog. Posts that took more than seven minutes to read earned the most engagement and attention (Barron, 2022).
Ideal META length according to Hubspot (Barron, 2022).
3) Content
Content is the meat and potatoes of the operation. It is why and where readers go to gain the knowledge they seek. One of the most important goals when writing a blog is to target and define your reader persona. This persona can be defined by demographics, professional status, psychographics, pain points and challenges, interests, influences and information sources, and buying habits (Loktionova, 2021).
Your content should be guided by what your persona wants to consume and your searcher's intent. You should determine whether your searchers are looking for information, navigation, commercial, or transaction information (Loktionova, 2021).
Picture from www.envato.com
Objectively, each paragraph should be 4 sentences or fewer. Each sentence should be less than 20 words long. You should not use passive voice. The readability should strive for about a grade seven reading level. Objectively, this is for 70 to 80 on the Flesch-Kincaid reading score. You can calculate your blog's Flesch-Kincaid reading score here.
The length of the blog depends on your target and strategy. According to Hubspot, ideal blogs should be about 2100 words, but will vary depending on the topic. At a minimum, short blogs should be 750 to 1000 words in length (Barron, 2022).
According to Semrush.com, Backlinko analyzed a million search results on Google and found that those web pages on Google's first page of search results have an average of 1,890 words.
Therefore, it is better to err on writing more words than writing less.
4) Keyword
Choosing the best keyword will help Google find and link your blog to intended readers.
Therefore, keyword research is essential. Many tools, such as Google's Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and HubSpot's Keyword Tool, can assist with choosing the best keywords (Barron, 2022).
Photo from www.envato.com
You should target keywords that resonate with your persona. However, chances are that others may have already written about your desired topic. Therefore, you should use tools like SEMrush to determine high-volume search words around your desired blog topic. Once you choose a high-volume blog topic, you should determine its keyword difficulty.
You should choose keywords with a difficulty level of less than 58%. With your valuable keywords in hand, you should use them wisely, sprinkling them in strategic places like the title, description, and introduction.
Your keyword density within your content should be about 3%. (Barron, 2022). Instead of keyword stuffing, change your keyword to a synonym.
5) Images and placement
Images are key and attract the reader in a different way than words. The image should reflect what the blog is about. According to Hubspot, there should be one image per 150 words (Barron, 2022). All visuals should be royalty-free and given credit as to their source.
You should always consider adding video content, informative images, and infographics (Loktionova, 2021). Images are important. However, you must optimize the images by reducing the file size, implement lazy loading, and write alt tags (Loktionova, 2021).
Picture from www.envato.com
6) Using bullets and Section headers
The use of sub-headers guides Google in the search of your article. Sub-headers help your blog to post rank on Google search.
According to Hubspot, sub-headers organize and break-up your blog post into different sections to signal to Google what your blog will cover (Barron, 2022).
H2 tags should be used for subheaders, and H3 tags should be used for list items. According to SEMrush, more than half of the posts with a complex structure (H2 + H3 + H$) are high-performing in terms of traffic and engagement (Loktionova, 2021).
7) White space
There should be ample space between each topic. White space helps to break up the page. It creates a visual rest area for the reader. White space serves to define clear breaks in the text. White spaces should be used between each topic.
White space helps readers to focus on one element at a time (Loktionova, 2021).
8) Call to Action
You should finish your conclusion with a meaningful call to action (CTA). A CTA can be a link, offer, or advice (Barron, 2022). The CTA helps guide the visitors through the AIDA funnel or buying journey. Your CTA should be clear and prompt an immediate response from the reader.
Photo from www.envata.com
9) Conclusion
Photo from www.envato.com
At the end of your blog, let your reader know that the blog is ending. Your conclusion should re-cap the highlights of your blog (Barron, 2022).
Consider providing more resources and guidance. The reader should finish your blog feeling like they have learned a valuable set of tools to solve their problems. A strong conclusion summarizes your blog's important parts and reinforces key elements.
10) Links
You should include links where your readers can follow you for more information. Links should include sites like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn. Links provide a path for your readers to continue to seek information from you. Links from a bridge between your readers and your website (Barron, 2022).
Picture from www.envato.com
Conclusion
For writing the BEST blogs…
Title less than 50 characters
META less than 155 characters
Length less than 2100 words
Write at 7th grade level
Paragraphs less than 4 sentences
Sentences less than 20 words
Images every 150 words
Keywords with high volume and difficulty of less than 58%
So, there you have it.
Follow these proven, golden 10 rules and your blogs will succeed. Now that you know the rules, get writing. START BLOGGING!
I look forward to reading your next GREAT blog post.
For more information about how to create original blog ideas, go read my colleague Autumn's post about them here.
Follow TheSMMU for more articles and suggestions on blog writing, SEO optimization, and social media tips.
Photo from www.envato.com.
About the Author:
Dr. John Timothy Katzen is an experienced, board-certified Plastic Surgeon. Dr. Katzen has offices in Beverly Hills, CA, Las Vegas, NV, and Dubai. Dr. Katzen specializes in reconstructive plastic surgery after massive weight loss and the removal of silicone injections from the buttocks, breasts, and face. In his spare time, he loves learning about social media marketing, blogging, kite surfing, SCUBA diving, and underwater photography.
Resources:
Barron, S. (2022, April 29) The Anatomy of a Perfect Blog Post. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/anatomy-perfect-blog-post
Loktionova, M. (2021, August 10) The Top 15 Blog Writing Tips for 2021 [+ Free Checklist]. https://semrush.com/blog/content-marketing-best-practices/
Petrova, A. (2021, Feb. 2). The Anatomy of Top Performing Articles: Successful vs. Invisible Content [Semrush Study]. https://www.semrush.com/blog/anatomy-of-top-performing-articles/?utm_source=15WritingTipsBlog&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=q3_blog_15Writing+Tips
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