Blogging Boot Camp Day 4

Getting Your First Blog Post Online

In today's lesson we dig into your first post and go through some tips on how to get your first post online and create great content.

Creating Content and Your First Post

Content is the lifeblood of your blog, and rightly so. It’s the content you write, shoot or record that people want to view. Fresh new content keeps the readers coming back and the search engines happy. It’s this content that makes up your blog and it’s this content you have to create.

If you are blogging for the first time then you should have a bunch of posts ready to go.

“If I was to start from the beginning I would create at least 10 posts to post to my blog. I would then upload all the posts to my blog in draft format. This allows a buffer to fall back on”

*Tip - By having content pre-written in draft to fall back on when time becomes short or the dreaded writers block hits you can really help you out.

Here are some simple ideas of posts you can have prewritten to save you some time:

1. The List Post – A good old favourite of mine which is great Google food for high search engine rankings. E.g. 5 Product Launch Tips.

2. The Review Post – Product review posts are always great ways to rank your blog next to the websites you are reviewing. I have some review posts on my Bonus Blog.

3. Book Reviews – I have reviewed one or two products on my Bonus Blog which have turned out quite successful. You can also affiliate link to the product you are reviewing and earn commissions.

4. The Huge List – A lot like the list post, but a lot larger e.g. 101 things to do with SEO.

5. The How-To Post –How to add widgets to your blog, or how to make your blog an authority blog.

6. Themed Post – Post about a particular time of the year or an event.

7. News Post – You could write a post on a local topic and mention a service you’re offering.

8. The Advice Post – Ask the reader what topics you’d like to discuss in the next post. This is a great idea and a cool way to involve your audience.

9. Round-up Post – Which blogs do you actually read and which bloggers do you respect? A great way to share other blogs online and also a great way to grab the attention of other bloggers from ping backs and track backs.

10. Ethical People to Follow – Which people are you most intrigued by and follow? You could talk about inspiring people, heroes and mentors.

11. Personal Post – Allowing people into certain aspects of your life when it comes to blogging is a great way to build trust which can and will lead to sales of products and services.

12. Controversial Post – There is nothing like a little controversy. Controversial posts go a very long way with readers and always generate a ton of comments.

13. Mentors and Coaches – Case studies and a review of your training experiences on any courses you have taken part in.

14. The Biggest Mistakes – This one speak for itself. People love to hear about the mistakes you have made, especially in business. These posts project a real person with real achievements.

15. Problem Solving – Post on something that happened to you and/or your blog and what you did to solve or fix the problem.

16. Hold a Contest – Create content on your blog which people can take part in. E.g. The best interview post or the best video post even as simple as the best comment. I have held competitions where I have given prizes for the best comment.

17. Traffic Tutorials - I find that the question I get asked the most is always something to do with traffic generation, so anything that helps people generate traffic to their own blogs, websites, products or squeeze pages always helps. I also find that short videos can help, some people struggle to put words into actions.

18. Personal Challenges Post– Create a post about overcoming your fears. People can usually relate to the same problems and fears you have.

 

Stealing 
Content

Don't worry stealing content is perfectly legal and it happens every day! Allow me to explain...

Think of it like this; how many books have you read that are very similar? How many TV or Movies have you seen that were basically the same? How many blog posts have you seen or read that were completely 100% original never seen before content?

There are a lot of posts out there with their own spin on the same topics. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you create a post, you can just add your own opinions to an already great post.

Example - Do you think a there is only one post in the world with the subject - 'How to Write The Perfect Blog Post'?

Nope there's 1000's...

Using researched content in this manner isn’t stealing, it’s being efficient. I'm not saying directly copy and paste, plagiarism is illegal. But to use a piece of content as a base subject and re writing it with your own opinions isn't.

 

Choosing Your killer headline

Creating a killer headline for your blog is essential. It’s the door to your blog post being read, so it's needs to be interesting.

Save this list or Bookmark this page.

Mistake headlines:

Do you make the same mistakes as me?
Have you made these [blank] mistakes?
10 writing mistakes you never knew you were making
Do you make the same blogging mistakes as me?
15 mistakes that can make you look stupid
5 mistakes you never knew you were making?
Don’t regret not doing [blank]
The biggest online shopping mistakes you will ever make

How to headlines:

Learn how to [blank]
Learn how to speed read in 10 minutes Learn how to write 500 words in 10 minutes Learn to speak Spanish in 5 easy lessons
How can you make $1000 per month on complete auto pilot? Learn to lose weight without dieting
How to make the most of out a small wage
How to be the best at what you do
Learn how to work from home today
How to [blank] and [blank]
How to manage your time more effectively How to be the best at [blank]

Threat headlines:

The shocking truth about [blank]
10 things about people you can’t trust
5 warning signs for [blank]
The truth about the dangers of social media
5 warning signs about your blog layout
10 ways you will fail online
How to protect yourself and your business from online fraud 8 things you need to be afraid of
The shocking truth why your blog sucks

Minimalist headline:

5 ways to simplify your [blank]
How can you be super simple?
I can reduce your stress levels in 5 minutes
30 seconds from now your junk mail can be gone
Minimal cooking guide
How to travel the world with nothing but 20 items
Get rid of [blank] once and for all
Too many projects? Here are 5 ways to minimalist heaven How to fix your [blank] in 5 Minutes

Popular brands headline:

Market like [popular brand]
7 ways to launch a product like [popular brand]
Increase your fitness levels and be like [famous athlete]
Write like [famous writer] in 10 easy steps
Learn the secrets of success just like [famous person]
How to look like [famous film star]
The greatest marketing headlines of all time by [brands] [
brand]/[famous persons] secrets to total success
What can [famous person] teach you about [blank]

List headlines:

20 Ways to [blank]
10 Ways to Become a Better Writer
10 Effective Ways to build your mailing list 5 ways to create a killer book
The top 10 ways to modify your blog
The Top 10 [blank]
101 reasons to [blank]
Grab these 15 tips on how to [blank]
The Top 20 List posts of The Year so Far

It’s headlines just like these that the top magazines and tabloids use every day to grab the attention of their readers. And guess what? They work.

 

How to End Your Post

A good ending to your post is the key to communicating with your audience. There are a number of post endings you can use to create engagement with your audience to keep them coming back for more and more.

Ask the opinion of your audience – Asking your readers what they think is a simple and very effective way to create comment engagement.  Ending such as - Your Turn, Let me know what you think? Have you ever tried this? always work well.

Let them know what’s next – Once you have finished your post, you can let your audience know what your next post is about. Simple statements such as “Don’t forget to look out for my next post about [blank]”.

Ask the readers to Share your content - If you want more tweets and shares, then the only way is to ask for them. Don’t be afraid to ask your readers to do something for you.

By leaving a clear set of instructions for the audience at the end of a post you can ask for something in return. Remember, you have just provided a lot of free knowledge, people are glad to share your content with others.