The Ins and Outs of Structuring the Perfect Blog Post

Everyone these days is posting on social media, whether it be photos, videos, short-form content, or long-form content. Given the fact that there are so many social media users, it's no exaggeration to say that pretty much every one considers himself/herself to be a writer nowadays. Whether it's just expressing an opinion, or riffing on a subject of interest, a great many people have put to use whatever writing skills they have for the benefit of their friends and contacts.With this in mind, it's pretty surprising that you don't hear much about what constitutes a good blog post, and how a good blog should be structured. And why is this important? According to WordPress, there are something like 80 million posts which are published every month through its platform. When you're trying to compete with that many other writers, it would be to your advantage to use all the tricks of the trade to compose a really good blog, which has visual and content appeal to others. Here are some of the factors you need to address when structuring a really good blog post.

Consider your audience

Anytime you're about to write a blog post, you will want it to consist of information that your audience considers valuable, and which will be worthwhile for them to read. So first of all, you'll need to settle on some concept of an idea to write about, and then you'll need to establish what your position is on that idea. Then you should map out all the ideas you intend to bring out, and treat each one to the level of attention it deserves. You should always begin any blog post thinking about what your audience wants to read, and then you can start thinking about your own thoughts on the matter.

Keyword research

Next, you'll need to do some keyword research, and that means going online to check for specific keywords that you want to include in your main heading, as well as your subject headings. It's a good idea to read and assess everything you can about those specific keywords, while also taking care not to repeat any content which is already available online.Try to think of a new approach or some new ideas which are relevant to the topic, and which will have interest to your audience. Perhaps you have a totally new perspective on an age-old issue that you want to bring to the attention of your followers, because it may have value to them as well. To help with your keyword research, you can use a great online tool such as Ubersuggest, and you'll find this very helpful to stimulate your thinking and put you on the right track.This tool will help you see what ranks on Google for some of the keywords you are thinking of. All the information you'll need about keywords will be available by using this tool, and will get you off to a great start with search engine rankings, as well as being of interest to a great many readers.

Solid introduction

You'll probably remember from middle school and high school that every good paper must start with a catchy title and a solid introduction, and the same is true for any good blog post. Having a clear, solid introduction will instantly tell the user what your blog post is all about. You may want to start with an anecdote which will help the user familiarize with you, while also conveying the notion that you're an authority on the topic.Storytelling is a great vehicle to use in this context, because it's a disarming kind of tactic which also generates interest because it's more than just facts, it also relates a story about humans. This is a good time to be as creative as possible, so that you don't instantly bore your audience, and lose them in the first few seconds of reading. One good tactic is to include numbers or statistics in your introduction, because this is of greater interest to most people than straight facts. It will also help to establish your blog as a source of trust and authority, and that's a great way to begin any blog post.

Clear paragraphs

Once you've caught the attention of your readers with a great introduction, you should follow up with clear and interesting paragraphs, so as to maintain their interest. Each paragraph should lead into the next one, providing a solid flow throughout your entire blog post. This means you need to avoid going off topic and rambling, because that will not only confuse the reader, but it will also completely detract from the point you're trying to make.

Keep your paragraphs short and concise, and don't include a lot of useless information that is not related to your overall point. If the content lends itself to it, you should also include bullet points, because they make text more readable, and they tend to have certain points highlighted, so they stick in the minds of readers. It will also be to your advantage to include some images, because readers will invariably look at these first, since they're so easy to assimilate.

Include images

You have undoubtedly heard all kinds of facts and statistics about how effective images can be in any online post, so I won't bother to reiterate the point. But it is definitely advisable to include images in your blog post because they are really helpful in telling your story. Since everyone loves to read a good story, placing an image at just the right spot can help them visualize better and understand what you're telling them.Another good reason to include images is because they tend to break up the text, and since no one really likes reading through a wall of text, this can be very helpful to your readers. By breaking up text with images, you'll give your readers a break, and make it more likely that they reach the end of your blog.The last reason you should include images in your blog post is that they help to improve your ranking. You can also attach keywords to your images, which will further improve your ranking factor, and which will help users find your blog post in the first place.