A blog is more than an online journal, especially if you’re a shop owner or a professional blogger. It’s a way to be more personable, interact with your customers, and be an extension of you. So you need to maximize it to it’s fullest potential and get readers to follow.
My free printable: “My Blog Topics“, will accomplish this through helping you organize your thoughts and maximize SEO, Search Engine Optimization. In this simple + stylish layout you can plan up to 3 blog posts at a time with space to jot down your notes, ensure you maximize SEO, and keep track of where you promoted your post(s). File each page in a binder so you have a reference for future posts or to expand on a topic.
Tara Gentile, the guru of SEO, has so graciously offered to expand on how to make the most of each posts while using “My Blog Topics” pre-writing organizer. First let’s define SEO also known as Search Engine Optimization. Tara defines it as:
“…the art (and sometimes science) of helping people find your website in search engines. Good SEO involves several pieces of programming code that are most often taken care of for you. Great SEO involves a website that is clearly written, engaging to viewers, and solicits action from readers in the form of social sharing and incoming links from websites.”
Post Title
The words you select for the post title should grab a potential reader’s attention. You want to have the headline that stands out in a sea of headlines in a neglected feed reader. Your post title should also include a keyword or phrase about what your post is about.
Keywords
Imagine that you were looking for your latest blog post on a search engine. What words would you type into the search box? Choosing 1-3 keywords or phrases to focus on for a post keeps your writing centered and helps it get seen in search engines – it’s a win-win situation.
Inspiration
Choosing other articles to link to in your post isn’t sabotage, it’s smart writing. Linking out to other sites helps a search engine understand what your post is about. It’s also a service to readers who may want to delve more deeply into your subject matter. Finally, providing outside links gives your post more authority and will keep your writing on track.
Internal Links
Linking to your own posts inside of new posts is also a great strategy. New readers can see more of your blog. Older readers can go back to posts they might have missed. Either way, when a reader spends more time on your site looking at more pages, you are much more likely to convert them to regular readers – or customers. And did I mention that internal links are great for search engine optimization too?
Call to Action
When you write a post, you need to have in mind what action you would like readers to take when they are finished. A lot of times, it will be to comment on the post. Other times, you might want to ask a reader to share the post with their network. Still other times, you want a reader to act on an idea you have, click through to another site, or duplicate a project you’ve made.
Be sure to tell readers what you want them to do instead of leaving it up to them to figure out!
Follow Up Idea
Turning a single blog post into a short series – or an epic story – is a great way to engage readers. If writing your post inspired new ideas that didn’t quite fit your original purpose, jot them down in this space. When you’re hard up for a post idea, look back through your notes. Don’t forget to link back to the original post when you do!
The Final Word
One of the biggest “mistakes” I see bloggers making is not considering their blog as a whole. They don’t see the bigger picture. They post when they’re inspired, when they have news, when they’ve created a new product. But there isn’t any cohesiveness. There isn’t a sense of anticipation.
To achieve this, make sure you’re asking yourself about the larger questions your blog can answer. And then answer those large questions by posing tiny ones. Those tiny questions are your posts. As the answers to those questions pile up, you can link them together through simple category navigation, pillar content pages, or free resources.
This applies to image-heavy blogs, as well. In fact, it’s one of the most important things to consider. How do your images play together between posts? Are you telling a larger story with the images you choose? Is that story calling your readers to action without words?
In order for you blog to work for you, you must work for your blog. Using the “My Blog Topics” pre-writing organizer can help you do just that! And if you need further help with maximizing your SEO, purchase one of Tara’s e-books or set up a brainstorming session.
Click on the link below to download your free copy and come back and let me us know how it’s worked for you!
Note: Adjust your printer settings to ‘scale to fit’ if needed.
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Thank Youuuuuu!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I can’t wait to print it out and start jotting down ideas.
: ) Tasha
Thank you for sharing this – getting organized would be a good plan right now!
Thanks Bridgett & Tara – this is excellent info & I love pretty stationery; the perfect combo! x
Thanks so much! This is so helpful!
Thank you Bridgett!!
Just today, I was inspired to write 3 different blog posts, and was jotting down notes on junk mail envelopes because I didn’t have the time…
My notes are forever getting misplaced because they aren’t organized!
Neither is my mind, but I doubt you have a cure for that.
- Tara
I’m working on being more intentional in my blogging, so this is very useful. Thanks!
Hi Bridgett,
This is awesome thank you. I’ve just started doing some planning for next year… I know there’s a word for people like me!! This will be perfect. Thanks for sharing.
very helpful to me : a new blogger. i am really loving the practice of blogging, and hope mine will be useful to people. now i am going to follow your lead and mesh up my business to my blog (why didn’t i think of that?). thanks for the great tips!
Love this so much, I had to write a blog about it! Thanks so much for sharing and for your beautiful and inspiring work.
Great post with really good information. As a blogging newbie, I appreciate all the support and advice I can get. I’ve never utilized a blog planner before posting; your free (thank you!) template may help my posts to become a little more cohesive, as I am still trying to figure out WHAT, exactly, my little place in the blogospher is going to be. Thanks again!
Thanks so much. This is just what I have been looking for. Follow along with me at http://www.MySkinConcierge.Blogspot.com or http://www.MySkinConciergeBlog.com over the next few months and let me know if it works!
Again you must have been reading my mind! Thx!
Thanks so much for posting this. It is wonderful and just what I have been looking for! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for the FREE printable! I love it. I really think it will help me be more focused.
Thanks again!
Wow! Thank you so much, this is great. I look forward to using it, you do great work. And I am a stationary nut too : )
wow!
Thanks. This is really going to help me. This is just the kind of focus and instruction I needed!
Great idea, Bridgett! I saw this article posted by @intuitivebridge on Twitter, and decided to check it out. I get tons of inspiration, but often don’t have time to follow up on it…this pdf is a great tool!
Off to RT the message…
Thank you!
Nancy
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This is awesome. Now that my blog readership is up, and my ideas are cranking, I really need to sit down and plan out the next two months at a time. Thanks for the great editorial calendar. It has just the right amount of detail.
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Hi Bridgett, I am new to the blog world as a food writer sharing family and kid friendly recipes. I think this is an awesome tool to help me organize my thoughts and ideas; not to mention the social media / blog writing tips you’ve shared here are great! Follow along with me to see how it’s helping me at
Twitter – @SiboneyCatering
Blogspot – http://www.siboneycatering.blogspot.com
Thank you! Thank you!
Thanks so much for sharing your fabulous printable blog planner (it’s stylish and useful)! I recently featured it on my blog with a link back to you. Happy blogging!
KatLen Creations at Moo Two Designs led us to this inspiring site. Bridgett, I have to say that your Blog Planner is definitely an eye-opener. Taking the time to explain it more fully goes above and beyond. Thank you so much. I look forward to enjoying more of your tutorials. Thank you so much for your amazing generosity.
Vicki
Wonderful printable! Thanks for sharing!
This is absolutely genius!
Hello! I absolutely adore this! Just to let you know I mentioned this in my blog here
http://inspire-magazine-online.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-planning.html
but linked back to this page and Sew Tara’s page too
My blog isn’t very crafty but I’m looking to do a lot more craft related posts in the future!
xxx
Wow, this post was very helpful for a new blogger like myself. THANK YOU
I absolutely love this blog planner. I am using it myself and I wrote about it in my blog here:
http://mssassydiva.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-planner.html
Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl told me about your site. I can really use the blog checklist. I try to keep all the things I need to do for each post in my head, but I seem to always forget something. This is going to be so helpful.
Thanks-
Diane
Very, very useful piece of information. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for the printable! I’ve been having issues with my posts oraganized. I can’t wait to print this out & get started. I will definitely be linking back to your post. Thank you again!!
Connie
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Thank you so much for this, both the printable and the info will come in great use. V x
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Great info and many thanks for the printable!
Love these! This is something I will be sure to share with my clients so that we can optimize the opportunity to put out excellent content!
Ohh, thank you thank you thank you, this is so good. I’ve just downloaded the printable the other day and it’s already making a difference in my “blog life”. It is just a time saver. I used to plan my blogs at Word but I always forget the internal links ( never even thought of that… how lame am I? by the way, thank you for the great info on the post), the external links/the inspiration, and I just think about the title and the keywords just before I hit the “post this” button. And with this I write down every idea I have for a post without forgetting all the important details that you mention.
Thank you, again.
Peace. Isa