10 Steps on How to Write Your First Blog Post

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“Creating your first blog post might be overwhelming if you don’t know where to begin. The good news is that you just need a few pointers to get started. In this post, I’ll share with you some simple steps on how to write your first blog post and hopefully help you in your blogging journey.”

So, you’ve finally created your blog in a paid web hosting company such as Bluehost.

Congratulations! I’m sure you’re overjoyed!

It’s now time to get down to business and start blogging. That implies that you’ll have to write your first blog post. Content will be a vital component in the success of your blog.

Every blog has to start somewhere, so create a good first impression on the blogging world!

You could also be unsure about what to write for your first blog article. So here are my tips on how to write your first blog post.

#1. Generate Ideas

I believe everyone has many ideas in their minds, some are brilliant that can reach a level of success. It’s vital to set aside time for creative thought because coming up with winning ideas is typically the most difficult part of blogging.

In this step, you need to consider your goals, niche, target audience, and what you want to offer to your readers.

Begin by understanding your target audience. Then make a list of the types of recipes or stories that your readers would enjoy.

What are their names? What are they worried about? What topics would be of interest to them? What are their most common problems? Answering these questions can generate a lot of ideas for your first blog post and often encourage more engagement with your audience.

Another way to come up with ideas is to talk to friends and coworkers (or others on the internet such as forums or comments) or look through blogs in your niche to see what’s previously been done.

Use a notebook, a worksheet, online tools, or Google Docs to keep track of potential ideas that came to your mind. To make your brainstorming easy, make a mind map to visually organize your thoughts and ideas.

#2. Do Keyword Research

Creating your content based on what your target audience is searching for is an important consideration when creating your post.

To be honest, there’s not much use in producing a fantastic blog post if no one will ever read it. This is where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes into play.

After generating ideas on step one, it’s time to put those ideas or “words” to test by doing keyword research. Researching a keyword or keywords will give you a general idea if your audience is really looking into the content you want to produce.

Your audience typically types their inquiries in the search bar (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc), as you would normally do when searching for something on the internet. This is what you called “keywords”. You need to publish your article optimized for search engines so our keywords will match our audience inquiry.

This is one of the mistakes I made when I started to write posts on my blog. In the initial stage, I’ve read and watched articles about this topic but never really implemented it for several reasons. I felt overwhelmed probably.

Until I realized that my traffic doesn’t seem to go up since I started out. Then I begin to look into ways on how to increase my traffic. I started to watch again some videos on how to increase my viewership and most of them recommended making keyword research first.

There are a couple of FREE tools I used for my keyword research, which are helping me shape my content properly. I use Keywords Everywhere, Ubersuggest, Answer the Public, Google Trends, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Google Search Auto-complete.

There are also paid tools such as KWFinder, SemRush, and Ahrefs which provide comprehensive data that will help you get ahead of the competition. The price tag is a bit high but I am also contemplating getting one in the future. I will update you on this as well.

#3. Create an Outline

After you have your keywords with you, it is time to organize your content. The better way to do that is by making an outline.

An outline is like the skeleton of your post. It will guide you on what are the things that are relevant to your post and to which area you will put them. The writing process will be much easier if you segment your information so that you can better envision it.

Having an outline can also maximize your time and can finish a post at no time. It is a time saver and I wish I have done this earlier than sooner.

Below is a sample of how an outline looks like:

Title (H1)

Excerpt (summary of your post)

Introduction

Section 1 (H2)

– Body

Section 2 (H2)

 – Body

Conclusion

#4. Write your Content

Start writing after you’ve formulated your outline. Allow yourself to write freely while the ideas flow in, resist the urge to self-edit as you go. You will have time to polish your draft at a later stage.

Don’t worry about the title at this stage. It’s fine if isn’t perfect the first time you write it; use a working title and tweak it as your piece develops.

When writing, maintain your own distinct voice while keeping your target audience in mind. Write short paragraphs as much as possible and break your post into sections so it will be easy to scan and digest.

There may be times that you’re having problems getting the words, just take a break. Allow yourself to relax and refresh. Get a cup of coffee or take a walk.

To manage your time properly, set aside a specified amount of time each day — say, 30 minutes — to write without interruptions. Continue hitting the keys until the timer goes off.

After finishing the body of your article, it’s time to start thinking seriously about your headline. Create a catchy title for your first blog post.

The title of your blog post is more than just a clever way to catch people’s attention; it’s also an important aspect in getting your content seen by search engines.

Also, your headline serves as a virtual road map for readers, indicating what they can expect from your article. Do not underestimate the importance of your title.

Avoid the temptation to entice readers with clickbait; instead, stay honest and use keywords to improve your title for search engines and social media. Use benefit-driven phrasing, strong verbs, and numbers that speak volumes.

To ensure that your content shows at the top of search engine results, educate yourself on SEO best practices as what is mentioned in step 2.

#5. Proofread your post content

Look for grammatical and typographical errors in your content. Misspelled words or errors can make you appear amateur in the eyes of both your reader and Google (their algorithm picks up on these errors and can tank your post).

The simplicity of blogging allows content to be shared quickly and simply, but if you skip the proofreading phase, you might lose credibility – and pageviews. Because digital users are accustomed to “snacking” on online content, they will need a hook or a compelling reason to stay with your article. Good writing should be that reason.

It is a good idea to proofread your grammar, punctuation marks, tenses, etc. before publishing your post.

There are some instances that even though you’ve read your post a couple of times, you will still find grammatical errors or misspelled words.

English is not my first language so I need someone (preferably a professional) to double-check my work before publishing it to the World Wide Web. Instead of asking a family member or friend to check my work, I am using Grammarly to proofread my post. It is a Chrome extension that is Free to use.

With Grammarly’s AI-powered writing assistant, you can create bold, clear, and error-free writing. Grammarly helps you remove errors and find the perfect words to express yourself in a variety of ways, from grammar and spelling to style and tone.

Grammarly also suggests corrections on your words, grammar, and punctuations while typing on Gmail, Twitter, LinkedIn, and all of your other favorite sites. It is such a great free tool to use.

Check out Grammarly and start for FREE.

#7. Add graphics (images, videos or interactive content)

Add relevant photos or videos to your post.

This is a critical step that I missed during the first year of my blogging. I never really focused on capturing good-quality photos in the beginning and never had anything well planned.

A blog article without a photo is like milk without cookies: it’s good for you but you’re missing out on the fun, virtually speaking.

Images are frequently what draw readers to your post in the first place, and they give them a sense of what you’ll be writing about.

As a food blogger, graphics such as images are important as your audience “eat with their eyes”.

Images and videos are the perfect pieces of the puzzle in your content. Especially when you are posting instructional information, it is a sure way to keep the readers engage.

Take this step seriously; good visuals can make or break your post.

#8. Publish

Finally, don’t overthink things. Simply put, write, proofread, add relevant graphics, and hit publish.

It’s just as vital to publishing your piece as it is to write it! Sitting on anything for an extended period of time rarely has positive consequences (unless you’re a chicken), and it can make you feel like you’re a bad writer.

Ignore that nagging voice in your head that is not good enough and hit the publish button! After finishing the initial stage, you know you’re doing really well.

Congratulations!!!

#9. Share Your content

After all the effort you’ve done into writing your awesome content, it’s time to showcase your great article to your audience.

One way to interact with your audience is through social media, forums, and other search engines (Pinterest & YouTube).

There are tons of social media sites out there that you can share your content. Some of the popular are Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr, Reddit, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Medium and the list goes on and on.

I heard one influencer on YouTube that he uses all the social medial platform to share his website. It makes sense as you will reach a broader audience but I found it exhausting after trying it on myself.

Maybe some people may be good at doing this strategy, but not for me.

Instead, I chose 2-3 social media platforms to share the content that I believe is the right fit for my content. When you are all over the place, the quality of your post might be affected. Focusing on one or two great social media platforms gave me good results.

I put into consideration if it is consistent with my brand’s image? Is my target market on that social media platform? How many social media accounts I can manage at the same time?

So I chose Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook.

But for now, I mainly focused on Pinning to Pinterest.  Pinterest is a great platform even when you are a beginner since it allows other pinners to pin your pins. And others can also save your pins to their boards for their followers to see.

I registered on the business account so I can see my analytics. I am pinning 1 pin a day but I plan to increase it once I cleaned up my boards. I also signed up for a free trial for Tailwind and so far, I am seeing good results which is likely encouraging me to continue using it.

What is Tailwind? Tailwind is a Pinterest marketing platform that allows you to schedule pins to go out at specific times throughout the day, allowing you to generate traffic all day long. It can also schedule pins up to a week in advance, allowing you to avoid needing to be active on Pinterest every day.

You can also try Tailwind for free and see if it fits you.

#10. Repeat & Stay consistent

Building a routine and repeating these procedures will draw more readers to your site and develop your authority within your niche.  

Keep in mind that whether you plan to post once a day or once a week, sticking to a regular, consistent posting schedule is critical.

Make it a mission to be disciplined in your schedule, as your readers will want to know what to expect from your website. To keep on track, set deadlines for the creation of your material.

Then sit back and watch your audience grow.

There you have it! Hopefully that my simple steps helped you in some way in creating your very first blog post. Happy blogging!