Do your blog posts stink? Are you not getting the results you’d hoped for from each post? It’s time to throw them a lifeline. I’ve got a checklist for you to help make them shine.
First, I want to ask you a question. What’s your standard procedure when you publish a blog post?
Chances are, you might write up your post, choose a title, do some proofreading or editing, and then hit publish.
I’d like for you to think about spending a bit more time going through each process when creating your next post - a blogging checklist if you will. For a lot of people (including myself), posting might be a “fly by the seat of your pants” process. But if you spend a bit more time on your post before you hit “Publish”, you might find that it yields better results.
Here are some things I’d like you to consider. I’ll go through each point with a bit of detail, and then I’ll provide you with a downloadable checklist that you can print out before you submit your next post.
Blog Post Title
When deciding on your headline, ask yourself these questions:
Is it click-worthy? For your RSS readers, the only thing they might see is the post title. You’ve got limited opportunity to get them to click the post title, so make sure it stands out above the rest and gets them to click.
Does it stir an emotion? Hitting a nerve with your readers is a great way to get them to click. Posing a problem and promising a solution is one way to do this. For example, “Tired of being rejected? Here are 5 proven steps to get her number.”
Does your title contain your keywords? Before I publish a post, I run it through a keyword research tool. I use and love NicheBot. I plug in my title and see what keywords and alternatives it comes up with. Many times I discover something better. I can also see what gets searched for more and how competitive it is. Keep in mind that you’re writing for your readers, not the search engines, but it certainly helps to have your keywords in the title if possible.
I go into more detail about writing headlines in lesson #2 of my traffic e-course. You can sign up for free here.
Purpose
Does your post have a purpose or “call to action”? Are you trying to increase readership? Don’t forget to include the link to your RSS feed. Are you promoting a product? Make sure you provide a link. Do you want more newsletter subscribers? Point them to your opt-in form. Are you looking for comments? Ask for them! Do you want more people to follow you on Twitter? Invite them.
Determine the purpose of your post and make sure you are clear about what you want out of the post and your readers. Essentially, what is the point you’re trying to get across? Make sure you succeed in achieving that.
Your Target
Who are you writing for? When you’ve determined who that is, imagine you are writing to that person as an individual. Write your post as if you’re addressing them personally in a letter. Picture them on the phone with you. However you do it, having a clear image of who you’re targeting will help you get your point across as mentioned above.
Benefits
Is your post entertaining, helpful, funny, thought-provoking, or controversial? In other words, is it interesting and does it provide some kind of benefit for your reader? If you’ve made your reader laugh, answered their question, or made them think about something they never thought about before, then you should be left with a good feeling.
Ultimately, it would be great if you could do this for every post. This is the kind of stuff that will keep your visitors coming back, and it will turn new visitors into loyal readers.
Evergreen
Is your post dated? If you removed the date on your post, would people be able to tell when it was written? It’s not usually possible to create evergreen posts every single time, but do your best to write something that will remain classic and timeless for years to come. This will also reduce how often you’ll need to go back and update older posts.
Having an evergreen post will also ensure that people will continue to link to it for months or years down the road, providing it’s of good quality. I have many articles I wrote years ago that are still being linked to. It’s nice to know that after spending all that time and hard work it’s still useful to your readers.
Images
Something I have to keep reminding myself to do is to find a relevant image to include with my posts. There are some blog posts that stick with me because of the image in them. The best ones are either humorous or trigger emotions. One blog that does this really well is Men with Pens.
It can be an icon, photo of a person, an animation, a photo you took yourself, etc., just try and choose something that will resonate with your readers. I use www.sxc.hu (free) for a lot of my images, but iStockPhoto and StockXpert have more variety and professional images for cheap. I downloaded my cute little skunk above at StockXpert.
Scannable
This one is usually a no-brainer, but sometimes it just slips your mind before you publish your post. I’ve done it many times myself - forgetting to include sub-headlines and bullets. Can you imagine what this blog post would look like without any kind of formatting? It would be extremely hard to read all the way through, especially since internet readers are typically “scanners”. Instead of digesting every word like they would in a book, they scan the content looking for the parts they want to read.
Breaking up long blocks of text is critical if you want your entire post to be read. If you don’t use images, bolding, sub-headlines and bullets to make your content scannable, you’ll notice that your post isn’t being read. I take one look at long, plain, boring looking posts and run far away.
RSS
Most blogs have an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) logo somewhere in the header or sidebar of their page. If you don’t already have one, you should definitely consider it. If you’re not sure of what RSS is, you can learn more about it here.
Giving your readers the option of subscribing to your RSS feed will increase your readership and returning traffic. But who says you only have to have your RSS logo in one spot? A lot of blogs include the logo at the end of each post. If you don’t want to clutter your post with too many graphics, consider linking to your feed URL. For example, “Did you like this post? Sign up for my RSS feed here and receive free updates.”
Another option to increase your RSS exposure is through this Wordpress plugin which you can display at the beginning or end of each post to new visitors which will encourage them to subscribe to your feed.
Related Links
Many times your post will be related to a lot of other posts you’ve written previously. Your new post is a great opportunity to increase their exposure. Because of a blog’s dynamic nature, older posts continue to be pushed down the page and eventually into the archives once newer posts are published. Don’t let those old posts die a slow and painful death. Link to them in newer posts to keep your blog bumpin’. Darren at Problogger does this in almost every post.
One way to showcase your older posts is by including a list of related posts at the end of your post. You can pick them out manually or use a plugin if you blog with Wordpress. While linking to related posts manually will yield you more accurate results, using a plugin will save you a lot of time.
You can also highlight previous posts by having a section for them in your sidebar. You can display your most popular posts, or your own personal favorites.
Something to keep in mind - don’t be afraid to link to other blogs. If someone else has written a great post that is related to yours, give them props and link to them. They’ll appreciate the link and may link to you in return, and your readers will appreciate it as well. This doesn’t mean they won’t come back to your blog as long as you’ve given them a great reason to come back (see all my previous points).
Social Media
Social bookmarking sites like Digg, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Reddit, etc. are great ways to get a surge of traffic to your post. (In fact, landing on the front page of these sites can sometimes result in the epic server crash.) However, unless you have a system in place, a lot of that traffic will not return. When I experienced my first wave of StumbleUpon traffic to one of my blogs, I wasn’t ready for it and I didn’t keep any of the thousands of people who visited my post.
If you use this guide, you’re sure to retain some visitors and turn them into loyal readers. Go through the checklist, and don’t forget to make it easy for your readers to share your post with others via these social networks. There are numerous plugins available to help you do this. I use the Share This plugin on this blog, but there are plenty to choose from.
If your post happens to do well and starts getting Diggs or Stumbles, add an extra button to your post displaying the number of votes to help your post get even more thumbs up.
Now, this post was a more in depth look at each point but I also have a summarized checklist you can download. I love me a good checklist so I’m hoping that this may be useful to you as well. It’s in PDF format, so you can print it out on one page and refer to it each time you publish a post. Once you’ve done it a few times, it will become habit and you should no longer need a checklist.
You can download the PDF here. No opt-in is required, just right-click the link and “save as”.
If you liked this post, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed and stay up to date with future posts. Thanks so much for visiting MamasOnTheWeb!
July 25th, 2008
I’ve been using Twitter for a couple months now and soon after I first signed up I downloaded Twhirl which is an application that allows you to use Twitter without using your web browser. A week ago I decided to try TweetDeck, which is essentially the same application but with a few more features. In the end, I weighed the pros and cons and came to the conclusion that Twhirl won the battle of the two.
Here’s why I think Thwirl kicks ass:
Twhirl
- Small unobtrusive notices pop up in the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen each time Thwirl refreshes and new tweets are posted.
- When you receive replies or direct messages, Thwirl will ding at you. This might annoy some people but it’s handy for me when I’m puttering around the house. When I hear the ding I’ll quickly check it out. Otherwise, replies or direct messages may not be replied to for a long time if I’m not sitting at the computer.
- You can set the options to make the Thwirl program opaque. I like this feature so that when I’m not using it I can see right through it and view my desktop wallpaper. Dumb, but I like it anyway.
- Thwirl has a refresh button. I have it set to refresh every 5 minutes but if I want to, I can refresh any time.
- Thwirl is extremely easy to use. I figured it out in no time with no confusion whatsoever. And that’s saying a lot (for me).
- You can shorten your URLs from within the Thwirl application.
- Everything you can view with Twitter on the web can also be viewed in Twhirl, such as Replies, Direct Messages, Followers, Favorites, etc. This is really handy.
Why I don’t like TweetDeck
- TweetDeck doesn’t “ding” at you when you receive direct messages or replies.
- There are no popup notices each time new tweets are posted.
- From what I could see, there was no refresh button. You had to wait for TweetDeck to “Auto-update”.
- While it was nice to see replies and direct messages in their own column next to regular tweets, the application took up a lot of room on my computer screen.
- I couldn’t find any “Options” to change any settings. The first thing I do when I download a new program is mess with the options so this was a point lost for TweetDeck as well.
Now, TweetDeck is in Beta mode so they’re still working out bugs and adding new features. Both Thwirl and TweetDeck also have other cool features in addition to the ones I’ve listed above, but I just stuck to the ones I use.
Ultimately, we all have our own preferences and reasons why we use Twitter. While Twhirl might work better for people like me, TweetDeck may be a better option for others. These are just some reasons why I personally prefer Twhirl over TweetDeck.
July 11th, 2008
Have you ever seen those sales or opt-in (squeeze) pages that have countdown timers on them? Something like, “Receive these free bonuses if you sign up before (insert fake counter here)”? You’ll notice that if you stick around long enough, those counters just reset themselves once they reach “0:00″.
I don’t know about you, but these little tricks or gimmicks turn me right off. If you’re going to offer a free bonus, then give it to your readers! Don’t trick them with fake counters. It may yield results, but is the bottom line more important than your reputation or your customers’ perception of you?
I’m more inclined to subscribe or purchase from someone who seems like they aren’t hiding behind anything, someone who genuinely cares about their readers and customers, and the experience they have when they read or purchase their products.
How about you? Do you run away when you see those fake counters?
July 7th, 2008
I’m planning some big redesigns for my blogs so I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for some cool RSS icons to use. Lucky for me, I found some neat web 2.0 style ones today.
TopTut.com has some “glossy balls” you can download for free.
Giving credit is not necessary but if you do use any of these RSS icons it’s appreciated if you do acknowledge the designer for her work. She has some amazing designs, including lots of Wordpress themes that are free as well.
Even if you don’t use any of her themes, they’re great for inspiring some cool design ideas of your own. Take a boo, you shan’t be disappointed. 
This is not a paid post, just so you are aware. I’m a regular reader at TopTut.com and I just wanted to share it with you.
June 29th, 2008
Yuwanda Black over at Blogging Tips has written a great post about “blog jealousy”.
It’s a natural feeling to know that your blog is delivering quality content but doesn’t do as well as other blogs who are just as good, and in some cases, not as good. Yuwanda has a few good points to help combat that feeling and use it to your advantage.
One of the things she said really stood out for me.
“Don’t try to copy someone else’s style, what they’re doing or even how they make money online.”
I see so many bloggers doing this. Those “famous” bloggers didn’t get to where they are today by pretending to be someone else. They stayed true to themselves and wrote with their own words and style. They tried lots of different money making techniques before they found the ones that worked for them. I’m sure they even went through a few different stages of blog envy themselves before they reached their “celebrity” status.
They all started with that empty “Hello World” blog post, just like everyone else. What makes them stand out is they got from point A to point B by being themselves. Yes, I’m sure there are a few exceptions to this rule, but I believe the majority of us will only succeed if we stop trying to be someone else, stop trying to please everyone, and focus on doing what we know we can do best. Being ourselves!
June 28th, 2008
I found this tool today that checks the “health” of your Squidoo lens. It’s very self-explanatory so I won’t go into detail about it. Basically, all you do is enter in your URL (the web address of your Squidoo lens) and it checks various parts of your lens and tells you whether you’ve done a good job or not.
I checked mine just now and while some areas are marked “okay” others are in “critical” condition. It’s time for me to fine-tune my lens. While I’m working on that, I encourage you to check out the status of your Squidoo lens’ health here.
If you have no idea what a Squidoo lens is, here’s a brief overview.
A “lens” is a single page that you can build online for free. It can be for fun or for profit, or both! It’s really easy to start a lens and you don’t have to know anything at all about web design or HTML. It helps of course, but starting your first lens is a good opportunity to learn.
You can create a lens about something you’re passionate about. You can create a lens listing your favorite things. You can create a lens that promotes other website or blogs you may have. There are lots of ways to use Squidoo lenses.
Squidoo was created by Seth Godin. Seth is an amazingly smart man. He’s a bestselling author and has a huge online presence. In fact, I recently watched a video of him where he was presenting to the staff at Google about how they can improve their business. Can you imagine having that stature?
He’s got a long list of his own lenses so it’s a good idea to check his out to learn some cool tips.
Or you can just start a Squidoo lens right now.
June 24th, 2008
In my last post I listed a few things that I liked and disliked about Firefox 3 which was just released June 17, 2008.
One of the most annoying new features of Firefox 3 is the “Awesome Bar“. It lists not only the URL but the page title as well which can leave your list twice as big and makes searching for the URL you want extra difficult.
Thankfully today, I found the add-on “Oldbar” which reverts the appearance of your address bar back to the way it looked in Firefox 2. It still functions the same, but without the extra messiness.
I especially love in the comments on the Oldbar add-on page where someone refers to the Awesome Bar as the “Awful bar”.
As a blogger, it’s nice to have the links you visit frequently, such as your Wordpress dashboard, traffic stats program, and RSS feed reader all in one nice neat list. I lost that for awhile, but now I got it back!
You can download the Oldbar add-on here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6227
I found this add-on via Lifehacker which lists some cool workarounds to customize Firefox 3 that Mozilla failed to show us.
June 23rd, 2008
I upgraded to Firefox 3 yesterday (the day after it came out) and after using it for a couple days I’m learning what I like and what I dislike. So far, this is what I’ve found.
What I like:
- When you delete a bookmark from the list after clicking on Bookmark, it keeps the list open instead of automatically closing it.
- It seems cleaner somehow and runs a bit faster.
- Upgrading was a snap. It downloaded and installed quickly and I was lucky that all the add-ons I had installed were compatible. There was no need for me to change anything.
- The Bookmarks menu has a “Recently Bookmarked” option that allows me to quickly see the last 10 pages I bookmarked instead of having to scroll down through the list. I have a long list so this is a bit of a time saver for me. I’m not sure if that feature was in the previous version, but I don’t think it was.
- It doesn’t take up as much of my computer’s memory which is nice since my computer is a piece of crap with less than a gigabyte of RAM
-
Session Restore - The older version had this as well but it’s a great feature. If anything crashes, you can easily restore any web pages you had open before the crash.
What I don’t like:
- The URLs in the address bar are harder to look at when you click on the drop-down button. Before, they just showed the URLs. Now, they show the URLs and page title. It seems harder to search for the link I want. I guess it just looks messy.
- When you bookmark a page, the bookmark window pops up in the top right-hand corner instead of the middle of the page. It will take some getting used to. I have a 22″ widescreen monitor so I have to turn my head to see the window. Who knew that physically turning your head would be a pain in the butt.
In time I’ll probably discover more things that I like and dislike, but I’m impressed. Only two things that I don’t like so far and they’re relatively small things that I’ll get used to in time.
Update: One more thing I dislike. When Firefox asks you if you want to save your password, the window pops up at the top of the page in the browser rather than in the middle. Another issue of moving my head. Dammit. I hate moving my head.
June 20th, 2008
It seems to me that lately there have been a lot of online “battles” going on between different internet marketers. Usually, one marketer will call the other one out in a public forum (via blog post, forum thread, newsletter, Twitter, etc.) and the saga begins.
I normally try to ignore those things, although sometimes they become really entertaining.
However, in the majority of those cases, I lose respect for one or sometimes both of the people involved (and sometimes more if other people jump in). There’s a time and a place for things like that, but they’re never usually dealt with at that right time or place. This leaves me to believe that it’s a ploy to increase their “fame”, increase numbers (followers, readers, customers, etc.) or maybe it’s all for their own amusement. I don’t know.
I don’t play those games so I have no idea why those things transpire. It’s one thing to defend yourself when someone is saying things about you that just aren’t true, or making people aware of scammers. It’s another thing however to publicly criticize/bash/humiliate someone because of their opinion, the way they market their products (even if they’re completely legit), or how they write.
My whole point is this.
In the past few months, I’ve realized there are A LOT of marketers that I will never purchase from and I will never read anything they ever write - simply because of the way they dealt with those situations. How they act in those situations tells me what kind of person they really are. That is my opinion anyway.
I don’t care if you know the #1 secret to making money online. I don’t want to be associated with you in any way if you’re a douchebag. I’d rather buy something or learn something from someone who knows how to treat others the way they like to be treated. Just because you may hide behind your computer screen doesn’t give you the right to act like a total knob.
In addition to losing the respect of many marketers in the past few months, I’ve also made some really great contacts (especially through Twitter). These contacts are friendly, helpful, and genuine. I’m sure if they continue that they’ll go much farther than…some other people we know.
What can you take away from this? It’s simple. Be nice! If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. However, if something really needs to be said, especially if it can turn into a learning experience, then address it tactfully. There’s no need for finger pointing and tattling. It may feel good while you name names, but some sort of backlash is inevitably going to follow.
I have a lot more to say on the issue but I don’t want to sound mega hypocritical! This is a touchy subject and one that needs to be approached carefully in a lot of cases. I just hate when people feel the need to be so hurtful and rude with their comments towards other people.
UPDATE: John Reese wrote a great post here. One of the reasons that inspired me to write this post this morning is because of what he talks about in his post. Now there’s a prime example of how things should be dealt with when circumstances require it. John was attacked, and he responded. It’s an important read, so check it out. He makes his point much more eloquently than I ever could.
June 19th, 2008
I generally try and take my weekends off (even though I still sneak a look at my traffic stats a few times throughout the days) but I’m wondering if any of you do the same.
Working at home gives us a lot of freedom over when our work hours are, but I find that the days (weekdays and weekends) are more of the same than if I worked out of the home. For instance, I don’t look forward to Fridays as much as most people. My work is AT home so I can’t exactly get away from it. Even when I’m relaxing on the couch with a movie or a book, I can still see the computer out of the corner of my eye and there’s always that nagging feeling like I should be writing something.
Even so, I try and take some well-deserved “me time” which is usually on the weekends so that my leisure time coincides with my friends’ and family’s leisure time. However, I see a lot of my fellow mamas on the web are still diligently writing and posting.
There’s always the auto post feature in Wordpress that allows you to write a post and have Wordpress automatically submit it for you at a later date and time, but I’m not using it today. It’s Saturday and I should be spending time with my family. Instead, I’m sitting here with about 20 tabs open in Firefox and 3 posts on the go.
How about you?
June 14th, 2008
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