Hey friend,
Yesterday, you learned about how to get your blog online. And, as you are here continuing with this lesson, I assume you already have a live blog.
If you haven’t had one yet, that’s okay. You can set up your blog after completing this lesson. Take your time. I can bear with you 🙂
Before we get started, you can get your coffee ready first. As usual.
Today, you will learn about how to develop a content strategy for your blog. But before we even develop a content strategy, you need to familiarize yourself with the WordPress content editor first in case you are completely new to WordPress.
During your blogging journey, you will deal with it on a regular basis to write your content.
FYI, the content editor of WordPress is called Block Editor. Some people also call it Gutenberg. So next time, when you find a WordPress article or YouTube video mentioning “block editor” and “Gutenberg”, don’t get confused. They both refer to the same thing.
To start creating a new blog post in WordPress, you can go to the Posts menu on your WordPress dashboard and select Add New. I have written a more detailed post on how to use Gutenberg to write a blog post. Below is the link.
Tips to Become a Better Blogger
Friend, as you know, we are currently living in the AI era. And I am totally clueless whether it is just a tech bubble just like NFT. What I know is that there are a bunch of AI tools out there that you can use to write a blog post in no time.
However, I don’t recommend you to pick this approach. Using an AI tool to get blog post ideas is still tolerated, but to write a blog post? BIG NO!
Remember what I said on day 2 of the course? Blog is different from other business types. It is a one-man show business where your personality, your personal brand plays a huge role in determining your success.
I am afraid that AI can ruin the reputation you have built tirelessly. After all, writing blog posts is your job as a blogger. If you let AI do it for you, then you let AI take your job willingly.
So, instead of using AI, use your brain to create every single post on your blog. Write from your own perspective, using your own words.
What if you run out of ideas?
That’s what you are going to learn shortly in this lesson.
But first, here are my tips for you to become a better blogger:
1. Use the First-Person Point of View
Again, your personal brand plays a huge role in determining your success as a blogger. To build a stronger personal brand, you can use the first person point of view on the blog posts you write.
So, instead of “we”, you should use “I”.
What if you want to accept other authors on your blog?
Easy enough. You can simply instruct them to use the same point of view on their posts.
2. Make Your Blog More Convenient to Read
Every time you are writing a new blog post, keep this in mind:
You are writing a blog post, not a paper.
A blog post is different from a paper and other academic content. Even a book.
You need to make it more convenient to read. Some technical aspects you can consider to make your blog posts more convenient to read include:
- Never write more than 3 sentences per paragraph. One sentence per paragraph is the best practice.
- Use the font size of at least 18px on the content body. On the template I gave you yesterday, I set the font size to 18px.
- Use a proper line height for the content body. Line height is the setting determining the space between lines on a paragraph. On the template I gave you yesterday, I set the line height to 27.
- Use a sidebarless format for blog post template. Sidebar can distract your readers’ focus.
- Use headings on each section of blog post to strengthen the point.
3. Practice Makes Perfect
Friend, I have bad news for you. If you are completely new to blogging, it will take days for you to write a blog post.
I also have good news, though. It is normal for a new blogger to spend days finishing a blog post.
Soon after you have published more blog posts, it becomes way easier to finish a blog post. Think of what Bruce Lee had to said:
“After a long time of practicing, our work will become natural, skillful, swift, and steady.”
A simple tip from me:
Set aside 30 minutes every day to practice. Morning is usually the best time to practice your writing skills as you are still fresh.
Developing the Content Strategy
You already know how to write a blog post on your blog. Now is the time to develop the real content strategy.
To start this, let me ask you a question.
What is the most mysterious thing in the world?
If you asked me the same question, then I would say “idea”.
Yes, friend. Idea is the most mysterious thing in the world. It rarely pops up when you need it. Conversely, you often get fresh ideas when you don’t mean to find ones. Am I right?
To tackle the above issue, I have a simple tip for you: record every single idea that pops up to your mind accidentally. Whether it is the blog post, the first sentence, or anything.
I personally use Notion to record my content ideas, but you can use any note-taking app of your choice. Such as Apple Notes, Google Keep, to Evernote.
Once you have your content idea recorded, you can cultivate it to become a blog post.
“But, Aliko. What if I really don’t have any idea about what to write?”
Okay, then.
If you really have no idea about what you will write, you can create an editorial calendar using Google Sheets.
Here is an example:
You can copy the above editorial template here.
To populate the fields with your content ideas, we will use a free tool called Keyword Tool. Visit the site and enter the niche of your blog.
Shortly, you will be presented with a list of keywords which you can cultivate into content outlines.
Take a look at the following example:
Say you are interested in the keyword “iphone photography basics”, you can go with the title “iPhone Photography Guide: the Basics Every Beginner Should Know”.
Write a brief description of what you will write. So, when executing it, you already have a clear idea about what you will write.
Keyword Tool itself is a SEO tool designed to gather the keywords list. That’s why on the second column it shows the number of search volume for each keyword.
However, since we will not use the SEO approach for our blog, you can focus on the first column and ignore other columns.
In addition to Keyword Tool, other tools you can use to find content ideas are:
- Google Keyword Planner (free)
- Ahrefs (paid)
- Semrush (paid)
- WordStream (free)
You can also use Google Trends if you want to write about what’s currently trending in your niche.
See, it’s easy to find ideas when you are clueless about what you want to write.
You can execute the ideas into blog posts using the tips I have mentioned above.
That’s all for today’s lesson.
Tomorrow, you will learn how to add value to your blog, which is a crucial step to make your first $10,000.
So, tomorrow is going to be a big day for you.
See you tomorrow!