The Ultimate Blog Post Checklist + FREEBIE

I cannot believe we are already on week 3 for my blogging series. If you missed last weeks post and are thinking about starting a blog be sure to check out my tip for starting a blog here.

If you are in need of ideas on how to better leverage Instagram and increase your engagement check our the first post of my blogging series here.

Today, I am going to talk about why it is important to plan out your blog posts and have a detailed checklist.

Why it is important to have a checklist

It is important for every blogger, regardless of your niche, to have a good checklist. A checklist helps set the foundation for every post to make sure you are optimizing your website for search engines and maintaining your user experience. In addition, if you treat every blog post the same you will have a more uniform posting formula. This will help you better gauge which posts and topics perform the best. In addition, sometimes we are in a rush to meet a deadline and create a blog that we miss adding extra tags, meta descriptions, and more. Creating a checklist for yourself helps ensure you haven’t missed an essential step.

What should be on your checklist

Search Engine Optimization

It is important that every post is optimized for search engines. This will help your blog rank better under target Google search terms. Make sure you decide on one to two key words to focus on before you begin writing you post. Then after your post make sure you have utilized the key words throughout the title and body of your post, as well as, adding key words into the alt-descriptions of your images.

If you use WordPress I highly recommend you install the plugin YOAST here. This will help guide you through how to fully optimize each blog post.

Making sure your blog post is readable and scannable

People don’t like reading one long block of text. It is important to break up your post with relevant titles and images. The majority of readers, especially new readers, just scan the post before they begin reading it. Think about how many articles you read titles something like “5 Things Not to do on a First Date”, you proceed to scan the 5 bullet points without reading anything else. No bullet points? Well, chances are you aren’t going to dig through the article to try and find the 5 tips.

Grammar Check

You might think this is a no brainer, but, PROOF READ! It is so important on a professional and personal level to always proof read. There is nothing worse than reading an article with poor grammar and spelling mistakes. You want to be seen as an authority figure in your niche and great grammar is the first stepping stone.

Bad at proof reading? Have someone else proof read for you. It is always a good idea to have a second set of eyes. I know I can’t always catch my own grammar mistakes.

If you use Chrome, add the plug in Grammarly here, the free version catches a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes usually missed by your computer.

Social Media Posts

Pick your main social media channels and ALWAYS make sure to post your blog post once it is published. Then go back and schedule more posts throughout the week. Depending on what social media you are using changes how often and when you should post. CoSchedule has a great guide for this here. (Side Note: If you ever need tips and tricks on blogging CoSchedule has amazing, and very detailed/extensive blog posts!)