There is a fine line between an okay blog post and an awesome one. You can tweak your content until the cows come home, but this is counterproductive. That being said, you’re likely asking yourself – “when is a blog post ready for publication?” This is an excellent, albeit challenging, question to ponder. The following post provides a checklist that you can reference to help you determine when it’s time to publish your blog post.
Step 1: Is your blog post long enough?
An ideal blog post is ready when it contains at least 300 words. You’ll find that shorter posts have less success when it comes to earning top ranking on SERPs. While there is no guarantee, longer posts typically rank better than their shorter counterparts. While longer posts tend to outperform shorter posts, you need to produce high-quality written content. Your longer, well-written posts will also need to exhibit superb structure.
Is your blog post longer than 300 words? If so, you’re good to move onto the next step!
Step 2: Have you proofread for grammar and spelling mistakes?
Before you hit ‘publish’, always – and I mean always – check your blog post for grammar and spelling mistakes. Your blog post isn’t ready for publication if there is a single glaring grammar or spelling error.
I’m a big fan of Grammarly if you’re on the hunt for an in-browser writing companion. The Elements of Style and The Economist Style Guide are also major wins.
It is flat out essential that your post is free of grammar and spelling errors. If grammar isn’t your strongest suit, don’t sweat it – let someone else proofread your work! If you mistakenly publish a post before it’s ready, you can always revise it. Regardless, a post riddled with errors simply isn’t worth reading…or publishing.
Is your blog post free of grammar and spelling errors? If yes, keep on reading!
Step 3: Is your blog post easy to read?
This is a telltale sign as to whether, or not, your blog post is ready for the world to read.
Reading on a screen can be challenging. That being said, your post must be easy to read if you want people to read and understand your post. Posts that are easy to read will improve your rate of return and in turn a higher conversion rate. Easy to read means that you use concise language, clear paragraphs, and lots of transition words.
Is your blog post easy to read? If yes, you have the green light to keep on reading!
Step 4: Is your blog post SEO friendly?
You should always make sure that your post is SEO-friendly. Before you start writing, you’ll want to identify a keyword or phrase that will bring in lots of traffic. You can then optimize your post for your target keyword/phrase once you select it.
Keep on reading if your blog post is SEO friendly!
Step 5: Is the message of your post clear?
This step boils down the following – why did you write this blog post? What do you want your audience to take away from this post? The purpose of your blog post needs to be crystal clear. Furthermore, the message of your blog post, the thing you want to tell your readers, also needs to be clear as day. Consider the purpose, think about your message and read your blog post once again. Is the message clear? Will readers walk away with the same message that you intended for them to take away? If you’re not 100% sure, let someone else read your post and ask them!
Is your message crystal clear? If so, move on to step 6!
Step 6: Do you incorporate internal links?
Do people enjoy your content? If so, great! It’s even better when they can easily navigate to more of your well-written content. You can accomplish this by including internal links throughout your post. You’ll want to make sure that you link to related content and not total randomness. Let’s say for instance that you’re selling widgets on your website. Make sure to include links to the product pages for said widgets.
Have you included some wicked internal links? If so, you’re all set!
So…when is your blog post really ready?
If you’re a perfectionist, your blog post will never be ready. However, you can always enhance and tweak it to improve it a bit here and there. You can even do so after publication. The question though is “when is it good enough” is a tough one to answer. Check the six things we’ve discussed above and you’ll be in good shape no matter what. If you’ve made sure to check off all the boxes then go ahead and hit publish!
