Module #8: Publishing Your Blog Post
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There is such a feeling of relief when you’ve finished a blog post. There’s a lot of work involved: thinking of a topic, writing about a topic, optimizing a post for SEO—phew. But before you hit publish, make sure you’ve taken the following things into account.
Readability
Double-check to make sure your blog post is readable. Meaning, anyone with an eighth grade reading level can understand what you’ve written. If you want to work in the destination market, consider international clients who speak English as a second language.
Spelling
For a blog post to be truly impactful, it needs to be proofread and edited. I will be the first to admit that this is not my strong suit, and that is why I have a proofreader. Everything I put out goes by her first. Don’t beat yourself up if something get missed, though. Simply go in and edit it.
Set It Aside
I batch-create content. This means I write a whole bunch of content all at once. But that doesn’t mean I publish it all at once. Instead, I leave it alone for a while, maybe a week or two, and then I revisit it. Sometimes new ideas come to me in that time that I add to make it an even better piece.
Checklist
I’m a big fan of checklists. Use the checklist from your workbook before you hit publish. This checklist will ensure you don’t forget anything.
Tools to Use
There are three tools I highly recommend using. This first one is Grammarly. This is a fabulous tool for those who think faster than they type. Another tool is Google Translate. I love this tool because it reads words back to you that you plug in. Sometimes we’re so invested in what we’re writing that we don’t see what we actually write. I don’t recommend this for your blog posts, but instead for your meta descriptions. For your blog posts, I recommend hiring a proofreader or having a friend look them over before you hit publish. Having a second pair of eyes on them will help you stay professional.
Being consistent with blogging is the best way to reach your SEO potential. Here are a few ways to stay ahead of the game.
Editorial Calendar
The very best way to stay consistent is with an editorial content calendar. Having a plan for the month ahead will help you post consistently. I make my calendar in Google Sheets, but you can use a planner if that fits your fancy more. Pick one day out of the week to commit to posting a blog. Then brainstorm the topics you want to write about. Add those article ideas to your calendar.
Batching
Batching is carving out a chunk of time and focusing on writing 3-4 blog posts at a time. You can do this once a week or once a month. If you can learn how to batch, you won’t ever feel the stress of wondering what to write about or finding the time to do it.
Scheduling
Scheduling a post is super easy within most websites. Once you write the piece, use your website scheduling feature to set up all your blog posts in advance.