Steps to Take Before Publishing a Blog Post
Just because you finished writing it, it doesn’t mean your post is ready to make its public debut. Follow these steps before publishing a blog post.
Being involved in the social web means you have to educate the world in your area of expertise. The best place to do this is on your blog. It’s your hub, your HQ online, the place you want your customers to visit on a regular basis. But before it goes live, we have a few important steps to take before publishing a blog post.
1. Let it sit
After writing a post or an article, let it sit for a couple of hours (or a day, if you have time). Letting it sit for a day allows you to review it with fresh eyes. At the time of writing a piece, it looks perfect. But often always something is missed—a typo, a comma, a sentence that runs on too long. If you’re rushed to publish a post, the opportunity to miss something in the editing stage can definitely happen, which becomes glaringly obvious when revisiting the post a few days later. Plan to write your posts at least a day or two before you publish it.
2. Write with your readers in mind.
This one can be a hard concept to swallow. Making the assumption because you know what your writing as the expert on the topic, everyone else will too. Yeah, not so much. Always write with your audience in mind. These are the folks who may be new to social media or just want a few handy tips to add to their SM arsenal. Break down complicated thoughts into easily digestible pieces. Why not make it funny with a little humour? And save those big words to impress your boss or professor—they might not have any place in your post. Why say resplendent when you can use brilliant? if no one else knows what the heck the words you are writing with you’re likely to lose your audience interest.
3. Beginnings and Endings
How do you start your post? Does it end with a cliffhanger? With the opening of your post, the challenge is to hook the reader. You want them to read the rest of your brilliant post, so suck them in right from the start. As well, a closing is just as important. You want to stimulate conversation on your blog, so ask your readers a question. You need to tell your readers want you want them to do, otherwise they will wander off. “Read more about this fascinating subject by clicking here.”“ What do you think about so-and-so?” “Leave a comment below.”
4. Read it out loud
Read your post out loud. Just because it reads well on paper doesn’t mean it will make sense in everyday talk. You may have missed something during your original edit, that when you read it out loud you will see. It may be too long and you have to chop a paragraph out. If you’re concerned people will think you’re talking to yourself, simply let them know that you are reading out loud for your proofing and editing process. Trust me—a great blog post with worth the concerned glances from co-workers, and also opens up the convo for them to learn more about the writing process too.
Do you have any routines you undertake before publishing your post? We’d love to hear them! Leave all your informative nuggets on Twitter or Instagram.