A New Blog Post Checklist

This infographic provides a great overview of the thought processes and steps every blogger should take when creating a new post, including:

• Know Your Business Goals
• Know Your Audience
• Plan Your Content Strategy
• Design & Usability
• Content & Readability
• Search Engine Optimization
• Encourage Engagement
• After You Post

RELATED: How To Start A Blog: The Ultimate Guide

Infographic created by http://www.thewholebraingroup.com. 

Transcription:

Sensible Blogging Checklist

Everything you need to know about creating a successful blog for business.

By The Whole Brain Group

Know Your Business Goals

What are your objectives for the blog?

• Inform your readers about your business mission & values
• Educate consumers about your products & services
• Establish yourself as an expert in your industry

Know Your Audience

Who are you hoping to reach?

Age Range: ___________________
Gender: ___ % men ___ % women 
Occupation: __________________
Income Level: ________________
Education Level: ______________
Type of Industry: _____________
# of Employees: ______________
Type of Business: _____________
Revenue: ___________________
Location (local/national): _______

Top problems they are trying to solve or pains they have:

1. ___________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________

What now? Use this information to develop an ideal audience persona and to tailor the content of your posts.

Plan Your Content Strategy

RELATED: The Ultimate Blogging Planner to help you organize your blog & blogging business.

Have you chosen content that serves both your business goals AND your audience?

Pick 5 topic categories to focus your blog posts.

1. ____________________________________

2. ____________________________________

3. ____________________________________

4. ____________________________________

5. ____________________________________

Create a new blog post with original content ___ x times a week / month

Develop relationships with bloggers in your industry and ask them to write guest blog posts

Create a new blog post with repurposed content ___ x times a week / month

• Videos, infographics, pictures, etc.
• Add your own spin
• Give them credit with a backlink
• Give them credit on social media

Design & Usability

Make sure your blog is user-friendly

YES    NO

___   ___   People can subscribe to my blog

___   ___   Users can navigate to previous blog posts

___   ___   My blog is easily accessible from my home page

___   ___   My blog has a search function

___   ___   Users can easily share my post on social media sites

Content & Readability

• Blog post is under 350 words (Editor’s Note: we advise using different lengths for different purposes.)
• The post is introduced with a catchy title
• Bullet points are used to break up large sections
• There is at least one image, a descriptive picture, or eye-catching graphic to encourage people to click on the link

Search Engine Optimization

• The post focuses on one or two keywords or phrases
• Keywords also appear in the blog post title
• The post is tagged with the chosen keywords
• The meta description includes detailed or expressive text that encourages clicks
• Headings and subheadings appear in the blog post and also feature keywords
• Keywords are in the alt text of any images or graphics

Encourage Engagement

• There are links within the post to other relevant pages or blog posts on your website
• A Call to Action appears at the end of your post
• Seek participation by asking for comments, questions, or feedback
• Ask others to share the post on social media

After You Post

___  You have asked other bloggers to mention your post

___  Post is shared on social media sites: 

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Pinterest

___  Submit to social bookmarking sites:

• StumbleUpon
• Digg
• Google Bookmarks

What do you think? Any blogging requirements missing?