Blog Post Checklist: Optimize These Things Before & After Publishing

Optimizing blog posts is vital for achieving the best search engine results through compelling and engaging articles that bring value to the reader.

While many bloggers dive straight into the writing process, the best results come through careful planning and keyword research.

Read on for a comprehensive blog post checklist covering everything from pre-writing preparation to marketing content for wider reach.

Blog Post Checklist: Optimize These Things Before & After Publishing

Blog post optimization is important for all types of content, whether you’re promoting a new small business or sharing your hobbies and interests.

We’ve created this checklist to cater to all content creation workflows, ensuring your writing is fully optimized and ready for your target audience.

So, before you start writing your first article, here’s our complete blog post checklist for 2024:

The Importance Of Optimizing Blog Posts

Optimizing your blog posts brings a variety of advantages to your online content, both from a technical perspective and in terms of overall readability.

You may have a great idea of valuable information to share, but your readers may miss the crucial points if the writing isn’t concise and clear.

Likewise, failing to optimize your blogs for SEO purposes will limit your exposure and prevent you from climbing through search engine results.

Fortunately, using a high-quality blog website builder can streamline the writing process and save you valuable time and effort.

You can use these to fine-tune your templates and introduce media, such as images and videos, that complement your writing with visual flair.

Optimization isn’t a one-and-done process, and by following the guidance in this checklist for all your content, you can refine and improve your workflow.

By consistently applying these principles, your blog posts will rise through the ranks of search engines, creating a loyal audience of fans.

The Ultimate Checklist For A Great Blog Post

We’ve explored the significance of blog post optimization and its essential role in reader engagement and online reach.

Let’s get the ball rolling on our blog post checklist, from setting up a basic outline and keyword research to the vital steps following publication.

1. Pre-Writing Process

Creating a comprehensive blog post checklist bears many similarities to a website design timeline, with early preparation crucial for success.

While it can be tempting to jump straight into the writing itself, here’s what you need to do before you begin to type out a blog post.

Choose A Topic

When writing a new post, the first step is to define your topic, using this as a basis for your initial research and content plan.

Whether you’re making a personal website or promoting a small business, your chosen topic needs to resonate with the intended target audience.

Try to avoid too broad and open-ended topics so you can refine the blog post to focus on important information the readers will enjoy.

Once you’ve chosen an overarching topic, use this to brainstorm ideas for your content and how you intend to approach it in a unique and engaging manner.

Perform Keyword & SEO Research

Once you’ve decided on the topic you want to write about, it’s time to perform keyword research to help you choose the optimal words for your blog post.

These keywords are vital for search engine optimization, and using them correctly will help ensure your content ranks well on Google and elsewhere.

There are several great tools for freelancers you can use to help with keywords, assessing their value and the priority you should use them.

Competitor analysis is also important for selecting relevant keywords that perform well on search engines, so include this in your research.

Once you’ve selected a series of individual and long-tail keywords, consider setting up a spreadsheet including their ranking value for future tracking.

2. Writing Process

Whether you’re using blogging to build your career or having fun sharing your insights into hobbies, the writing process includes several important considerations.

Here’s what you need to know about the best practices around formatting, writing style, and the use of hyperlinks to make your content shine.

Make A Blog Outline

Preparation is key, whether you’re building a house or writing a blog post; a blog post outline will help you keep your content nicely structured.

This outline begins with the main topic and continues with a breakdown of the various points you wish to address surrounding the core theme.

Putting together a blog outline will help you clearly define these elements and the best structure for articulating your thoughts.

For instance, if you’re starting a beauty blog, you may want to break down your first blog post about makeup to reflect the makeup application process.

Once you’ve created a clear blog outline, you can save the template in your website builder to reuse it for future blog posts.

Create Your Title

The title is the first thing potential readers will see before clicking through to your blog post, so it pays to spend time optimizing your wording.

It should include the primary keyword from your research for maximum SEO impact while still capturing the essence of the blog’s content.

For example, the most successful mom blog names incorporate catchy phrases relevant to the audience, and blog post titles should echo this approach.

Avoid using clickbait titles, as these can be seen as misleading and deter potential long-term readers from revisiting your website.

Write Your Introduction First

Understanding what it is you want to emphasize in your blog post is an important part of preparation, and your introduction should encapsulate this in a few sentences.

In addition to establishing the subject matter, a good introduction is also necessary for setting the tone and indicating your overall writing style.

When writing a blog post, it can help to start with the introduction, which will help clarify exactly what the blog is about.

Consider using personal anecdotes to draw the readers in and create a strong first impression or pose common questions related to the topic.

To avoid excessive text and ensure a smooth transition into the main article, keep your introduction confined to the first paragraph of the blog post.

Use Clear Subheads

One of the biggest mistakes inexperienced bloggers make is writing long walls of text without subheaders to break up the flow.

When working through your blog post checklist, make sure you use your content outline to insert relevant subheaders at frequent intervals.

Begin with H2 formatted headers for main categories, and if necessary, break these down into additional headers using H3 and H4 headers.

Not only does this help to improve the general readability of your blog post, but it’s also an important aspect of optimization for search engines.

Keep Sentences Concise

Writers with a literary background may not be aware of how to approach writing for online platforms and the need for short, concise sentences.

While long, free-flowing sentences may be the norm in classic novels, they should largely be avoided when it comes to blog post writing.

Not only does this help improve the overall readability, but it also ensures sentences and paragraphs are more consistently broken up when viewed on smartphones.

Most website builders include the option to switch from desktop to mobile presentations, so use this feature to check for white space on your phone.

You should also avoid using long or commonly known words since the majority of people will skim past them without understanding their meaning.

Online tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway can be invaluable for word and phrase selection, so consider adding them to your browser.

Check Keyword Placement

At the beginning of this blog post checklist, we discussed the significance of optimal keyword research in improving online ranking.

Now, it’s time to ensure they are strategically positioned within the body of your text, titles, and headers to maximize optimization.

Whether you’re writing about the process of starting a makeup line or promoting your small business, keywords need to be placed correctly in your blog.

This means placing your primary keyword within the first paragraph and title and prioritizing other high-value keywords throughout the body.

Online tools such as Surfer can help you with your keyword placement, indicating the priority and frequency of a given keyword or phrase.

Use Bullet Points & Lists

Headers and subheaders aren’t the only ways to break up your blog post; bullet points and lists are also popular formatting approaches.

Both of these list-based formatting tools allow you to present a lot of information clearly and concisely to your audience.

They’re also a great way to illustrate any step-by-step instructions readers might want to apply in a practical, real-world setting.

This formatting is particularly useful if you have a subcategory overloaded with text but can’t see any relevant way to add more subheaders.

Take the core points you’ve made over several sentences, then rewrite them as bullet points to make them more readable without altering the context.

Add Internal & External Links

Just as keywords are important for enhancing your content’s online visibility, hyperlinks are vital for optimizing it in search engines.

Internal and external links redirect the visitor to other blog posts on your website or high-value content from around the web.

You should select internal links that reflect the topic of your blog post, using text similar to the linked topic for the hyperlink.

External links should be selected for sites with high authority, with mainstream outlets such as Forbes and The New York Times as good examples.

You can use internal linking tools to help with the process or use your best judgment to select those most relevant to the ideas your blog post explores.

Include Call To Action

A call to action is the section of a blog post that encourages readers to follow through and discover more about a website’s products or services.

As such, it’s a vital component of any blog post for anyone hoping to monetize their content through direct sales or other means.

CTAs should be concise and eye-catching, using visual elements that complement the website’s overall branding and marketing assets.

They can also help readers learn more about the topic covered in the blog post by redirecting them to free resources such as eBooks.

Most good website builders include call-to-action templates you can easily edit, so check these out before you start writing your content.

3. Editing & Optimization

Once you’ve completed the writing process, there are still a few steps you need to consider before you hit the Publish button and share it online.

Here are some tips on optimizing your images and refining your blogging website templates to ensure everything reads well.

Proofread Carefully

One of the most common pitfalls writers face is failing to deliver the best possible quality content due to a lack of careful proofreading.

When you’ve written the content yourself, it can be easy to skim-read it, missing obvious mistakes and points that lack clarification.

Fortunately, you can use plenty of tools to help, with the aforementioned Grammarly offering a great way to check for free.

Proofreading is also a hugely popular freelance job for beginners, so if you have a budget to pay for their services, you should consider doing so.

Optimize Images & Alt Text

In addition to checking your text for any errors before publishing, you should ensure all images you’ve included are fully optimized for the web.

If you’re writing about art or other visually creative subjects, consider researching the best artist websites to see how they present their images.

Rather than using images with large file sizes, consider resizing them into a web-friendly resolution and saving space by converting them to JPEG.

This can help speed up your page’s loading times, preventing it from slowing down when readers view it on slow browsers.

Image optimization also covers the alt text, captions, and other text associated with the image that can help improve your search engine optimization.

4. Post-Writing

Now that your blog post has been written and checked for errors, it’s time to review some of the key steps needed before publication.

As the future of blogging and best practices fluctuate, we recommend staying abreast of current trends to optimize your post-writing checklist.

Categorize Your Post

Judicious use of categories to help users navigate a website’s content can significantly improve its authority and visibility.

This means adding relevant categories to your posts so they can be grouped together by related topics to help readers discover new material.

Most website builders have a comprehensive content management system in the package, so take advantage of this feature.

As you expand your range of blog posts over time, you can increase the number of categories to cover new post topics explored through your writing.

Set Publish Date & Time

Managing and scheduling your posts is another important consideration, particularly when handling large volumes of content over a long period of time.

Setting a date and time for publication will help ensure your website’s updates are consistent and reliable for returning visitors.

This schedule can also be easily paired with your social media platforms, guaranteeing the best possible reach for each new post you share.

By establishing a schedule, regular visitors will better understand when to expect new content that keeps them up to date on your chosen topic.

Enable/Disable Comments

Most blog websites include the option for readers to share their thoughts in the comments section, providing valuable feedback on your content.

They’re also handy for fostering a community of like-minded people where new ideas and insights can be shared and conversations can flourish.

With that said, there are situations when enabling comments may not be desirable, for instance, when writing about sensitive or controversial subjects.

Understanding the pros and cons of blogging will help you to discern better when comments should be enabled and when it may be best to turn them off.

It can also be time-consuming to manage and moderate comments at a high volume, so if you want to save time on this task, consider disabling comments.

Write A Meta Description

Another essential element of a blog post checklist is writing a meta description, which is a sentence embedded within the site architecture.

A meta description should incorporate your primary keyword and on-topic phrases, one of the best ways to improve your site’s rankings.

While it pays to use a keyword-rich meta description, try to avoid falling into the trap of keyword stuffing and keep it clear and concise.

Final Review & Preview

With your writing and optimization complete, it’s time to perform one last review of your blog and preview it in your browser of choice.

Re-read the content to ensure you haven’t missed anything, and if time permits, take a break so you return to it with fresh eyes.

Check to see if the formatting is correct, as well as check your grammar and readability so that everything flows in an engaging manner.

Use this revision process to flag any last-minute changes, and consider noting down any ideas the review process brings up for potential future articles.

Publish The Article

With the article fully checked and reviewed, it’s ready to be published and shared on your social media pages to reach your target audience.

This step is simple, and most website content management systems use a basic Publish button located on the blog’s draft page.

Once the post is live on your website, you’re ready to share it online and use marketing methods to reach a wider audience.

Don’t worry if you spot an overlooked mistake once it’s live, as most website builder platforms will give you the option to unpublish and rectify the error.

5. Post-Publishing

With your blog post written up and fully optimized for search engines, it’s ready to publish online and share on your social media platforms.

Here’s a brief but important checklist of what you need to consider post-publishing to ensure your content reaches the widest possible audience.

Market Content For Wider Reach

Most bloggers don’t have a highly authoritative website, and getting their work to an audience of like-minded people can be a real challenge.

This means spending time promoting the published post to ensure it has the maximum possible reach online to drive traffic to your website.

If you have a social media presence, you should take advantage of this to share each new post with your friends and family.

Encourage them to reshare the link and politely respond to any comments and feedback they provide.

If you have a small budget, consider using this to run advertisements on Facebook or other social media websites to broaden your reach.

Alternatively, you can work with affiliate program content creators in your area of expertise and directly reach people interested in your opinions.

Engage With Reader Comments

Writing online is as much about fostering relationships and communities as it is about creating content designed to increase your online visibility.

Whether you’re writing a popular fitness blog for moms or an in-depth analysis of engineering, the principle of engagement remains the same.

This means engaging with your readership is essential for long-term growth and building a base of site visitors who keep returning for more.

You can engage with feedback directly on your blog post comments and any comments shared on social media links or related forums.

Keep your tone friendly and helpful, and avoid at all costs getting caught up in heated debates that threaten to derail the community spirit.

If need be, you can moderate your comment section to prevent bad-faith actors from causing issues that deter your readers from returning.

Summary

Blog post optimization can make the difference between success and failure, and this guide will help you experience consistent growth and engagement.

As you continue to share other posts with your readers, you can refine and streamline these processes and create an easy-to-repeat workflow.

The more experience you develop, the larger the reach of your blog posts will become, reaching prospective customers with high-value, relevant content.