A Checklist to Calm your Pre-Publish Post Nervesbloglosophy.com /pre-publish-post-checklist/

Get That Topic RightDon’t choose your topic out of thin air because you think it is t ime to post something on yourblog, or your readers will get bored and abandon you. You might be surprised to know that you

don’t even enter the realm of their day-to-day reality until they see your email enter their inbox.And even then, well over half will ignore it. So, take the time to get each and every post right. A lotof thin, short, f luf f y, non-optimized posts won’t endear you to anyone – not your readers or thesearch engines. They have enough junk to deal with already in their lives. Make sure every singlepost is chokka with wonderf ul, heartf elt, enlightening inf ormation that your readers and thesearch engines will gobble up.

How you choose your topic is up to you, though being guided by your readers’ comments andrequests is always a good way to go.

Tips for your Post Topic

1. Make sure your blog topic is narrow and f ocused. Don’t waf f le on about your week in adisorganized way while dropping in a f ew tips on gardening in the snow. Focus on the gardening inthe snow tips. 2. Ensure that your blog post solves your readers’ problems. You have tosomehow leave them in a better state than bef ore they read your post. Will they be happier, f eellighter in spirit af ter reading your words? Don’t just throw any old thing at them. 3. Everything hasbeen said in internetland – everything! So your post will not be unique but you have to give it yourown special twist. Force it to stand out against all the rest. 4. Once you have your topic more orless sussed out, get thee to the Keyword Planner and work out what your SEO keywords f or yourtopic are going to be. Do this up f ront bef ore you start writ ing. Not af terwards as a consequenceof what you have written. It doesn’t work that way.

Headlines must sing and enticeCreating great headlines has been a science since the f irst newspaper was published and muchhas written about them. All you have to do is Google blog headlines to get plenty of great searchresults. Here is one by Problogger to get you going.

The Tone of your Blog Post can make or break itThis is where you can put your unique twist on your topic. Your “voice” is something thatdevelops with t ime but it is what will make or break your blog. Of the top bloggers, some arehumorous, some are sarcastic, some are endearing, some are quirky, some are gurus. But whatthey all are is consistent. You know what to expect f rom them. They might lose some readersbecause of their particular bent but they will gain a whole lot more who love the tone of theirposts. So, develop your own voice and don’t take too much time doing it.

A few hints to personalize the tone of your posts

1. Perhaps you could always tell a personal story that relates to your topic. 2. Use aconversational tone as if you are talking to a f riend. 3. Hopef ully you are passionate about yourblog and the topic of this post. Show that passion. Don’t hold back. 4. Use lots of sensory wordsto evoke emotions and make people f eel they are right there with you as you describe the smellof your prize rose, the f eel of the wooden kitchen bench, the sound of the water f alling in thef ountain, the taste of the f reshly cooked muf f ins. 5. Use humour when it is appropriate. Peoplelove to be entertained while learning something new.

Technical Tips to Make Your Blog Post Shine

Use all of the following:

• Bullet points • Bolded and italicized words • Subheadings using <H1>, <H2>, <H3> tags.

See HERE f or how to do this in number 6• Short paragraphs• 2- 3 interlinks to other articles on your blog• 1-2 external links to relevant sources on authority sites• At least one image – either take your own or read my article on great sites to f ind f ree photos.

Finish your blog post with a bang not a whimperA strong conclusion which summarizes the main points is essential because readers of ten skimto the end and read the last bit. That could inspire them to backtrack and read the lot. Perhapsyou could include a takeaway in the f orm of a PDF printout etc. Have a strong call to action in thelast sentence. Tell them what to do next – get a shovel out to break up the snow, make themuf f ins, opt into your list.

Don’t forget the final boring chores!1. Have you f illed in your meta data? See my article on this here

http://www.bloglosophy.com/seo-can-save-blog/ and look caref ully at points 4 and 5.

2. Fill in the Categories and Tags over on the right.

3. Have a look at your permalink at the top of the page and change it if it is not what youwant it to be. Get your main keyword in there and make sure it very succinctly says what thepost is about. Short is good.

4. Do you have an optin f orm at the end of your post? If not, grab the code f or yourMailChimp newsletter and throw it in the Text side of the editor.

Here is a great checklist by Pat Flynn f or what you should do af ter you have pushed publish.I challenge you to make each and every one of your posts a piece of art that you will be proud off orever.

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