How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive Guide
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How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive Guide

Today I’m going to show you how to write a blog post that gets:

Hundreds of comments.

Thousands of social shares.

And first page Google rankings.

Let’s dive right in.

How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive Guide

Chapter 1: Find a (Proven) Topic

Find a proven topic

Your blog post topic is HUGE.

Question is:

How do you find proven topics?

Use one of these 5 simple step-by-step strategies.

Udemy Courses

Udemy is a keyword research GOLDMINE.

Here’s why:

Udemy doesn’t just show you content that people are interested in.

Instead, you see content that people are paying for.

You can search for courses by category…

Udemy categories

…or by keyword.

Udemy search

Either way, you’ll find content that people are PAYING to access.

For example, let’s say you run a blog about graphic design.

Head over to the design category in Udemy…

Udemy design section

…and scroll down to their best-selling courses:

Udemy bestsellers

And within 5 seconds you have a list of proven topics:

  • 3D Modeling
  • Designing and coding WordPress themes
  • After Effects tutorial
  • How to use Adobe Illustrator

Very cool.

Amazon Table of Contents

First, search in Amazon for a keyword that describes your blog.

Amazon "SEO" search

Then, look for a book with lots of ratings.

(This shows you that people actually bought the book.)

Amazon book rating

Finally, click β€œLook Inside” to see the table of contents.

Amazon "Look inside"

And just like with Udemy, you get a list of topics presented to you on a silver platter:

Amazon – Table of contents

This leads us to…

Semrush β€œTop Pages”

Now it’s time to steal your competitor’s best topics.

First, grab a competitor and pop it into Semrush.

Semrush – Input website

Then, hit β€œTraffic Analytics > Top Pages”.

And you’ll see the exact content that’s worked best for that blog (in terms of direct, referral, social, search, and paid traffic):

Semrush – Top pages – Backlinko

BuzzSumo’s β€œEvergreen Score”

You already know that BuzzSumo is a GREAT tool for finding content ideas.

(In fact, BuzzSumo is one of my favorite content marketing tools.)

And they recently added a VERY cool feature that makes this tool even more useful:

β€œEvergreen Score”.

Here’s how it works:

First, type a keyword into BuzzSumo just like you normally would.

BuzzSumo – Search

By default, BuzzSumo shows you content that has lots of social shares.

BuzzSumo – Total engagement

But here’s the problem:

You can’t tell whether that content went viral for a day and quickly flamed out…

…or if it’s still racking up shares and links years later.

That’s where the Evergreen Score comes into play.

It shows you content that people share and link to MONTHS after it first went live:

BuzzSumo – Evergreen score

That way, you can publish content that brings you traffic for YEARS.

Conference Agendas

This is quickly becoming my FAVORITE ways to find killer topics.

First, head to a conference website in your niche.

Brighton SEO – Home

Go to the agenda page:

Brighton SEO – Menu

And you’ll see topics that people are (again) paying to learn more about:

Brighton SEO – Agenda

Pro Tip: Pop the conference agenda page into the Google Keyword Planner.

Put URL into GKP

Choose β€œThis page only”:

Choose "This page only" in GKP

And you’ll get a list of targeted keyword ideas… straight from Google.

Google Keyword Planner (GKP) Results

Chapter 2: Blog Post Templates

Blog post templates

Now that you have a topic, it’s time to get started on your post.

And I have great news:

You don’t need to start from scratch, suffer from writer’s block, or stare at a blank white screen.

Instead, use one of the awesome blog post templates that I’m about to share with you.

#1: Expanded List Post

What It Is

A regular list post… but better.

List posts are a blogging mainstay. And for good reason: they’re a collection of bite-sized tips that people can use to get a specific result. The issue is: traditional list posts usually leave out key details.

(Like how to put each tip into practice.)

Regular list posts

But the Expanded List Post is completely different.

With the Expanded List Post, you give LOTS of detail about each item on your list.

Expanded list post

Why It Works

Normal lists posts make people do a ton of extra work.

For example, let’s say the first tip from a list post is: β€œEat Eggs at Breakfast”

Well, that leaves out A LOT of important info, like:

  • What time should I eat?
  • How do I cook the eggs (hard boiled vs. scrambled)
  • What about organic and free-range eggs?
  • Can I eat anything with the eggs?

Well, the Expanded List Post answers all of those questions and more.

That way, your reader doesn’t have to fill in the blanks.


Real Life Example

A while back I published: β€œ19 NEW SEO Techniques”.

Backlinko – SEO techniques

And this Expanded List Post is one of the most successful pieces of content that I’ve ever published.

To date, my post has 14k social shares and 1,150 comments:

SEO techniques – Shares and comments

And backlinks from over 1K domains:

Ahrefs – SEO techniques – Referring domains

My secret?

Unlike most list posts, I gave people detailed steps for each and every tip:

Seed keywords – Steps

#2: The Branded Strategy Case Study

What It Is

Your Branded Strategy Post solves a problem that your target audience struggles with.

And when you give this solution a β€œbranded” name? You’re instantly seen as an industry expert.

There’s only one catch:

You need to prove that it works.

Enter: The Branded Strategy Case Study.

The branded strategy case study

Why It Works

Your branded name gives people something tangible to link to.

It also helps establish you as an authority in your niche.

(If you created your own strategy, you MUST be an expert.)


Real Life Example

A few years ago I was having a hard time building my email list.

And after trying a bunch of different strategies, I finally found something that worked.

Offering people VERY targeted lead magnets.

Targeted lead magnets

So I decided to write a blog post about my experience.

Backlinko – Increase conversions

And I made sure to give my new strategy a name:

The Content Upgrade.

This simple little case study has racked up 4.82K backlinks from 851 domains.

Ahrefs – Increase conversions

And most of these links are a direct result of my unique, branded name:

"Content upgrade" branded name

#3: Tools of the Trade

What It Is

A β€œTools Of The Trade Post” is a list of tools that you recommend.

To be clear:

These tools DON’T have to be software.

A β€œtool” can be a morning routine, a foam roller or a B12 supplement.

As long as the tool helps your reader solve a problem, you’re good.

Tools of the trade

Why It Works

Strategies are hard.

Approaches are tricky.

But tools are EASY.

(In fact, the #1 question I get is: β€œBrian, what SEO tools do you recommend?”.)

That said:

Finding the right tool can be REALLY hard.

That’s where your β€œTools of the Trade” post comes in.

It’s a hand-picked list of the best tools… all in one place.


Real Life Example

A few years ago I published a blog post called: How to Learn SEO In Record Time.

Backlinko – Learn SEO fast

It was a list of β€œtools” (resources) to help people learn SEO.

Backlinko – Learn SEO fast – Chapters

It didn’t go viral or anything. But it got over 2K shares:

Learn SEO fast – Social shares

#4: The Ultimate Guide

What It Is

A complete resource that covers EVERYTHING.

The Ultimate Guide

Why It Works

Your guide gives someone everything they need to know about a topic… in one place.

So there’s no need for people to read 18 different posts.

Once they find your guide, they have everything they need to know.

It’s also great for getting backlinks.

That’s because bloggers will link to your guide when they write about your topic:

SEO Tribunal link

Real Life Example

The first guide I ever published at Backlinko was: β€œLink Building for SEO: The Definitive Guide”.

Backlinko – Link building

(Since then I’ve updated the guide at least 50 times.)

Because my guide is SUPER thorough, other SEO and content marketing blogs were happy to link to it:

SEJ – Backlink to Backlinko

And share it on social media:

Sharing the post on Twitter

#5: The Complete List

What It Is

A Complete List is like an ultimate guide in list form.

So instead of a guide, you take every…

  • Tip
  • Item
  • Tool
  • Technique
  • Strategy
  • Example
  • Case study

…And put it in one place.

The complete list

Why It Works

First off, Complete Lists have a legit β€œWOW” factor.

(A list of 200+ anything is impressive.)

Second, you’re curating scattered information on a single page.


Real Life Example

In 2015 I published β€œSEO Tools: The Complete List”.

Backlinko – SEO tools post

It’s a MASSIVE list of over 175 SEO tools.

(Yup, I personally tried each and every one of them.)

But I didn’t just list a bunch of tools and call it a day.

I made sure to highlight my favorite tools:

Brian's favorite tools

And the post has been a traffic MAGNET for me.

In fact, 10,909 people visit that post every single month:

SEO Tools – Monthly visitors

Chapter 3: Create an Awesome Headline

Create an awesome headline

When it comes to writing a blog post, your headline can make or break your entire post.

So it’s important to nail this step.

And in this chapter, I’m going to show you how to write amazing blog post headlines.

Start Your Headline With These Phrases

BuzzSumo analyzed 100 million headlines.

BuzzSumo headline analysis study

So, what did they find?

That headlines that start with these 20 phrases tend to get the most shares:

Top phrases starting headlines (measured by average Facebook engagement)

For example, this post from my blog uses one of these tested phrases:

Backlinko – Actionable SEO tips

12-18 Words

Let’s look at another interesting finding from that BuzzSumo study.

They discovered that the sweet spot for headline length is between 12-18 words.

BuzzSumo chart

(At least when it comes to social shares.)

Add Brackets (And Parentheses)

This is one of my favorite headline hacks.

Why?

A study by OutBrain found that adding brackets to headlines can improve CTR up to 38%.

Brackets increase click through rate by 38%

And my real-world experience backs this up.

5 of my top 10 most popular posts have brackets or parentheses in the title:

Backlinko – Top content – Brackets

In B2B? Use These Proven Headline Phrases

If you’re in B2B (like me), you know that clickbait titles don’t work that well.

Fortunately, the BuzzSumo study I mentioned earlier also analyzed a subset of B2B post titles.

And they discovered that these 20 phrases work GREAT in B2B:

Top B2B headline phrases (measured by average LinkedIn shares)

Optimize for EMV

Every copywriter knows that emotional headlines get LOTS of clicks.

And now there’s data to back this up.

CoSchedule published a blog post headline study.

OkDork headlines

Specifically, they analyzed a million headlines for β€œEMV”.

(EMV=”Emotional Marketing Value”)

And they found a clear correlation between high EMV and social shares.

Average EMV score for headlines based on shares

You can measure your EMV score using this tool from the Advanced Marketing Institute:

Advanced Marketing Institute – Headline analyzer

Just pop your headline into the tool…

Headline Analyzer – Enter headline

…and you’ll get your EMV score.

Headline Analyzer – Results

I try to get my EMV score to at least 25%.

I even have a few headlines with an EMV score of 70%+.

Chapter 4: Craft a Compelling Intro

Craft a compelling intro

Topic? Check.

Headline? Check.

Now it’s time to grab your reader’s attention.

How? Your blog post introduction.

4-7 Sentences

Let’s face it:

No one likes long blog post introductions, like this:

Post with a long intro

That’s why I limit my intros to 4-7 lines… MAX.

For example, my intro from this post is only 6 lines:

YouTube channel growth intro

In my experience, 4-7 sentences are more than enough to hook people…

…and get them excited for the content they’re about to read.

PPP Formula

The PPP Formula is KILLING it for me right now.

(The β€œPPP” stands for: Preview, Proof, Preview.)

Here’s a visual of the formula:

The PPP formula

Now I’m going to break down each part of the PPP formula…

…and show you real-life examples of the formula in action.

First, you have the Preview.

This couldn’t be any more simple.

Just let your reader know EXACTLY what to expect.

That way, when someone lands on your post, they know they’re in the right place.

Here’s an example:

PPP formula – First preview

Next, it’s time for the Proof.

Here’s where you show people that you can deliver.

Specifically, you want to prove that you know your stuff.

You can show proof with:

  • Personal results
  • Years of experience
  • Number of clients
  • Credentials or certifications

Here’s an example:

PPP formula – Proof

Last up, we have the Preview… again.

The first preview was a high-level overview of your post.

The 2nd preview is a little bit different.

This preview is where you get specific about something from your post.

For example, in this intro, I preview the fact that the steps are actionable.

PPP formula – Second preview

Transition

I like to end my intros with a transition sentence.

In my experience, this transition helps push people to read the next section.

Here’s an example:

"Let's dive right in" transition

Chapter 5: Write Your Post

Write your post

Now it’s time to show you how to write SUPER engaging content.

Specifically, I’m going to share 6 strategies that can make your blog posts 10x better.

Starting with…

Short Paragraphs

Want people to read your content? AVOID giant walls of text.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Wall of text

Instead, stick to paragraphs that are 1-2 sentences long.

Like this:

Short paragraphs

Why is this important?

Short paragraphs are easier to read.

(Especially on mobile devices.)

Section Subheaders

I LOVE subheaders.

That’s because subheaders break your content up into easy-to-read chunks.

For example, my post β€œThe Complete SEO Checklist” has A LOT of content.

Backlinko – SEO checklist

(In fact, that post is 4,328 words.)

So I broke up the content into lots of little chunks. And added a list of bullet point links that take you to each section:

Table of contents

In fact, this single post has 9 subheaders.

Active Voice

If I could give people ONE writing tip for writing blog posts it would be:

Use the active voice!

Seriously.

The passive voice is just… lame.

On the flip side, the active voice is crisp and clear.

Use the active voice

15-17px Font

You might have noticed that Medium.com posts are REALLY easy to read.

Medium readability

How do they do it?

They use 21px font.

If you’re using anything less than 15px, you’re losing lots of readers.

That’s why we use 18px font here at Backlinko.

Backlinko font size

Write Like You Talk

This is the holy grail of great writing.

But it’s not easy.

(Especially if you took English classes in high school.)

With that, here’s a tip:

Read your post out loud.

If it sounds weird, scrap that sentence.

This time, explain the same thing out loud.

You’ll probably find that the same sentence sounds A LOT better.

Lots of Visuals

Screenshots.

Charts.

Pictures.

Infographics.

Don’t be afraid to use a ton of visuals in every post.

For example, this post from my blog has 95 visuals:

SEO Audit post screenshots

Chapter 6: Add a Conclusion

Add a conclusion

Let’s cap things off with your conclusion.

And let me be clear about something:

Your conclusion is VERY important.

(Especially if you want lots of people to comment on your post.)

Fortunately, I’ve developed a simple, 3-step formula for writing AWESOME conclusions.

It’s called β€œThe TAC Formula”.

Here’s an overview of The TAC Formula:

The TAC formula

And now I’ll cover the detailed steps…

Start your conclusion off with the Transition.

Your transition is just like it sounds:

It transitions people from your blog content to the conclusion section.

Here’s an example:

"Now I'd like to hear from you" at the end of the post

Next, it’s time for the Ask.

Here’s where you ask your reader a VERY specific question.

In other words: don’t ask: β€œLet me know what you think”.

Instead, throw your reader a softball question that’s easy to answer.

For example:

Ask an easy question

Finally, end with a call to action.

You can ask your readers to comment…

Ask your readers to leave a comment

…or to share your content on social media.

Chapter 7: Optimize for SEO

Optimize for SEO

Next, optimize your post for SEO.

And the best way to do that?

Use the 5 on-page SEO strategies I’m
about to show you.

Short URLs

There’s no doubt about it:

When it comes to SEO, short URLs work best.

Short URLs tend to outrank long URLs

There are two reasons that short URLs outperform long URLs.

First off, your URL helps Google understand your page’s topic.

In fact, Google officially recommends short, descriptive URLs.

URL best practices

Second, people use URLs to help them decide what to click on in the search results.

And if your URL is insanely long, people are less likely to click on it:

Short URL CTR

Speaking of…

Meta Description

Nope, search engines don’t use your meta description for SEO. That said: your meta description is a GREAT way to get more people to click on your result.

Specifically, you want your meta description to:

  • Include your target keyword (Google bolds keywords in the search results)
  • Use verbs, like β€œlearn”, β€œfind” and β€œbuy”
  • Describe your content’s USP
  • Fit within the ~155 character limit

For example, you can see that my meta description from this post is designed to maximize clicks:

Post meta description

Keyword In Title Tag

This couldn’t be any simpler.

Just include your exact keyword in your title tag.

For example, my target keyword for my post β€œ27 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website” is: β€œincrease traffic”.

So I included that keyword in my title tag:

Keyword in title tag

And WordPress page title:

Keyword in WordPress title

Keyword In Intro

Make sure to use your keyword once in your blog post intro:

Copywriting guide – Keyword in intro

Internal Links

Internal linking might be the most underrated SEO strategy on the planet.

That said, internal linking isn’t complicated.

Whenever you publish a new post, add 2-5 links to older posts:

Link to high-priority pages often

You can also go back to older posts and link to your NEW post.

For example, when I published β€œThe Definitive Guide to Keyword Research”, I linked out to related content…

Keyword Research Guide: Linking out to related content

…and added a handful of internal links to the new guide:

Keyword Research checklist

Bonus Chapter: Promote Your Content

Promote your content

When it comes to blogging, promoting your post is even MORE important than the content itself.

In other words:

You can’t just share your post on Twitter and call it a day.

That’s why I recommend promoting your content with these 4 tested strategies.

Facebook Retargeting

Yup, Facebook’s organic reach is at an all-time low.

Facebook's organic reach is at an all-time low

That said:

You can still get in front of your fans… with boosted posts.

(And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.)

In fact, I paid 56 cents per click on this boosted post:

Facebook boosted post

The secret?

Retargeting.

Here’s the exact process:

First, add Facebook’s ad pixel to your site.

Next, share your blog post on Facebook.

Share your post on Facebook

This will get you a handful of likes and comments… which pushes more people to engage with your post later on.

Now that you have some social proof, boost your post. And ONLY target people that visited your site in the last 30-60 days.

Facebook audience: ONLY target people that visited your site in the last 30-60 days

That’s all there is to it.

Email Newsletter

This is the ultimate content promotion superhack.

For example, I recently updated this post on my blog:

Backlinko – Email marketing guide

And to get the word out, I tweeted the post…

Email marketing guide – Update tweet

…and sent a newsletter to my email subscribers.

Which do you think got more clicks?

The newsletter.

In fact, the newsletter got 12.7x more clicks than my Tweet.

Number of clicks to blog post

With that, here are 3 things I do to get lots of clicks on every newsletter:

First, I keep the design super-duper simple.

Backlinko simple email design

No logo.

No fancy graphics.

Just plain text and links to the post.

Second, I only link to ONE post per newsletter.

Link in email

Otherwise, your subscribers get β€œanalysis paralysis”. And they don’t click on anything.

Finally, I only email my best stuff.

That way, when someone gets an email from me they say:

β€œNice! Brian’s sending me something cool”.

Which has helped keep my open rates above 35%… even though I have over 200k email subscribers:

Email open rate

LinkedIn Organic

If you’re in B2B, you NEED to hop on LinkedIn.

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn organic reach right now is GREAT.

For example, here’s one of my older LinkedIn posts:

Recent LinkedIn post

And that single post got 56,872 views.

LinkedIn post with 56,872 views

Insane.

To be clear:

Not every LinkedIn post does this well.

For example, this post was kind of a dud:

LinkedIn dud post

But 13k views is still WAY more than I’m getting on most other social networks.

Email Outreach

Outreach is still the best way to get your content in front of influential people.

But you can’t just spam people and expect it to work.

For example, I get generic emails like this all the time:

Generic outreach email

And I instantly delete them.

But when someone takes the time to send me a personalized message, I’ll at least check out their post.

Personalized outreach email

And if the post is a good fit for the Backlinko community, I’ll share it:

Brian email showing his Tweet of the post

Bonus Chapter: Content Transformation

Content transformation

Email newsletters.

YouTube video scripts.

Social media posts.

I used to write them all from scratch.

But over the last year or so, I’ve been trying a new content marketing technique:

Content Transformation.

Let me show you how it works with a real-life example…

Earlier this year I wanted to make a YouTube video about backlinks.

Back in the day, I’d open up a blank Google Doc and start on my outline.

But this time, I used Content Transformation.

And the process was MUCH faster.

Specifically, I wrote my video script based on this old guide from my blog:

Backlinks Guide

For example, I took this strategy from the guide…

Link Roundups article

…and reworked it for the video:

Link Roundups reworked for a YouTube video

Even though this video was mostly repurposed from existing content, it got 20k views in its first 30 days:

Backlinks – Video views

And it now has 278,532 total views:

Link building video – Views

Not bad.

Now It’s Your Turn

Now it’s your turn (How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive Guide)

I hope this guide showed you how to write a blog post.

Now I’d like to turn it over to you:

What’s the #1 tip from this post that you want to try first?

Are you going to start using brackets in your headlines? Or maybe you’re going to promote your content on LinkedIn.

Or maybe you have a question about something you read.

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

400 Comments

  1. I don’t know how you do it Brian but you’ve pulled it off again. Cracking post and brilliant idea regards Udemy and many other things I had not thought of. Great post as always Brian

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Val. Glad you learned some new stuff.

  2. We are just starting with our blog. This guide it’s really good checklist. Thank for great tips!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Jedrek, happy to help. Good luck with the new blog!

  3. Wow fantastic info
    Thanks Brian

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Reece.

    1. Awesome post !
      Awesome graphics !
      Thanks for sharing those ideas, so informative and will be helpful for bloggers to write attractive blog posts like this one πŸ‘

  4. Justas Kuizinas Avatar Justas Kuizinassays:

    Your posts are so informative and easy to read, plus those graphics are gorgeous!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Justas. I agree: our designer did an awesome job with the graphics here.

  5. “Write Like You Talk”. A great tip here. I’ll definitely try this particular tip in my next blog post to see how it goes. Thanks, Brian for this insightful article. You are a genius.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      No worries. Happy to help πŸ‘

      1. One technique I use is the β€œvoice typing” function on Google docs. This means I’m literally typing the way l speak because I’m speaking into the microphone. Not only can you punch out content quicker, but it comes across a lot more as if you are actually talking. This has improved my active voice scores on Yoast SEO, transition sentences, Flesch reading score etc etc. And it has increased my traffic also. Best part is that it’s free!

        1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

          Nice. Good stuff, Dezza

  6. Can not wait to read this thoroughly & digest all the valuable information. Thank you for putting it together like this.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Sounds good, Darshana.

  7. Yet again a great insight into blog creation! Nice one!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Matt

  8. Hi Brian,

    Thanks for the post! I just shared it with our team of writers and am asking them to choose what aspects we can improve on.

    One question. We mainly do content marketing and social selling for high-end B2B products. Many of our clients don’t want list posts. Do you think there’s a way to reposition listicles so that they’re more compelling to B2B clients?

    Thanks,
    Alex

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Alex,

      You’re welcome. I’d consider a guide format, like this one. In many ways, it’s a list post in a different package. Each chapter/section is a list of 4-5 tips.

      1. Hey, Brian. I have been your fan since ages, and have followed your advice on how to optimize the content of my site. In fact, I left a few comments on your YouTube videos time by time.

        After applying your tips as religiously as I could, it worked! Super stoked!

        Thanks a lot, Brian. You’re the best and a gift.

        Cheers,

        Mecyll

        1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

          Hi Mercyll, that’s great to hear. Keep rocking!

  9. Some of those tips are really solid! Thank you πŸ™‚

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Francois.

  10. That Udemy strategy is pure genius – I never would have thought about that before.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks!

  11. Love the idea about using Udemy Courses for topics.

    Using an active voice is tricky for a lot of people. I find it helps to draft a post and go back to it a few hours later – looking at it with fresh eyes. Then it’s easier to spot where you’re slipping into a passive voice.

    Thank you yet again for your wonderful content!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Alison. One shortcut that’s helped me with the active voice: the shorter sentence is usually the active voice (in terms of character count).

      For example: If you plan on writing a blog post vs. If you plan to write a blog post.

  12. Hey Brian, I have a question. Why you are not using AMP at your Blog?

  13. Amazing stuff Brian, as pretty much always.
    I like you angle of finding topics people are willing to pay for to learn.
    That must mean they’d be interested to read about it for free in an awesome blog post:)
    I’m gonna share on Twitter, because your formula works:)

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Nikola

  14. I don’t know where you get all these ideas and strange thing is that no one shares such tips on an internet.

    I loved your blog posts as it makes super easy for any one who is struggling to write a post in detail.

    Great work!!!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Wasim

  15. Floyd Avatar Floydsays:

    Awesome Article As Usual Brian,

    Quick Question About Chapter 1 and 2.

    Does the Proven topic that is found In Chapter 1 would it work with any of the Blog post template or it all depends on the topic?

    Agree that one should write in short Sentences and paragraphs because a lot of persons only skim blog content these days online before reading.

    And I found that the subheaders are a great attention grabber when included in blog post especially when it is written with a strong benefit.

    Very Action pack and fluff-free guide Brian keep up the Awesome work!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Floyd, thank you. Ideally, you’d pick the template that’s the best fit for the topic. It’s more art and science for sure. But it does depend a lot on the topic. For example, a topic like “SEO tips” is perfect for The Expanded List Post.

      1. Floyd Avatar Floydsays:

        That’s True…

        Thanks For the tip…

        Was just wondering if there are some template that’s strictly for certain types of topic..

        but I think I Get the Idea..

  16. As usual that’s indeed a great article! You started off with an interesting chapter to find the proven topics. In fact, I was unaware of the Udemy and Conference agendas. That was new for me. Every time I read your article, i learn at least one new tip.

    Anyway keep up the awesome work.

    Waiting for the Next article..:)

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Nice! I actually have a post I’m really excited about coming up next. Stay tuned for that.

  17. Brian,

    There are 9+ incredible blog posts in this one post. As far as which one to implement first? I’ll start at the top and make my way down.

    Thanks so much!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Ted, thank you! Yes, this is a massive guide. It took a while to put together for sure.

  18. Michele SpenoDoherty Avatar Michele SpenoDohertysays:

    Hi Brian,
    Thank You sooo much for this most detailed and comprehensive post out there on blogging as a free giveaway ! I will for sure share this! WELL DONE!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Michele, you’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed the new guide.

  19. WOW is an incredible blog post … and every infographic with data that is pure gold. Thanks Brian.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Bernardo.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      I try πŸ™‚

  20. Dude! I wanna be like you when I grow up. You make my post looks pathetic. lol. Such GREAT information and valuable. I can’t believe this is free stuff. I hope that I can be as successful at building my audience as you have been. Kudos, and thanks so much.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      LOL! Thanks Juvonia.

  21. Hi brian,
    Your posts are so informative and easy to read, plus those graphics are gorgeous. Your article have been very useful and helpful for me.. ☺️

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Harjit.

  22. Great post Brian. I can say for certain I am one of the first clicks whenever I receive your newsletter!

    Looking forward to putting these into practice.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Paul. I’m happy to have you as part of the Backlinko community.

  23. Sorry for the previous type-o. I meant to say, you make my posts LOOK pathetic. Do you teach an online course?

  24. Awesome post Brian! I think I do most of these to some extent, but you’ve made me realize I need to do all of them better. The topic ideas were extra epic.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Nick. I made the topic ideas section a point of emphasis because I feel like the same ideas get tossed around all the time. It was time to shake things up, LOL.

  25. Thanks for alot for the sharing the man, Now i have 5 month of content ready thanks to you πŸ˜€

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Nice!

  26. I’ll share what exactly do i feel when I get an Email from you :-
    ‘Email Notification :- Brian Dean’
    “What! New Content from Backlinko. Finally, I’ll be able to learn & implement something new!”
    Opens the Email -> “where is the link? let me click it without even reading the email.”
    Webpage Opens :- I’ll just skim through the topic…oh wait, this is new… more new ideas… how come i never thought about it. Yayy! Now i know what needs to be done…
    That was Easy !

    (Although in reality, you made it look easy with your in-depth explanation)

    Leaves a Comment expecting that I would receive an Email Notification when you’d reply to it….but that doesn’t happen πŸ™

    I really think you should integrate a way to send some sort of notification when you reply to someone’s comment.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      HA! That’s awesome. And thanks for that suggestion. I know WordPress can have it so you get notifications when people reply to comments.

  27. Pijush Kanti Dey Avatar Pijush Kanti Deysays:

    Hi Brian,

    You are just an awesome blogger, how a man can write these types of content?
    Really grateful and thanks for sharing.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome. πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

  28. You see Brian I love your tips and tutorials. I love the way you break the process down to tiny actionable bits with nice relatable examples.

    Thanks.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Happy to help. To me, it’s all about examples.

      1. Hi Brian,

        This is a very important topic you have written.

        How to write a blog post is a well searched keyword.

        I’m 100% sure all the currently ranking articles will loose their rankings.

        Why?

        Because Brian Dean’s this article will be #1 in Google.

        Mark my word.

        1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

          Thanks Rintu. I definitely hope so for this post!

  29. Hi Brian,

    I am new to your website. I have subscribed your newsletter and today I landed here from your email. I always want to know how to write a blog post. This illustrative guide will definitely improve my blog stats.

    Thanks and regards

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

  30. Azeem Avatar Azeemsays:

    Awesome,🐯

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

  31. Great article Brian! Love your writing and work! It definitely takes a while to go through and digest your guides, but you definitely nail it with your design and readability! Thank you!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Mike. Yup, this guide is pretty thorough. But I’m happy with how it turned out.

  32. I do not have a word to say, I am a person who is in a completely different career. But I now am learning DM for gaining knowledge. And I must say there is no better place to learn then Brian Dean. The knowledge and concepts you provide are phenomenal. you are an Inspiration. : )

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Rajat. I was in the same boat back in the day. I used to be a registered dietitian and now I’m a blogger/SEO pro. Crazy times!

  33. Joe Avatar Joesays:

    This is great into. Do you have it in a pdf format?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Joe. Should have a PDF version in the next few weeks.

  34. Walid Saib Avatar Walid Saibsays:

    I can’t wait to get the PDF version of this post as we use to have from other posts πŸ˜‰

    Thanks, Brian;

    I can’t just appreciate what you gave me enough,
    you bomb my brain with knowledge

    (brain and Brian) Hmm, no difference at all <3

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Walid, PDF version is in the works. It takes a while.

  35. I really love this article, Can you write thought leadership articles ? I want to learn more about it.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Varsha. I’m not a big thought leadership guy. I rather be an action leader πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

  36. I’ve been blogging for a decade and still I’m learning some great tips after all these years. Thanks Brian your newsletter is the only one I subscribe to.

    I’m going to try the brackets in the headline by the way.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Deb, thank you. I hope that tip helps!

  37. Sandra Avatar Sandrasays:

    Great comprehensive guide, I am starting a blog and this is so helpful, thank you Brian

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Sandra, you’re welcome. Keep me posted on how your new blog goes.

  38. Marco Avatar Marcosays:

    How do you set up such great design for your article? Is it custom html each time or some super complex template?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Marco, it started as HTML but has sort of morphed into a template that’s designed to work on Backlinko.

  39. I need to manage time to read your detailed article…

    My question, is this article perfect for news type post that last live 1 or 2 weeks maximum ??

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Vivek, some of the strategies apply to news content. But they’re mostly for evergreen posts.

  40. Great Post Brian. Your copywriting skill is really amazing.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you!

  41. Nnamdi Amuzie Avatar Nnamdi Amuziesays:

    I think the SEO optimization is apt. I recently started work on a blog and noticed that whenever I included specific keywords in my Meta description (even if I do not use the exact keyword in the title) I ranked above my competitors (who have a much higher DA) than my blog. I don’t really understand how or why.

    Initially I have read that Google pays more attention to the SEO title and the Meta description is more of a CTA for the users. Perhaps the effect I am seeing is indirect (In that a higher CTR will definitely lead to an upwards movement in the SERPs).

    I’ll appreciate it if you can shed more light on this for me.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      I’d guess that it’s CTR-related. Google has said several times that they don’t really pay attention to meta descriptions for SEO… but users definitely do. So that’s my guess.

  42. Again a good SEO guide with live examples, you made SEO really simple and actionable for everyone.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you

  43. Great tips for finding topics. I especially like the conference subject suggestion. Thank you for sharing!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Mystique

  44. Hi Brian! your are a Monster of SEO!!!!! Congratulation for your precious post…
    Luca from Italy

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Luca

  45. HI Dean, you have solved 90% of the problem most people are facing when it comes to writing a blog post. I have learnt a lot from you, thanks for sharing.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Anthony, you’re welcome. That’s true: it’s probably not possible to cover everything there is about writing a blog post on a single page. There’s a lot to it. But 90% is pretty darn good!

  46. Keen Avatar Keensays:

    Hi, Brain, thanks for your great post, this teach me a lot
    I’m Keen, a freelancer SEOer from China.
    You are very popular in China marketing groups, people talk about you, learn from you and even nickname you :).
    Maybe you can translate your post to Chinese, let more SEO newbie know about you.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Keen, thank you for your kind words. I appreciate that.

  47. John Avatar Johnsays:

    Hey Brian,
    Thanks again for another great post.

    Would you believe this? I was searching Google ‘How to write a blog post’ and going through some of the results.
    After a while I Googled ‘How to write a blog post’ + backlinko, I know your posts are real meat.

    I did not find any.

    Surprising part: I was looking into my emails and noticed the subject ‘Blog Content’ and it was from you (Brian Dean).

    How amazing!! You just published what I was searching.
    Thanks a bunch.

    I’m looking to write blog posts on Artificial Intelligence. Any special tips apart from what was already published in the post?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      LOL! That’s crazy. What are the odds, right?

      I’d say that the strategies here apply to pretty much every topic. I pulled a lot of the techniques from me working with lots of blogs in several different industries.

  48. Amazing. This article should be sold as an E-book. It’s loaded with valuable info!
    Thank you for the time you invested and shared.
    Awesomeness packed into one post.:)

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Catherine. I appreciate that.

  49. Alessandro Avatar Alessandrosays:

    Hi Brian,

    I was having a short break from studying Google Search exam.
    I clicked through your email….and thank you!

    This is a complete outline on how to craft a blog post, how to optimize and promote it. Excellent stuff.

    Best

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you, Alessandro. I tried to make this guide as complete as possible. Glad to see that I’m on track.

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