How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive Guide

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…

…or by keyword.

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…

…and scroll down to their best-selling courses:

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.

Semrush “Top Pages”

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

First, grab a competitor and pop it into Semrush.

Then, hit “Traffic 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):

Conference Agendas

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

First, head to a conference website in your niche.

Go to the agenda page:

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

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

Choose “This page only”:

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

#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.)

But the Expanded List Post is completely different.

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

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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: “Eat 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.

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Real Life Example

A while back I published: “19 NEW 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:

And backlinks from over 1K domains:

My secret?

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

#3: Tools of the Trade

What It Is

A “Tools Of The Trade Post” is a list of tools that you recommend.

To be clear:

These tools DON’T have to be software.

A “tool” 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.

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Why It Works

Strategies are hard.

Approaches are tricky.

But tools are EASY.

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

That said:

Finding the right tool can be REALLY hard.

That’s where your “Tools of the Trade” post comes in.

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

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Real Life Example

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

It was a list of “tools” (resources) to help people learn SEO.

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

#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.

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Why It Works

First off, Complete Lists have a legit “WOW” factor.

(A list of 200+ anything is impressive.)

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

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Real Life Example

In 2015 I published “SEO Tools: The Complete List”.

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:

And the post has been a traffic MAGNET for me.

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

Start Your Headline With These Phrases

BuzzSumo analyzed 100 million headlines.

So, what did they find?

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

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

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%.

And my real-world experience backs this up.

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

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.

Specifically, they analyzed a million headlines for “EMV”.

(EMV=”Emotional Marketing Value”)

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

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

Just pop your headline into the tool…

…and you’ll get your EMV score.

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

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

4-7 Sentences

Let’s face it:

No one likes long blog post introductions, like this:

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

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

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.

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:

Short Paragraphs

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

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

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

Like this:

Why is this important?

Short paragraphs are easier to read.

(Especially on mobile devices.)

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.

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.

Here’s an overview of 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:

Next, it’s time for the Ask.

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

In other words: don’t ask: “Let me know what you think”.

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

For example:

Finally, end with a call to action.

You can ask your readers to comment…

…or to share your content on social media.

Short URLs

There’s no doubt about it:

When it comes to SEO, short URLs work best.

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.

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:

Speaking of…

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 “27 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website” is: “increase traffic”.

So I included that keyword in my title tag:

And WordPress page title:

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:

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

For example, when I published “The Definitive Guide to Keyword Research”, I linked out to related content…

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

Facebook Retargeting

Yup, 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:

The secret?

Retargeting.

Here’s the exact process:

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

Next, share your blog 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.

That’s all there is to it.

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:

And that single post got 56,872 views.

Insane.

To be clear:

Not every LinkedIn post does this well.

For example, this post was kind of a dud:

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

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:

For example, I took this strategy from the guide…

…and reworked it for the video:

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

And it now has 278,532 total views:

Not bad.