How to write a blog post

Writing a blog post people read starts with the reader. Decide who the post is for and the one question it answers. Then plan an outline, and write a headline and an opening that answer that question. Keep the text easy to scan, edit it before you publish, and look at what readers do with it afterwards. These steps work for a niche blog, a personal blog or a business blog.

What is a blog post?

A blog post is a single article on a blog, about one topic. In WordPress, for example, posts are entries that appear in reverse order on your blog page, with the latest one first. What a post looks like depends on your blog and what the post is for. A blog post can be, for example:

• a guide or how-to that walks the reader through a task
• a review or a recommendation of a product or service
• an interview with a customer, an expert or someone on your team
• a news piece about your business or your field
• a personal story or reflection
• a photo series with short captions

The format you choose for a blog post changes how you write. A guide needs clear steps, a review needs a verdict, and a photo series needs very little text.

1. Decide who your blog post is for

Decide who you're writing for before you choose a word. Write about what your readers need to know, not what you'd like to tell them about your business. If you sell a vacuum cleaner with a built-in mop, for example, your readers want to know how it cleans their floors. Put that first, before the story of how the product was made and launched.

Look at the topic from the reader's side. Why would they click on this post, and what do they get from reading it? If you can answer both in one sentence, you have the point of your post. Knowing your readers matters, so it's worth finding, defining, and studying your audience first.

2. Choose a topic and research it

Set aside regular time to look for topics. Read your competitors' blogs, relevant websites and social media, and note what your customers ask you. Write your ideas down in one place, such as a simple document or spreadsheet. This list becomes your idea bank for future posts. If you need a starting point, our list of ideas for blog posts has plenty.

When you pick an idea, research it properly. Keyword research shows you the words people use when they search for the topic, so you can use the same words in your post. A good start is the words a reader might type into Google to find a post like yours. A keyword tool such as Google's Keyword Planner, part of Google Ads, then shows you more ideas when you enter words or websites related to your topic. Other posts on the topic are worth a look too: how they're built and what they leave out. Use them for inspiration, but give the topic your own angle, such as your own experience or a question the others don't answer.

3. Plan the structure before you write

An outline saves you time. It holds the headline you have in mind, the question the post answers and the subheadings that get the reader there, each with a short note. With that in front of you, you'll see straight away if a point is missing or comes in the wrong order. An outline that works can be your template for the next post. A writing model gives the outline a fixed shape, so you don't start from a blank page. For a post that's closer to advertising, try one of the copywriting formulas in our guide.

The inverted pyramid

The inverted pyramid comes from news writing. You start with the main point, then add the details and explanations in order of how much they matter. It suits guides and posts that answer a question, because the reader gets the answer even if they stop reading early.

The fish

The fish works well for stories, interviews and opinion pieces. In this model, the mouth is the headline and opening that grab the reader. The body holds the content of the post. The tail comes last and leaves the reader with a twist, a conclusion or something to think about.

4. Write a headline that earns the click

Write the headline for the people who see it first, in search results and on social media, and tell them what they get. Make the headline specific rather than clever. For example, write "How to clean a sofa without damaging the fabric" rather than "Our best cleaning secret".

A good headline is SEO-optimised and makes the reader curious. For search, that means using the words your readers search with, such as the ones you found in your keyword research. Keep it short enough to read at a glance, and never promise something the post doesn't deliver. There are more tricks for creating a good headline in our guide.

5. Open with the answer and end with a next step

Give the reader what the headline promised in your first paragraph: answer the question first, then explain. That way, even a reader who stops after the first paragraph still gets the answer they came for. Readers who have to dig for it often leave.

End the post with one clear next step. That could be a question for readers to answer in the comments or a related post to read next. On a business blog, you can also link to the product or service the post is about, so a reader who is ready can act on it.

6. Make the text easy to read

Research by Nielsen Norman Group found that people seldom read every word on a web page. They scan it and pick out single words and sentences. So write in plain words, explain any term your reader might not know, cut filler and keep to one idea per paragraph. Use subheadings that say what each section holds, so readers can find the part they need. Break up the text with elements like these:

• images or illustrations that show what the text explains
• bullet points for items the reader scans, such as tips or parts
• a quote that highlights an important message

It's worth thinking about the design of the page as well as the words, because the layout affects how easily readers can scan your post.

7. Add images that fit the post

Images, illustrations and videos bring a post to life. The main image of your post can catch as much attention as the headline, and it's worth taking the time to find good images. Keep this checklist in mind:

• Choose images that show or add to the point of the text, not just decoration.
• Use high-quality images, and compress them so the page still loads quickly. A plugin such as Imagify resizes and compresses images for WordPress.
• Use your own photos where you can. If you have none, look for free images on a stock photo site.
• Check the licence before you use an image: it says whether you may use it commercially, whether you must credit the photographer and whether you may edit it. If you can't find a licence, don't use the image.
• Give every image that adds information alt text: a short description of what it shows. It helps readers who use screen readers and helps search engines understand the image.

8. Edit before you publish

Don't publish your first draft straight away. Leave it for a while, then read it again as your reader would. Cut what doesn't help answer the question, and check that each section says what its subheading promises.

Then check the details: that the facts and figures are right, and that names, dates and prices match your sources. Read the text aloud to catch clumsy sentences and typos. Open the preview on your phone to see how the post looks there.

9. Publish regularly and sort posts into categories

There's no golden rule for how often to blog. A pace you can keep up beats a burst of posts followed by silence, even if it's slower than you'd like. Write posts in advance and schedule them to stay a step ahead. Each relevant post adds content to your website that can bring in visitors from search, which makes blogging a useful part of your SEO.

Sorting your blog posts into categories helps readers find more of what they like, because similar posts are grouped together. Categories also set clear limits for what you write about. For example, a business blog could use these categories:

• professional articles and guides
• customer stories and completed projects
• news from the office and your team
• interviews with customers or experts
• tips on using your products

Start with a few categories and add more over time. That way the work doesn't become overwhelming, and each category has a good selection of posts.

10. Measure what your readers do

Once your blog has a few posts, look at its visitor statistics regularly. If your blog runs on WordPress, start by installing Google Analytics in WordPress. The statistics show which posts readers find, which pages they leave your site from and, if you turn on enhanced measurement in Google Analytics, which posts they scroll to the end of. Write more of what works, and update or rewrite the posts that don't.

How long should a blog post be?

The length of a blog post depends on the question it answers and on what your readers need. There's no ideal word count. Keep a quick answer to a simple question short and to the point. Give a full guide to a bigger topic the room it needs to cover every step.

Use your statistics to get a better answer over time. If readers finish your longer posts, they want the detail. If they leave halfway, try shorter posts or a tighter edit.

Publish your blog on your own domain

If you're building a brand, it's worth running your blog on your own domain, as part of your business website. Readers then see your name in the address, and you decide the layout, the design and what you publish.

A WordPress website has the blog built in, because posts are part of WordPress itself. To run your blog on WordPress under that domain, you need hosting, such as our Hosting for WordPress. If you haven't set up your blog yet, here's how to start a blog.

Our Hosting for WordPress plans include an SSL certificate, which gives your blog a secure connection, and email on your own domain.

Plan your next post around one reader and one question, then work through the steps above. When the post is ready, register your domain with us and publish it on your blog under that domain.