Congratulations! You’ve written a great post and now it’s time to hit the publish button. However, the web is full of sub-standard content and the only way to separate yourself from all the noise is to produce truly outstanding work. If you also perform the necessary due diligence and checks before you publish, you are more likely to establish yourself as a credible source and as a writer who puts quality before quantity.
Before you publish, it’s important to ensure that:
- You have proofread and edited for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.
- Your post is easy to read and
- Your post is search engine friendly.
Here is a quick checklist of essential tasks before you hit the publish button:
#1. Proofread for error free copy; Check Grammar and Punctuation
Punctuation can save a life
Here’s a great example:”Let’s eat Grandma” and “Let’s eat, Grandma”
Proofread and test your copy for the proper:
- Sentence structure
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Spelling
- Numbers
- Style
Is your copy clear, concise, coherent, captivating and compelling?
Edit your copy so that your sentences are crisp and easy to understand.
#2. Optimize your Headline for Social Media
The true challenge in these days of twitter and social media marketing is to write headlines that are:
- 140 characters or less
- attention grabbing
- search engine friendly
Headlines can make or break your blog promotion efforts. The first impression people have of your content are your headlines as they show up on rss feeds and on social media sites such as twitter and Facebook. If your headlines do not attract, then readers will not read your posts. Copyblogger has a great article on the art of crafting headlines that work. Before you publish, your headlines need to be optimized for social media.
#3. Seo
Seo your post in 5 easy steps:
- Does your copy include the relevant keywords?
- Include your keywords in your title tag, headlines, copy and anchor text.
- Add keywords to your metadata and description.
- Certain WordPress plugins such as All in One Seo Pack and WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast are extremely useful for gathering your keywords, description and metadata.
- Are your images optimized with the alt tag and have you used an image optimizer such as smush.it for optimizing image size?
#4. Links
For seo purposes, it’s important to have internal as well as external links. Always link to another related post on your site. Test all the links on your site as part of regular quality assurance of your post.
#5. Html Tags
You don’t need to be a pro in Html but a little knowledge of html tags will go a long way in helping you optimize your copy. The W3 schools have excellent tutorials for Html, Css and HTML 5.0 as well.
- These html tags open your external links in another tab of your browser so that visitors do not leave your page.
- Alt tags are extremely useful html tags. They describe your image to search engines and are also useful for blind readers, certain mobile phone users and users that use screen readers and text browsers.
- More and more users are reading through mobile devices. Read up on the upcoming html tags that make it easier to view your site on mobile phones. Use the viewport meta tag to control layout on mobile browsers.
#6. Make your Copy Easy to Read on the Web
Most readers scan info. on the web rather than read everything for 2 reasons:
- It’s easier on the eyes to scan info when people read from their laptop, tablet or mobile.
- There is an overload of info. on the web today and scanning saves time.
If a reader first scans your post and finds it useful, he is more likely to read your entire post or article.
Here are some tips for making your blog easy to read and scan:
- Proper use of headings, subheadings and bold text will guide your readers through the important elements of your copy.
- Bullet points and numbered lists are easy to scan for key pieces of info.
- Include lots of white space.
- Ensure that your copy is not too cluttered with too many distracting elements.
#7. Add Categories, Tags and Slugs (WordPress blogs)
Categories provide a helpful way to group related posts together, and to quickly tell readers what a post is about.
Tags are essentially keywords for each page/article you create. Search engines look for these tags and index your page accordingly. For example, if you were writing a recipe for brownies, then the category would be dessert and the tags could include recipes, brownies and chocolate. WordPress creates a page for each category and tag, which helps readers find the topics that interest them.
A category or tag can consist of multiple words, but this creates a problem, because website addresses cannot contain spaces. For this reason, WordPress creates a “slug” for each category and tag. The slug removes spaces and converts all text to lowercase. To change the URL that appears in a reader’s Web browser when they view a category or tag page on your WordPress blog, modify the slug for that category or tag.
#8. Include a Call to Action
Every post needs to end with a valid call to action. It could be as simple as requesting customers to sign up for your newsletter, invite interaction on your post or buy your product. Research shows that customers want to be guided and it’s beneficial to use language that propels them forward.
Have I missed any essential tasks? Please feel free to add and share your ideas. If you liked this post, please share it generously on all your social networks.
Alan Eggleston says
Great article, Gazalla. It covers a lot of sins of omission by Web authors. As an editor, probably the biggest sin for the Web is forgetting title tags and descriptions. But as a writer, I find many websites miss that crucial call to action. Invite your reader to take that next important step, and guide her to what you hope she will do: call, email, write, or BUY NOW.
Gazalla Gaya says
Thanks for your feedback, Alan. Your post on Web Editors: Does the Rush for Quantity Risk Writing Quality? actually generated the idea for this post. I thought it might be useful to all bloggers to think of these points before they publish.
Malhar says
Great post Gazalla,
I particularly like #3 & #5. Keep up the good work.
Cheers, Malhar
(http://www.malharbarai.com)
Gazalla Gaya says
Thanks Malhar. Yes, seo and html tags are so important. In fact, I wanted to place them at the top of the list but the writer in me won. I think that in addition to good writing and proofreading making your content web ready (seo, html, layout with css, easy to read) are all essential elements of A list blogs.
Phillipa Kiripatea says
Another excellent post Gazalla! I’ve printed your article out and have it on my wall next to me. I need that checklist!
Thanks heaps 🙂
Phillipa Kiripatea recently posted..How Facebook Deleted My Facebook Page, TWICE!
Gazalla Gaya says
Thanks, Phillipa. I’m so glad that you found this info. useful enough to have next to you. That’s exactly what it’s meant for – A quick checklist before you hit Publish!
Adi Gaskell says
I’m going to be controversial here, but does spelling matter so much on the web? There’s nothing more annoying than posting on a community asking for some help or opinion on a topic and the first reply is someone pointing out a spelling mistake or typo.
Of course good spelling and grammar have a time and a place, and if your writing is so poor as to make it illegible then that clearly requires attention, but if I read a post by Rand Fishkin on SEO for instance, or Avinash Kausik on analytics, I’d be judging their content not their spelling.
It seems strange to me. My partner for instance is Czech and has recently completed a medical degree in English, so she’s super smart. She started the course before we met and was struggling with essays, not because her knowledge was poor but that she’d make the odd spelling mistake. I went over many of her essays and the feedback given and I can’t think of a single instance where a professor corrected her actual knowledge, yet she was regularly marked around 50%. I know if someone was treating me for an illness how well they could write a bloody essay would be the last thing on my mind.
Ok, long rant 🙂 Guess what I’m saying is that yeah spelling and grammar aren’t something we should ignore. No one wants a post written like an infant, but equally we should remember we’re judging writing on the ideas they’re communicating and therefore should not turn into grammar nazis.
Adi Gaskell recently posted..Was the Apple/Foxconn situation rational?
Gazalla Gaya says
Thank you for your feedback. I have to say that I agree with you on certain points. Content and being a subject matter expert on your topic are very important. However, paying attention to how you communicate is equally important.
Proofreading, checking for error free copy are all measures that will not only improve your blog, they will establish you as a writer who always puts quality first. They will also establish your credibility as a writer and help you stand apart from the millions of blogs in your niche. If I go to a site where I see grammatical errors, I’m distracted from the subject matter of the blog.
Frederic Gonzalo says
Great summary and how-to about blogging that first-comers and expert bloggers alike will appreciate. Thanks for the list, Gazalla!
Gazalla Gaya says
You’re welcome, Frederic. Yes, it’s a list for us all, no matter what level, we all need reminders!
dipa says
I am new to the world of blogging and needed these tips. Thanks so much. There is one thing that isn’t clear to me though:
You have said: “Include your keywords in your title tag, headlines, copy and anchor text.” I understood all the rest except the part “copy” and headlines. Title and headline is same is it not? Thanks for the rest of the post-very informative to a newbie like me.
Gazalla Gaya says
Headlines and title tags can be the same but at times may be different. Your title tag is the html title of your post in your header (and the ones search engines look at) and sometimes for seo purposes you can write a different title since search engines will only show less than about 60 characters and also prefer to have your keyword at the beginning of the title. Your headlines on the other hand are always optimized for your target audience.