Congratulations! All that blog writing has finally paid off and you have an amazing blog ready to publish! Before you hit that publish or schedule button, take a moment to take a look at these simple steps to make sure you are getting the most out of all of your hard work that has gone into blog writing. These tips will help you make the most out of the time and effort you have spent writing your latest blog post.
Step Away From the Blog
This may sound crazy, but step away from the blog. Go get a drink. Go do something else. Before I publish a blog, I like to step away for a while before I read and edit it one final time. Sometimes I end up coming up with a few more points to talk about, or catch a few mistakes. Taking a step back is always a good idea when it comes to making sure you are producing the best possible content. When you come back to the blog, you will have a fresh perspective on a final read through, and may even come up with some additional blog posts based on that topic.
- One final read through
- Perform any final blog edits (then read it again)
- Make sure you have linked to other relevant blogs on your site
These are the final steps I use to spruce up each and every blog post. You would be surprised at how many times I actually end up with a longer blog post than I started with. I generally do this with every piece of content I write, be it a blog post, white paper, eBook, etc. Speaking of additional pieces of content…
Maximize Your Blog Content
Have you done everything you can with this blog post? By that, I mean are there other ways you can share the information you just spent all of that time writing? Here are some examples of other things you can do with the content you already have!
- Create an infographic – people love pictures!
- Continue your blog post in the form of a blog series – make sure to link all of your posts together.
- Turn your blog series into a free eBook – include a few tidbits you did not put in your blogs.
- Make a video – would people enjoy watching this content in video format?
- Record a podcast – some people prefer to listen instead of reading.
You now have five different content ideas from a single blog post. That means you have six pieces of content for the price of one. As we all know, it is important to make sure we are regularly publishing content for our audience. These tips make it a lot easier to do so. Each and every type of content may not work for your audience, so take this list with a grain of salt, or you may not be accustomed to each type of content. For example, video is not something I often work with, but I want to do more with it.
Learning how to create a new type of content can have a bit of a learning curve, so do not get discouraged. Just like you will become a better writer every time you write, you will become a better video creator or image creator every time you practice these skills. Practice makes perfect!
Schedule Social Media Posts
A blog is nothing if you are not scheduling your posts on social media, and I am not talking about just scheduling it once. One of the best things about CoSchedule (you can read why I love it so much here) is that you can schedule a social media campaign that automatically publishes your content at the best times. It also lets you tweak all your messages all on one place, with some suggestions on how often to post it like:
- Same day as publish
- Day after publish
- Week after publish
- Month after publish
Just pop in the URL of your blog post, and you are ready to go. You an also add custom dates to the schedule. I find this very very helpful if I know I am going to run a campaign on a particular post either short term or long term, and want to make sure I can schedule all the messages up front so I do not have to worry about it.
Not scheduling social messages is one of the top five most common social media mistakes you can make as a blogger. Be sure to check out what all five are, and more importantly, super easy fixes for these common social media mistakes!
Add It to the List
I recently started keeping a running list of all of my blog posts, along with their URLs. Why? Sometimes when I am brainstorming blog topics it helps to have an at a glance list of what I have written it about so far. This way I know if I have already written about my new idea, or if my new idea can tie back to any old ones to create a series.
I also like to keep a couple of notes about each blog post, like if I mentioned any specific tools (like when I did a min-walkthrough of Neil Patel’s awesome keyword research tool called Ubersuggest in the post called How to Write a Blog With SEO – Naturally!). As you create more and more content, it can get difficult to keep track of what you have created! That is why I love creating this running list and keeping it updated. Is it a little bit more work? Yes, but totally worth it.
We also talked about how important it is to promote your content. This running list helps me come up with ideas on how to put a new spin on an old piece of content to get some extra mileage.
Between this list, and the list you should be keeping of all you blog ideas, you should not have a shortage of content anytime soon. To learn more about why a blog ideas list is one of your most essential tools, and how to create one, be sure to take a look at this post.
One Last Read Through
I know I know, I already told you to read your post again, and again! It just seems like every time I read a post, I can add a few more words, a new image, or another link to either an article I have already written, or an article I found useful on a different blog.
Remember, your content is always evoloving, even as it is being created! There is nothing wrong with checking in with your content on a regular basis, or updating and adding to your existing blog posts. In fact, this is a great way to beat writers block, and still feel productive.
What else do you do before you publish your blog posts? Be sure to let us know in the comments or on Twitter.