Checklist for Writing Epic Blog Posts
Epic content is more than memorable, it is unforgettable. It begs to be shared with others. It gets favorited, bookmarked and referred to frequently. It is so insightful, valuable and full of problem-solving solutions that it could be sold as an info product. Have you delivered on all these points? Make sure you adhere to the following tips, strategies and proven tactics to make your content better than great.
☐ Add images and video. This increases the likelihood that your content will get shared, become viral, and take on a self-sustaining life of its own.
☐ Make your post at least 1,500 words, and preferably, more than 2,000 words. A study by QuickSprout shows that posts of longer than 1,500 words "get almost 70% more Tweets and nearly 23% more Facebook likes" than shorter posts.
☐ Take your time. You can't simply add 1,000 words of fluff to a 500-word post and expect it to perform well. Your post definitely should be longer than normal, but quality is just as important as quantity. This means doing lots of research, writing, editing and rewriting, which could translate to 5 or more hours for one epic blog post.
☐ Keep relevant to your niche. Don't confuse your audience, and the search engines, by writing content that doesn't make sense on your blog.
☐ Keep your topic evergreen and timeless. Epic blog posts tend to be those that are applicable year after year.
☐ Make your post easy to share. This includes social media share buttons, "Tweet This" links and incentives for helping you spread the word.
☐ Epic posts provide the ultimate solution to a huge problem. Your reader should have to go nowhere else for more information or extra resources.
☐ Bulleted lists break up large, boring blocks of text, and are great for getting important points across.
☐ Is your post formatted correctly? Are your H1, H2 and H3 tags in place? Have you provided alt image text? HTML coding and formatting is important to make the search engines happy, and to get your content read.
☐ Subheadings are extremely important. They break up your content, and allow your reader to scan your lengthy post. Each subheading should be able to function as a blog post title on its own.
☐ Did you include a call to action? Your reader has just invested a lot of time consuming your content. They want to know what to do next. Tell them.
☐ Edit ruthlessly. Take out every single word that does not belong. Eliminate fluff whenever and wherever you can. Quality will always conquer quantity, and when you have both of those characteristics present, there is a good chance you just wrote an epic blog post.
☐ Don't think you are finished after pressing publish. Your job has just begun. Share your blog post everywhere, link to other posts and pages on your blog, and continue to market your post long after it was published.