Writing and designing articles for the blog

A blog is a powerful tool for driving traffic, increasing brand awareness, and gaining expert status in your niche.

For a blog to really work and bring results, it is not enough to publish articles regularly. It is important to emphasize the quality of the content - to write expert, useful materials that provide readers with answers to their questions and help them solve problems. These are the articles that will rank well in search, get natural links and shares on social media.

Even if you already publish blog articles, these tips will help you take your content quality to the next level. You'll learn how to create content that will rank better, get more traffic, and convert more. And if you're just planning to launch your blog, this article will serve as a complete guide to creating content that both readers and search engines will love.

Determine the target audience and goals of the article

Before you decide on the topic of your future article, it's important to study your audience well. What kind of people read your blog? What are they interested in, what are their pains and problems? There are several ways to find answers to these questions:

1. Examine your website and blog statistics in Google Analytics or another analytics system. What articles are the most popular? What queries do people use to find your blog? This data will help you identify topics and formats that resonate better with your audience.
2. Conduct a survey among your readers. For example, in an email newsletter or on social media. Ask an open-ended question: "What topics would you like to see in our blog?" or offer several options to choose from. This way you can generate ideas based on real audience requests.
3. Study thematic communities, forums, and social media groups. What questions do people ask there? What difficulties do they face? These discussions are a source of insights for choosing relevant topics.
4. Conduct interviews with several representatives of your target audience. Find out about their problems, needs, fears, and objections. This information will help you create content that will resonate deeply with your readers and be perceived as "yours."

Analyzing search queries in your niche using tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Serpstat will also help you find popular topics. Pay attention to the "Questions" or "Keyword Formulation" sections of these services.

For example, for a blog about healthy eating, relevant queries may include:

• How to create a balanced diet for the week
• 10 best snacks to take to work with you
• How to replace sugar: 5 natural sweeteners
• A guide to choosing healthy vegetable oils

And for an IT blog, the following topics will work well:

• 10 VS Code plugins to make your developer's job easier
• Comparison of frontend frameworks: React, Vue, or Angular?
• How to set up Docker for development on a local machine
• A step-by-step guide to deploying a Node.js application to Heroku

It's also important to define the goal you want to achieve with your article. What action should the reader take after reading it? For example:

• Subscribe to your blog or newsletter
• Download a checklist, guide or other lead magnet
• Register for a webinar or master class
• Buy your product or service
• Go to the service description page

Understanding the goals of the article will help you build the structure, emphasis, and calls to action in the text. Ideally, the topic, the reader's problem, and the purpose of the article should overlap.

Let's say your company offers services for creating online stores on WordPress. A good topic for a blog post would be "How to choose a plugin for an online store on WordPress: an overview of the top 5 solutions". This article answers a common question of your audience and promotes your development services at the same time. In the text, you give expert advice on choosing a plugin and end the article with a call to contact you if the reader wants to get a beautiful and functional WordPress store.

Preparatory stage before writing an article

When the topic and goals of the article are defined, you can proceed to the preparatory stage. It includes searching for ideas, drawing up an article outline, and collecting information to fill it.

Methods for finding ideas for articles

The 5W method: Ask yourself 5 questions about the topic of the article, starting with the letter W:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

Answers to these questions will help you to explore the topic more deeply and find interesting ideas.

List method: Write down 10-20 of any ideas that come to mind on the topic of your choice. Don't limit yourself or criticize your ideas at this stage. Then analyze the list and choose the top 3-5 ideas for your article.

Free association method: Write a keyword that reflects the topic of the article in the center of the paper. Draw a few lines from it and write down the words and phrases you associate with the word. Continue to branch out until you run out of ideas. Look at the resulting map and select interesting associations that will help you to reveal the topic.

Develop an article structure

When you have a few ideas for an article, it's time to create a detailed outline. A good structure will help you organize your thoughts, avoid missing important points, and make your article easy to read.

A universal article structure looks like this:

Introduction

• Statement of the problem or question that concerns the reader
• Promise to provide a solution or answer in the article
• A brief overview of the key points of the article

The main part

• Sections and subsections of the article, each of which covers a separate aspect of the topic
• Can be structured as a list (7 ways, 10 tips) or as a guide (step-by-step instructions)
• Ideally, there should be 3-7 sections, each with its own subheading

Conclusion.

• Summarizing the results, repeating the key points of the article
• A call to action that will lead to the fulfillment of the article's goal

Here is an example of the structure for the article "7 Ways to Speed Up Website Loading on WordPress":

Introduction

• Why website loading speed is important for SEO and conversions
• Promise to show 7 working ways to speed up your WordPress site

The main part

1. Choosing a fast hosting
2. Using an optimized theme
3. Setting up caching on the site
4. Image optimization
5. Minimizing CSS and JavaScript files
6. Connecting a CDN
7. Disable unused plugins and features

Conclusion.

• A reminder that website speedup has a positive impact on rankings and conversions
• A call to conduct an audit of your website speed and implement the described methods
• Promise to conduct a free audit for readers who leave a request

Gathering information for the article

When the article structure is ready, you need to fill it with expert and useful content. To do this, you need to collect information from reliable sources:

• Books and textbooks on the topic of the article, preferably from well-known authors and publishers.
• Scientific publications, research reports, statistical collections. They will provide the article with accurate data and figures.
• Blogs and articles by recognized experts in your niche. Studying other people's materials will help you understand how to cover a topic in depth and where to place your emphasis.
• Recordings of specialized webinars and conferences, presentation slides. They often contain exclusive, insider information.
• Your own experience: examples from your practice, results of experiments, personal developments on the topic of the article.

From each source, write down the most valuable and interesting points that will help make your article truly useful to readers. Don't forget to mark links to sources so that you can refer to them later in the article. This will increase the expertise of your material and allow readers to study the topic even deeper.

SEO optimization of an article

To get steady traffic to your blog from search engines, it's not enough to just write quality articles. You need to optimize them for SEO requirements. Let's analyze the main points that you should pay attention to.

Choosing and using keywords

One of the most common mistakes when writing an article is focusing on only one keyword query. As a result, the topic is covered one-sidedly, and the article itself looks tailored to search engines rather than to the interests of readers.

The best approach is to choose 5-10 keywords that will help you fully reveal the chosen topic. Use semantic core analysis services for this purpose:

• Ahrefs - information about the frequency and competition of queries, ideas for similar keywords in the "Having the same terms", "Questions", "Also rank for" sections.
• Serpstat - similar and related keywords in the Search Hints, Similar Queries, and Related Words sections.
• Key Collector - ideas for queries and article formats in the Google Tips section.

Also, when choosing keywords, focus on user goals. For example, for an informational article about choosing a RAM, the following queries are perfect:

• how to choose a RAM
• how much RAM do you need for games
• ddr3 or ddr4 which is better
• how to find out the supported memory type
• compatibility of RAM

But for an online store that sells RAM, transactional queries are more suitable:

• buy ddr4 RAM
• price for ddr3 8gb memory
• Samsung or Hynix chips which is better
• warranty for Kingston RAM

After collecting 5-10 relevant keywords, place them in the text of the article:

• In the H1 heading, use the highest-frequency query that clearly reflects the topic of the article. Example: "How to choose RAM for a computer: a complete guide"
• In the H2-H3 subheadings, use other key queries, evenly distributing them throughout the text. Example: "Compatibility: ddr3 or ddr4 - which standard is better?"
• In the main text, use keys in different declensions and variations, but without abuse. 2-4 occurrences of a key per 1000 characters is optimal. Example: "When choosing RAM, be sure to check the type of your motherboard - it should support the same standard, whether it's ddr3 or ddr4. Now ddr4 is gradually replacing ddr3, it is faster and more stable."

Meta tags

Pay attention to the meta tags of the article page - Title and Description. They not only affect the CTR of your snippet in the SERPs, but also give search robots a clear understanding of what your text is about.

• Title - the main title of the page in the search results, put the most important keyword of the article in it. The optimal length is 60-70 characters. Example: "How to choose RAM for a computer in 2024"
• Description - a brief description of the content of the article, you can add 1-2 keywords to it. The optimal length is up to 150 characters. Example: "Learn from our guide how to choose RAM: ddr3 or ddr4, capacity, timings, manufacturer. 7 factors of the right choice!"

In addition to Title and Description, the following meta tags are also important in an article:

• alt for images - a description of what is depicted in the picture. It helps non-textual content to be ranked in search by images. Try to make meaningful descriptions with keys, not formal ones like "image1", "post-1". Example: alt="Table of compatibility of ddr3 and ddr4 RAM with Intel and AMD processors"
• Text highlighting tags - strong and em - help to point out important fragments of text to search engines, highlight key thoughts or phrases. Example: "Properly selected RAM is the <em>key to fast and stable computer performance</em>. Don't skimp on this component, as the system performance largely depends on the quantity and quality of RAM."

E-A-T factors

For many niches and topics, non-spam E-A-T factors (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) are important. Google algorithms use them to determine the quality and usefulness of content.

To increase the E-A-T of your article:

• Support facts and figures with links to reliable sources - scientific journals, industry portals, expert blogs.
• Demonstrate your personal experience and professional achievements on the topic of the article.
• Get expert comments for your article from niche opinion leaders.
• Encourage readers to leave feedback and comments under the article, and actively respond to them.

For example, for an article on choosing RAM, they can confirm E-A-T:

• Links to RAM performance tests from reputable computer portals.
• Mention of certificates and awards that your company has received as a seller of components.
• Testimonials from satisfied customers of your store who have successfully upgraded their PCs based on your recommendations.

Writing an article using the inverted pyramid method

One of the most effective models of presenting information in articles is the so-called "inverted pyramid". Its essence is to give the most important information at the beginning of the text, and then gradually delve into details and details.

This model came from journalism, where it is important to grab the reader from the first paragraphs so that they read the article to the end. On the Internet, where users are used to scanning text quickly, this approach works even better.

Here's how the structure of an article written using the inverted pyramid method usually looks like:

1. Headline - contains the main message of the article, intrigues and motivates you to read further. For example: "7 effective ways to speed up website loading on WordPress" "How to get rid of spam in comments on your website once and for all"
2. First paragraph - gives a brief summary of the main points of the article, indicates how the reader will benefit. For example: "A slow WordPress site annoys visitors and reduces conversions. In this article, you will learn 7 ways to speed up your website without special technical knowledge and high costs. By implementing them, you will be able to reduce bounce rates and improve behavioral factors."
3. The main points are 3-7 key points of the article that reveal the topic stated in the title. Each thesis is highlighted by a subheading and elaborated on in the following 2-3 paragraphs. The order of the theses is from the most important to the least important.
4. Details - additional information that will help you better understand the topic, but which you can do without. Explanations, examples, links to other materials. They are placed after the main points.
5. Conclusion - summarizes, repeats the key ideas of the article, motivates the reader to apply the knowledge gained in practice.

Tips on writing style and formatting

It's not enough to just structure the information in the right order. To make the article pleasant to read and easy to digest, you also need to format the text correctly in terms of style and formatting.

Here are some basic style and formatting tips:

1. Keep your writing simple and clear:

• Use short sentences and simple words
• Avoid complex terms and professional jargon
• Divide the text into small logical paragraphs - 3-5 sentences
• Alternate long and short paragraphs to vary the rhythm

1. Avoid solid canvases of text:

• Break the text into meaningful subdivisions with subheadings
• Use lists and numbering to list ideas
• Highlight important ideas and terms in bold or italics
• Add small quotes, inserts for variety

1. Visualize the information:

• Add thematic pictures and photos to your text
• Present data in the form of infographics, graphs, charts
• Use tables to compare, classify, and organize information
• Where appropriate, you can liven up the text with a demonstration, gif, or short video

Of course, you shouldn't use all these techniques fanatically in every article. Use the ones that work best for your topic and audience. The main thing is to make the text diverse, logical, and comfortable to read.

Visual design of the article

Even the most useful and interesting text can go unnoticed if it is a solid "sheet" without visual accents. That is why it is important to supplement textual content with properly selected images, graphics, and multimedia.

Visual elements in an article solve several problems:

• Attract the reader's attention, increase click-through rates in social networks and search results
• Break the text into blocks to make it easier to read
• Help illustrate and explain complex points
• Confirm facts and figures, increase trust in information
• Keep the reader on the page, reduce bounce rate

What visual elements to use

Thematic photos and illustrations. The main image (cover) sets the tone for the entire article and largely determines whether the user will want to read it. Choose bright, unusual images that reflect the content as fully as possible. To select thematic photos, use stock photo banks. These are free resources with huge libraries of high-quality images on any topic.

Screenshots, examples. In instructions and educational articles, be sure to show each step with specific examples. This will make it easier for the reader to repeat the process on their own. It is convenient to take screenshots using the built-in tools of Windows (Scissors) and macOS (Grab). For better perception, crop unnecessary things and add color accents in a graphic editor.

Infographics, charts, diagrams. If you need to show statistics, growth/decline dynamics, and the ratio of parts to the whole, use graphs and charts. They make numbers look more visual and convincing. To create a simple infographic, you can use online services like. And charts are easy to build in Google Sheets.

Gifs, animations, videos. Animated images and video inserts help to liven up an article, make it more dynamic and interactive. They are especially appropriate when you need to show a process in action. The optimal length of a video in an article is 1-3 minutes. In order not to slow down the page loading, it is better to upload the video to Youtube or Vimeo and embed it on your website using an iframe.

How to format images in an article

• Use JPG, PNG, or WebP formats. They are optimal for the web in terms of quality and file size.
• Compress images before uploading them to your website. Tools will reduce the file weight by 2-3 times without any visible loss of quality.
• Sign the alt text for each image. This will help search robots understand its content. Write meaningful descriptions and include keywords.

Example:

<img src="kak-vybrat-hosting.png" alt="Hosting comparison table for WordPress">.

• Add captions under images and graphs to clarify their meaning and context. Captions should be short, informative, and stylistically related to the main text.
• Group several related images into a gallery to avoid overloading the article. It's ideal when 2-3 images fit on the screen, and the rest open with a click.

Promote a published article

Work on an article does not end when you click the Publish button. In order for the material to be indexed by search engines and gain traffic faster, you need to actively promote it. Here are some proven ways to do it.

Internal linking

Add links to your new article from other relevant content on your website. This will make it easier for search robots to crawl the article and help it get into the index faster.

Also, internal links with the right anchor increase the relevance of an article for certain key queries. For example, if you have an article "10 Best WordPress Plugins", link from it to a new article "WordPress Website Acceleration Plugin: Setting Up and Optimizing" with the anchor "WordPress Website Acceleration".

The optimal number of internal links to an article is 3-5 for a small blog, 5-10 for a large website.

External links

Post a link to the new article on external platforms:

• On social media: make posts announcing the article and linking to it in your groups and pages. Vkontakte, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn - the more, the better. The optimal frequency of announcements is 2-3 times in the first week after publication.
• On thematic forums and in communities where your target audience lives. Do not spam, but post links in relevant discussions where they will be relevant and useful. Take part in discussions, answer questions, and leave a link in your signature.
• In content aggregators and blogging platforms: Yandex.Zen, Medium, Habr, VC.ru, Geektimes. Here you can publish both the full version of the article and a part of it with a "Read more" link to your blog. This way you will get additional traffic and natural links.

Guest posting

Write articles on the topic of your blog for other websites, with a link in the body of the article or in the "About" block. This will help to increase your brand awareness, get referral traffic, and crowd-sourced links.

For guest posting, it is better to choose trusted sites with high DR (Domain Rating) and ER (Engagement Rate). Focus on sites with a DR of 30 and higher. They are easy to find through Ahrefs, Majestic SEO, Moz services.

Advertising and speeding up indexing

• Contextual advertising in Google Ads and Yandex.Direct is a great tool for quickly driving traffic to a new article. You can set up campaigns with the right keywords and get up to 100-200 clicks per day immediately after publication. The average cost per click is 5-15 UAH depending on the topic.
• Speed up indexing through Google Search Console and Yandex.Webmaster. Submit a link to a new article using the Check URL function in Search Console and the Pagination function in Webmaster. Bots will index the article faster and update the snippet in the SERP.
• Buying links on GoGetLinks, Miralinks, Rotapost exchanges. You can find sites with the right topic and high traffic/DR/TF and place a permanent link to your article for only 50-150 UAH. But be careful and use nofollow for some of the links - search engines can penalize you for an overly active paid link strategy.