Writing a blog post feels like solving a maze. You wouldn’t want to begin, knowing that you’re going to fail one way or another, probably over and over, until you reach the finish line.
But just like a maze, you have to start if you want to get it done! So today, let us help you plan your day as you write a blog post.
#1 Plan your day… realistically
For your own sake, don’t shoot for the stars, hoping that you will land on the moon. That’s not the best advice to take when you’re planning to write a blog.
You have to be more realistic because your responsibilities as a mother are in line if you don’t check what you need to do for the day. Carefully plan the non-negotiables of your day, like breastfeeding, preparing your toddler’s food, reading her a story before tucking her to bed, and so on.
Check this to-do list first, then set realistic goals for your mom blog. Don’t rush too much if you can’t finish a post the whole day. Based on experience, quality comes before quantity in your journey of mom blogging.
#2 Who are you trying to help?
Audience-targeting is usually done before you even buy a domain. This is on the upper part of the to-do list when you decide to start a mom blog.
Once you have a target audience, every post should be in service of them. But just in case you are targeting a different audience for this specific blog post or you haven’t really decided on your target audience, it will be best to do audience-targeting before you write a blog post.
#3 Check your previous posts
Our #4 step is about deciding on the topic to write. This is one of the most difficult parts in writing a blog post, so we advise that before you Google for something to write, check your previous posts first. You may have slightly discussed a topic before and you’d want to elaborate on that.
This is a good way to select a topic for two reasons:
- First, you probably have a little bit of knowledge on this topic.
- Second, this will help you create internal links between your blog posts. Internal linking is one of the powerful tools in SEO.
#4 Decide on a specific topic
If you didn’t find anything on your previous post, you can effectively choose a topic by thinking of your target audience.
How can you help them today in your post? What is something about your niche that you have struggled to figure out before and now you know completely and you think will be of great help to them? What is something trending in your niche that you want to express your opinion about?
Once you’ve decided on the topic, try to scale it down to something more specific, then create a working title out of it.
#5 Decide the type of post to write
Now that you have a topic, it’s time to make it easily readable for your audience. Here are the types of posts that you can choose from:
- List-based – It’s often used to discuss different kinds of one thing. Like this post that we wrote earlier this year about the Five Content Ideas for your Mom Blog’s Social Media.
- How-to post – something like this blog post. It talks about the steps on how to achieve something. This is perfect if you’re teaching your readers the methodological process of how to get from where they are to where they want to be.
- News post – this is a more formal and more stiff kind of writing that often involves quoting facts and statements from others. This is more fitting if you’re writing about an update in your niche.
#6 How will you end it?
There’s beautiful advice from Malcolm Gladwell, the writer of the worldwide-acclaimed book, The Tipping Point. He said the best way to start writing is to know how you’ll end. He says, when you know the ending of what you’re writing, everything else will be so easy.
That’s actually an excellent point! One challenge in writing is that you can get lost in the middle. But if you have an ending to your blog post, you’ll have a guide to the finish line.
#7 Write for yourself
Start with a draft. Dump all the things you know – your research, your opinions, more research while you’re writing, everything! Write down every single thing in your head as if you’re the one who will read your post.
#8 Write for your audience
I really believe that the first phase of editing is refining your work to suit your audience. In step #7, you wrote as if you’re the one who will read it. This will allow you to freely express yourself.
But in the end, you know that you’re really writing for your audience, right? So rephrase your sentences, add some more words and sentences to explain your point, then deduct the unnecessary. This first phase of editing should be the part where you make your blog post easiest to understand for your audience.
#9 Edit and Proofread
In writing, the more you edit, the better your blog post becomes. Edit and proofread as much as you want.
Check your grammar. Refine your words and sentences more. Read the post over and over until you can say that this is something worth reading.
#10 Season your post with pictures
Lastly, help your post become more interesting by adding interesting photos that will illustrate the words you’re writing.
Photos will surely take away the boredom of reading. After all, you don’t have to take your own photos. There are lots of websites out there giving out free photos like Unsplash and Pixabay. And mind you, they’re not your average images, but photos taken by professional photographers! If you’ll be kinder enough, credit these photographers in your mom blog too.
In the ’90s when people started blogging, they were just writing their ideas almost without a filter. Those days, blogging used to be more personal – an outlet for those who wanted to share their feelings and experiences.
I don’t see any reason why mom bloggers should do blogging differently. Don’t be too conscious to the point that your consciousness will stop you from starting a blog post. After all, your readers may have 0% knowledge about the topic you’re sharing. Keep these readers in mind and forget about your fear of getting negative comments.
This article was originally posted at Mom Marketing Coach
