How to write a helpful blog post that connects with your audience

Choose one concept to execute

You have two options:

• Simplify a blog post idea into one concept
• Share a collection of ideas under one theme/concept so they have a home

There’s no need to create an encyclopedia inside one post. Not even comprehensive posts need to be comprehensive resources.

The post needs to create a win for you and your audience. Both of you matter in this equation.

If you aim only to serve your audience, you sacrifice yourself. But you do matter when it comes to your lifestyle blog.

Define the premise for your awareness: This post helps you with X without Y.

Before creating a new post I ask myself:

• Could an existing post be updated with a section about this?
• Would this be best as a Pin graphic headline to draw that audience to this post?
• Would the reason to make this post its own be acceptable for creating a new Wikipedia.org article?

For this reason, having a style guide is extremely beneficial to running your blog since it gives uniformity even amidst randomness.

Outline the post from your own brain first

Organize your knowledge about the topic into an outline based on

• what you already know
• what you’ve done
• what you’ve learned

I create headers and add bullet points in the Visual Editor so I know what to cover; this also helps me maintain organized notes.

If you need to keep someone else’s post open in a tab or more while writing your post, you should not be writing it.

Skill topics are best taught by beginners due to the curse of knowledge.

The paper quality didn’t matter to me as a beginner watercolor painter, yet every blogger insisted I needed an expensive pad to “truly learn” how to do it.

Starting, growing and monetizing a blog does not require nearly as many investments in the first year, yet the message is that if you don’t invest hundreds in your blog, you don’t truly care.

Develop your own blogging voice instead of trying to mimic someone else’s and stop regurgitating content.

Creating helpful content means adding to the conversation — sometimes even leading them.

No one needs yet another article with the same insights. They keep searching for fresh insights.

Every blog post on starting a blog as a business recommends narrowing down your niche. The internet doesn’t need another person saying that, especially when it’s NOT the only way.

Fresh perspectives = insights that are genuinely NOT everywhere. It’s saying the quiet part out loud, even if it’s gonna get you cancelled by people in your network.

Otherwise, you’re creating a glittery echo chamber that doesn’t challenge the status quo.

If you have no fresh perspective to contribute, the post is not meant to be written by you.

Topics you have to research to blog about are topics you have no authority to be writing.

Learning enough about a topic to rephrase what other people have said is plagiarism.

Research to fill knowledge gaps

With the previous step, you should have an outline that could be published as-is after writing it.

The research phase is best for finding outbound links or stats and studies. To be fair, some posts can be written in response to scientific research — completely different ballgame from generally helpful content.

And this guide is about writing helpful blog posts, not responding to scientific research.

If you need to paraphrase other people’s insights without credit, wait on that section. Update it later once you have your own personal insight.

Because that’s not “research” — it’s regurgitating, copying, plagiarism.

Humility earns credibility, so saying “I don’t know” is an acceptable answer. “I’m still learning” is an acceptable answer.

Refraining from writing about something you don’t know about builds trust and credibility far more than pretending to know about it or acting like you have all the answers.

Don’t fake it ’til you make it.

Draft fast

Once I have an outline, I start writing. Living with chronic illnesses and a cat, I don’t always begin writing the post immediately.

While writing, I am minimally editing. I don’t edit my posts as much as I think other bloggers do. A recovering perfectionist, obsessing over imperfections prevents me from publishing it.

If you need to have someone else’s site open for the tone or ideas on how to write it, you shouldn’t be writing the post. I’m saying this again because I’m serious. Do not write the post.

Sometimes I write the post section by section or all in one go — it really depends. The bullet lists remind me of points I wanted to make and my voice, since I write them in my own voice.

Shape the post

After writing the post is time to shape it!

This is where I go back in and add any relevant links I didn’t add prior. I add links as I write the post because I don’t want to forget to later, so this is more of a double-check.

Shaping the post includes formatting the content, and tweaking the structure and diction.

So breaking up walls of text for readability, making the post skimmable.

I’m dyslexic and struggle to read blocks of text. I find 1-2-sentence paragraphs easier to read on the web.

This trend started with other bloggers wanting to make the scrollbar longer on their sites; it irritated me. So I do know what saying this here could come off as, like “omg, no one truly reads anymore”.

Save the blocks of text for physical written media.

Add images, lists, charts, etc. if they genuinely help or add to the post — not because you feel like you’re “supposed” to.

Next steps

After writing a post, I post it right then or schedule it. Lately, I’ve been trying to schedule posts in advance for a rhythm.

Once or twice a month, I create Pinterest graphics in bulk for the posts that need them. You may find my posts are often published without graphics and later updated to have them.

I’ve not had issues with this routine thus far. It’s not an SEO strategy or anything. I’m not pushing myself to get everything perfect. 🤷‍♀️