Totally That Guy!: How To Create a Great Blog Post By Using Structure

Blogging is the way to bring potential clients to your web site. Search engine optimisation, good web site design, high quality services and products and outside links and recommendations are all essentials as well, of course, but none of them will draw search engines and users to your site, in the numbers you want, without fresh, original content.

In the nine months that I've been curating web articles, and the months before that where I've been researching how to set up my business, I've read a lot of blog posts. I've now reached the point where I've started writing short articles on the internet myself. So here is my outline structure of a blog post:

The background to the topic. This should be researched, accurate, relevant and lead into:
The reason for the article. Make this personal and relevant to the reader.

More in-depth background. This should support:
Your thesis. This is a summary of the main point of the blog post.
A more detailed description of your thesis, supported by reasoning and evidence.
The implications of your thesis and why these matter to your reader.
A short, punchy summary of the thesis and the implications.
References and links to your research and evidence.

Some general advice:

Link to your evidence. Do this within the body of the text. Remember, this is blog post, not a magazine article. Take advantage of this! Don't put 'click here' after every phrase, use the text itself as a link. It's not only more elegant, it's better for search engine ranking. More advanced bloggers know to use key ranking phrases as links in the body of their articles.

Be authoritative. Don't speculate, demonstrate! Use accurate statistics but don't blind with science. Speak the language of your reader. If in doubt, think of them as an intelligent, interested adolescent.

Be succinct. Aim for about a five-hundred word length. If you go longer than that, think about splitting your article into more than one post.

Be constructive. I can't tell you the amount of times... NO! If you think you have a better idea about something, then show us how to do it. Don't complain about how others don't.

Be original. Use other resources for your research (and credit them) and have your say on current topics, certainly, but have a point to make that is uniquely yours. If you find that everything you want to say has already been said, then perhaps your post should simply be a list of reference to other sources that you find useful. If even that has been done, you should probably just forget the whole idea.

Don't worry too much. In particular, don't be too concerned about being wrong. This is an editorial, an opinion piece. As part of your research, you will almost certainly come across opinions that contrast with and even contradict your own (and each-other). Include references to these at the end, for context and background. This adds value for your reader and gives the impression of professionalism and objectivity.

Vary it a little. No-one likes to read the same thing over and over again, even if the actual content is different. On the other hand, wildly differing structures only serve to confuse your audience and turn off their interest. A good blog post is a structured blog post.

And finally: Have a good title. Remember, this is what you will be posting in social media, to link back to the article, and how other people will (hopefully!) link to it. It should obviously be catchy and memorable but also a good summary of your thesis, without giving too much away. It will be linked from, so it should tie in with your SEO strategy. A big ask, certainly. If you can make it evocative and relevant to your overall site, then you're doing well. Some people will tell you that you should come up with the title first and, if you can't, don't bother with the article. I wouldn't go that far but I think that you should certainly have a clear, succinct idea of what your article is about, before writing it, and your title should reflect that.

Links to Research Material:

Some articles on blog structure:

How to Structure Your Posts (and Why You Need To)

Why Your Post Style and Structure is Killing Your Blog

Shape and Structure: Tips for Constructing a Strong Blog Post

5 Tips For Blog Post Structure

How to structure your blog post from an SEO standpoint:

Structure of a Blog Post - You Have To Pay Attention To It

A simple fill-in-the-blanks template for a starting blog post:

The Foolproof Formula for Writing a Solid Blog Post [Template]

Categorising your blog posts for your readers' benefit and your own:

A Simple Structure for Creating Content