You’ve set up your blog and now it’s time to write that first post. You sit in front of your computer, and then nothing.

Most new writers underestimate the effort it takes to write a 500-1000-word article and this creates problems; procrastination, creative block, failure. The key to resolving this is good planning. Here is a brief writing guide.

Choose a Topic

Before you go any further, you need to choose a topic to write about. If you already have a blog, this topic should be in your niche (the specific area of the market that your blog covers). It should be something that interests you and your audience. If you’re not interested in a particular topic, your audience probably wouldn’t be either.

Conduct your research

No one knows everything and sometimes you may have to write on a topic you know nothing about therefore, doing proper research becomes important.

A brief writing guide on your research; rely on authoritative sources like official websites for organizations, government websites, and industry experts. Be sure to confirm your facts from three or more credible sources to minimise error.

Create an Outline

An outline is a general description of the topic you want to write about, a summary of your main points. It gives structure to your work and ensures that you do not deviate from your message. Here’s a brief writing guide on outlines you’d find helpful.

Choose a headline

This is the title of your work. Although this could be written at any point, it’s recommended that you write it after the main body of your work because it should be specific to the topic your write-up covers. Make your headline as compelling as possible.

Write your article

You have your topic now, your facts and general outline, the next step is to get to work doing the actual writing. The best way to go through a lengthy project is to break the process down into short time blocks.

This allows you to focus fully for a length of time, it makes the work manageable and reduces the chances of procrastination. Do this with your writing.

Edit your work

Check for grammatical and spelling errors and test the overall coherence of your work, although there are many oversights writers have towards their work, so hiring a professional for this stage might be best. You can ask fellow writers for opinions and criticism as well. Try reading your work aloud to check for flow.

Bonus

Adding pictures to your write-up gives emphasis, adds color and humor to your post. Consider optimising for SEO to increase visibility. There are free and paid plugins that help with this. This will drive organic traffic to your blog and build credibility.

Remember: your first post will probably not be your best. The important part is to get started.

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