Things to Consider When Formatting Your Author Blog

You’ve decided to finally build your author website. You know what you want to write about, but not sure what goes into formatting your author blog.

Don’t let the unknown scare you out of blogging. Formatting your author blog does not have to be complicated. In fact, there are a few simple things that can drastically improve the findability of your blog.

Title

One of the most important things to consider when formatting your blog post is the title.

Your title needs to draw the reader in and give a sense of what the post can do for them. It needs to convey a sense of importance as if the reader will be missing out if they don’t read it.

The title of your blog post can be the determining factor in whether or not the reader clicks on your link.

Featured Image

Make sure to include a featured image with every blog post, and on every page of your website for that matter. This is, arguably, the next most important part of your post after the actual content.

The featured image grabs your reader’s attention right away. It shows up at the top of the post. It is the image that shows up when you share the link on social media.

Don’t forget to add Alt Text to your featured image! When the picture does not load (which, let’s face it, happens more than we like with today’s technology), this enables the reader to know what is in the featured image.

Subtitles

Break your content into sections led by subtitles. Not only is this easier to read, but it helps improve your blog post for SEO purposes.

The text within each subtitle should be no more than 300 words. This makes it easier for the reader to skim your post to see if they want to read the whole thing. I know this may seem counter-intuitive, but the majority of readers will skim the subtitles of your post before actually reading it. If they are not interested in the subtitles, or the post seems to full of text, they are likely to leave your site altogether.

Text Length

There is a lot of debate about the perfect length of a blog post.

Some say short posts of 500 words or fewer are ideal, especially with readers attention spans being so short. However, others argue that long-form blog posts, over 2,000 words, show the best results.

Personally, I find that blog posts around 1,000 words seem to do the best. But that is for my blog. I recommend testing what works best for you and your audience. Long-form blog posts may bring the most traffic, but the ones under 500 words may have the most comments. Find out what works for you and brings you closer to your goals.

Break It Up

In addition to keeping the length of your entire post in mind, consider how it looks throughout.

Breaking up your text within the subtitles can help with the aesthetic and readability of your post.

1. Short paragraphs
2. Bullet points or numbered lists
3. Bold text
4. Quotes
5. Page breaks
6. Graphics and Images
7. Pre-set Social Posts

Graphics and Images

Images are always eye catching, and if your posts have some, your readers will be more inclined to keep reading.

These can be photos, stock images, charts, graphs, graphics, etc. Don’t forget to add the alt text to the image, just like in the featured image.

Include at least one Pinterest-worthy graphic (long and portrait-oriented) in your post and encourage readers to save it onto one of their boards.

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Keywords

Ah, keywords. The dreaded, feared, and necessary part of blogging.

Really, this part is fairly simple. What words are your audience using to find your content? What words are they using to find content like yours?

These are the keywords you should be using. Make sure you define at least one keyword for each blog post.

Meta Data

Similar to keywords, your meta data is what helps your content show up in the search results. It consists of your SEO Title, your slug (or url), the description of your post, and your keywords.

There are plugins, like Yoast SEO, that you can use to help you manage your meta data and make sure your posts are optimized for search results.

Frequency

When you start researching the best frequency to publish your blog posts, you are going to get several different answers.

Some people will tell you once a month is fine. Others will tell you, you need to be posting at least three to five times a week, if not every day. But it is the consistency that really matters. Blogging should be fun. It should be a part of your business strategy, but it shouldn’t take up all of your time.

Personally, I find publishing my blog posts once a week brings the best balance. I get a decent amount of traffic to my website, and I still have time to work on what really matters to me.

Final Thoughts

There are several simple things you can do to improve the formatting of your author blog. Titles, subtitles, images with alt text, metadata, all of this can get overwhelming if you don’t understand what it can do for your post. However, if done right, your blog posts can help you reach more readers and keep them coming back for more.

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I hope you found this post helpful! If you have any questions, or would like to add any tips, please comment. I love hearing from you!