Blog Post Checklist: How to optimize your blog posts

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Is a blog post checklist part of your plan?

Does having a blog post checklist really matter if you are a blogger?

Blogging is not just writing a piece of content and publishing it, right?

It undergoes a lot of stages, from starting a website, choosing the right web host, crafting a magnetic blog title, writing, and optimizing for on-page SEO and technical SEO, to the moment you look at the statistics to analyze your performance.

Many of these actions are taken behind the scenes, but whatever your expertise is, you always need to follow a step-by-step blog post checklist in order to not miss any important step.

In this post, you will learn how to write a post following these steps, how to make it your habit when writing, and how to drive more traffic to your blog.

Why choose a blog post checklist?

In order to make your blogging experiment easier and less chaotic, you need to create a “rhythm” for yourself, a system that you will always follow to write, edit, proofread, polish, and publish your posts.

This system allows you to leap into the world of professional writers who also follow it to rank their posts at the top of the SERPs.

It is what we call the “blog post checklist” that will take you from zero to hero if you apply the steps in the right way.

Ready?

Let’s dive in

Step #1: Choose your topic

The whole blog post checklist story starts with choosing the content idea.

Identifying which topic you are going to cover is the first step to writing a killer blog post because all the coming steps are related in one way or another.

Even if you are one of those who partially rely on AI writers, you still need to be prepared to feed AI machines with the proper content to let them write accurately.

This is not an invitation to depend totally on them, but just in case.

Keep a list of notes with you to remind you of the best pieces to implement in your post and

decide which target keywords to use.

Step #2: Choose a magnetic headline

Headlines are the magnets to people’s eyes and the units that send signals to help search engines’ radars catch them.

No matter how appealing your headlines seem to you, always proofread and edit them until you are totally sure that they work for both readers and search engines.

This is how to craft catchy blog titles today

Step # 3: Write the best outline and proofread it

An outline depends on the subject you are going to write about and your ability to expand the main idea into paragraphs.

Your outline consists of titles that are the subheadings of your post that hold all the ideas and keywords needed.

Check for any mistakes, divide headings into more subheadings to avoid writing too long paragraphs, and make sure to arrange them logically to serve your content smoothly.

Step #4: Proofread your subheadings again

Subheadings are also of great importance for your site structure, SEO, and overall, readers’ knowledge of the topic they’re reading about.

Always make sure that your keywords are included in the H2 and H3 headings.

Do not throw them randomly, but rather proofread them many times until you are satisfied.

Step #5: Set your publish date and time

Publishing a post by mistake is considered one of the most frustrating accidents that may happen to bloggers.

This is not to say that it is a business-damaging act, but no one will feel happy looking at it happening.

Setting a publish time and date is a two-phase plan.

The first is before you start writing, when you plan the publishing time and date, and the second is when you hit the publish button.

To avoid publishing accidentally, set your publish date and time once you open your “new post” page.

Hit the publish button, click on “publish immediately” in the menu, change it, and set a date and time.

It may seem unnecessary to many people, but believe me, it happened to me twice before I deleted the posts and reverted them to drafts to work on them again.

Step #6: Proofread your permalink

One of the common mistakes bloggers make is leaving their URLs unchanged.

In this case, readers who look at your URL will see a bunch of words separated by a bunch of IDs, signs, and numbers.

To prevent being classified as an amateur, change your URL appearance and insert your keywords in your slug (the last part of the URL).

Proofread again and again.

Step #7: Check all the links in your post

Internal linking is a supreme factor in keeping readers hooked on your website. It also plays a significant role in helping bots crawl your blog and learn about its content so they can index your pages.

Moreover, It is a major part of the on-page SEO process to rank high and get more visitors.

By doing the correct inbound and outbound linking, you kill many birds with one stone; you improve ranking, keep visitors hooked, increase dwell time, and decrease bounce rate.

Check your links before publishing to avoid having broken links that are bad signs for both search engines and user experience.

Step #8: Choose your categories

A blog post checklist should always contain a “category” check.

If you are still a beginner, it is okay to neglect using tags because your business is still new and you don’t have much content. But do not underestimate the significance of using categories, even if you are still writing about one topic.

Categories help readers to find what they are looking for quickly and help Google bots learn more about your blog.

Inserting the right posts into the right categories prevents misleading your readers and facilitates their journey through your blog.

Step #9: Display your featured image

The featured image represents the theme of your blog, your mood, and the twin brother of your title.

It is essential not only for your blog readers but also for social media platforms.

Carefully select your featured image and keep it as a part of your blog checklist before publishing your content.

Step #10: Write your meta description

Along with the importance of a well-chosen title, the meta description is a small summary of your post that plays the role of grabbing searchers’ attention and letting them decide whether to click on your post or not.

By crafting a compelling meta description that includes your keywords and a tiny summary of what readers should expect, you are convincing them that you have the answers to what they’re looking for.

Check your meta description many times before publishing.

Step #11: Prepare your email and other promotional content

Based on the demographics of his target audience, a strategic blogger knows exactly when to publish his post.

There’s a time period to launch your post and promote it as well. It is not logical to publish a post at the perfect time and promote it at the worst.

That’s why you must always be ready to act once you hit that button, and that’s why your promotional content should be prepared prior to publishing.

Get your email template ready, the featured image, and the title text that you’re going to share on social media.

If you are using Yoast or other plugins that offer similar features, you can easily set Google, Facebook, and Twitter previews while you are writing.

Get your tools ready, wait for the publishing time, and start promoting.

Step #12: Include images in your blog post checklist

Visuals in general are a vital part of your blog post. They clarify the vaguest lines in it.

When you use images, don’t forget to write the alt text first, then check their size and whether they fit with the mobile version as well as the desktop one.

Always change the image format to WebP and then compress them to keep your blog running fast and avoid consuming more resources.

Step #13: Write your final thought

Some readers scroll down to check the conclusion before they read the whole post. They do this for many reasons, one of which is to see if what they are looking for does exist in your post.

So, if your conclusion summarizes your blog post well and they find that their inquiries are answered there, they’ll scroll up and start over reading.

Another importance of a conclusion is that it covers the whole idea of the topic, especially if it is long, and reminds the readers of what they’ve just finished reading.

Moreover, using your keyword in the conclusion is recommended for SEO purposes.

Take your time to craft a mini-post conclusion before publishing time.

Step #14: Enable/disable comments on your post

If you are one of those bloggers who, for many reasons, blocks comments on their posts, then make sure to do it before publishing.

You can choose to allow or disallow comments based on whether the type of your content requires them or not.

You can do this by visiting the discussion section in your WordPress dashboard.

Step #15: Related posts

The final step in your blog post checklist is to add a “related posts” section under your post.

This is critical in order to keep readers on your post for as long as possible, increasing your blog visitors and reaping many other benefits.

There are many WordPress plugins that automatically add a “related posts” section to your blog based on the topic you are writing about.

You can also do this manually by adding post links under your posts.

Conclusion

Everyone can write, but bloggers are always in competition.

If you miss them, sometimes small things prevent you from ranking on the SERPs.

And because our brains are not always present to help us, many times we fall under the effect of bloggers’ block.

Even though you can switch your brain to writing mode, you still need a blog post checklist to remind you of the important tips that a post needs in order to shine and rank.

Knowing your topic is the first step. Then comes choosing your title, subheading, outline, images, meta description, and conclusion.

The other steps on the checklist are related to editing and proofreading the previously mentioned steps.

Follow the steps, correct your mistakes, proofread again, and hit the publish button.

Do not sit and pray for success, promote your post as much as you can.

Are you going to review this blog post checklist when you write a post?

You can easily bookmark this post for later use in your blog posts. And now, do you know any other steps that could be added to the list?

Let me read your thoughts in the comments section.