DEV Community: Allan de Wit

How to Write a Blog Post for Your SaaS: A 5-Step Guide

Allan de Wit — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 12:31:43 +0000

Writing a blog post may seem like a difficult task, especially if you don’t have any background in it. Now don’t get me wrong, it can be quite daunting at times, but that doesn’t mean you can make it easier for yourself by giving some structure to the whole process.

For simplicity’s sake, you can break the writing process down into 5 steps:

Planning — Choosing a topic, creating an outline, and conducting research.
Writing — Just start writing away using your outline created during the planning step.
Polishing — Adding images, relevant information, and explaining difficult topics.
Reading — Going through the article, looking for errors, and asking others for their opinion.
Publishing — Releasing your masterpiece and promoting it.

If you follow these steps, then writing a blog post shouldn’t be that difficult anymore. Let’s take a look at each step in more detail.

Step 1: Planning

The first step is arguably the most important one. If you don’t plan your blog post properly, then it will likely show in the final product. But if you do take the time to plan, then writing becomes much easier since you have a clear goal in mind.

Brainstorm topics

To start off, you need a topic to write about. Place yourself in the shoes of your target audience and think of topics they think are interesting. Try to not only write about your business or product, but instead think of fun facts, tips, or developments within the branch. This way you connect to your audience. Maybe they will share the blog post with other people in the field, which can lead to more potential customers.

Keyword research

After you have a topic, it’s good to do some keyword research. This helps with both the SEO of your website and making sure you’re writing about something people are interested in. You can use Google Adwords Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or other similar tools for this.

Create an outline

Got a topic? Neat! Next up we need to create an outline for our blog post. This doesn’t have to be an extensive list, but a couple of bullet points will help you keep focus while writing. This outline can also help you determine what format your blog post should take; for example, a top 10 list or an interview with an expert.

Do research

If you are not really familiar with the topic, or just want to put some extra information in your blog post, you need to do some research. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you have to read a couple of hundred pages on the topic. Try to find some interesting websites, books, or articles that you can use as sources. When using information from other sources, always remember to give credit!

Step 2: Writing

Now that you have a topic and an outline, it’s time to start filling in the blanks. Just let the words flow and don’t worry too much about grammar or spelling; you can always go back and edit that later. The most important thing is to get your thoughts down on paper (or screen, as the case may be).

Take a break

After you have written the first draft of your blog post, it’s a good idea to take a break. This can be anything from getting up and stretching your legs to taking a nap or going for a walk. The important thing is to give your mind some time to rest so you can come back to your work with fresh eyes.

Edit your blog post

Once you have taken a break, it’s time to go back and edit your work. This is where you can fix any grammar or spelling mistakes, as well as make sure that your thoughts are conveyed in a clear and concise manner.

Create a headline

The headline of your blog post is important in attracting readers, so it’s worth taking some time to come up with a good one. A good headline should be attention-grabbing and give the reader an idea of what your blog post is about.

Here are some examples of headlines that you can use for inspiration:

5 Simple Tips for a Successful Blog
The Benefits of Taking a Break
The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing an Amazing Blog Post
The Importance of Social Media for Your Business

Step 3: Polishing

After you have edited your work, it’s time to polish it up and make sure it’s ready to be published. This includes adding any finishing touches, such as images or graphics, and making sure that everything is formatted correctly.

Implement calls-to-action

It’s a good idea to add calls-to-action (CTAs) to your blog post. These are elements that encourage your readers to take a specific action, such as creating an account or signing up for your newsletter. Adding CTAs to your blog post will help you increase engagement and grow your audience.

Add visuals

Images can be a great way to break up large chunks of text and make your blog post more visually appealing. If you’re not sure where to find free, high-quality images, check out sites like Pexels, Unsplash, and Pixabay.

Explain difficult topics

If you’re writing about a complex topic, it’s important to make sure that you explain it in a way that is easy for your readers to understand. This means breaking down difficult concepts into smaller pieces and using simple language. Don’t assume that your reader knows as much about the topic as you do — remember, you are the expert!

Add some humor

One of the best ways to engage your readers is to add some humor to your writing. This doesn’t mean that you should make your entire blog post one big joke, but a few well-placed jokes can go a long way in making your post more enjoyable to read.

Step 4: Reading

Before you hit that publish button, it’s important to proofread your blog post and make sure that there are no common copywriting mistakes. This includes checking for grammar mistakes, typos, and making sure that everything flows smoothly.

Avoid repetition

One common mistake that bloggers make is repeating themselves too much. This can happen when you are trying to make a point or drive home a certain idea. However, if you find yourself repeating the same thing multiple times, it’s probably time to cut some of it out. Your readers will appreciate a well-edited piece that gets to the point.

Check the flow

Another important aspect of writing a good blog post is making sure that the flow is smooth. This means that your ideas should transition naturally from one to the other. If your post feels choppy or disjointed, it may be difficult for readers to follow along. Take some time to read through your work and see if there are any places where the flow can be improved.

Gather feedback

Once you’ve written and proofread your blog post, it’s a good idea to get some feedback from others. This can be friends, family, or even strangers. Showing your work to others can help you catch any mistakes that you may have missed. It can also give you some insight into how your work is perceived by others.

Step 5: Publishing

When you’re happy with your final result, it’s time to publish! This is the easy part, just put your article on the web and your post will be live for the world to see.

If you want to get more people to read your work, you can promote your blog post on social media or other websites. You can also try reaching out to popular bloggers in your niche and see if they’re interested in featuring your work on their site. Whatever you do, just make sure that your blog post is accessible to as many people as possible. The more people who read it, the better!

There you have it, a few tips to help you write a great blog post. Just remember to keep your audience in mind, edit ruthlessly, and check the flow of your work. With a little effort, you can produce content that is enjoyable and informative for your readers.

Share any tips you may have in the comments, of course questions are also welcome :)

PS: This blog post was created with the help of AI at contentforge.ai which made the outline and writing process much easier and quicker for me. If you want to know more, just ask about it in the comments or send me a DM on Twitter @dewitallan.

Core Web Vitals will affect Search Engine Ranking from 2021

Allan de Wit — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 08:28:03 +0000

The Core Web Vitals were introduced by Google in 2020. These currently consist of three metrics, each representing a part of the user experience. Google announced that they will add these Core Web Vitals as part of the search engine ranking by May 2021. So now is the perfect moment to start improving and measuring them for your websites.

What are the Core Web Vitals?

The Web Vitals are an initiative by Google to standardize the measurement of the user experience on the web. Three of the Web Vitals have been crowned as the “Core Web Vitals”, which are the most important and are recommended to be measured by every website owner. The current set of the Core Web Vitals focuses on three aspects of the user experience: loading, interactivity, and visual stability. Each aspect has its own metric and respective thresholds for measuring them.

The Core Web Vitals and their thresholds

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) reports the render time of the largest image or text block visible within the viewport.
First Input Delay (FID) measures the time from when a user first interacts with the page (i.e. they click on a link) to when the browser actually starts processing event handlers in response to that interaction.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures all unexpected layout shifts that occur during the lifespan of the page.

How will the Core Web Vitals affect the Search Engine Ranking?

Google has announced that starting in May 2021, the Search signals for page experience will be expanded with the Core Web Vitals and will be part of the search engine ranking factors.

Search signals for page experience

In other words, if your website offers a bad user experience according to the Core Web Vitals, it will negatively impact your SEO. Google uses the data they collect from your Chrome visitors to determine your Core Web Vitals.

In addition to this big change, Google is also testing with a visual indicator in the search results to reflect the quality of the user experience of that particular page. If testing is successful, it will launch together with the update of the ranking factors in May 2021.

Measuring the Core Web Vitals

Google offers a few ways to measure the Core Web Vitals. They’ve created a tool called PageSpeed Insights to quickly test the performance of a site. In addition to that, they also created a Chrome Extension that you can use to check the Core Web Vitals of the page you visited. With the help of these tools, you can quickly check the user experience at that specific moment, but it’s quite tedious to check every website every so often and next to that it does not provide enough information to fully rely on. Here’s why:

It’s important to note that the Core Web Vitals are not static values and will be different for every request and per visitor. Many different factors are in play, all of which can affect the Core Web Vitals and change the experience. You can think of things like the distance between the visitor and the server location, a bad internet connection, a slow device, etc.

To get an accurate representation of the user experience you deliver through your websites you will need to measure the Core Web Vitals of your actual visitors. This can be achieved by using Real User Monitoring (RUM), this way you collect the Core Web Vitals (and possibly other useful performance metrics) of your actual visitors. Using RUM, you can gather the necessary data and resolve any issues with your website accordingly.

Core Web Vitals in the That’s Why Dashboard

An easy way to measure your site’s user experience is through a RUM tool, such as That’s Why. Typically, these tools use a JavaScript snippet to collect the metrics of each user and send it to their collection point so that you can gain insights into the collected data. In the case of That’s Why, you will also get advice on where to optimize your website to improve the user experience, and you get notified when a metric suddenly changes, so you can act quickly and always stay up to date.

Start monitoring with That’s Why.

That’s Why helps you to track the user experience, including the Core Web Vitals, of your website and helps you to make the needed optimizations.

Originally published at https://thatswhy.app.