A high traffic blog post is something most website owners strive for. The more attention you can draw to your posts, the more visitors come to your site, and the more conversions you’ll hopefully get. While there isn’t a cure-all formula that will help you hit it out of the ballpark every time. There are some basic skills to writing a high performing post that are universal.

Steps to Write a High Traffic Blog Post

Just like anything worthwhile, there aren’t shortcuts to writing blog posts that people will want to read. There are some very specific ingredients you need to add if you want the recipe to work.

Step 1: Spend the Most Time on Your Headline

Take the time to create a unique and engaging headline. At the same time, this headline must grab the reader, must have strong SEO, and should have keywords in it that match what people are searching for in your niche.

  • Use Google’s keyword tool to do some research on what people are searching for on that topic.
  • Include several keywords in your title.
  • Try to tie the title to a current event or popular culture.
  • Think about what you would search for if you wanted to know more about this topic.

Step 2: Study Your Competitors

Once you have the perfect title and you know what you’d like to write about, take the time to study your competitors. What have they written on this topic already? Can you do it better? If there is anything they didn’t cover in-depth, then that might be where you want to place your focus.

  • Study your top two competitors closely. You can also find out which keywords they are ranking for by searching sites like SEMRush.
  • Make a list of questions you have when you finish an article on the topic on their site. How can you answer those for your readers?
  • Pay attention to the images used. How do they enhance the article?

Step 3: Create an Outline

Your writing will go much quicker if you know where you are going. A simple formula goes like this:

  • Introduction
    • Opening hook to grab the reader
    • Explanation of what you’ll cover
  • Body Paragraph
    • First Topic
    • Second Topic
    • Third Topic
  • Conclusion
    • Remind the reader what you’ve discussed
    • End with a call to action

Step 4: Keep It Evergreen

Although every single post you write doesn’t have to be evergreen, at least half of your content should be or you risk your site getting outdated quickly. Imagine that you write only articles such as “Top 2017 Tips for Writing Blog Posts.” Your site is going to become outdated fast, and those older articles aren’t likely to gain a lot of traction. In order to find evergreen topics, think:

  • What are some questions your site visitors frequently have?
  • Which details would you put in a FAQ?
  • Will this article be relevant in a year?

Step 5: Link to Other Posts

Take the time to link to other posts on your blog. This is your change to bring up that article you wrote six months ago that enhances what you’re talking about today. This also allows your older material to gain fresh traction instead of slipping into obscurity.

Teams of Bloggers

As your site grows, you may find that you need to take on a writing team to publish posts in a timely manner or just to delegate the work a bit. Perhaps you want to focus on marketing exclusively. Whatever the reason, each writer has her own style, so you’ll need a style guide.

Your style guide should include:

  • Average word count for articles.
  • Formula for how many headings, bullets, etc.
  • Guidelines for SEO, such as if you want the keyword used in the article.

You’ll also need to create an editorial calendar to keep the work flowing smoothly.

 

Blog Post Formula

A basic outline isn’t really a formula, but it will speed up your ability to complete work by leaps and bounds. Once you perfect your blog writing process, you’ll want to turn your attention to guest blogging. This will allow you to build backlinks and drive new traffic to your site.