6 copywriters reveal how they structure every blog post they write
What the people need
What the search engines need
Choose a single topic. Decide on its purpose
Offer something different
Save time. Create a skeleton draft
Prep your research
Make it scannable. Share your intentions
Keep paragraphs short ‘n’ sweet
Keep sentences to 50 words or less
Flowing smoothly from one paragraph to another
Always end with a call to action (CTA)
Get your free blog brief
Search engines are pushing businesses to create better content. The days when you could publish an article about what you had for breakfast or the latest client spotlight and expect it to rank are long gone.
Today, your content needs to provide genuine substance. It needs to be helpful, deliver new insights, and keep the reader engaged. Search engines lap up high-quality content like this, especially Google. It tries to put such content on the first page of results. So making sure your blogs are well structured and easy to read will help you get into that exclusive club.
To find out exactly how to write a blog that
- reads as smoothly as a Booker Prize novel
- keeps the search engines happy so the piece actually does something useful for your business
- doesn’t involve you agonizing for a week or more about how to write it
I asked a bunch of copywriters. Afterall, these are professionals helping to create the millions of blog posts that are published every day. So they know a thing or two about the best way to structure them.
Ready to start bossing your blog posts? Let’s get to it.
Setting the scene for your blog posts
Behind every well-structured blog post is a strong understanding of:
- audience—who the article is for
- purpose—why the article is needed
- tone—how the information presented should sound.
These 3 elements will shape your article.
If you don’t have documents outlining your target audience personas or company’s tone of voice then you may find the following helpful.
- HubSpot has a comprehensive guide on how to create detailed buyer personas, complete with templates and worksheets.
- Copywriter and tone of voice nerd Nick Parker has lots to say on tone of voice, why it’s important, and how to work out what yours is. Read his blog here.
The blog structure balancing act
Writing business blogs has never been about typing out the articles you want to write. In much the same way that print journalists need to balance what the readership wants with what the advertisers demand and what the publishers require.
It’s a similar story when it comes to writing for digital platforms. You need to balance the content you need to promote your business with what your clients need and what the search engines require.
Right now that may sound like a lot to juggle. But here’s the secret: Keep your readers in mind at all times, and focus on what they want and need to get out of this content.
Google, the world’s biggest search engine, is making a huge push towards original, human-centric content. And it favors copy that fits that bill.
With that in mind, let’s look at what a well-structured blog post needs.
What the people need
- A sexy headline that answers their search query, and is enticing enough to convince them to click.
- Images, so they can see what they’re reading about. (Images also give their eyes a break from the text.)
- Easy readability, which is all about how the text is presented (font choice, paragraph length, spacing, language, etc.)
- An article that moves logically from one point to the next and ultimately answers their query, taking them from ‘don’t know a thing’ to ‘I know about the thing.’
What the search engines need
- A topic-related focus keyword and secondary keywords that are used naturally throughout the article.
- Around 800 words of copy so the bots can analyze what the page is about.
- Trust signals (such as using original quotes) for credibility.
- An article that makes sense and is well written, without any keyword stuffing.
- Backlinks (Well, maybe.)
- On-page optimization techniques.
Each of these points warrants more explanation, and so I’ve dedicated a whole article to writing SEO-friendly blog posts.
Pull it all together using these practical blog post writing tips
Knowing what goes into structuring a blog post is only useful if you know how to make it work on the page.
Cue half a dozen copywriters.
Using their techniques will help you piece your articles together so the next time you face a blank page it won’t feel quite as intimidating.
Choose a single topic. Decide on its purpose
Copywriter Rose Crompton says well-structured blog posts have a single, focused idea. “Cramming too much information into a post risks tangents, which can really mess with the structure and flow of your writing. Instead, have one clear idea you want to write about.”
With the idea defined, the next step is to identify the post’s purpose. “Different article types have different purposes,” Claire McCabe explains. “Some tell stories that entertain, others inform or fix a problem, and some answer a frequently asked question,” Claire says. “Identifying the purpose and what you want to show makes it a lot easier when deciding how to present that information and structure your article.”
Offer something different
How you lay out your article should feel natural. Don’t get bogged down by following a recommended structure or formula. You know, the ones that say, “Title first, then a paragraph, then an image, then another few paragraphs. And make sure you use subheads, images, infographics…”
If you follow this rigidly you’ll just end up with a blog post that looks and reads like everyone else’s.
Felicity Wild has a great suggestion for finding a point of difference. “Include as much personal experience and insight as possible to distinguish yourself. After all, only you do things the way you do. And it may not be the same as anyone else.”
Felicity says you could “open with a story that sets the scene, laying out how you solve a problem (instead of vague ‘best practice tips’), following a Q&A structure with mini case studies linking each answer back to your IRL experience and point of view.”
Save time. Create a skeleton draft
Once you’ve decided on the topic and purpose you could just start typing. Or you could do what Fi Philips does and create an outline, also known as a skeleton draft. This involves building the structure bit by bit as you work out the most logical way to get your reader from start to finish.
“Each section gets a rough heading, which helps me decide how to order my points,” Fi says.
“Seeing it on the page makes it clear to me whether that order works or whether I need to swap things around. When I’m happy with it, I briefly describe what will be included in each section. Doing this saves so much time when I come to the actual writing.”
Prep your research
“Including stats, facts, and quotes in your article will add weight and credibility to your writing,” Rose says. And from an SEO point of view, this is good to do because Google is loving that sh!t right now.
Rose goes on to say that “having a skeleton draft makes it easy to see where you can fit stats, facts, data, and quotes into your article. You’ll then need to spend time researching to find the information you need. Or, if you want extra kudos from the search engines, work on collecting original data or quotes by running your own surveys/studies or interviewing people.”
Now you should be ready to start writing.
Make it scannable. Share your intentions
Everyone is busy. And there are a lot of websites and media outlets bidding for your reader’s attention. “Remember that you’re writing for running readers,” Ann Storr from Fables Agency says.
And what’s her tip for making sure you hold their attention until the end of your article? “Make sure the first sentence of each paragraph communicates what the rest of the paragraph is about.” This keeps readers hooked and manages their expectations.
Keep paragraphs short ‘n’ sweet
And while we’re on the subject of paragraphs, Dee from Wicked Creative makes an important point about paragraph length. “Going onto a page and seeing big blocks of text can stop people reading before they even start,” she says.
To avoid this, Dee recommends “always keeping the visual appeal of blog posts in mind as well as the content they contain.”
Try to keep paragraphs to 6 sentences or fewer.
And how long should those sentences be?
Keep sentences to 50 words or less
Another tip from Ann Storr: avoid long-winded sentences. “This keeps your writing simple and easy to digest. If in doubt, read it out loud. If you can’t get through a sentence without getting confused or running out of breath, your readers won’t be able to either.”
Flowing smoothly from one paragraph to another
Writing a skeleton draft will make sure your article has a logical progression as you move from one point to another. But how do you move on? “Transition words and linking phrases are the key to moving from one sentence to another,” Rose explains.
Some of her favorite include:
- That said…
- Although…
- On the other hand…
- While…
- As this shows/As we’ve seen…
- In short…
- In contrast/In addition…
- Given this/the…
If this is something you struggle with, start a bank of these. When you read articles, make a note of the last few words they use in one paragraph and the first few words they use in the next. Choose ones that fit with your brand’s tone of voice.
Oh, and Rose wants to make one more point on paragraph transitions. “It’s totally fine to start a new paragraph or sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But.’ Ignore what your English teacher told you. We’re not writing high-end literature here. We’re looking to keep people moving. And if starting that way feels right and feels smooth then do it.”
Always end with a call to action (CTA)
The final paragraph should always include a direction telling the reader what you’d like them to do next. “After someone has invested time reading your article, don’t leave them wondering What should I do next?” Rose says.
“Blogging is part of your content marketing strategy. It should help people along their buying journey. So end your article with a suggestion of what they should do next—check out a particular product or service, sign up to something, read articles on similar topics, or download something.”
Get your free blog brief
Before you leave to start planning your blog content for the next 12 months, make sure you download your free blog brief.
Use it to help plan and outline your articles, ensuring a strong structure every time.
- Use the prompts to make sure you satisfy reader and search engine needs.
- Follow the links to tools that make blog post creation even easier.
