The Ultimate Squarespace Blog Writing Checklist
If you’re anything like me, then you’re a busy business owner you barely has time to eat let alone write blog posts everyday. You know you desperately need it for your biz but just wish someone would hand you the secret cheatsheet to doing it quickly.
Well, my friend, today is your lucky day because I am doing just that. Read on to get the ultimate checklist you need for your service based business. And then start cracking away on those posts. Cheers!
This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you!)
1. Pick a topic compelling to your ideal client
To attract the right people to your blog (and eventually services), you need to answer the questions they are searching for online. And there are a few ways to do this.
1. Google It
Put yourself in their shoes, go to Google, and start typing queries you think they might ask - as it pertains to your business. Then scroll through and look at related questions - this is a great place to start coming up with ideas. Jot down a few notes.
2. Collect Client Questions
Any time you get a question via email or DM from a client or potential client, write it down or save a screenshot.
3. Collect Questions from Friends and Family
We've all heard, "What do you do for work again?" These questions could come from anyone, but if you find yourself explaining the same questions about your job repeatedly, it might make a great blog topic.
4. Poll Your Audience
If you already have a following, go straight to the source - ask them what kind of questions they have about your industry or the topics you teach.
Note: Once you have your ideas, then pick something. It's easy to slide down the slippery slope of indecision of "what is the best topic." You don't need the best. Right now, you don't even know what that is. Just pick a topic and get started. You can refine as you go once you have some more concrete data from your audience and future clients.
2. Choose your keywords
What are keywords? Keywords are the words and phrases people type into Google to find what they're looking for. For example, if you were looking for a life coach, you might type in something like "life coach," "counselor," or "mentor." Or something more specific like "Seattle life coach for women."
Select the keywords or phrases you want to use for this piece of content and make yourself a little list. While you might inevitably use high-volume terms, like "life coach," throughout the post, try to focus on 1 or 2 specific or low-volume keywords in your headers, image labels, and ALT tags - like "vision board for millennial women."
3. Write a keyword-rich and clickable title
Come up with a few working titles - it's okay to change it right up until publishing. I suggest using low-volume or more specific keywords to have a better chance of ranking on the first page.
Incorporate them in a way that feels natural and organic but still “clickable.” You want to create curiosity around the information you’re about to share. Ask a question, make a bold statement, or hint at what valuable information they’ll find if they read your post.
Your title should also be concise.
Most search engines truncate titles after 60 characters, so short and sweet is always the way to go.
4. Outline your post
Outlining your blog post before you start writing helps you organize your thoughts, makes the writing process smoother, and ensures you cover all necessary points.
Come up with a bulleted list of the main topics you're going to discuss in the post - feel free to jot down a few key points or questions that you plan to cover.
You could also plan out in this outline where you'll incorporate images, infographics, videos, or any other media. These elements can break up large chunks of text, making your post more engaging and easier to read.
Don’t get too stressed about this part. Remember, an outline isn't set in stone. It's a guide that you can adjust as you write and get more clarity on what your blog post needs. The more detailed your outline, the easier and faster your writing process will be.
5. Write the easiest part first
Select one of the bullet points that you feel you have the most to discuss and start there.
Writing about something you're comfortable with or interested in will get the creative juices flowing. It's akin to a warm-up before a workout; you're gradually stretching your mental muscles into the rhythm of writing - then you can jump around to other sections.
6. Use a conversational tone and short sentences
Blogs are for potential clients (a.k.a. the average person). It should be something an 11-year-old could comfortably read. Writing at this level isn't to insult your audience's intelligence but to ensure that the blog is fast to consume. Keep your blog post conversational, short, and to the point.
My number one suggestion for writing in a short and conversational tone is to voice-type your blog posts. Heck, I'm even doing that right now. You can use the microphone on your phone or a Google Chrome extension like Dictanote.
7. Use Keyword-rich Headings
You want your copy to be easy to scan, so headings are a great way to get across the gist of your post. But they're also another great way to make your post search engine optimized. Since your blog post title will use Heading 1 or H1, put the main subtopics in H2 and headings within these topics as H3 and H4. That way, search engines can make sense of your post's hierarchy, which helps it determine if your blog post is relevant to a user's question - allowing you to rank higher in search results.
8. Use bullet points when appropriate
In today's digital world, blog readers typically once over your writing before they decide to fully commit. So you need highly scannable content to capture and retain their attention.
One of the most effective strategies to achieve this is by using bullet points, numbered lists, and bold and italicized words. These formatting styles break up dense text, making it easier to read and quickly digest information - inviting the reader to continue reading.
The goal is to make your content feel effortless. This can increase reader engagement, boost the time spent on your blog, and, ultimately, lead to higher rankings on Google.
9. Aim for 1500 to 2000 words
I say this with caution to all of my busy business owners. Yes, it is best practice to have long-form blog content since it is typically more helpful with more information. And keeps a website visitor on your page for longer, therefore, your website for longer.
However, if you can barely find time to write a blog, I'm guessing you don't have time to write a long blog. My suggestion is consistency and quality over length. So if you can commit to writing one blog post of high quality and 750 words once a month, then do it.
Because if you try to write 1500 to 2000-word blog posts every single week and are committed for maybe three weeks and then quit because you can't bring yourself to sit down and write knowing it's gonna take too long, then that defeats the purpose.
You can always up your game and add more volume to your posts but don't set the bar so high that failure out of the gate is inevitable.
10. Write a drool-worthy introduction
Once you've written the entire blog post, it's easier to go back and write the introduction because now you have a better idea of what you're introducing them to.
Try to think of a compelling way to get them "hooked." Share a personal story, life experience, a fun fact, or simply tell them what you're going to tell them. That is perfectly okay.
A large percentage of people will not read the intro. I mean, think about it. When you're searching Google and looking for answers, what do you do? Typically you skip straight to the meat and potatoes because you want to know the answer to your question.
However, an introduction is still important for those who WILL read the entire blog post. Most likely, committed followers invested in your brand that keep coming back for more. You're writing this intro for them.
11. Proofread and edit, edit, edit
Now is the time to edit, edit, edit. The fastest way to do this is to read the blog post out loud. When you read something out loud, you have a better idea of the cadence and rhythm of the words - similar to a real-life conversation. You can tell where something has gone wrong or doesn't sound quite right.
Harshly cut any filler words and try to make your post as concise as possible. Please, please, please do not turn this into a 10th-grade English paper where you're writing for word count. It won't help your rankings. If it's not funny, informative, or useful - cut it out.
12. Link to other past relevant content
This may not be easy to do when you're starting - because you don't have other relevant content, but as you write consistently, you'll rack up other blog posts to reference when writing. Make sure you add these links to invite people to keep reading on your site.
Pro tip: If you add a link inviting someone to read more content on another post, have it open up in a separate tab. If they want to continue reading the current post, they don't have to return and find their spot to continue.
13. Add Affiliate links
Likewise, you're gonna want to reference links to helpful tools and resources for your audience, which, hopefully, you have become an affiliate. A win-win situation because you are not only helping your audience, but you're also getting a kickback if your reader purchases from your link.
Note: Be sure to have these links open up in a new tab as well so your reader can still access your blog post.
14. Add your affiliate disclaimer.
If you do have affiliate links, you need to be sure that you have a disclaimer on your website letting people know that if they click on your links, you may receive a commission.
Don't have an affiliate disclaimer? One of my best resources for legal documents is the Contract Shop. You can check them out here and get a first-hand example of what it looks like to send someone to an affiliate link by opening this in a new tab.
15. Add and optimize images
Not only do images make your post more visually interesting, but they add another opportunity for search engine optimization to your post. When you add your photos be sure to do the following.
1. Compress
Make your images JPEGs (unless it's a graphic, in which case a PNG might be better) and under 500 KB, if not smaller. You can use a tool like TinyJPG to do this.
2. Label with Keywords
Don't stuff the label with keywords but describe the image while strategically incorporating keywords. For example, a picture of a girl typing on her laptop could be labeled website-designer-writing-blog-post. As a rule of thumb, separate the words with dashes and limit them to 5 or fewer.
3. Write Alt Text
Fill in the area labeled as "alt-text" - this is for screen-readers but also affects your SEO, so again be descriptive while strategically using keywords—for example, a girl sitting at her desk writing a blog post on her MacBook.
4. Turn on AMP
You can also optimize your blog post by turning on the accelerated mobile pages - an optimized view of your blog posts when someone is viewing on mobile (which, if they come from Pinterest, then you know they are). You only need to turn this setting on once, and then it's good to go for all of your posts. Go to settings > blogging > use AMP
16. Add lead magnets
Invite people to join your email list in exchange for a valuable piece of content. A great idea here is to create a specific lead magnet that has to do with the topic of the blog post or a topic you share regularly.
So, for example, if you find yourself talking regularly about self-care, it could be a good idea to come up with a "10 Daily Habits for Rest Checklist." And then put it in your blog post. Readers will be more likely to opt into your email list if the lead magnet is already relevant to the blog they are reading because they are most likely interested in that topic.
Need a little help bringing your website to life?
You're well on your way to blogging success! But don't forget, crafting compelling blog posts is only one part of your brand's digital presence. A well-designed, engaging website is what can take your business to the next level.
That's where my services come in!
Discover how I can support you in bringing your online vision to life!
17. Add a blog footer to encourage more actions
1. Add a call to action
Add a button inviting people to check out your services page.
2. Write a bio
Add a mini bio - people coming from Google have no clue who you are, so this is a great place to introduce yourself, what you do, and who you do it for. Plus a picture - because everybody connects to photos.
3. Link to other posts
Then invite them to continue to read more relevant content on your blog by adding a summary block.
18. Set your blog post settings
To get a full tutorial read this blog post here: HOW TO EDIT YOUR SQUARESPACE BLOG SETTINGS
19. Create a blog Pinterest graphic
Depending on the design of your main blog page, you might use a regular image, but it could also be beneficial to create a blog-specific graphic, especially if you want your blog shared to Pinterest.
I highly recommend using something like Canva for this. It's easy to use, and you can create a template for all of your blog posts that you can easily swap out an image and text every time.
20. Turn on the PinIt button
Along with creating a Pinterest graphic, you want to make sure that your Pinterest button is turned on - when a user hovers over any image or your Pinterest graphic, they'll be able to click directly on the image and save it to Pinterest. Go to marketing > Pinterest save buttons > enable for blog.
21. Schedule your post
It's best practice to be consistent, so if you can release your blog on the same day at the same time every week, every other week, or once a month, then your audience can expect it - driving traffic to your website on a regular basis. See HOW TO EDIT YOUR BLOG POST SETTINGS for more info.
22. Push to social channels
When your blog post comes out, be sure to share all about it on your social channels. You can push the blog post in your settings to Pinterest, Facebook, and Google search consul. See HOW TO EDIT YOUR BLOG POST SETTINGS for more info.
23. Share to your email list
Once you've done this, you'll also want to share the post with your email list. If you're like me and don't like to email every week, you could round up three or four of your best blog posts to share all at once. Squarespace simplifies this process by allowing you to draft and email directly from the blog post settings. See HOW TO EDIT YOUR BLOG POST SETTINGS for more info.
