We often think that writers are born to write. A few may be gifted, but most who write had to learn to write. Four or five years ago, I thought I was a writer until I started writing, but when I look back, I realize I needed help. Today I am here to teach you 4 writing tips for a beginning blogger. These tips will help you rank on the search engines.
The tips I will cover here are for a beginning blogger. These are not tips to help you write a book or a short story.
As an Affiliate Marketer with a website blog roll, you want your posts to rank #1 on page 1 of Google and Bing. Certain things are required for this to happen.
4-Writing Tips For A-Beginning Blogger
- Title
- Research
- Headings
- Body
There you have it. Sounds easy. RIGHT? Maybe not so easy. But by the time I am finished explaining and describing what each tip means, and you follow these tips, you will have a 1000 word or higher post to rank right up there with the big boys.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Before we begin to expand on these writing tips, I want to explain what Affiliate Marketing is briefly.
Affiliate marketing involves three groups.
- The person selling the product such as Amazon
- The affiliate, such as a website owner who promotes a product. Like an advertiser
- The internet consumer
To sum these three groups up, Affiliate marketing is a company who has products such as Amazon does, they partner with an affiliate (a website owner) who advertises the products by posting on a website. The internet consumer then purchases to connect the circle.
When the consumer makes a purchase, the affiliate will receive a commission from the company through a link connecting the company to the affiliate website. Other website owners and I are the affiliates.
Now that you have a better understanding of Affiliate Marketing, the tips I give you will come in handy for your blogging business now or one you wish to start.
Title #1 Tip
In choosing your first title there are a few things you want to look at. The title needs to be captivating but SEO friendly. And ranking well on search engines is good to keep in mind.
There are many times that I don’t know what I want to write about until I search for a title. There are several tools you can use to choose your title. These are called Keyword research tools. You select a word to plug it into the program, and you will quickly have results.
The results will tell you how many times someone searches for the phrase on Google, how many people look for this phrase, and what your competition is.
I looked at many different tools and decided that Jaaxy is the one to use. Now that’s not to say there are some better ones on the market, but for the money and as a beginner, Jaaxy is probably the best. In the beginning, it is best to use a device that is clear and one you can understand.
For example; To write this post, I knew I wanted to write something to help the beginning blogger. Someone who thinks they can not write and is paralyzed by the thought.
I put the words writing, beginner, and blogger into the Jaaxy keyword research tool. Most of these were saturated, and the competition was too intense. In other words, most of the keywords I came up with would not allow my post to rank high on the search engines.
The one that had low competition and high searches was “Writing Tips For A.” That alone does not make sense, and a title needs to make sense, so I added a couple of other words to make a good title. I did not search for the words beginning blogger because I did not want to stuff my post with too many keywords.
Keyword stuffing is a problem and easily recognized by Google. It simply means that the person writing a blog post stuffed a bunch of keywords into the body that did not fit or make sense.
As you write your post-Google will find other words within the writing that will rank, but you don’t have to make all of your title keyword rich.
I wrote a review on Jaaxy. If you take a look at the post, it will all make more sense.
The most important thing to take away from tip #1 title is to choose your title first. If you write the post and then try to find a title, it will take much longer. Your post has to be relevant to your title for Google to view it as valuable to their readers. And a keyword research tool is a must to set up a proper title.
Oh, FYI, a title must be between 50 and 60 characters long. If you don’t already have one on your website, here is a free character counter.
Tip #2 Research
I spend more time researching the information I want to share in a post than I do any of the other three tips. So tip #2 is very important.
Accurate information will build trust and pull in free traffic to your website. You never want to give partial information or wrong information. You are creating a bond of trust with your readers. Tip #2 research will help you build a strong following. After all, you are an authority in your niche.
Would you trust someone who told you that raisins are dried tomatoes when you know they are dried grapes? No, you would not. When you read this misinformation, you would click out of the article and find someone who was knowledgeable and is truthful.
Look up numerous aspects of an article on Google, then compare the information for accuracy. Many times, reading the definition of a word to understand the meaning better will help clarify your stance.
Once the research is complete and all of the information is written, check for plagiarism. I never intentionally plagiarize, but I may write the exact words found in another blog, so it is good to be safe. Written content needs to be original, valuable, and rich.
If you use the information from another source, make sure you reference and link it to the original source. Google will identify duplicate content, and Google will not be happy. Your site will not rank well and can even be taken down. This is not one of the 4 writing tips but a vital part of integrity and honesty.
Headings
Setting the headings is my favorite part of writing. You typically want at least five headings in an article and will want to make your headings an H2. Google loves H2 for headings. Each heading will tell a part of your story. And then a couple of subheadings that will he an H3 are also important.
Headings form outline for to write a post and for your reader to see what your writing plan is. Headings also help Google index your article. Your headings need to be relevant to your post and the information you place under each one.
You want to make sure your title is in one of the headings, preferably the first or second one in your post. To do this follows the guidelines for SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
With an adequately lined out SEO Google will find your site and your article and say, “Oh, I like this, and I think my viewers will also.” Then Google puts your article #1 on page 1. When you are on page one, your visibility increases, and your conversions also increase, which produces more income for you.
Body
Now that you have your title, you want your content to match each title. You have finished your research, and you are knowledgeable about the subject. You have a heading for each tip. Now it time to write.
I want you to pour out all you know under the first heading, then the second, and so on. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. Just put your heart out on the computer with your fingers. When you finish, you will be surprised by how many words you have.
Now go back and make sure that what you have said is fully explained to your reader. You want them to understand, so keep writing until your idea is clear.
Write like you are talking to your best friend after all your readers are your friends. You are here to help them in a way that no one else can change their lives.
Once you have all you want to say down on your computer, it is time to check for grammar. I use Grammarly. The premium version is essential to proper grammar. You have many more options for writing.
I am always surprised by how much I have written and how good it sounds. You will feel the same when it is complete. Also the more you write, the better you will get at posting. You may even turn out a post that is 3000 words. Google will love that!
Hi. Laura. I enjoyed reading your post and would not disagree with anything.
I was a newbie when I started in Affiliate Marketing and, for sure, I didn’t know anything about writing. Bearly wrote 500 words for my first post. Even that amazed me at the time. Did you feel the same way when you first began this journey?
I mention this because I want to testify to the truth of what you have said in your post.
Your tips are spot on and the training at WA is going to be a great help to anyone wishing to be a blogger and Affiliate Marketer. I now write 2500 word posts on a consistent basis and I owe it all to what I have learned at WA as well. As you said, It does get easier the more you do.
Anyone can be a good writer/blogger given the right training.
Wayne
Wayne, Yes, when I started writing a few years ago, I was lucky to turn out 500 words on a post. When I look back on those posts, I cringe. But when I joined WA and learned the proper way to structure a post, my words also are 1000-3000 now.
Anyone can blog with the right training, and here at WA, we provide that training. Extensive step-by-step training like none I have found on any other platform.
Boy, I needed this. Your four tips are very helpful to me. I’m a newbie in the online marketing space and I have given a great deal of thought about blogging. I did not quite understand that a lot of what I have to do serves the end of selling a product, so if I can do a good job of reviewing products I can turn affiliate marketing into a lucrative enterprise. You gave great detail about writing titles, researching articles, headings, and the body. In each, you explain the considerations that should come into play. I am a teacher. I am a poet too. I have also written 2 children’s books but have still found myself struggling with the idea of blogging. I think it helps me more to think of writing reviews as ads. What do you think about that idea?
It seems intuitive, but it did not occur to me that I could do a Jaaxy search and use a keyword to come up with a title. This is similar to what I do when I think about presenting a lesson plan. With each lesson, one must come up with an interesting and engaging “hook.” Once you come up with the hook, teaching the lesson becomes easier. The detail you give on research, headings, and body were just as helpful and considering what you have taught here makes me more enthusiastic about approaching the writing needed for my WA website.
Thanks for the great information.
God bless you.
Ronald, What a wonderful comment. You and I are both poets so we tend to speak in partial sentences. This was a struggle for me at first. But when you write content to make sure you speak directly to one person and you continue to write until your thought process has reached your audience.
I am not sure I agree with writing reviews as ads unless it is a recommended review. The scams take a lot of research and your own opinion to help get your point across. If it is not good for you then it is not good for your readers. Always be honest.
Yes, I do agree with the title as a hook to interest readers and students alike. This is a great way to put your thought process across. Well done.
Laura
I feel much more confident after reading your article. Sometimes I don’t know how to start an article and what is the most important part of it. However, your article has cleared my mind and I feel ready to start a new article following the right structure as you described on the post.
What I always do is to have the title ready then I start making the article. But I’m not sure if it is a great idea to write about something and then find the right title for the article. As you described in your post, it is better to have a title before start writing but I don’t know if I can start the article without having the title. Do you think it will be a good idea?
Thanks for sharing this.
Andres, I feel you are talking in circles and confusing yourself. Search for the title, research the subject, outline your article and write the content. These steps followed in this order will simplify your writing experience.
Let me know if this helps, please.
Laura
This post is very helpful for beginner blogger that don’t know where to start. Wealthy affiliate really is a great platform and the perfect platform for anyone that wants to learn how to write a successful blog. Im also with wealthy affiliate and the training is amazing and really does work! Great job on this article.
Hi Ruth, Thank You. Are you a beginner blogger? If so I hope this helps you with your writing here at WA. All the best to you and I am only a PM away if you need assistance.
Laura
Hello Laura, this article really helped me to better understand how to write effectively. I am a new affiliate marketer and sometimes it can be really hard to make 1000-3000 words as I simply don’t have an idea what to write about. I think that research is one of the most important things as it is important to write accurate things although it would be 500 words.
Daniel, Yes, it is hard to come up with subjects. Try doing a day for keyword research in Jaaxy and ad to your saved list. You can find things to research in your previous blogs and on google but doing random searches. When you do your searches ahead, you can go into a list and quickly follow the other three steps and before you know it you have a story blog post — all the best to you in your new adventure.
I really enjoy reading your page, I find it really helpful. Sometime I get writers block and the title is the last thing that I do. the research part is ok but the body is what really keeps me going. I enjoy researching but I enjoy more writing. Do you ever feel like your don’t have anything to write? What do you do then?
Claudia, This is a great question. When I can’t think of a thing to write is when I put my pen to paper or nowadays my fingers to the keys and write anything and everything that flows through my head. then I look at it and pick out subjects I can search for keywords for in a title. It works every time.