So, you’ve spent a few hours researching your topic, a couple more to write up your draft and you’ve had a quick read through. All set to hit publish, right? Wrong! I know you’re dying to, but hold off a moment.
Before you send out your shiny, new content marketing piece for the world to see, pass it over to a colleague, a friend – heck – even your Aunt will do. You need a fresh set of eyes to look through your draft. Often when you work on a piece of writing you will read your finished draft from the perspective of what your mind means to say and not what you put down on paper. This means that you could miss sneaky grammatical errors and typos as we tend to scan, not scrutinise, our own writing.
But should you be looking at? Those obvious grammatical and spelling faux pas aside, there are a number of other elements that should be checked for clarity and optimisation in the editing process. Here’s the checklist to run through before you publish your post. (Feel free to send it to your Aunt for future reference!)
Questions to Answer When Editing a Blog Post
The Structure and Format
- Is this the best format for the topic? Some pieces work better when presented in a different format. Consider whether the article would be better as an eBook offering or perhaps as a SlideShare presentation.
- If you’re happy with it being a blog post – is the blog format suitable? Much like specific content formats are more suited to particular subjects, so too are blog post formats. Would the blog be better as a list post, perhaps?
- Is there a logical structure of content? Sections, headers and points should be arranged in such a way that it naturally guides a reader through the material.
- Is the text scannable? Online readers tend to skim copy and you can aid them by breaking down long streams of text into smaller, skimmable sections with subheading and paragraph breaks.
- Are the subheadings relevant, interesting and clear? Your subheadings should provide a quick overview about the following copy without giving away the whole story. They are primers for what is about to come and they need to entice the reader to carry on reading.
- Is the format of subheadings consistent with previous pieces and do they denote the hierarchy of the content? Check that the various sizes and colours (if applied) are standard across other content.
- Have statistics, quotations or external sources of information been attributed correctly? Hyperlink to the original source to show them some link love!
- If visuals have been used, are they of high quality and do they clearly support the copy? When carefully chosen, visual elements are fantastic for enhancing a message. Ensure that any images used are in line with your brand guidelines and do not detract from the message.
- Have you checked the copyright of images to make sure use is permissible? Where applicable, reference image sources as they request.
The Title
- Is the title captivating enough to entice people to click through and read the post? Use powerful, emotive words, explicit numbers and proven headline formulas to craft a compelling title.
- Does the title accurately reflect your content? Avoid click-bait type titles that are pompous or misleading. You may get more click-throughs but you won’t win the trust and respect of your reader, which is far more important.
- Is the title an optimal length? This is a tricky one as sometimes a post lends itself to a protracted title and it wouldn’t work as well within the suggested parameters of 50 characters. Bear in mind that in search engine results and social shares a lengthened title will be truncated. Use your discretion on this one, but do aim for the most concise title possible.
- Does the title include relevant keywords? In order to be indexed and appear in search engine results, you want to include your keywords or terms naturally within your title.
The Writing
- Is the introduction interesting, pertinent and encouraging the reader to continue? Use a story (real or fictional), share an eye-opening statistic or pose a thought-provoking question to pull the reader into the post.
- Does the introduction express the value the reader will get out of reading it? Apart from leading the reader into the body of the post, the introduction should highlight what the reader will gain by reading your post.
- Is the content well-written, free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes? Typos happen, commas are not always in the right place, sentences can often be structured in a better way and some words can be replaced with more captivating ones. It's the editor’s responsibility to make sure that the post is not published until it’s perfectly polished, highlighting elements such as these and pushing back to the author to clean up.
- Is there a good flow of the content? Ensure that the writing guides the reader effortlessly through transitions from one thought to the next. Sometimes this entails reshuffling paragraphs or sentences to create a smooth read.
- Is the tone and terminology aligned to your buyer persona? Writing in a style that resonates with your target buyer persona is critical for imparting your message in a way that will be valuable to them. If the tone and terminology are not aligned to the persona, you risk alienating your audience.
- Does the content's voice match that of the overall company? Your brand has an established voice and you have to carry that through any published content. Take out any instances where you're picking up a second voice.
- Does the post finish up with a solid conclusion? Leaving your reader abruptly without wrapping up to a grand finale and offering a lingering thought, question to answer or next step to take is the blogging equivalent of slamming the door in someone’s face. Be sure to recap the main point of your blog and offer a lingering thought, question to answer or next step to take.
- Has the post been optimised for SEO without hindering readability? To help your post achieve good search engine rankings, be sure to include your keywords (including variations) naturally throughout your copy. The emphasis here is on naturally. You don’t want to use your term repeatedly and frequently for the sake of potential rankings. Optimise with your users in mind first and foremost and search engines second.
The Style
- Does the post comply with your style guide? Whether you use contracted words, such as hasn’t as opposed to has not, allow for sentences to begin with a conjunction or use the Oxford comma or not comes down to your specific style guide. Ensure that nothing in your blog post contradicts your guide.
The Small Things
- Have you linked to your own resources, landing pages or blog articles? This is a great way to offer your reader further material that would be of interest. Select anchor text carefully to ensure to maximise SEO opportunities for the page being linked to.
- Is there any chance that this material could be offensive to your audience? Unless your aim is to create an aggressive comments thread steer clear of controversial subject matter.
- Have you included a call-to-action (CTA) for premium content? Use your post to encourage lead generation by including a CTA for a content offer that aligns with the blog topic.
- Is there anything more you can do to promote social sharing? Consider adding a ‘Pin It’ button to visual elements or including ‘click to tweet’ quotes to boost social sharing.
- Have you written a snappy meta description that will encourage click throughs from search engine results and social shares? People will look to your title first and your description second to determine whether the content is what they are looking for. Make it concise and actionable for best results.
- Have you scheduled your post to publish? If you pre-schedule blogs, ensure that they are set for an optimal engagement time as determined by your previous results.
There you have it! Take the time to run through this list before posting a blog to ensure you’ve covered off all the bases and that consistency is preserved, irrespective of the author. Anything to add to the list? Let me know in the comments below.
