Editing your blog content is extremely important. But why is that the case?
Because blogs are the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.
As a blog content editor, you’re putting on a lot of hats.
Double-checking essentials, such as spelling, grammar, formatting, etc is only a small portion of what’s the most important.
You also have to think like a social media manager, a web designer, and an SEO consultant.
Does that sound a little overwhelming? The good news is that you don’t have to do all that thinking by yourself.
All you really need is the right tools, to pull it off effectively.
But how do you do that? In today’s post, I’m going to walk you through the blog content editing process.
1)Use editing apps only for proofreading
Despite everything that I’ve learned in editing school, I’m all for the idea of using editing apps on blogs.
It’s not that I’ve haven’t found my training useful, I just know what running a blog is like.
And because I know what running a blog is like, I know that there are hundreds of things to consider.
There’s an audience to build. There’s a social media network to engage with. Not to mention, it’s a medium that moves quickly.
As a result, there’s never enough time to sit down and think about what clause the writer is using.
And that’s where editing apps really come in handy.
Recommendations:
Grammarly is good at double-checking nitpicky, but also essential details, such as spelling and comma usage.
Hemingway App will correct passive voice, and coach you through the paragraph simplification process.
The Hemingway app is especially useful for bloggers because it’s a medium where simplification is the secret to success.
2) Make the keyword research process easier
The algorithm of Google and Bing is constantly changing.
Not to mention, not everyone’s an SEO expert, and honestly, I’m not either.
But I do know how to effectively use all the right tools to get my audience’s attention.
And if you want to do a really good job at editing blog content, you have to know exactly how to do that as well.
The good news is that you don’t have to spend a ton of time and money on an SEO specialist, or even a class on search engine optimization.
That’s pretty awesome because I bet you just want to get started writing, as soon as possible!
And I can’t exactly blame you. Because, if you’re reading this, you probably want to take advantage of one of blogging’s’ greatest benefits:
Gaining a reputation as an expert in your field.
Recommendations:
Yoast SEO will double-check that your SEO is as good as it needs to be. It will also prevent you from having to spend hours figuring out what keywords are doing well on search engines.
If you’re stuck on what keywords to use, use Google Trends, to test out the popularity of a keyword that you want to use.
3) Set some time aside to edit photos
Once your blog post goes live, the engaging nature of your content will be totally meaningless, if the quality of your images is low.
However, far too many blog content managers and marketing professionals, don’t have a lot of time to create images.
That’s exactly why making sure that the images are relevant and as high quality as possible is important.
Blogging is a very visual medium. In fact, consumers are 60% more likely to contact a business when an image shows up in a local search result.
And if it’s a poor quality, then no one will pay attention.
Recommendations:
Take a look at my stock photo best practices guide, and then spend some time designing your graphics on Canva and BeFunky.
Canva is best for graphic design and BeFunky is best for cropping and lighting quick fixes. The best part of both platforms is that they’re free and super easy to use.
I plan to do a blog post on the best stock photo sites in the first week of January, so if you have no idea which one to pick stay tuned :)!
4) Get your posts social media ready
If you want to maintain a blog, your social media platforms are the best possible place to start.
The promotion process doesn’t stop once the post goes live. In fact, it has to continue multiple times, over the long-term.
If you want your post to actually be relevant on social media, long before you hit the publish button you need a really good plan.
And that plan is all about having the right images, headline, meta-page description, and auto-share system.
Recommendations:
Make sure that all your blog post new post notifications are automated. Tools such as Zapier and PostPlanner will automatically post updates about new content on your behalf.
You should also consider installing a revive old posts tool, in order to extend the shelf life of content that’s already live.
It takes a lot of time to build an audience online.
In fact, it’s often your content that’s been online for a while that will do a lot of good for your online presence over the long-term.
If you think that your blog could use a thorough edit, I’d love to discuss your project in deeper detail. I’m currently booking clients for the post holiday/ post-New Years season.
Check out my hire me page, and get in touch if you’d like to schedule a time to talk.
