how to write a blog post neil patel

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How to Write a Blockbuster Blog Post in 45 Minutes

Blogging is love and war.

From my 10+ years of writing daily , I can tell you there will be moments when you’re chock-full of motivation. Ideas leap off your mind and straight onto the page. You get inspired by the thought of creating content that will generate massive buzz.

And there are other moments when the excitement is reduced to a glimmer. You jump from half-baked idea to half-baked idea, taking up hours of your time, before getting to that last sentence. You teeter on the verge of giving up.

It happens to all of us.

Even the best writers have the same wishy-washy relationship with blogging.

And do you know what? We have no choice but to pull through.

Blog posts are still the #1 asset for engaging with your audience and generating warm leads for your business.

In fact, marketers who use blogs generate 67% more leads than those who don’t. Not only that, blog posts cost 62% less per lead than outbound marketing.

As encouraging as these numbers are, lead generation is still the top challenge for businesses .

So what’s the one tool that can allow you to pack more power into each blog post so that generating leads isn’t like climbing a mountain?

Persuasion.

A persuasive blog post not only gets the conversation started, but it creates an appetite for your ideas and products, without you coming across like a sleazy salesman.

This is why I put so much time, money, and effort into creating exceptional content with all the persuasive checks and balances . And I’ve told you this before: When I started blogging, my content failed to hit the mark.

Now, I’ve fine-tuned a system that allows me to create powerful content in record time.

Trust me, you can do it too, and I’ll show you exactly how.

In fact, I’ll give you specific formulas that you can plug-and-play to craft your blog posts in under an hour.

The breakdown of what we’ll cover:

• How to build an idea bank
• The “Michaelangelo” technique
• The 6-point persuasion framework
• An outline that satisfies every point of the framework
• A rapid fire timeline for crafting your posts
• Proven formulas for headlining, opening and closing your post
• How to saturate every piece of content with enough value

Let’s get to it.

Laying The Groundwork

Foundation is critical, especially if you don’t want to be consumed by procrastination.

The two pillars of a solid infrastructure are ideation and research .

If you give this process the credo that it deserves, you’ll have 90% of your blog post before you even begin writing.

Step #1 – Build an idea bank

Truthfully, I have a difficult time coming up with great ideas.

But I’ve learned that out of all the bad ideas, there’s always a few that will stand out. And that’s the important thing.

When you can’t think of what to write about, there are four simple ways you can come up with viral-worthy blog topics.

First, create a master spreadsheet to serve as your idea bank. The headings should look something like this:

There’s no sweat involved in filling out your spreadsheet.

Step one: Analyze your products and services

While blogging isn’t a direct sales tool, you want to be intentional about choosing topics that are aligned with what your business offers.

This way you’re not blogging for the sake of blogging and are more likely to see a return on your time investment.

Consider each offer individually.

What hurdles are preventing your prospects from saying yes?

Addressing the objections that people have about your business is the best way to improve your lead generation efforts.

A gold mine for finding these objections is on webinar chat boxes. You can either examine your own webinars or those of your competitors.

You’ll find a scenario like this:

More questions to use when considering your products/services:

• Why are you the best person to solve their problems?
• Why not your competitor?
• What’s the urgency?
• Why is your product relevant now?
• Why is your product the #1 solution?

Use these questions to brainstorm, and add the answers to your spreadsheet. You can then use the headline formulas that I’ll be giving you to craft a custom headline.

Step two: Audit your popular blog content

The best way to know what content will delight your audience is to pinpoint blog posts that have already hit the mark.

Check your analytics and note the categories of the most popular posts and content upgrades.

You can then brainstorm ideas around these categories or plug them into Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator .

The tool will generate blog post topics for you.

Step three: Conduct competitive intelligence

It’s easy to get yourself worked up by the idea of competition.

However, I believe in making your competitors work for you and not against you.

Why not tap into what already works for them?

One of my favorite tools for gaining insight into high ranking content is Buzzsumo .

Simply plug in your keyword and browse through the results.

The goal is to select content with the most social capital.

Make it yours, make it better, and readers will find you.

Step four: Get in tune with the desires and pain points of your target audience

It amazes me how many people neglect this step.

You want to tell an effective story, create hyper-relevant content, and be perceived as an authority.

Ignoring the people you’re trying to reach is not the best way to accomplish this.

It’s to get into the heads and hearts of your audience. Here’s where you can get that insight:

• Blog comments
• Niche Forums
• Amazon book reviews (pay special attention to the negative reviews)
• Facebook groups
• Twitter search

What questions are your prospects asking? What objections do they have? What do they need help with?

Take down these ideas word for word. The goal at this point is not to form a concrete hook but to generate ideas.

After you’ve completed these four steps, you’ll have an arsenal of raw data that can be transformed into custom blog topics.

Step #2 – Use The Michaelangelo Technique  

One of my favorite Renaissance artists is Michaelangelo Buonarroti. Renowned for his breathtaking artistry, he believed that his sculptures were captured in the block of marble before he even started his work.

His only task was to chisel away at the excess material and set his artwork free.

What if I told you that writing a blog post is just like carving out a sculpture?

You are the artist. Your research document is your block of marble. You just need to chisel away at the unnecessary material to give life to your post.

The only question that remains is  how do you conduct the quality of research that is required?

The process is quite simple:

• The same steps used to generate blog topics can be used for your research. Only, instead of focusing on the idea, you focus on the content.
• As you read to gather your research, jot down the ideas that come to mind. Let reading be the input and writing the output.
• The goal is to create a valuable, data-driven post. Use the following sources to gather your data:

After you’ve done your research, just let it sit.

I’ve found that when I let my ideas marinate overnight they become more refined, I gain more clarity, and the direction of my post becomes concrete in my mind.

So how do you know what to chisel away in order to sculpt your blog post? It’s all in the framework.

Step #3 – The 6-Point Framework of a Persuasive Blog Post

There are few things in the world that people hate more than having someone try to sell them something.

If your readers detect even a hint of a sleaze in your blog posts, they will make a dive for the exit button.

The only way to escape that unfortunate fate is to stop selling and start persuading.

There are 6 pressure points that you need to tap into:

1. Likeability – If your reader doesn’t like you, everything else is irrelevant. Naturally, people are skeptical of perfection. So be vulnerable, tell your story, and document the imperfections. This study reveals that businesses who are more authentic and emotional in their content increase their word of mouth marketing by 3X that of those who don’t lean on emotion.

2. Credibility – Your readers not only need to believe in you, but they need to believe in their own ability to produce results. That’s where providing easily consumable and actionable content will come into play. A great way to create more bite-sized content is to add images every 100 words or so. In fact, images can boost content credibility by 75% .

3. Urgency – You need to help your readers get over their tendency to procrastinate. The way to do that is to emphasize the urgency. Why does the information in your blog post matter today? A genius way to insert call-to-actions in your post is to create content upgrades. Backlinko improved their conversion rates by 785% (in one day!) using this method.

4. Authority –   Your authority is increased by creating comprehensive, data-driven content with unique insights. The more authority you command, the more people will bet on you to deliver the transformation that they seek.

5. Reciprocity – Attention is currency in the online space. So when someone gives you their attention, you reciprocate by providing value with no strings attached. In fact, giving away your best content for free can grow your business by 290% .

6. Authenticity – Who is ever their absolute authentic self in every scenario? Seth Godin describes authenticity as consistency . It means showing up day after day with a congruent message. If you’re shaky with your ideas or complacent about the way that you express them, you won’t hold up to scrutiny. A study of 27,000 consumers revealed that consistency is critical for trust and loyalty.

I know this sounds like a lot of criteria for one blog post to meet.

To do it all in 45 minutes? Impossible.

Not at all.

I’ve created a simple outline that satisfies every point of this framework. I challenge you to take it, use it, and see your writing skills improve by leaps.

Step #4 – How To Flesh Out Your Outline In Record Time

Now it’s time to execute.

By this point, you should have come up with a stockpile of blog topics.

Your only task is to chisel away at your research document and fill in your outline without wasting any time.

First – Craft a Heavy-Hitting Hook

A crappy headline is the kiss of death.

You might as well beg people to go read any one of the other millions of blog posts that are published every day.

Here’s how to ensure that your headline delivers a solid punch:

Rule #1 – Be super specific. Use numbers in your headline and avoid ambiguous words like amazing , awesome , and great . There are other lackluster words that put readers to sleep but these are the likely culprits.

Rule #2 – Flirt, don’t reveal your total solution. If you uncover your solution right away, there’s no incentive to keep reading. Be mindful that there is a fine line between a curiosity-infused headline and desperate clickbait.

Rule #3 – Appeal to the senses to invoke an emotional response. This Harvard study shows that we make decisions on an emotional basis and only appeal to logic to justify these decisions.

By now, you already know that great ideas aren’t formulaic but the vessel in which they are contained is.

Your headline is that vessel.

Here are 11 headline formulas that have been tested and proven to work:

1. Breaking News Headline  

Formula: [Story] + [Effect]

Example: New Google Algorithm Gives Top Blogs A Heavy Blow    

2. The List Headline

Formula: [Number] of Ways To [Desired Outcome]

Example: 127 Ways To Market Your Online Course                           

3. The Burning Question

Formula: [Pose A Provocative Question]

Example: Is The Money Really In The List?

4. A Fun Juxtaposition

Formula: [Present two conflicting ideas or positions]

Example: How to Be Smart in a World of Dumb Bloggers (From SmartBlogger )

5. The How-To Headline

Formula #1: How To [Method] To [Achieve Desired Outcome] Like [Gripping Simile/Metaphor]

Example: How To Use Content Upgrades to Grow Your Email List Like Wildfire

Formula #2: How To [Method] To [Achieve Desired Outcome] In [Specific Timeframe]

Example: How To Use Persuasion To Write Blockbuster Blog Posts in 45 Minutes

6. The Ultimate Guide

Formula: The [Ultimate/Complete] Guide To [Total Transformation]

Example: The Ultimate Guide To Content Marketing

7. The Name Dropper

Formula: [Famous Person] [Method, Advice, Tips] For [Achieving A Desired Outcome]

Example: Stephen King’s 20 Tips for Becoming a Frighteningly Good Writer (From SmartBlogger )

8. Introduce The Evil Villain

Formula: [Evil Villain] That [Specific Misdeed]

Example: The 10 Types Of Pseudo-Experts That Are Robbing You Blind

9. Address A Resident Emotion

Formula: [Appeal To A Fear/Other Strong Emotion]

Example: An Open Letter To Entrepreneurs Struggling To Make A Profit

10. The Mistakes, Errors, Warnings

Formula: [Number] Mistakes People Make [Specific Action]

Example: 12 Fatal Sales Copywriting Mistakes

11. Leading With Why Headline

Formula: [Why] [Specific Thing] [Outcome/Adjective]

Example: Why Creativity Is Overrated

Second – Write A Magnetic Opening

Your lead serves as the gateway to the rest of your post so you want it to be inviting, entertaining, and full of promise.

Some rules for writing a hypnotic blog post opening:

Rule #1 – Keep your first sentence short, snappy, and snackable. Short sentences boost content readability by 58% .

Rule #2 – Aggravate the problem and use emotive language to paint a picture of your big promise. Here are 317 power words that you can use to create an emotionally gripping narrative.

Rule #3 –   Use personal anecdotes and mini stories to boost your credibility and authenticity factors.

Want formulas? Here are 9 power hitters:

• The Quote Lead – Use a quote that is relevant to your blog post. Your readers should be able to recognize the author of your quote so it’s best to use an influencer in your niche.
• The Impending Danger Lead – This is where you introduce an evil villain and lean strongly on emotion.
• The Counterintuitive Lead – Open by presenting a solution which goes against the grain.
• The Empath Lead – Let readers know that you understand how they feel, you’ve walked in their shoes, and that they’re not alone.
• The Shock Value Lead – Open with a jaw-dropping statistic or an unexpected fact.
• The Storytelling Lead – An intriguing tale goes a long way to draw readers in. It could be true or metaphorical, as long as it’s within the context of your blog post.
• The “Get Right To It” Lead – This is the no fluff, “I won’t waste your time” lead. You have to establish the premise of your post right away.
• The “Call Out” Lead – Have the audacity to call your reader out. Do they have a bad habit that’s keeping them in the dark? What are they complacent about?
• Pop Quiz Lead – Open by providing a list of options and set it up where there can only be two or three outcomes.

Here’s an example :

Third – Pack the value in the body of your post

Naturally, this is where you’ll invest the most time.

If you respect the research phase, it’s a matter of chipping away at the unnecessary information and tightening up your post.

Here’s the blueprint for shaping each point in your body:

Some quick tips for writing dynamic body content:

Tip #1 – Strike the right balance between emotion and ration. Hitting the emotional hot buttons is critical but your readers have a need for logic, particularly if they’re being promised something sensational.

Tip #2 –  Readers should be able to easily implement your solutions themselves and see an immediate benefit or result. This is going to amplify your perceived value and keep people coming back, day after day.

Tip #3 – Let your personality show up. Your unique writing voice will take time to develop, but here’s what you can do to accelerate the process:

• Brainstorm two words that describe your personality. Find words and phrases that are synonymous or associated with these two keywords. Let that serve as your swipe file of personality power words and use them in your writing.
• Create an imaginary reader, name them, and write like you’re having a conversation with that ONE person.

Bonus Time Saving Tip – Use a voice typing tool so you don’t have to physically type. Simply dictate your points and most voice typing tools will spell out the words with remarkable accuracy.

Step 4 – Write A Solid Close

Every writer develops a unique way of closing. There’s really no magic formula.

Take a minute to analyze a few of your blog posts.

Do you notice a specific pattern? I bet you do.

That’s because when we do a task over and over, we subconsciously develop a mental protocol to save time and effort.

You may have noticed, I always headline my close as “Conclusion”. I always pose a question as the final interaction. And I always end with a positive outlook.

While there are no rules, there are some tips and tricks for closing effectively:

Tip #1 – Emphasise the main message. You don’t want your blog post to be linear or incomplete. Did you lead with a mini story about Mark? Make sure Mark shows up in your closing. Did you lean on a particular emotion in your opening? Call that emotion to action in your close.

Tip #2 – Give readers a reason to act with urgency. What’s the big benefit? What’s the ultimate promise? Remind them so they’ll be inclined to act on your solutions.

Tip #3 – Positivity and optimism will trump fear any day. Be inspiring. Be motivational. Be a cheerleader.

Tip #4 – End with a conversation activator. Asking a question at the end gives readers a nudge to engage and comment on your post.

3 Little-Known Techniques Of Master Closers:

1. Use rhyme and repetition to create soundbites that stick with your reader forever.

2. Use an ellipsis (…) to increase the pace of your writing. Your close will be high energy, which is what you need to end with a bang.

3. Make the rule of three your secret weapon. Ideas that come in threes are more rhythmic, effective, and satisfying to consume.

Some famous examples:

• “blood, sweat, and tears”
• “stop, drop, and roll”
• “I came, I saw, I conquered”
• “the good, the bad, and the ugly”.

Do you catch the drift?

Even if you’re a self-proclaimed terrible writer.

Even if you’re used to spending weeks dwelling, days writing, and hours editing.

Even if you hate the writing process.

You can create a persuasive powerhouse of a blog post without consuming days of your time.

I’m proof that it doesn’t require any form of wizardry or extraordinary talent. What it takes is commitment and trust in the systems that have already been proven to generate results.

There will be moments when the process gets grueling, but when a swarm of people kicks down your door just to engage with your ideas, you will be redeemed a thousand times over.

What’s your process for writing quality blog posts quickly? Do you have any tips and tricks that I didn’t mention in this post?

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Neil Patel’s Guide to Writing Popular Blog Posts

This guest post is by Neil Patel of KISSmetrics .

Do you wish you knew the secret to writing popular blog posts? You know, the posts that get over 200 comments, 20 backlinks, and hundreds of shares on social networking sites?

Over the past five years I’ve started two blogs. The first one became a Technorati top 100 site, and now I’m working on Quick Sprout.

Image copyright Yuri Arcurs - Fotolia.com

Use simple words

The first thing you’ll probably notice when you look at popular blog posts is they’re really easy to understand. And it doesn’t matter what the content is about.

Why is that? The reason they are easy to read is because the writer chose to write with simple words.

I always write my posts using 5 th grade vocabulary, rather than writing like a highly educated person. See, I’d rather you be able to read and understand quickly what I wrote, than to appear like an educated person who uses big, complex words, and ends up confusing people.

The interesting thing is you will still look like an expert. Also, people are more likely to share a post that they think other people will understand. So use simple words, not fancy ones.

Use the word “you”

Really great blog posts sound like they were written just for you. Do you know why that is? It’s because the writer probably used the word “you” instead of “we” or “them.”

When I write like this, what I’m doing is trying to make you feel like it’s just you and me, as if we were sitting down at a café for a cup of coffee.

Yes, my blog has thousands of readers, but my posts come across much more personal when I pretend like I’m just writing for one person.

A neat trick to help you do this is to think of somebody you know and write your blog post as if you are writing it just for them. I know some writers who even keep a picture of a person above their screens to remind them that they are writing for just one person.

Write “how-to” posts

One of the things I learned about writing popular blog posts is that people want useful information.

That blog content that I wrote for the Technorati Top 100 blog wasn’t very good, even though it was ranked high, and I think it was because I wasn’t trying to offer a solution to people’s problems. I wasn’t showing them how to do stuff. In this post, I’m pretty sure you want to write posts that people like and share, so that the traffic to your blog grows. I want to help you solve that problem.

The template for writing a “how-to” post is simple. Just sit down and write out all of the steps involved in doing something in particular.

Let’s say you want to show your audience how to subscribe to your blog with an RSS reader. Your headings might be “Choose a Reader,” “Sign Up,” “Click on the RSS button,” and “Subscribe.” Under each heading you would give more information, explaining what to look for, the pros and cons, and pointing out issues that might be confusing.

Write detailed posts

When I first started writing Quick Sprout, I got frustrated with how slowly it was growing. It seemed like it was taking forever! I was writing good posts and getting some comments, but not enough to really make people want to share and link back.

At one point I decided to experiment and write a really long, detailed post. It took me some time to write and I was wondering if it was worth all the effort.

Well, you know what? It was !

People commented and shared that post a lot, and from that point on I decided I was only going to write long posts with tons of good, specific information.

If you think about it, people love long, detailed posts because so much of what is offered on other blogs is short and light on details. This is not to knock other blogs, but simply to point out that this is an opportunity for you to make yourself different than other bloggers.

Another way to make your posts detailed is to add statistics and graphs. It’s been shown that posts with images, stats and graphs will get way more links than the very same post without visual appeal!

Hook your readers

I really learned a lot about hooking your reader by reading blogs by Brian Clark , Darren Rowse and Leo Babauta .

These writers use some great tricks to compell readers to stop and read every word they write, which I think is something we all want to do, right ?

The first rule of hooking readers is to write a great headline. Great headlines have four qualities. They are:

• Unique: Unique headlines can only be used for your blog post, like this post I’m writing right now. It’s unique because there is only one Neil Patel!
• Useful: A headline is useful when it promises practical information. The reason “how-to” guides are popular is because it gives answers to problems.
• Ultra-specific: Adding numbers or stats to a headline makes it ultra-specific. My article, 6 Advanced Ways to Improve Your Search Rankings , is a good example of ultra-specific, since I used both a number and the word “advanced.”
• Urgent: The best way to create urgency is to put some kind of deadline into your headline. “6 Days until the Stock Market Crashes” or “Your Last Chance to Get a Free Copy of My Book” are good examples.

The best headlines have three or four of these features in them. This formula is called the Four Us.

After the headline, you hook readers by writing a great first sentence. How do you do that ? Asking questions works really well. So does making a crazy statement that simply can’t be true, but then you promise to show your readers that it is. The point is to write a first sentence that people can’t resist. Quotes also make good first sentences, as do statistics.

Next, your reader will probably skim your post, especially if it is long, looking at all of your sub-headlines. This is why your sub-headlines need to also hook the reader.

Readers should be able to scan your sub-headlines and get a summary of what the post is about. I like to write my sub-headlines like normal headlines, trying to use the Four Us I showed you above. That way, you read them and say, “I got to read that!”

Create a conversation

One of the most important parts of writing popular blog posts is writing like it’s a conversation.

Have you noticed all the questions I’ve been asking? Or all of the phrases I’ve italicized? I’ve done that on purpose. People forget that blogging is social media, and being social means knowing how to carry on a good conversation.

The way to do that when you’re actually talking to someone is to listen and ask the other person questions. It shows that person that you care about what they are thinking, and that it’s not all about you—because it’s not.

The same is true about a blog.

Creating a conversation also means you exchange words with each other after the blog post is done, usually in the comments, though some people prefer to email, which is fine.

If there isn’t a dialog then you’re talking to yourself, and that’s no fun. So at the end of your post, always ask people what they think and tell them to leave their thoughts in the comments.

Prove your points

It’s really important in your post to prove any claims that you make. For example, in the section where I said that graphs and stats in a post get more backlinks, I actually linked to another blog post that backed up what I was saying.

If you don’t do this, you’re likely to lose credibility and people won’t believe what you say.

But another benefit to proving your points by linking to other posts is that you are sharing with your audience another good source of information. And the chances are that author will probably link back to your blog at some point.

Show you are an authority

Lots of bloggers can get uncomfortable with this one because they feel like they’re tooting their own horn.

See, to show you’re an authority on a subject means you have to get other people or organizations to say that you are an authority. Then you point out that they said those things.

If you do that, it’s not bragging, but just pointing out the truth. Of course, it matters how you say it, so stay humble .

One way I show that I have the authority to speak on the subject of writing popular blog posts is by mentioning that my blog was a Technorati top-100 blog. It shows that someone else with lots of credibility recognized me as an expert.

Another way I could do this is by telling you how many readers Quick Sprout has. There must be a reason so many people like the blog, right ?

I also mention that I’m a successful entrepreneur, which I can back up by telling you about the two companies I own. It’s not usually seen as bragging if you don’t force it, so look for ways that feel natural.

You’ll see blogs with “As Seen In” sections displaying the logos of important companies and media sources, like the Wall Street Journal , underneath. This is an endorsement—another way of showing you have authority.

Testimonials from readers and clients are also a form of authority. If you’re interested, I wrote a post on how to effectively use testimonials that explains more on this topic.

Care about your readers

One of the biggest lessons I learned from starting two blogs, and several companies, is that you have to care about people, and show them you care.

I love reading blogs where I can feel the writer’s concern for me. I try to do that on Quick Sprout, too. One obvious way to do this is by bringing attention to the people who have helped you be successful .

I’ve discovered that if truly care about people—including your readers—you will naturally try to write a popular blog post, because you are always looking for ways to write better. In other words, you’ll constantly try to learn new ways to improve your posts so you help more people. And that’s certainly a good recipe for success!

There’s a lot of competition in the blogosphere, so it’s easy to get frustrated when your blog is not getting the attention it deserves.

Be patient and use the tips that I shared above. I’m certain that within time you’ll start writing popular blog posts on a frequent basis.

What advice do you have for people who want to write a popular blog post?

Neil Patel is the co-founder of KISSmetrics and blogs at Quick Sprout .

Please delete all my posts except for the very last one(right before this!). Thanks.

I ll be sure to apply some of your tips ;) thanks heaps

That sure is a detailed post Neil! I am always confused about how long my posts should be. It seems that at the initial stages of a blog, it is a little frustrating to write really lengthy and well researched posts because no one is there to read it. I guess it is a common problem for everyone. If I am Problogger, then sure :) I try to keep them reasonably long though, many over 1000 words. I think I should now think about writing more pillar articles.

Best popular posts are those which have a unique content. The headline too matters, the title should be interesting and leave the rest to people to make the post social.

You do have great points in this article though I have seen a couple of it in other sites. What’s interesting is how you explained it and gave examples. You’ve given these tips a new twist in it. Thanks!

– Melvin

This is the kind of blog am looking for, it answers everything I want to know about writing a very remarkable blogs…smart and very useful..it serves the purpose…Thank you, can I call you Neil also, even if I only came to know your name here?

You wrote another one! Thanks for some great tips.

Neil,Great tips.Thanks.

Loved it :) and the best part was that , this particular blog u wrote is the best example of how to write a popular blog :) Thank you so much :)

Very useful for me. the part about ‘hook you readers’ is something that seems obvious but that I haven’t been paying enough attention. Its also a good checklist for writing a post’. I also don’t include enough ‘how to articles’ Im goimg to start changing that now.

I guess it is a common problem for everyone. If I am Problogger, then sure :) I try to keep them reasonably long though, many over 1000 words. I think I should now think about writing more pillar articles

Neil, You have nail it exactly. Perfect description. I like about your YOU concept and Hook your readers. Clearly make sense and very practical. Thanks for sharing the terrific post.

The Great and popular is Made by simple right, you focus on your own writing, unique thing is better than copy past, and must Take some time to writing a blog posts. its very usefull and am sure 200 comments and lot of backlinks guranty :)

Thank you for writing this informative post for us.

My biggest learning is the use of the word “you.” I used a lot of “we” in the past. I am making changes by using “I” and “you” instead of “we” or “them.” I still need to get used to it. And funny Neil you mention about a picture. I do have that beside me and act as if I am writing my post for this person only.

Thanks so much Neil for putting together such a well thought out post, I particularly enjoyed reading the section on creating a conversation :)

Thank you again and good luck for the future

I liked your idea of keeping a photo of someone nearby to remind myself to write as though I am talking only to that person. I’ve been struggling to write posts that are directed to “you”.

I’ve also been working on keeping my language simple. My husband has always told me my language is too complex and blogging has helped me fix that a bit.

Thanks for all the helpful tips.

Thanks Neil for great tips.

From my (in)experience, headlines with “how-to” with a number is a great trick: 5 Ways Boost Your …

Love the very obvious “use 2nd person” voice. Never thought of that, oddly enough.

Also reminds me of Orwell’s advice: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/12-writing-tips-from-george-orwell/

Thanks for sharing.

Great work Neil ! I was looking for a great article which I can read to polish my skills and this one sure proved to be great ! Thanks for sharing your knowledge !

The ideas you discussed here are extremely priceless. It was such a fun surprise to see that waiting for me once i woke up this very day. They are constantly to the point plus easy to interpret. Thank you for the useful ideas you’ve shared here.

We should post as if we are talking to the readers even if there isn’t any readers (at the beginning)

Thanks for a great post. Most helpful info. I am grateful that I only know how to write in simple words. LOL

Most of all I was surprised to learn that I didn’t have to work so hard to keep my blogs as short as possible.That was new information for me.

Thank you, dawn

Excellent article. Especially the advice about writing as if I was giving instructions to someone sitting right in front of me. Or, better yet, writing as if I am giving instructions to one of my technically challenged friends.

Very nice – I didn’t even notice your use of the word “you” until you pointed it out. Then I realized that it did make things feel more natural.

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A Practical Podcast… to Help You Build a Better Blog

A Practical Podcast…

Neil Patel’s Top Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts

How to Write an In-Depth Post in Less Than Two Hours

Updated: August 28, 2017

Published: October 13, 2014

In content marketing today, quality is more important than ever. Reputable marketers need to produce content that is well written, highly researched, data-backed, and visually engaging. To gain the attention of smart algorithms and smarter people, that content might need to be on the longer side, too.

That’s a lot to ask of a single article. What’s more, it’s a lot to ask of a single person. So how should one person go about doing that all?

I write a lot, which means that I need to use my time wisely. This is the system I’ve developed for creating quality content without sabotaging my schedule. This is how I write lengthy and well-researched articles in just two hours. While that time frame may not work for everyone, the process definitely can.

An Overview of the Process

Before launching into a detailed how-to of my process, I’ll give you a quick rundown of the process. To be as clear as possible, I’ll use this article that you’re reading as the basis of my timing benchmarks.

Quick Disclaimer:  This article is a bit unusual in that it’s not as highly researched as other articles I’ve written . The content involves more explanation and less data.

Schedule Overview

• Three weeks before: Came up with the idea, and jotted a few notes down. 2 minutes.
• Day before writing: Created the outline.  9 minutes.
• Day of writing:  Conducted the bulk of my research and wrote the article. This includes the time I took for a restroom break, getting a cup of coffee, sending two texts, checking my email, and taking one phone call.  1 hour 12 minutes.  
• First copy edit:   10 minutes.
• Total time expenditure:   93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)

What Tools Are Required?

Every writer has his favorite tools and techniques. I don’t insist on any one right way to produce a blog post or article. I do, however, want to share some of the things that I’ve found to be helpful.

1) Google Drive.

I use Google Drive for the vast majority of my writing needs. Here’s why:

• It’s cloud-based. I can access my writing on any device, anywhere, anytime.
• It’s browser-based. Because I do all my research in web-browsers, it helps to also do my writing in a web browser. My mind and fingers are accustomed to the keyboard shortcuts, the techniques, and the extensions.
• It’s shareable. I share the articles that I write with other team members so they can help me with the process of editing and proofreading.
• I can download or access files in any format. Some sites for which I contribute use Word documents. Even though I don’t write in Word, I can still download my documents in Word.

Google Drive doesn’t have the bells and whistles of a full-fledged word processing platform, but it does have all the functionality that I need for writing articles.

One great timesaving feature of Google Drive is that I can do nearly anything I want to do with a few swift keyboard shortcuts . In order to create that hyperlinked text, I copied the URL of a bookmark (command + c), highlighted the section (shift + alt/option + left arrow), opened the hyperlink menu (command + k), and pasted the URL (command + v). Keyboard shortcuts for the win.

2) Enough screen space.

I do most of my writing on a 15-inch screen. Sometimes, I use a triple monitor configuration for heavy-duty research. Usually, the single-screen display works just fine.

When I'm writing a post, I resize my browser windows so I have one browser pane on one half of the screen and a second browser window on the other half.

The left browser window is Google Drive. That’s where I’m actually doing my writing. The right window is where I do my research.  

I took the screenshot above in the middle of my article writing. As I continue writing, the right browser window fills with tabs -- as many as forty or fifty sometimes. I cycle through them using keyboard shortcuts to find the material that I’m using for research.

3) Screen grab program.

A great way for to increase your article’s reader engagement, social media CTR, and Google image search traffic is to add and optimize it for images and screenshots.

I constantly create screenshots in order to add images to my articles. I use an app called Monosnap .

To capture an area with Monosnap, I use a keyboard shortcut, which immediately opens up a set of crosshairs overlaid on my screen. I position these over the area that I’d like to capture. Monosnap also allows me to edit the screenshots with some minimal options.

Using a screen grab program is indispensable for what I want to do -- provide great content with visual appeal.

4) The ability to read/research quickly and type comfortably.

I tend to type fast. Here are the results from my latest speed typing test.

If I were to type that quickly for two hours straight, I would produce 13,200 words. Obviously, I don’t create that much content for a single article. The vast majority of my time is spent researching.

You don’t have to type really fast in order to complete an article quickly. Why? Because typing is just one aspect of the entire process of article creation. Most people can type a lengthy and well-researched article in roughly the same amount of time . Research is the critical time-consuming element, not typing.

Step 1: Create the outline.

Now, let’s jump into the actual process of writing and researching.

Pick a topic and a title.

Creating a title and settling on a topic is the important aspect of all. In the one-minute video below, I discuss the topic of article ideation in other articles. Use tools, and do brainstorming. It works.

If you want to produce a piece quickly, you should pick topics that you’re comfortable with writing on. If you pick a topic, but can’t come up with an outline from your head, you may be writing about an area for which you lack sufficient knowledge. If you pick an area like this to write about, then you will have to spend more time researching, which means that you may not be able to do it in under two hours.

Create a rough outline.

Here’s what this article looked like after about three minutes of thinking and working.

You see stuff in this rough outline that you don’t see in the finished product. I even spelled some words wrong. Big deal. This is where I’m simply scratching things down and getting my thought process going.

The outline is very rough at this point, but as you continue to work on it, the following qualities should emerge:

The outline should be logical. An outline has to make sense to the reader. The point of an outline is to provide a cognitive structure for the user to follow as they work through your article. The outline is also a tool for you, the writer and researcher. The basic idea is just to create a structure so that the article is well organized.

The outline should be thorough. The best outlines are those that don’t simply provide the main points, but also provide subpoints. Subpoints are where the article goes deep and gets advanced. A thorough outline like this will help you when you go to do the writing and research. You can work through the article in an organized way, dividing your research into sections.

Of all the writing methods that I’ve used, the one that saves me the most time is creating an outline ahead of time. I prefer to write the outline a day ahead of my writing. I often do it the night before, so the content is fresh in my mind the next morning. (I do most of my writing in the morning.)

Step 2:  Jot down a quick introduction and conclusion.

After you’ve created your outline, you’re in the perfect mental state to write an introduction and conclusion.

Write an introduction.

The introduction doesn’t need to be long or complicated. I follow a simple model for writing an introduction :

• State the topic you’re dealing with. Before anything else, the reader needs to know what he or she is reading about.
• Discuss why it’s important. You want your reader to know that the topic is important, so you can encourage them to read the whole article.
• Sketch out a game plan for the article. Tell the reader where you’re going in the content that follows.

Write a conclusion.

A successful conclusion summarizes the article’s content and adds any lingering thoughts. Most of my conclusions are a final point that simply says: “Conclusion” and has a few sentences. I also like to wrap up my article with a question for the reader.

Introductions and conclusions can be simple and formulaic. That’s why I can write them before I write the rest of the article. I know where I’m going, and how the article is going to look as it ends up. Writing an introduction and conclusion takes me four to six minutes. I do very little (if any) research during this phase.

Step 3:  Write and research.

Write and research at the same time..

For me, writing and research happens simultaneously. I already know what direction I’m heading in as I write an article, so I don’t necessarily need to learn about a topic before I write on it.

This gives me an advantage. My research is focused. For example, if I’m writing an article on, say, saving time on social media, I know what kind of research to do. I’m not researching generic information about “social media.” Instead, I’m searching for advanced and specific things like “social media time expenditures marketing data.” Queries like this also help me pinpoint the right data to include in my post, faster. 

My primary research tool is Google. Sounds pretty simple, I know, but it’s the best tool there is for the kind of research that I do.

But remember, Google is only as effective as the person who is doing the searching. Below are a few tips for getting better results out of Google.

Also use Google Scholar.

Often, I want to cite studies or advanced research in my articles. For this, I use Google Scholar.

I have the main search page of Google Scholar bookmarked, so I can access it instantly. I type in queries, similar to the way I do in a general Google research. The results, however, are usually more advanced.

Results like these are exceptional. They’re produced by authoritative researchers with great credentials. This is the kind of stuff that I want to cite in a well-researched article.

Try out advanced query techniques.

Another feature of my research involves my query techniques. Certain sites have some of the best information on certain topics. In order to confine my searches to a single site, I use different query techniques .

For example, I used the following query: inurl:blog.hubspot.com social listening.

What I come up with is results about social listening that only include blog.hubspot.com in the URL. I know that the HubSpot blog has some great articles on social listening, so I specifically targeted this site in my search.

Use an image search.

A lot of times, I’m looking for images that support my points and make my article more interesting.

This sounds like a time-consuming endeavor. How do I save time on this? I use Google’s image search. In the screenshot below, notice how I used a typical query, but I did so using Image search.

Instantly, I come up with a variety of visual elements that I might be able to use in my article. From this view, I can go check out the website hosting the image to see if I have permission to use it in a blog post .

This phase comprises the bulk of my time and effort in writing an article. I move intentionally and sequentially through my outline until I’ve covered every point in sufficient detail.

Step 4:  Edit and proofread.

The final phase, editing, is almost as important as the actual writing . When you edit an article, you are making it ready for publication. People are going to read your article and either scoff at it or benefit from it. Editing makes the difference.

Here’s the process I recommend:

First edit and proof: Revisions. After you’ve written the article, do a thorough edit job on it. Did you say things the way you wanted to? Do you need to add to a point, or move some information around? Does one section need more images? This is your chance to make the major changes that will affect the article.

Second edit and proof: Copy editing. Once the article has been written and edited in a rough sense, it’s time to go through with another copy edit phase. You can do your own copy editing, or you can hire a professional to do it for you. Either way, make sure that the article is thoroughly edited for readability, style, and grammar. It really helps to get a second pair of eyes on it at this point.

Third edit and proof: Phone a friend. Finally, hand the article off to someone else so they can proof it, too. The more proofreading phases, the better.

They say writing is an art, but I know it’s also a science. Because I write a lot and I try to write highly-researched and thorough articles, each article needs to have a process.

That’s why I’ve developed this system. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s something I’ve found to be useful.

What techniques do you use to write well-researched articles?

Don't forget to share this post!

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How to Write a Blog Post From Start to Finish by Neil Patel

In this video, Neil Patel explains how to write a blog from Start to Finish. He used the formula for all his blog post which drives 37 thousand visitors per blog post.

If you’re running a business, the blogs will help to expand an online presence, drive potential customers, promote their brand and generate online revenue. Content marketing helps to rank the posts in search engines, thereby generating residual leads and revenue.

This blogging formula gives better results for all the blog posts whether it’s a personal blog or any business blog.

Here, he explained clearly about his blogging formula which includes the importance of the

• Introduction
• Subheadings

These things will really help you to generate more traffic to your blog.

Now you know how to write a blog post and it’s time to start a blog that matters.

Find Powerful Expired Domains with FreshDrop By Nathan Gotch

How to start social media marketing (4 essential tips for beginners).

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Privacy overview.

How to Write Blog Post Titles Like Neil Patel (7 Things You Should Try)

How to write blog post titles like neil patel: 7 takeaways, 1. make lists of 7 (or 17), 2. use 2nd person pronouns, 3. make every 3rd post a how to, 4. vary post title length, 5. ask "should you" questions, 6. use years during q4 and q1, 7. do a lot of hacking, the best simple secret hacks and tools to crush google seo with new content for traffic and business money.

Neil Patel isn't a big guy, but what he says and does carry a lot of weight in the content marketing world.

Since the handful of words in the title are arguably more important than the hundreds of words that follow combined, we thought we'd analyze how Neil writes titles.

We put 334 of Neil's most recent blog titles into a spreadsheet and looked for some common themes. Here are seven things we learned.

For starters, we pulled three major types of post titles from the list to get a breakdown of Neil's common posts. How To's are the biggest type at 31% (103), followed by Lists at 13% (43), and Questions at 11% (37).

We'll take a look at what we can learn from these post types below and draw a few more conclusions from the data.

Of the sampling we analyzed, 43 posts were listicles. See if you can pick up on a theme from this screenshot of the data:

It doesn't take a statistical genius to see that Neil favors the number seven for his lists. In fact, 37 of his 43 listicles were lists of seven (and two more were lists of 17).

So, what's the deal with the magic number seven?

I've always associated the number seven with completeness, which would make sense in the case of lists. If you have a list of seven, you've covered everything. Your list is complete.

But, according to Guy Winch, Psychology Today Contributor, there are more explanations for our like of the number seven. Six more, in fact. In Seven Reasons We Are Captivated by the Number Seven , Winch spells them out.

• 7 has been significant since ancient times.
• 7 has had significance in almost every major religion.
• 7 is associated with luck and magical properties.
• 7 matches our memory capacity.
• 7 fits our attention spans.
• 7 is a prime number.
• 7 is the most popular number.

Maybe Neil knows his psychology.

Another common theme we spotted when looking through Neil's blog post titles was the use of the second person pronoun. Nearly half of the titles (148) included the word "you" or "your." By comparison, only a small portion of titles included a first-person pronoun such as "me," "my," or "our" (45).

Since Neil's name is well-known in the digital marketing space, he can get away with talking about himself. This post is an obvious illustration that we want to know what Neil thinks. But, by comparison, Neil talks about "you," the reader, much more often than he does himself. I think he's onto something.

By using "you" a lot, the focus is obviously on solving the problem of the reader, which should be our goal as marketers. It's why we call what we do at Lean Labs customer-centric marketing . Our prospects and clients are the heroes, not us. We're here to help them solve their problems, not talk about ourselves. They're Frodo; we're Gandalf. They're Luke; we're Obi-Wan. To learn more about our five keys to customer-centric marketing, click here .

A study by the Journal of Interactive Marketing in 2017 revealed that the use of second person pronouns has a measurable effect on marketing messages.

"The inclusion of second person pronouns in online brand messaging enhances consumer involvement. Facebook brand posts and blogs with second person pronouns are associated with higher consumer involvement and self-referencing mediates this effect."

By getting the reader to "self-reference," they internalize the content and envision themselves acting on it.

"How to"s make up 102 of the 334 posts we analyzed and another 43 include the word "How." While it probably isn't a surprise that "how to" is a common post type, it may be surprising just how often Neil uses it.

But we know a lot of people ask Google questions, so it makes sense to use the types of questions that people are asking in titles.

A search on Google for "how to" turned up over 18 BILLION results. Billion with a B. That means there's a lot of people creating "how to" content.

Are they on the right track?

It seems so.

Of the 1,000 most common questions asked on Google , 512 are "how to" questions. That's a lot more than any other question type.

Did you notice that we got all three of these first points in the title of this post, "How to Write Blog Post Titles Like Neil Patel (7 Things You Should Try)"? Neil would be proud.

Other than the lists of seven, this takeaway is the most surprising for me. Neil's titles vary widely in length. Here's a histogram of the number of characters in his blog post titles.

In a further breakdown, we found that both the average and median character length was 47. But, as you can see from the histogram, the lengths are all over the place from 16 to 81. Most content marketers try to get as many keywords as possible in the title without truncating on Google SERPs at around 70 characters. But Neil's titles are all over the board.

Neil's word choice in titles tends toward simple vocabulary. The average characters per word was 5.7, and the average words per title was 8.3.

Of the 334 titles we looked at, 37 included question marks. Asking questions is a great way to get someone interested in the post and entice click-throughs. If you can create an open loop with the promise to close it at the end, you have intriguing content.

It's hard for us to let go of unanswered questions.

The most common question type was "Should You...?" Here are some of the recent "Should You?" post titles from Neil's blog.

• Should You Build Rich Anchor Text Links Still?
• Should You Coin Your Own Terms For Marketing?
• Should You Focus on Link Building in 2019?
• Should You Give Up On Marketing Campaigns That Don’t Work Initially
• Should You Place a Phone Number on Your Website?
• Should You Really Start a Podcast?
• Should You Rebrand Your Logo?
• Should You Sell Ads on Your Site?

Neil uses years in titles a lot, beginning mid-way through Q4 and running through the first couple of months of Q1. His first use of "2019" in a title was on November 19, 2018, and his last use was on March 7, 2019.

During that time, Neil posted 167 times (more than once per day) and used 2019 in the title 32 times. That comes out to right at one in every five posts (19%).

Takeaway? Use the year in post titles starting just before Thanksgiving to show that your content is up-to-date, and stop using them shortly after February, before using the date causes the opposite effect.

No, we're not talking about coughing your brains out or breaching cyber-security walls.

One of the most common words Neil uses in his headlines is "hack(s)" at 31 times. We count this as one of the major takeaways because "hacks" can be used in titles in almost any industry. Neil uses marketing and SEO more, but those are specific to his audience.

Here are some other notable words that show up in his headlines with regularity (that we haven't covered already in this post).

• marketing 76
• business 23

We almost got all of Neil's favorite words in that header.

We could have gone with "How to Increase Organic Traffic," but that wouldn't have been near as fun. But, seriously, along with following Neil Patel's lead on post titles, you can get great rankings on Google by following the advice in one of our eBooks which you can access right now.

Check out our free Ultimate Guide to Increasing Organic Website Traffic to learn the following.

• On-Site optimization - Send Google the right signals.
• Content optimization - What content performs best on search?
• Content promotion - The best ways to promote your content without spamming.
• Video marketing tweaks - How to turn your videos into hyper-searchable traffic-builders.
• The Fresh Test - How to keep your content sparkly clean and fresh in Google's eyes.
• Plus more...

Eric is a veteran Inbound Marketer at Lean Labs with an entrepreneurial background. He has been married for 20+ years to the only woman he ever dated and is Dad to four wonderful daughters. Physical weakness: Collar bones (broken both twice). Leisure time: Hiking and Disc Golf. Favorite author: George MacDonald. Favorite team: Go Dawgs!

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DARE TO LIVE

A 50-year-old man shares personal growth ideas

How to write a blog post? (according to Neil Patel)

Some time ago (in 2019) I came across a resource on the Internet (it was on Nail Patel’s youtube to be exact) that presented how you can write blog posts to be effective.

Neil Patel gave such a method there:

“1. First tip: Start off with a title. “ “2. The second step: hook people with a bold statement .”

“3. Use subheadings , and keep your paragraphs around five to six lines max .”

“4. Link out to other people .”

“5. Last but not least, you wanna wrap up your post with a conclusion “.

Neil Patel writes: “ The conclusion summarizes what your post was about, and you end your conclusion with a question .” Posting a question increases the chances that readers will leave a comment.

For me, everything I have quoted above makes sense.

I thank Neil Patel with this post for his valuable advice. Dear Neil, if you’re reading this (?): thanks a lot, you make my job as a blogger and book author easier, thanks! Well done!

Dear readers: dare to live, it’s YOUR lives!

Dariusz Łukasik (daretolive72)

Ps. Neil’s website is here: https://neilpatel.com/

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• personal growth
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Published by DareToLive72

I am a 51-year-old man who loves sharing personal growth ideas. My motto is: Dare to live. It's YOUR life! My ebooks and paperbacks (English, Polish, Russian) are available on: RIDERO.EU, legimi, virtualo, empik.com, taniaksiazka.pl, pzwl.pl, ksiegarnia.pwn.pl. View all posts by DareToLive72

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