Being a blogger is far more than just taking pretty pictures, writing and posting a blog each week. I don’t know about you, but for me, writing a post is the least of my worries. Coming up with ideas and writing about them has always come second nature to me, it’s what to do after I publish a new blog post that has always been where I struggled. 

When it comes to helping others improve their sites and blog exposure, I’m all for it! My inner marketing and PR nerd kicks in and strategies flow through my head like crazy. Then as soon as I publish a post, I draw a blank and I don’t know what to do next. So much for all that marketing and PR experience lol 

Really though, I have no idea why this happens to me and I’d like to think I’m not the only one struggling with what to do after publishing a new blog post. 

If you’re in the same boat as I am, here’s a small checklist of things you should do after you publish a new blog post. 

1. Analyze Your Headline 

Before we dive in to the checklist, let’s retract a bit. 

Let’s say your content is all written out, you check your word count (if you do that), check for typos, grammatical errors, etc and everything looks good and ready to be published. Now stop, before you hit that publish button, did you analyze your headline?  

If you didn’t, don’t worry, I used to NEVER analyze my headlines despite being a trained journalist smh.

Here’s the thing though, a great headline can make ALL the difference in your newly published post!

Here are two examples of what an analyzed headline can do for your blog post:

• Get more social shares, clicks and increases the likelihood that a reader will click through to read the article
• Help with SEO and search engine rankings

Typically, after I write a blog I analyze the headline using CoSchedule’s free headline analyzer tool. This tool easily tells me what score my headline has and what I can do to improve it and best of all IT’S FREE TO USE!

Since using it, I’ve seen more of my blogs rank on Google’s first 5 pages! 

I went back to audit all my old posts and of course, I had to make some changes to the headlines of certain posts and ever since then, my traffic has gotten a lot better and people are actually clicking and reading the content I provide.

2. SEO Optimize Content

SEO is a BITCH, there I said it. I feel like either people get it or don’t and if you’re in the latter, I’m right there with ya! 

To increase my blogs ranking and organic traffic, I recently started to look into SEO and started incorporating SEO best practices in my blog posts. 

Most people seem to think SEO ruins their blogs voice (and it totally can if not done correctly) so they avoid SEO optimizing their content. But the truth is, it doesn’t have to ruin anything.

Below I’m sharing some SEO examples that don’t directly affect the body of the blog post so you don’t lose your voice or the message you’re trying to convey.

Before you publish your new blog post be sure to: 

• Write a meta description 
• Use keywords sparingly
• Link internally 
• Make sure your URL displays the content hierarchy (site/tag or category/ title)

Example of content hierarchy in URL:

Correct: https://curatedbycynthia.com/category/blogging-101/influencers-guide/

Incorrect: http://www. curatedbycynthia.com/title/14258/09/08/2019

To help keep my content SEO friendly I use the FREE version of the Yoast SEO plugin on WordPress. I also like that it tells me the readability on the page so I know what I need to work on as I write.

3. Add Images and Alt tag them

Adding images to your blog has so many benefits! It can help break up text, add to the story telling and the added visualization can really help bring a point home.

Not only do images help spice up your content, images also have SEO benefits when used correctly. Talk about a win for you and a win for your audience!

Adding images with an alt tag helps search engines find your content without messing with the tone of the post like mentioned above.

Image SEO is a beast of it’s own but manageable using guides like this one.

4. Post to Social Media

Now for the good stuff. After I publish a new blog post, I immediately post a link to my Facebook page, Twitter, I put it on my Instagram bio and lastly I pin it to the MOST relevant Pinterest board. 

It may seem excessive to do it all at once but I like to generate as much traffic as I can while the post is newly launched. To top it off not everyone that follows me in Instagram likes my Facebook page or follows on Pinterest etc so I like to get as many eyes on the content as I can.

5. Share on Groups and Forums 

The following day, I start posting to my fav Facebook groups and social content curation sites like MIX, Scoopt.it, Bloglovin’ and my Tailwind Tribes. 

This allows me to see EXACTLY how many of my followers are engaging when I post and how many are coming from social curation sites.

6. Schedule Social Sharing 

One of my latest successes has been scheduling future blog post content on Twitter and Facebook.

I used to get NO engagement on ANY blog post I posted on Twitter and my Facebook page was pretty much the same. Once I started recycling posts that all changed.

When it comes to scheduling, I usually schedule the same blog post roughly 2-3 times a month with a different caption and sometimes a different image. I make sure to post at different times too just in case the post wasn’t seen by someone who logs in in the morning and not at night or vice versa.

Another thing I also started doing was tagging retweet accounts on Twitter and brands on Facebook for further reach.

7. Add It to Your Newsletter

The last thing to do after you publish a new blog adds it to your newsletter of course!

Whether its a weekly or monthly email, don’t forget to send it out to your tribe! I’m still working on growing my email list, so I haven’t quite done this yet. However, once I grow my list enough, I definitely plan on including an “ICYMI” section with top posts of the month.

**Bonus** Make 3-5 Pinterest images!

Yea, you read that right. When you publish a new post, make sure you make 3-5 Pinterest images right after. This will help you later on when you want to re-pin the article.

Having a variety will also help you get to know what Pinterest styles/ pins work better for you and your blog.

What are some things you do after you publish a new blog post? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, talk soon babes!