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Based on one of my reader’s request about writing her first blog post, I decided to answer all your questions about your first blog post.
I know many of you have started your blogs and you’re SUPER excited to write your first article and publish it.
Now, if you haven’t started your blog yet, I recommend following my easy step-by-step tutorial that will teach you how to start your blog on WordPress for beginners here.
When you use my tutorial to start your blog, you’ll immediately get over 60% off hosting, which is an exclusive offer for my special readers.
In my tutorial, you’ll see how cheap and affordable it is to start your blog. Spoiler alert – it costs only a few dollars per month just to get started, and that is exactly what I paid for when I was a total beginner with no experience.
Starting my first blog, Finsavvy Panda, has changed my life and I honestly can’t imagine how life would be now if I didn’t start one! I’m so incredibly happy and thankful that I started! You can also follow me and my stories of how I went from earning an extra $500 per month to over $20,000 per month blogging today!
Once you’ve started your blog, it’s time to build it and write amazing content for your readers!
So, in today’s post, I am going to go through the steps on how to write your first blog post.
In this article, I am going to answer many of your burning questions like:
- What should my first blog post be about?
- Do I have to introduce myself in my first blog post?
- How many words should my blog post be?
- How do I structure my blog posts?
By the end of this post, I want you to feel good and confident about publishing your very first blog post.
Alrighty, let’s get right into it so you can get started with writing!
Don’t forget to save this blog post here on Pinterest so you can always refer back to this helpful article to write your first and many other blog posts to come!
Should You Introduce Yourself in Your First Blog Post?
When I was new to blogging a few years ago, I was just like you.
I had no idea what my first blog post should be about.
The good thing is I was able to narrow down my blog’s focus, and so I decided to start a blog and document my personal finance journey.
Despite being able to answer the questions, what should you blog about, and how to choose a topic, I still felt stuck and cold writing my very first post.
My problem was I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to introduce myself in my first blog post?
I read countless articles online and some of them told me that I should introduce myself in my first blog post, so I took that advice and I did!
I created that first blog post that was about me and why I started that blog.
Not to mention, I was also nervous about publishing that first blog post, which I ended up deleting – haha!
Looking back in hindsight, I now realize that it’s not necessary.
Yes, I said it – you don’t have to introduce yourself and start talking about why you started your blog in your first blog post if you don’t want to.
I know many other people who do and that’s absolutely fine too!
But if you ask for my advice, this is what I would say.
Instead, you can save that for your “About Me” page.
In a quick and short summary, your “About Me” page will describe who you are, why you started your blog, and how you’re going to help your readers. However, drafting your “About Me” page may be a little challenging when you don’t have any blog posts yet. I will write a separate post on how to write an about me page so stay tuned!
Having that said, you can feel free to skip introducing yourself in your first blog post and go straight into blogging about something that will inspire, motivate, or help your readers.
This leads to your next question…
What Should My First Blog Post Be About?
Now that you know you don’t necessarily have to introduce yourself in your first blog post because you can save that for your “About Me” page, you can go straight into writing down a list of ideas of what you can blog about.
I am going to lead you to these insightful articles that will help you decide what you can blog about:
- What To Blog About For New Bloggers
- 100+ Blog Post Ideas Your Readers Will Love (Many Blog Niches Included)
- 100+ Lifestyle Blog Post Ideas For Lifestyle Bloggers (Many More Blog Niches Included)
- How Often Should You Post On Your Blog
How Many Words Should A Blog Post Have?
Along with all those other questions, you might also be wondering how long your blog posts should be, or many words should you have on your post?
I had a reader who asked me this question in one of my blog posts comments, and I am going to use her example to help you.
Val wrote:
“I’m very excited to start writing blog posts but I’m not sure how long they should be. I am currently writing about my journey with acne and I plan to write posts about what worked and what didn’t to cure it.” – Val
So, this was my answer to her, and I hope using her example will give you some insights:
“I wouldn’t stress at the beginning about your blog post’s word count because you can always make changes or add more sections and words to them later on.
Generally, it should be long enough to address the readers’ concerns or answer their questions, but not overly long to the point where they would lose it.
Let’s say, for example in your case, you decide to write a post called “How To Get Rid of Acne for Teenagers,” I would recommend you search this exact phrase on Google Searches. Look at the top 3-5 posts and do a quick word count to see how many words each post contains. You can take the average or median and use it as a gauge for an idea.
Again, there are no set rules on word count, but this is what I would do. I’d say the minimum should be at least 1,000 words. Again, you can always easily add or change it later on.”
Overall, how you write your blog post depends on what you’re going to be writing about.
Some posts are going to be shorter than others, and vice versa. There is no rule as to how long your blog post should be.
I have blog posts that are as little as 600 words because it just doesn’t make sense for those to be any longer. On an occasion, I would also write blog posts with as high as 5,000 words because my readers asked me for more information.
As long as your blog post answers the readers’ questions and they enjoy your content, then you’re good to go regardless of how many words are on the post.
Don’t think too much about the “word count.” Again, the great thing about blogging is you can always go back and make changes once you become more experienced and understand what your readers want.
How Do I Structure My Blog Posts?
This is one of the most important lessons in this article.
Once you know what you want to blog about in your first blog post, you might be wondering how do you structure your blog posts?
The short answer is to have it structured in a way that is easy for your reader to read your posts.
If a reader comes onto your page and your structure isn’t easy on the eye, or you have a long wall of text with no breaks, chances are they are going to leave your page.
You don’t want that.
So, here’s how to make your blog posts easy for your readers.
1. Include a title for your blog post.
Every blog post will have a title. For example, this one is you’re reading now is called “How To Write Your First Blog Post” and you’ll see it at the very top of this page. When you’re using something like WordPress, you can easily enter in the title of your blog post. This uses H1 (heading 1) by default.
2. Use headings and sub-headings
When you use headings and sub-headings to separate your points and ideas, it makes your post much easier to read because not only does this give your text a break, but it makes your article flow well. On top of that, it makes your points much more organized and easier to follow. These headings and sub-headings come in the format of H1, H2, H3, etc.
Your H1 is usually the title of your blog post, and it’s followed by H2 and H3 sub-headings.
As you can see here, I structured my blog post to have my title, How To Write Your First Blog Post (H1 by default on WordPress). The points I laid out in this article also use H2:
- Should I Introduce Myself in My First Blog Post?
- What Should My First Blog Post Be About?
- How Many Words Should A Blog Post Have?
- How Do I Structure My Blog Posts?
And to break it even further, so it’s easier for you to follow, I used H3 headings for this specific paragraph, “Use Headings and Sub-Headings”.
I hope this example helps you visualize what I’m doing in this blog post.
3. Include images in your blog post like this…
It’s always nice to include images because people have very short attention spans.
By including pictures, your readers can stop for a minute and look at your beautiful images as a break from reading. Plus, pictures give your readers a visualization of what you’re talking about in your post, so make sure to include images that relate to a point you’re saying.
For example, if you’re blogging about your daily makeup routine, you can include an image like this.
Another example is if you’re blogging about the best running shoes for a marathon, you can include an image like this:
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.
If you’re wondering where to look for free and beautiful stock photos for new bloggers, you can check out these resources:
4. Include links throughout your post.
It’s also important to include links to external sources (like the free stock photo resources I linked above) along with YOUR own blog posts. That way, you can lead your readers to posts that are relevant to the topic you are discussing in your article.
For example, you’ll notice in this article that I lead you to my other blog posts like how to choose a blog niche and what to write about along with my 100+ blog post ideas here.
You see how I’m naturally linking and leading you to the other articles that I believe you’ll find helpful in drafting your first blog post? 😊
5. Make sure you have a lot of white space
As I mentioned earlier, people’s attention span is short.
They either lose it or get bored easily and that’s why it’s important to do things like dividing your points into headings and sub-headings, add images throughout, interlink them to other blog posts, etc. These all lead to more white space when you include breaks in between.
One thing that I also recommend doing is giving breaks to your sentences like what I’m doing now.
Do you see what I’m trying to do?
By breaking my sentences into single lines like this.
And here it is again.
That’s because it’s easier for your readers to read and absorb the information when you don’t have a block or long wall of text.
Try giving your blog posts appropriate breaks for more white space when it’s necessary to.
6. Write A Quick Summary or Conclusion
This part is up to you.
I’ve seen many bloggers and content creators who skip the summary or conclusion.
I sometimes follow this and at times I don’t. It really depends on you, but it doesn’t hurt to have one like what I’m about to do now using a H2 heading…
Wrap Up On How To Write Your First Blog Post
As you can see, writing your first blog post isn’t as hard or scary as you might think.
In conclusion, keep in mind the following points when you’re drafting your very first post:
- You need to start your blog before you can draft your first blog post
- Find out what you want to blog about first
- You don’t have to introduce yourself in your first blog post; instead, you can save that part for your “About Me” page
- You can get started by writing your first blog post with some of these amazing blog post ideas for beginning bloggers
- Don’t focus too much on word count; instead, focus on delivering valuable content to your readers. The good thing is you can always change, add, or remove points in your blog posts. If you really want a number or benchmark, try aiming for at least 1,000 words.
Once you’ve done those first steps, you can finally learn how to structure your blog posts:
- Include a title for your blog post (H1 is usually the default heading)
- Use headings and subheadings to make your points
- Include a few images on your blog posts
- Include both external and internal links on your posts
- Make sure you have a good amount of white space so it’s easy for your readers’ eyes.
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I hope this helps you create your first blog post!
Let me know in the comments below whether you found this helpful in writing your first blog post! Also, feel free to share your ideas in the comment section below!
If you haven’t started your blog yet, don’t be afraid to email me at ling@finsavvypanda.com if you have any questions! I am always happy to help!
Hi Ling,
What kind of links can one put into their first blog post? What would I link to?
Hi Joy
You should always link to related posts. For example, if you have a list post about general healthy recipes, you should link to all your different kinds of healthy recipes. From fish and lean meats to vegetarian and vegan recipes. On the other hand, if you are blogging about a specific chicken recipe and you mention a homemade sauce for it like teriyaki, you should like to your teriyaki homemade sauce.
This same concept applies to other niches too. In The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days ebook, I also have a Chapter that talk about linking and how you can strategically (and correctly) link your other posts that will help boost your traffic:
https://www.finsavvypanda.com/blogging-success-ebook/
Let me know how your blog is coming along. I’d love to see it launched and become successful!
Hi Ling
I have started my blog about “The Paradise Island of Maui” and the first paragraph was a brief history about the island.
I have been trying to insert pictures to my paragraphs describing where I went to Maui which I would like to share how beautiful the place was. How do I insert pictures within paragraphs?
I would like to put a picture of the island on the background of the title but don’t know how to do it. I am getting frustrated.
I need to insert pictures so I could entice the readers on visiting the island and make it as their bucket list. Please help me.
@Nerissa
In the blog post, you can go to “Upload Media” to insert images. Make sure you’re clicking from the paragraph where you want to insert your picture. Under that, you’ll see “upload files” for you to choose your images from your computer.
Once that’s done, you can choose the size of your image.
I hope this helps!
What font do you use for your blog? It’s super easy to read.
It’s Karla 🙂
Hey Ling,
I’m stuck with writing my post because I feel like I’m just regurgitating what someone else already taught or gave advice on. Is there a way for me to move past this? Otherwise I’m stuck not writing.
Also, I wanted to start a relationship blog but feel like I need a perfect relationship in order to even give advice!
Hi Panida – you don’t need to be perfect in order to give advice. No one is perfect, not even the pros. 😉
You can use a microphone and talk like you’re talking to friends giving them advice. I’ve done this before and it makes it easier (and even faster) than typing sometimes. Some people just need to say things aloud to get their thoughts out on their blogs. 🙂
This is such a helpful article, thank you! After you have written the post, where does it automatically go on your website? I know how to assign it a category and tags, but how to I make it go to the menu? You have been such a huge help in beginning a blog.
Make sure that you go to “post” and not “page” when you’re writing your blog posts. There is a difference between posts and pages. The pages (e.g about me, contact me, etc.) would usually go under your menu bar – you can check this out in your settings.
Hi Ling,
I need to concentrate on getting more blog posts up, but I am already struggling with trying to think of content that readers will find helpful, as my blog is mostly sewing, and some other arts and crafts. I have been a professional seamstress for many years, altering wedding and grad dresses, but am trying to get out of that because the busiest time is in summer, and that’s when I want to do other things outside. I had breast cancer last summer, which put a very sudden stop to my job, and has made me reevaluate everything. If you can give me some ideas on content for my readers, that would be great!
Thanks so much for all your replies to my questions!
Tina
Hi Tina,
I’m sincerely sorry to hear about what you are going through. I hope you stay positive and recover!
In the meantime, here are some sewing blog post ideas you can write about:
– Sewing 101 For Beginners: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide
– Step-By-Step Tutorial For Making Clothes
– DIY {Insert your sewing project name. E.g. Table Runner Pattern, DIY Lunch Tote, Window Curtains, etc.} for {insert your audience, season, etc.}
– How To Sew a Round Hem
– DIY Biased Tape or How To Make Your Own Biased Tape
– Easy Zipper Pencil Case Sewing Tutorial
– X Sewing Hacks You Never Heard About
– X Super Easy Sewing Gifts {insert holiday. E.g. Christmas, Wedding, Birthday Gifts, etc.}
– X Sewing Projects For Zero-Waste Living
– Mini Duffle Bag Sewing Tutorial
Let me know if this helps! 🙂
Thanks ‘sew’ much, Ling! I am writing down all these ideas and these ideas also inspire other ideas.
You’re “sew” welcome – hehe 🙂
I’m glad these blog post ideas are inspiring other ideas for you!
Hi Ling!
Is it really normal to take some time before my website gets published?
I am not really a fast writer so it might take some time for me to write at least 5 -15 blog post. 😁
It took me 2-3 days to finish a draft of my first blog. So eventually it will take me few weeks or a month before I can published my website.
Hope to hear from you!
Thanks Ling! 😊
Hi Mel!
That’s awesome to hear that you are done your first blog post – congrats! *YAY*!
And yes, it’s really normal for new bloggers to take time to set up their blog and launch it. To be honest, you can even launch it and just publish your blog posts on the go. You see this new website I’m building here? I just publish each blog post one by one even though it’s not ready or officially launched.
I promise you that I’m not a fast writer either, but over time, you do improve as you write more and more content over the months and years.
Definitely take your time and don’t rush. The whole point of starting a blog is to learn and have fun with you. So, just sit back and enjoy what you’re doing! 😀
I can’t wait to see you launch your website!!
Thank you for your support Ling, reading your reply makes me at ease about blogging. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Ling,
Wow, how time flies, I’ve been so overwhelmed with setting up my blog, I feel mentally exhausted.
I’ve written and published 5 articles, I have a lot of topics to write about, but I struggle with building an engaging introduction of each article.
If you have some tips please share them.
Hi Amaka!
That’s so awesome to hear that you have 5 articles published! Keep up the great work!
And yes, it can become overwhelming when you are a beginner. This is totally normal because you are learning something that is new. Once you write more articles and learn more about the blogging world, it will become second nature to you. Just give it some time. 🙂
When writing your intro, I always recommend thinking about what is the purpose of your article? What kind of problem are you trying to solve for your reader? You have to really understand your reader’s pain points when they land your page. If you can speak their language or relate to how they feel, they’ll more likely to stay on and read more because you’ve captured their interest by being able to read their mind.
You’ll get better and more comfortable at writing because, over time, you’ll also receive comments and e-mails from your readers – this will help you understand them better, hence you can address those concerns in your style of writing. Your Google Analytics will also tell you a story about what type of people you are attracting to your blog.
The great thing is you can always go back and change your blog posts. I’ve done this for many of my older posts because when I read them today, they sound really silly lol!
I also recommend going through this article again about how to write your first blog post for additional tips and apply them to your blog!
I hope these tips help!
I have a question about my niche and writing my posts.
I’m planning to write about how to make and sell digital products, make money online, blogging for beginners, productivity tips, gift ideas, and trendy topics.
Is it possible to have this many niches in my blog? As long as I organize them properly.
I will be using Pinterest as my source of traffic.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Hi Amal,
I think it’s totally okay to have different categories within your niche as long as you can tie them back and relate them to each other. For example, selling digital products, making money online, and blogging along with productivity tips can work if you can tie them back to one common theme which is about either making money online or business ideas. You can also have posts about gift ideas for entrepreneurs or bloggers.
I think you’re good to go! 🙂
Thank you so much for clarifying!
I will do that for sure.