Blog Post SOPs: A Blogger’s Guide to Documenting Their #1 Procedure

If you're a blogger, you know how important it is to produce quality content consistently. However, writing and publishing blog posts can be a time-consuming and overwhelming process, especially if you're doing it alone.

This is where creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) comes in handy. An SOP is a document that outlines the steps you need to take to complete a task effectively and efficiently.

By creating an SOP for writing and publishing blog posts, you can streamline your process, save time, and ensure that your content is consistent and of high quality. With an SOP, you'll have a clear and concise roadmap that outlines every step of the process, from researching and outlining to editing and publishing. This can help eliminate guesswork, reduce errors, and improve your productivity.

If you're a seasoned blogger or just starting, having a well-documented Blogging SOP is going to be priceless for writing and publishing successful blog posts consistently. And at the end of this article, I have a surprise for you – A FREE Blog Post SOP that is drafted for you. All you have to do is fill in your particulars, the outline is there!

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase. I only recommend products or services that I personally use and believe will be beneficial to my readers. The earnings from these links help support this website and its content. Thank you for your support!

Understanding the Basics of Blogging

What is a Blog Post?

Firstly, a blog is an informative website about a topic. A blog post is a piece of content that is published on a blog. It can be an article, news piece, guide, or any other form of written content.

Blog posts are typically organized in reverse chronological order, with the most recent post appearing first. They are also usually categorized by topic and can be searched by keywords.

The Importance of Quality Content

Quality content is essential to the success of a blog. It is what attracts readers and keeps them coming back for more. Quality content is informative, engaging, and well-written. It should be relevant to the audience and provide value. Quality content also helps to establish the blogger as an authority in their niche.

Blogging Platforms and Their Features

There are many blogging platforms available, each with its own set of features. Some of the most popular blogging platforms include WordPress, Blogger, and Medium.

WordPress is a self-hosted platform that offers a wide range of customization options and plugins. Blogger is a free platform that claims to be easy to use and ideal for beginners. Medium is a platform that is focused on quality content and has a built-in audience.

When choosing a blogging platform, it is important to consider the features that are most important to you. Some of the features to look for include customization options, ease of use, and the ability to monetize your blog.

I was always taught to keep your domain (website) and web hosting separate. Otherwise, if something happens to your web hosting, you will lose your domain at the same time.

So what do I recommend? BigScoots has been amazing for web hosting. Every time I've had a problem, they've been fast and efficient at helping me. And for my website, I use WordPress (.org, not .com). WordPress.org is going to give you more advanced customization and monetization options.

Why Do People Write Blog Posts?

There are many reasons why people become bloggers; sharing knowledge and expertise, building an online presence, expressing their creativity, promoting products or services, connecting with others, documenting personal journeys, and of course, generating income.

Blogging is a great way to earn passive income once you have it set up. In fact, my mentor Sadie Smiley, makes money by teaching people to blog for a living. That's right, she writes blog posts about blogging and earns passive income from it. I even wrote a blog post reviewing Passive Income Pathways.

She has a free blogging course that I 100% recommend to any blogger – new or experienced! If you're new, you will have a website created and you'll be publishing posts with ease. If you're experienced, I know that she'll still teach you a thing or two! It's literally that simple following her course. Oh, and if you strategically use the workbook provided – you will basically have your SOP built – double win!

What is Blog Post SOP?

A Blog Post Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a comprehensive document that outlines a systematic and standardized approach to creating, optimizing, and publishing blog content.

Your Blog Post SOP should cover various aspects of the content creation process, such as topic selection, keyword research, content structure, media inclusion, writing style, editing, proofreading, SEO optimization, and the actual publishing process.

This important SOP provides a clear and organized set of guidelines; it helps maintain a cohesive brand voice, improve efficiency, and uphold a high standard of content across the blog, contributing to a more effective and professional content creation process.

Since blogging is the majority of my business, it's easily the most important SOP I have in keeping my online business organized.

What is Included in a Blog Post SOP?

Planning Your Content Strategy

When it comes to creating a successful blog, it all starts with a solid content strategy. A content strategy is a plan that outlines what type of content you'll create, how often you'll publish it, and who your target audience is. Here are some key steps to help you plan your content strategy.

1. Developing a Content Calendar

Developing a blog post content calendar is one of the most important parts of your content strategy. A content calendar is a schedule of when you'll publish each piece of content. This will help you stay organized and ensure that you're consistently publishing content. When creating your content calendar, consider the following:

• How often you'll publish content
• What topics you'll cover
• Who will be responsible for creating and publishing content
• Any important dates or events that you want to align your content with

Your actual content calendar will likely be more specific than what you'll include in your Blog Post SOP, but you should at least document how often you'll publish and who is creating and publishing the content.

It is not necessary to include temporary content like if you want to post about the best 2023 Christmas toy for toddlers. Your Blog Post SOP might have that you want to have all seasonal posts published 2 months in advance.

2. Performing Keyword and Topical Research

Keyword and topical research are essential to creating content that your target audience will find and engage with. Keyword research involves identifying the words and phrases that people are searching for related to your topic. Topical research involves identifying the topics that are relevant to your audience and align with your brand. When conducting research, consider the following:

• What keywords and topics are relevant to your target audience
• What keywords and topics are relevant to your brand
• What keywords and topics your competitors are targeting

Your Blog Post SOP should include how you are going to perform keyword research and the tools being used, for example, if you're going to use RankIQ, which I highly recommend if you don't already use it, then you'll want your SOP to instruct you on this tool of choice.

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3. Identifying Your Target Audience

To create content that resonates with your audience, you need to have a clear understanding of who they are. When identifying your target audience, consider the following:

• Demographic information, such as age, gender, and location
• Psychographic information, such as interests, values, and attitudes
• What challenges or pain points your audience is facing
• What type of content your audience is most likely to engage with

By taking the time to develop a solid content strategy, you'll be able to create content that resonates with your target audience and drives results for your business.

If you have this information recorded in your Business Plan or another document, you can omit it from this SOP, but I would include it. It shouldn't take more than a sentence or two to succinctly describe your target audience.

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Writing Your Blog Post

When it comes to writing a blog post, there are a few key things to keep in mind to create an effective and engaging piece of content.

1. Creating an Effective Outline

Before you start writing your blog post, it's important to create an outline that will help guide the structure and flow of your content. Your outline should include a clear introduction, main points or sections, and a conclusion that ties everything together.

To create an effective outline, brainstorm the key points you want to cover in your post. Once you have a rough list of ideas, organize them into a logical order and group related ideas together. This will help you create a clear and cohesive structure for your post.

If you use AI (artificial intelligence), you'll want to document what tools you're using and how they work. I recommend ChatGPT as a free option (at the time of publishing ChatGPT 3.5 is free), and if you're looking for something that'll give you better content (and therefore costs money), KoalaWriter is a great option!

2. Crafting a Compelling Headline

Your headline is one of the most important parts of your blog post, as it's often the first thing readers will see. A compelling headline can help grab readers' attention and entice them to read on.

When crafting your headline, try to make it clear, concise, and attention-grabbing. Use strong verbs and adjectives to create a sense of urgency or excitement, and consider using numbers or other data to make your headline more specific and impactful.

Don't forget to include your top keyword in the title and also an H2 header to maximize your SEO.

3. Drafting the Post

Once you have your outline and headline in place, it's time to start writing your blog post. Begin by drafting your content, focusing on getting your ideas written clearly and concisely.

Again, if you're utilizing AI, your tool of choice will be able to draft a blog post based on your outline from above. Make sure to document in your SOP how you're going to prime your AI tool to be able to know your business, speak in your tone, etc. Having this documented will ensure a consistent tone in all posts.

4. Affiliate Links

Are you promoting someone else's products or services? Or perhaps a fantastic tool? And you're earning money when someone purchases those products, services, or tools? That's an affiliate. This is a great way to earn passive income and you'll want to add those links into your blog posts.

Make sure not to add too many, we don't want to be spammy, right? Also, have a note at the top of your blog post indicating there are affiliate links within the post and you may earn money. This is being open, honest, and transparent. And it's the law.

4. Adding Internal and External Links

Linking to other relevant posts on your website and to external sources that provide informational resources is extremely important for increasing your EEAT. This is the rating that Google uses to determine if you have experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

Linking to external websites adds credibility and depth to your content.

Linking internally (to other posts within your site) helps your reader transition easily and in a systematic way around your website, instead of just reading one blog post and leaving your website. It also helps Google bots find new pages to index more easily, which raises your domain authority.

Your Blog Post SOP must include something about how you interlink. Do you only externally link to sites that have a DA over 50? If you don't have a specific linking policy, then a simple checklist note that linking should be done before publishing will suffice.

Adding Visuals and Media

When it comes to writing and publishing blog posts, visuals and media can play a crucial role in enhancing the overall quality of your content. It's equally important that you document in your Blog Post SOP what your strategy is for adding images, videos, or other media. Here are a few things that should be covered in your SOP.

1. Selecting Relevant Images and Videos

Selecting relevant images and videos is a crucial step in enhancing your blog post. It's important to choose visuals that are relevant to your topic and add value to your content. For instance, if you're writing a blog post about a new product release, it's essential to include high-quality images of the product to give your readers a better understanding of its features and benefits.

When selecting images and videos, you should also consider the overall aesthetic of your blog. Choose visuals that match the tone and style of your blog and create a cohesive visual experience for your readers.

Another important thing to consider is how you are naming your images. They should be named using SEO keywords, but don't keyword stuff your image file names!

Your SOP needs to include how and where you are getting your images. For example, are you using Creative Fabrica? Midjourney? Free or paid stock photos?

Can you guess where I'm leading with these questions? If you guessed an Image Creation SOP (or some similar naming), you'd be correct! Your Image Creation SOP would include how you get images for blog posts, digital products, etc.

If you have a separate SOP for images, then all you need to do with your Blog Post SOP is refer to the Image SOP. That's it. Easy right?

2. Adding Alt Text and Captions

Adding alt text and captions to your visuals is an essential step in improving the accessibility and SEO of your blog. Alt text is a description of the image that is read by screen readers for visually impaired users. It's important to write descriptive alt text that accurately describes the image's content.

Captions, on the other hand, are short descriptions that appear below the image or video. Captions can provide additional context and information about the visual content, and they can also be used to add a touch of humour or personality to your blog.

In addition to improving accessibility and SEO, alt text and captions can also improve the overall user experience of your blog. They can help your readers understand the content of your visuals, even if they're unable to view them.

Enhancing your blog post with visuals and media can greatly improve the overall quality and user experience of your content. By selecting relevant images and videos and adding alt text and captions, you can create a more engaging and accessible blog that resonates with your readers.

The Review and Editing Process

Once you have finished writing your blog post, the next step is to review and edit it. This process is crucial to ensure your content is error-free, clear, and consistent.

1. Proofreading for Errors

The first step in the review and editing process is to proofread your blog post for errors. This involves checking your content for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. You can use online tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway Editor to help you with this process. It is also important to read your content out loud to catch any errors that you may have missed.

Once you have a rough draft, take some time to revise and edit your content. Look for areas where you can clarify your message, tighten up your writing, or add more detail to support your key points.

Finally, once you're happy with your content, take some time to proofread and polish your final copy. Check for spelling and grammar errors, ensure your formatting is consistent and easy to read, and make any final tweaks to ensure your post is as engaging and informative as possible.

Pro Tip: Make sure you always read your drafts out loud before publishing. Trust me, you must do this! If you don't want to read it out loud, get an extension that will read it to you. Document in your SOP what extension you choose and how it works.

2. Getting Feedback from Peers or Experts

An additional review step can be to get feedback from peers or experts. This can help you identify areas where your content may be unclear or confusing. You can ask your colleagues or friends to read your content and provide feedback. Alternatively, you can hire a professional editor to review your content.

If this is something that you will be doing, make sure it's noted how you find the peers/professionals or who it is you've hired to review your content.

3. Add a Category

A category is a high-level topic that makes it easy for people to understand what you're writing about and to search for similar posts on that topic within your blog. Your Blog Post SOP should note the categories available to choose from.

4. Edit Your Slug/Permalink

Make sure that you're updating your slug and that it is SEO-friendly. Use hyphens between the words instead of mashing all the words together. Which looks better:

https://organizeyouronlinebiz.com/how-to-set-up-notion/ or https://organizeyouronlinebiz.com/howtosetupnotion/

And yes, I really did write a blog post on How to Set up Notion.

Publishing and Promoting Your Blog Post

Once you have written and reviewed your blog post, the next step is to publish it on your website. Use the following publishing checklist to ensure that your post is ready:

The Publishing Checklist

• Table of Contents
• Headings have keywords that are SEO-friendly.
• Your blog post includes
  • Affiliate links
  • Interlinks to your website posts
  • External links to high-DA sites
  • Images with alt text
• You've reviewed the post for grammar, tone, etc.
• Category is added
• Slug is optimized

After publishing your blog post, it's time to promote it to your audience. Use the following tips to share your post on social media and other channels.

Sharing on Social Media and Other Channels

Sharing your blog post is just as important as actually writing it. You want eyes on it fast! Here are a few ways to do that:

• Share on social media: Share your post on your social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Use a catchy headline and an eye-catching image to grab your audience's attention. Your Social Media SOP will cover this in greater detail.
• Email your subscribers: Send an email to your subscribers with a summary of the post and a link to the full article. Your Email Marketing SOP will cover this in greater detail.
• Syndicate your content using sites such as Newsbreak. Check out Syndication Squad for more information on republishing your content.

Measuring Success and Making Improvements

To ensure that your blog posts are successful, it's important to analyze their performance and make improvements where necessary. You don't want to spend all this time writing blog posts only to realize that NO ONE is reading it them.

This also means it's not converting new readers into customers.

So how do you know if your information is reaching the masses? There are a few metrics that every blogger should review because it's so important, and, just like the Blog Post SOP, a Performance and Improvement SOP is actually one of the 15 Must-Have SOPs for Every Online Business. It will also be covered in its own blog post coming soon!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the essential components of a Blog Post SOP?

A Blog Post SOP should include guidelines for every step of the content creation process. This includes everything from researching topics and keywords to publishing and promoting the post. Some essential components of a Blog Post SOP include:

• Researching and selecting topics
• Conducting keyword research
• Outlining and drafting the post
• Adding images and alt text
• Editing and proofreading
• Reviewing and publishing the post
• Promoting the post on social media and other channels (if you don't have a separate SOP)

What steps should be included in the review and publishing process for blog content?

The review and publishing process is a critical part of your Blog Post SOP. You can have detailed steps or, if your SOP is detailed enough to this point, you can summarize key items to review before publishing. Some key items that should be reviewed include:

• Table of Contents
• Headings have keywords that are SEO-friendly
• Your blog post includes
  • Affiliate links
  • Interlinks to your website posts
  • External links to high-DA sites
  • Images with alt text
• You've reviewed the post for grammar, tone, etc.
• Category is added
• Slug is optimized

How often should a Blog Post SOP be updated to reflect current best practices?

Your Blog Post SOP should be updated regularly to reflect current best practices and changes in your content marketing strategy. This may include updates to your keyword research process, changes in your social media promotion strategy, or updates to your content formatting guidelines. A good rule of thumb is to review and update your Blog Post SOP at least once a year.

How do you measure the effectiveness of a Blog Post SOP in a content marketing strategy?

Measuring the effectiveness of your Blog Post SOP is essential for improving your content marketing strategy and achieving your marketing goals. Some metrics you may want to track include:

• Traffic to your blog posts
• Engagement metrics such as comments and social media shares
• Conversion rates
• Search engine rankings
• Return on investment (ROI)

Write Your SOP Today

Having a well-defined Blog Post Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for creating and publishing blog posts is an invaluable asset for any online business, especially for entrepreneurs. This SOP serves as a roadmap, guiding you through each crucial step of the content creation and publication journey.

Ultimately, the goal is to not only create exceptional content but also to build a loyal readership and achieve your business objectives.

And now for the promised Blog Post SOP. Click on the button below to get yours! Now it's to do the work! Let me know below in the comments, or even better, the Facebook Group, if you've written your Blog Post SOP!