Have you been thinking about starting a blog or looking to improve your blog?
Blogging can be a great way to help you scale your content marketing efforts for your business and achieve the results you’d like. Many company websites feature a blog section for this very reason.
According to Social Media Today, 70% of internet users find companies by reading their blog posts instead of ads.
If so many people read blogs and discover companies that way, why not get started?
First, you’ll need to know about blog structure, how to structure a blog post, and see some inspirational examples to get you going.
A blog structure is an essential foundation for writing a blog article, containing the title, intro, body, and conclusion.
If you are having any trouble thinking of blog posts to write about, try out a blog post ideas generator.
Once you nail down the basic structure of your blog, you can include additional elements to your blog to optimize it properly. Here are a few elements to add to your blog posts that will help make them more resourceful for the reader and search engines:
A table of contents allows your reader to jump to any section they desire if they have a specific topic they are researching.
For instance, headings and subheadings make your article easy to organize into different subtopics, also making it easier to digest, especially for readers that like to skim.
Add relevant photos, infographics, gifs, or videos to help readers visualize what you are talking about in your article. Use alt-text in your visuals to tell search engines what that image is about because they can't interpret an image like a human can. Videos are incredibly resourceful for how-to blog posts or when you need more than words to show your reader something.
Links can help direct readers to additional sources that support the material in the blog post, whether it's another page on your site or an external website that is a credible resource in your industry.
A blog structure is a foundation for communicating your ideas and stories online. Having a blog structure allows more ease and flow when producing and writing your blog. Like building a house, the house falls apart without nailing down the foundation. The same goes for your blog!
As a creator, entrepreneur, business, or blogger, there are different types of blog formats and structures you can use:
You can use these different blog formats in developing your customer journey. Some types can be used for potential clients at the bottom of the funnel, while others are great for middle of funnel content to attract leads.
It shows that once you construct and work with a structure, it'll be so much easier for you to create your blog.
Think about it.
You’ll know what to expect every time you create and read your blog if you follow a structure of how your blog posts look and what should be in them. It will help to write your blog posts fast but effectively.
There could be a time when business starts to get busier, or you plan to either outsource or hire a freelancer or employee to the team. The blog structure can be included in the standard operating procedure (SOP) to share when onboarding the team member to your company.
Think of a blog structure like a story. The foundation of a story is a beginning, middle, and end. When you skip several parts of the story, readers get confused or frustrated on trying to decipher what you're trying to communicate.
According to a study conducted by Microsoft, humans have an average of 8 seconds of attention span.
Attention spans are shortening over time. People are already having trouble focusing for longer periods. Once it becomes a barrier to understanding information, they'll exit the web page. Since it's the internet, they're more than likely moving on to the next source to find an answer to their question, to become informed or entertained. In other words, the information on an optimized and structured blog post should be easily discoverable.
Search engine algorithms crawl websites and their content to evaluate their intent for search users. By having a beautiful blog structure, search engines like Google can recognize your blog as a resource that is deemed to have friendly search engine optimization (SEO).
An element mentioned earlier in this article were headlines and subheadings. Subheadings let readers and search engines know the hierarchy of the blog post by organizing subtopics under main topics to organize content. Subheadings can also help readers easily scan and spark interest in a specific topic or subtopic to find the answer to their search.
Now that you have a good idea of what blog structure is, the elements to use, and the benefits of having an optimized blog structure, let’s look at some examples.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
Many successful blogs follow a blog structure to help produce and publish blog content consistently.
Let’s look into ten examples of ten beautiful blog structures shown from different websites.
Neil Patel is a New York Times best-selling author, online marketer, and entrepreneur sharing educational value and tips on how to scale your business.
In this basic blog structure, he shares that the article is about how you can make your first e-commerce sale in his introduction. Then, he transitions into the 24 points on how one makes sales by listing the answers.
He formats his blog article as a listicle. A listicle is an article that draws readers in to skim through information quickly. This is easily done in a numerical format where his points support and lead to the main intention of the blog article.
According to Optinmonster, 43% of people admit to skimming blog articles. How can you make it easy for people to consume your content?
The listicle is one way to showcase your blog article in an easily scannable way and see what type of format and style the reader prefers.
In this example, Shopify, one of the top e-commerce platforms globally, is sharing a blog article on how to launch a product. The how-to blog post is a great structure and format for blogs as people are always looking for answers to their questions or are open to learning something new online.
According to First Site Guide, 17% of blogs use the ‘how-to’ headline for their articles. This blog format is highly perceived well by readers and popular amongst bloggers because it gives a step-by-step approach to helping the searcher solve a problem.
Hubspot is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool for business owners. In this blog article, Hubspot compares between conducting sales calls and cold emails for outbound sales strategies.
The comparison blog post structure is effective as it helps readers interested in sales decipher the pros and cons of two sales strategies.
Later is a social media scheduling and analytics tool with an amazing blog that consistently shares educational value and tips for business owners to grow and scale their businesses through social media platforms. Their overall blog layout has trendy, funky, vibrant colors popular amongst gen-z.
Later does a great job with a short and sweet introduction and conclusion in this blog post structure. The author is talking about what is a TikTok shadowban and how to avoid it. Later includes supporting points within the how.
The blog article contains elements aligned to its branding. For instance, their hyperlinks are pink. Talk about aesthetics. It’s all in the details!
Overall, their blog entices readers to stay on the blog from their informative content, UX-friendly design webpage, headings, embedded TikTok video, and cohesive fun branding.
Pat Flynn is the creator of the Smart Passive Income Blog. After being laid off from his dream job as an architect, Flynn started his entrepreneurial journey.
In this blog post structure, the topic and purpose communicate to the reader that it's about podcast mistakes.
The author keeps the introduction and conclusion short and sweet. His "paragraphs" are essentially based on the three podcasting mistakes. The headings' stylistic size helps readers easily scan the post and learn what to avoid when starting a podcast.
Kara and Nate are popular travel bloggers, YouTubers, and entrepreneurs. They started off their journey documenting their travels through their blog, with topics such as how people can make money on the road, travel tips, income reports, etc.
This blog post structure mentions that the article is about personal travel rewards through credit cards. The content goes into depth on the top travel rewards credit cards and ends with a short conclusion on a summary of the article.
This article is an interesting twist between a listicle, comparison, and affiliate post. They list ten different credit card rewards with the intention for the reader to compare the pros and cons of each one. For someone looking to get a new credit card, they structured their post to reflect the differences of each one. Kara and Nate's blog is a great example of how to create a travel blog and format the content correctly with all of the right ingredients for success.
Instagram is one of the top social media platforms on the internet. They’ve evolved from being a photo-sharing app and have become a platform many creators and entrepreneurs use to build their brands and businesses.
Instagram Business is a place online that educates users on how to leverage Instagram for their business.
This blog post structure shares a quick interview-style blog with Oh, Lolly Day! founder, Shinhu Park. Oh, Lolly Day! is a product-based business focused on stationery and lifestyle products. The blog starts with the foundation of an introduction, gets into the juicy Q&A, and concludes with a brief summary of the article.
They nail the foundation and spice up the article by giving a casual tone to the blog post, which can help retain readers who enjoy this writing style. Interview blog posts give people access to conversations as if they were in the same room.
Patagonia is an outdoor lifestyle apparel brand. They have formatted their blog layout to share and showcase people's adventures rather than mention their products.
The author, Somira Sao, takes us on her adventures to Point Nemo.
She takes us on this journey as if we’re reading a novel or stepping into someone’s personal diary, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
It's formatted to suit the digital reader and let us connect and learn more about the author. This method is effective as stories are a way humans relate to one another.
Gary Vaynerchuk is the CEO of VaynerMedia and chairman of VaynerX. Vaynerchuk has built a personal brand around inspiring and educating entrepreneurs about business and marketing.
In this blog post, Vaynerchuk shares his journey towards his NFT project, Veefriends. He does this with the foundation of a story-like journal of his experience. Gary starts by introducing what the topic is about, sharing the details from the pre-launch leading to the launch and takeaways from his venture.
There are stylistic elements within the blog to help the reader navigate through the article by the use of bolded text, headings, subheadings, and embedded social media posts.
This blogging structure is effective as he shares his personal experience for readers to learn from for their NFT projects.
Rand Fishkin started blogging about SEO and providing consulting services for businesses. It has then turned into SEO software to help businesses and entrepreneurs.
In this blog post structure, the basic foundation lets readers understand what to expect with a new SEO competitive analysis certification program available for people to take. Then, the blog details what you can expect to learn and get tested on in the certification. Finally, the article concludes with a summary sharing the exam details and eligibility to add a LinkedIn badge after passing.
This method is effective as it speaks to a specific person who wants to learn SEO, what value they can receive, and informs the certification details.
In conclusion, an organized blog can help you communicate your ideas effectively and share stories for readers when they come across your website. By having clear and effective communication, people will better understand why they're there and what you can offer them.
Even though there's a foundation to construct, it doesn't mean you can't add toppings and frosting to the cake. Ready to start your blogging journey?
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