Looking for a good blog post publishing checklist? As part of the 21 Day SEO Challenge we put together this checklist to help you remember what you should be doing. This is part of a series of printable checklists that are part of the Challenge.
1. What is the goal of the blog post? Is it clear what the reader should do?
- Comment
- Click Ad
- Like, Pin, Plus, Tweet, Share
- Go to another post
- Buy, Join, Register, Optin
2. Does the post have a compelling headline? Can you honestly say the title invokes intrigue?
3. Does the post include an image? If so does the image meet
- Facebook display standards
- Pinterest display standards
- Twitter display standards
4. Is the post optimized for social sharing?
- Social share buttons above and below the post?
- Pin it button on photo (hover or in caption)?
- “Tweet this” button with a shareable tweet highlighted?
- Is it scannable with subheadings? Bullets?
5. Is the post optimized for your site’s SEO?
- Is it linked from or does it to link to a supporting article?
- Is it categorized and tagged within it’s silo correctly?
- Does the title include keywords that support the silo?
6. Is the post SEO Optimized?
- Does the main keyword appear in the title?
- Does the main keyword appear in the first paragraph?
- Does the main keyword appear in the meta description?
- Does the main keyword appear in the post meta title?
- Does the main keyword appear naturally throughout the content?
- Does the post include supporting keywords (like toilet for bathroom)?
- Does the post include sub headings that include supporting keywords?
- Does the post include the keyword bolded, italicized, or as a text link?
7. Is the keyword hard to rank for?
- Did you add the keyword to the list of keywords you’re tracking in Webmaster Tools?
- Does it need incoming links? Did you go to old posts and link back to this one?
8. Is the URL as short as possible?
- Have dates been removed?
- Have hashtags been removed?
- Has weird punctuation been removed?
9. If using Adsense to monetize, are the ads put in the best positions possible? Are the maximum allowed including link units on page?
10. If the sidebar has an optin form or your own product ads? If so are you using the Sidebar Ladder plugin to make sure you’re maximizing pixel space for those that optin and buy?
11. Is the post optimized for eyeballs?
- Are faces, book covers, scenes facing toward the middle of the page?
- Do any images sabotage your monetization efforts? (Example do you have an ad at the top of the sidebar but an image that draws the reader past the ad)?
- Is it easy to find the goal of the page ie. the button, the ad, the link?
12. Has the featured image been chosen and indicated in your open graph plugin for Facebook?
13. Is the post set to autopost to social media? If not, are you prepared to pin, share, tweet, like, plus, etc. . . Where does it need to be shared first?
14. If this post goes viral, what will you regret? Do you need to change something?
15. Mis-spellings? Poor Grammar? Fuzzy images? Anything that will make a potential sponsor walk away?
16. Does your post meet the Schema.org rules? Rich Snippets used? Google Authorship?
17. Need any short codes or embeds?
- Does the post expire and therefore need the expiration shortcode?
- Does the post need a light box plugin?
- Got a relevant YouTube video to embed? Slideshare presentation?
18. If this post requires the sidebar, did you choose the right sidebar? What qualities does the post have?
- Commercial or Non-Commercial keywords?
- Long or short post?
- Ads or email optin?
19. Did you preview the content before pressing Publish? Make sure everything lines up right and looks good.
20. When will you want this content to appear on the main page again? Have you downloaded our Content Replay Plugin and have you scheduled when it should be republished?
That should do it. Hope your post builds your business, grows your audience, brings you lots of fans.