8 Things to do Before You Hit Publish

You finally have it. The perfect blog post and you are ready to hit the publish button BUT before you rush and hit it, let’s make sure that you have done everything that you need to do. There have been moments that the excitement of publishing a post has made me forget all that I should do prior to pushing that button.

Now that I have been blogging for a while, there are still moments I will find myself fixing blog posts from the past. Use this checklist to help you stay on track as you get ready to publish your post.

STEPS TO TAKE BEFORE YOU HIT PUBLISH ON YOUR BLOG POST

Make sure that your images are optimized.

What does that exactly mean? Well, it means to ensure that search engines will recognize your photos and that your site can load faster. Steps to take:

1. Put a title in for your photo. Try and use the keyword associated with that blog post if you can in the title.

2. Fill in the alternate text. You want to be descriptive as possible in your alternate text. This will help search engines understand what the image is about and why it is in your blog post. Do NOT stuff in keywords.

3. Link the photo back to your website. When this photo pops up in a search engine, you want a potential reader to be able to be sent directly to your website. Ensure that you put a link in there for that reason.

4. Use a jpeg vs a png image. It helps with site speed. You don’t want to slow down your site speed by using the wrong kind of image.

If you have more than 1 author on your blog, check to make sure you have the correct author on that specific blog post.

For me, it is just me so it is always filled out Samantha Laycock as the author. If you have more than 1 author though, just double-check so that the correct author is getting credit for the post.

Fill in the excerpt section for each blog post.

This gives your readers an idea of what your blog post is about. Ensure that you use something from your post to help draw them in. I usually pull a sentence or 2 that are my favourites to put in this section.

Check your post URL.

Ensure that this makes sense to your readers. Most of the time it is the title of your blog post but if you have a super long title, shorten it down so that it is easy to remember.

Check the title on search engines.

Again this is normally automatically filled in for you with the title of your blog post. You can also add the name of your blog if you would like to. This is the title that pops up on search engines and the first thing that potential readers will see.

Fill in the post description.

This is the description that will be shown on search engines underneath your title. Use relevant keywords for the specific blog post and entice your potential readers to click on the link. With Wix, I get a preview on Google underneath this section so that it shows me what it will look like on that specific search engine.

Choose the category or categories that your blog post will appear in.

You want it to be categories that your readers are going to understand and easily find relevant information and blog posts in. Keep your blog categories between 8-10 so you don’t overwhelm your readers. Make the categories easy to understand for your readers so that they can easily navigate your blog posts.

Double-check grammar and spelling.

I highly recommend using Grammarly for this. I know that it can be difficult to check your own work for mistakes. Even ask a friend to proofread it for you before you hit publish. If you have all kinds of mistakes, your readers will no longer want to read what you post.