Whether you blog every day or a couple times of month, you most likely feel the same pain of bloggers around the world. You want to write quality content that will generate leads and attract visitors to your website, but you also want to write content as quickly as possible.
In this post we will go over how HubSpot COS blog users can use blogging blueprints to quickly write content. If you are on the HubSpot classic blog, skip to the second section to learn how you can still take advantage of these resources.
Before we begin, let's talk about another big change that has happened in your blog dashboard.
Introducing the New COS Blog Dashboard
If you use the COS blog, you may see something different in your accounts today. The COS blog dashboard has been given a complete make-over! You will now see a new screen featuring everything you would ever need to create a blog post, manage your topics and authors, change your blog settings, design your blog, and respond to comments. All of your blogging tools are now in one screen, making it easier for you to write a blog post. Click here to check out your new blog Dashboard.
You will also see some new data in your blog dashboard that shows the performance of your blog over this month, the last month, or a custom date, depending on the information you want to see. You can look at this data by views or subscribers. You may notice increases or decreases in your blog performance over the time period you are looking at. You can dig into the individual posts that may have led to these increases and decreases by clicking on the checkbox below the dates. These checkboxes will show you exactly what content you published on each date.
The next time you start blogging, use this dashboard to complete all of your blog-related tasks. Write your blog content. Measure your blog's performance. Add new authors to your blog. Respond to comments. Schedule blog content for a later date. Change your blog post and blog list template. Edit your notification emails. And do all of this without leaving your blog dashboard screen.
Introducing COS Blogging Blueprints
The exciting news of the new COS blog dashboard doesn't stop there. The next time you click on "Write new blog post," you will see some different options.
If you choose post blueprint, you will have the option to choose from three types of posts. When you hover over the post, you will see descriptions giving you more information about each type.
- How-To Post - The How-To blog post should teach the reader how to do something through a series of steps. Use this type of post as a way to explain a concept or process to your reader.
- List Post - The list-based blog post includes a series of numbered items on your topic. This type of post is a great way to organize your post to make the content scannable and succinct.
- Visual Post - A visual post uses an image element as the centerpiece of your post, such as a SlideShare, infographic, or showcase image. This type of post should let the visual do the talking.
For example, if you select the "How-To" post, you will see the post blueprint pre-loaded into your blog editor. These blueprints give you a head start to create content. The flow and outline of the post is already created so you can immediately start writing and focus on the content with handy “professional” examples embedded in the posts.
When you finish writing your post, don't forget to use the SEO panel to optimize your blog post.
How Will This Help Me?
The next time you want to write a blog post, head on over to your dashboard. You will have all of the tools you need to easily and successfully write a blog post all in one screen. If you are unsure of how certain blog post topics performed in the past, check out what blog posts led to increases or decreases in views on the graph at the top. If you want to change your blog post template, you can do that in the dashboard too. Manage your comments at the bottom of the dashboard. Everything you need to do relating to your blog can all be accomplished in the dashboard.
If you spend a lot of time structuring and formatting your blog post, use the blueprints. The blueprints will allow you to spend your time focusing on the content of your post instead of spending time coming up with a good structure for your post and then adding in tags and other formatting. The purpose of the blueprints is to make your life as a blogger much easier so you can quickly write quality content.
How Can I Do This on the CMS?
Step 1: To get started writing your blog content, use the Blog Topic Generator to help you come up with new ideas that you want to write about.
Step 2: Read a quick blog post on writing an introduction.
Step 3: Read some advice on writing blog post titles.
Step 4: Download HubSpot's free blog post templates. In addition to the blueprints that can be found in the COS, you will also get a template for the Curated Collection Post and Newsjacking Post. In each template you will find step-by-step instructions including identifying your audience, your key takeaway, creating an outline, and ultimately writing the post.
Step 5: Read about making your content SEO-friendly. Before you publish your post, it is important to make sure your blog content is optimized for SEO.
What do you think of these new features? What are your tips and tricks for quickly writing blog content?
