Each blog entry you add to your site is an opportunity to get a new page indexed in Google, rank for a new keyword, and start generating qualified traffic to your site. Here is how to create your first blog post in 10 easy steps:

1. Complete Blogging Worksheet to create an optimized blog title

Click here: Download Now: The Blogging Worksheet and start brainstorming blog article titles based on a long-tail keyword. Make sure you include the keyword you're targeting in all the titles you brainstorm, and that you're writing about relevant topics your audience will find interesting and would learn from.

2. Go to your blog

Your blog is located in the Create section of HubSpot. Log into HubSpot, hover over "Create" and click "Blog."

3. Create a new article

Click the little link that says "Create Article."

4. Enter your article title

You brainstormed five (5) article titles for one of your long-tail keywords in the Blogging Worksheet, and chose a favorite. Copy your favorite title and paste it in!

5. Write your blog post!

Now's the time to write the content of your blog post in the "article body" field. Staring at a blank text field can be intimidating, so here are some helpful tips:

• Create an article between 200 and 400 words. Each post you write doesn't have to be a novel.
• Creating content interesting to your audience. When writing your article, your only concern should be the content in the article. Don’t get distracted by adding keywords, links, images, calls to action or anything else marketing-related.
• Write posts people will want to link to. The more people that link to your blog entry, the more likely it is Google will rank it. Be interesting, useful, and educational in your blog posts.
• Don't be self-promotional. A blog entry that's nothing more than an ad for your company isn't interesting or useful to your audience. Write entries YOU would want to forward to coworkers, friends, or family members if you were a reader.
• Think like a teacher. A good approach to building useful content is to aim to teach your audience something. You know more about your industry than anyone; what can you teach your prospects?

6. Add an image to your blog post

Now that the article is written you should add a relevant image that will grab the attention of visitors and make them want to read the article. Before you upload an image, make sure the file name includes the keyword you're targeting with dashes separating words in the phrase (i.e. internet-marketing-software.jpg).

To add an image to your blog post, first click the little tree icon in your toolbar:


Then in the Insert Image lightbox, (1) click "Upload New Image," (2) browse your hard drive for the image you'd like to upload, and (3) click "Upload."


Then in the next lightbox screen, (4) add alt text to the image. The alt text allow search engines to "read" an image, so make sure to include the keyword you're targeting in this blog post. Then (5) align the images however you'd like it to appear in your post, and (6) click "Insert."

7. Create whitespace

When you blog, whitespace is your friend.  You should not write long paragraphs that form into blocks of text. If you do, it will deter the reader form reading because of how dense the information appears. Most people skim blogs and are only trying to find information related to what they’re looking for. The more whitespace you have, the easier it will be for someone to quickly scan the article. There are a few ways to do this:

• Create numbered lists to make your points
• Use section headers to break up topics (h2, h3 tags)
• Use bulleted lists to outline steps

8. Bold important and compelling text

Bolding important and compelling text will help readers quickly understand what the post is about and interpret the “what’s in it for me” question.  The search engines place more emphasis on text that’s bolded, so bolding those target long-tail keywords can help you rank higher for those terms.

9. Tag the article

Make it very easy for someone to find what they’re looking for on your blog. Therefore you need to tag each article with no more than three tags. The tags you choose should be broader than long-tail keywords, as you are summarizing the topic of the blog post.

10. Publish your article

When your blog post is ready to go, click the "Publish" button at the bottom of the page!


Congratulations! You've written your first blog post. Remember to blog at least once per week. You'll want to get Google into the habit of crawling your site on a regular basis, and start getting traffic for many different long-tail keywords, so blogging regularly will help you accomplish those goals. 

Need help creating new blog posts? Contact a HubSpot Service Marketplace Provider to write blog articles for you or download the Zerys Content Marketplace app.