Last week many topics were discussed at the LevelUp Summit, the third edition.
And the big questions that many of you wanted answers to were about ads, budgets, attracting traffic, leads and customers, profit, teams – things that give the momentum of a business.
But what, in my view (you may disagree with me), keeps a business afloat is always and forever the content.
The constant chase for quick wins or new ways to promote ourselves keeps us in business.
But the content will never disappoint, because it is, in itself, the basis – the materials used for promotion.
And while we’re on the subject of content, blogging is a self-inviting topic of conversation.
Whether you write blog posts because you like them, have the inspiration and motivation to do so, or you get together with GPT chat and create copy together, my advice is to keep your shop blog alive and alert, no matter what you’re selling.
Especially now, when searches seem to go more into the informational than the commercial zone, and rates or bills keep our hands tied in front of a pleasure-motivated purchase.
So, we go back to basics today and talk at length about structuring a blog post.
I’ve organized everything in the form of a spreadsheet or checklist, whatever you want to call it, so that you can then take the main ideas – marked with a green check, into your own doc.
You can use it every time you do an article, so you can make sure you get top marks… And your customers, leads and visitors consume it and get value from what you tell them there.
Contents Basic Blog Article Template
- Article lifetime
- Keywords
- Title and meta title
- Introduction
- Body text
- Writing style
- Images / Multimedia elements
- Links
- Collecting leads/customers
- Technical aspects
1. Article life
✅ Have I chosen a relevant category to put the article in?
For those of you who attended the webinar held just after the launch of the Blog mode in the platform, you may still remember what I insisted you do then.
The first thing, before you started creating articles was to set up a few categories for it.
These could be related to the type of products, the type of outcome customers expect after using the products or general categories (News, Case Studies, Events – whatever fits).
Why? One, because this way the blog is structured and organized, and two, because at a glance, people who come to the blog discover the main topics they want to read about from you.
Once these categories exist, it will be easy to always frame the articles you create in the relevant categories.
Furthermore, there will be a direct link between the blog categories and the benefits of the product categories in the store.
✅ I took context into account when writing the article (e.g. events, products, etc.)
This tip is more about the timing of your content. It also gives you a starting point, especially when you’re not very inspired.
I can easily link your articles to the macro context: upcoming year-end events, product and store launches, marketing campaigns, etc.
Think of it this way: if you’re writing an article in December, surely it makes more sense to write about gift ideas and preparing for Christmas than Easter, right?
And the next time people are looking for ideas related to this holiday, you could welcome them back to this article, possibly updated.
Make your articles relevant by framing them over time – they should be meaningful and useful, whether they are read within the first 24 hours of publication, or accessed on a random Google search in any other time frame.
✅ Is it evergreen / continuously valid?
On the other hand, you can create articles with evergreen information. For example:
- Buyer’s guide in our shop
- Top bestsellers this year (updated annually)
- Tutorials How it works [produs]
- Articles related to lifestyle given by your products
- Testimonial article from satisfied customer
- Reasons to buy from your store (explain your differentiators)
- Company story and mission behind the business
- Introducing your colleagues
- What a day at the office looks like
It’s not necessary that every article you create on your website be evergreen. For example, you may want to write about news or launches. And that’s ok, they have a different role.
But the presence of evergreen articles, on general, highly searched or long tail, specific keywords, can bring you a steady stream of traffic to your site, for a long time.
Even if you don’t promote them heavily, but especially if you use them as an entry point into your funnel.
✅ Am I achieving my goals? (note what they are)
Every article you write should have a goal. You don’t do it just for the sake of writing, but to attract traffic, leads, boost sales or retain customers.
I recommend starting from the goal, as this will make it easier to structure your ideas and convey a unique, clear and memorable message through each article.
✅ Is the article created keeping in mind the client’s avatar and needs (tone, priorities, needs, expectations, etc.)?
Once you start from the objective, make sure your article meets the needs of at least one audience segment.
Don’t make the mistake Cosmin has often mentioned: when he first started blogging, he wrote so technically, the only feedback he got was from competitors.
That is, people who understood what he was trying to convey and appreciated his information, but from whom he didn’t earn income.
Write in the client’s language. Write using the client’s words. Write about things that interest him. Write from your customer’s shoes, even if it doesn’t make you sound smart or intellectual.
You’re not Hemingway. But you can be Ogilvy.
2. Keywords
✅ Have we chosen a relevant main keyword and secondary keywords?
Your shop blog has an active role on the SEO and traffic attraction side. Depending on their type, your articles will be the stars at the top of the funnel.
It represents both pull marketing – when people and loyal customers search for information and find your results online, and push marketing – when you stimulate interest by promoting your articles with paid advertisements.
So, once you have a goal, know who you’re writing for and what your approach is, the next anchor of your article is the keyword you want to rank for.
The primary keyword is the primary phrase that you consider people are looking for information about your topic, and is part of a semantic field that you are advised to use throughout your article.
My advice is to make an excel of keywords related to your business and your business. You can find them with Google Keywords Planner, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs etc.
In time, you will make articles and optimizations related to each keyword mentioned in excel (table which, of course, needs to be updated from time to time).
✅ Do I use natural keywords in the text, including synonyms, long tail and words in the same semantic field?
When your goal is to ensure the highest possible chances for article ranking, the secret lies in naturalness.
Construct texts that sound good, that can be read without the man stopping at each word to look for its meaning in the sentence.
I know there was a time when keywords were used rigidly within sentences, in the hope that they would propel the page to the top positions.
But in the meantime, alloglots have evolved, and the usefulness and reader experience is more important.
Besides the natural use of the main phrase, it uses other words in the same semantic field. These, plus other factors, will signal Google bots to index and rank your page.
✅ What are long tail words?
You will often use long tail keywords in your title. For example, see “how to optimize your store in 30 days” below.
But also in the text. Because it’s extremely easy to find them by following the questions people ask in Google search, or by using the SEO tools I talked about a little above.
In addition, you can pick them up from the phrases that people use when they write to you on live chat in your store, or from discussions with your support people, or from comments and questions on social media.
If you want to be super organized, set the long tail keywords you want to use in the article from the beginning and stick to the table.
In time, they will become part of your reflex and you won’t have to keep checking them every time you start writing.
Read also: SEO guide for online stores – Learn how to optimize your store in 30 days!
3. Title and meta title
✅ I set a short meta title, which includes the main keyword?
Let’s go a little deeper with SEO for blogging.
Meta title is a tag or in unosoft, a simple form field, which you fill in with a descriptive phrase or detailed article title plus sometimes a call to action.
Read. Download. Learn. See.
Algorithms take this element into account when ranking. So, don’t forget it.
✅ Does the title of the article respect the established style of the site?
Now to the title. I mean the most important element of an article.
Why? Because it dictates whether people will access your result and whether they will read the introduction further.
I’m not good at math, so let’s not mess around with percentages, but believe me when I say you should give it its due time to get to the winning title.
It might be useful. It can be mysterious. May include numbers. It can appeal to readers’ sensory register. But it should always answer the questions:
✅ Is it short and easy to understand?
✅ Is it descriptive, do people know what they are about to read?
✅ Is it engaging enough so that people are motivated to read?
✅ Does it include the main keyword, preferably at the beginning?
✅ Use strong/emotional words?
Super Pont!
If you don’t know where to start, ask GPT Chat. He can give you great ideas for possible titles that you just need to tweak a bit to your brand style.
You save a lot of time, and you also have a concrete starting point to motivate you to write.
The sheet is no longer empty.
4. Introduction
✅ Did I use the key word in the introduction?
Many SEO tools will tell you that this is good practice. It’s worth going by them, even if they don’t guarantee that you’ll actually rank better.
Try to use the keyword in the introduction, as high up as possible, but naturally.
✅ Have I told the visitor what he’s about to read?
It’s important to start the article with a hook, to give the reader the impetus to read the next line, and the line after that.
But equally vital is to give him a sense of stability, of assurance that he has arrived on a page that will give him information he is interested in.
That’s why you tell him from the introduction, in more or less words, what subject you are addressing.
✅ Are the first paragraphs attractive and arouse curiosity?
Let’s talk more about the hook. Just like in a presentation or in public speaking, the first words that pop out from under your fingers should grab the readers’ attention and make them stay.
Identify themselves in the story. Make them curious about what comes next.
For example, I began the article by referring to our event last week, which was attended by many in our community.
But I could also have started it with a story about the old lady next door, where I grew up in the country, who gathered hordes of children wheeling with their mouths agape, listening to her stories of her youth.
Or with sensational figures about the importance of content and blogging. Or with a rhetorical question related to the frustration of lack of customers these days or lack of sufficient budgets for promotion.
Either of these approaches can work as a hook for the audience segment they are targeting today. I simply chose one.
But that doesn’t mean the next time you access the article you won’t find another introduction 🙂 .
✅ Did we talk about the problem or the need for it?
Also in the introduction and related to the hook, it works to refer to the customer’s problem or need in relation to the information they are about to read or your products.
Show people that yes, you really are talking to them. Show them that you understand them and their pain.
Show them that there are solutions to them and they deserve to stay with you to find out what those solutions are.
✅ Have I given him reasons to read on?
You might mention, in the introduction, that he is about to find out in point 3 of the text something extraordinary, or something that experts hesitate to give away.
Or you can mention that if they read to the end they will get a bonus from you.
Or that they’ll find an exclusive discount code in the text that other people don’t have access to.
Or it may simply be the promise that they will learn information that will benefit them X, Y and Z.
✅ Did I insert a link to the desired page, as above?
Depending on the objective, you may want to send people in the article to a special page:
- campaign landing page
- star product link
- link to loyalty program page
- subscription landing page
- landing page lead gen for downloading free material
- a price page etc.
Add the link, applied to keywords, in the introduction.
5. Body text
✅ Is the length suitable for this type of content?
At first, when I started at unosoft, there was total madness about content length. On the one hand I found out that I had to write more than 1000 words, regardless of the article, on the other hand like 400, or more than 800.
The truth-truth is that things in marketing depend. The same goes for the length of texts.
You write as long as it takes to get your message across. Sometimes that means 5000 words, sometimes only 200.
Don’t forget that there’s always room for edits, even if the original article was published. Keep in mind the information consumption habits you have identified in your audience and write as much as you feel you need.
✅ Have I inserted natural keywords in headings and bulleted lists?
I repeat what I said above. Mention keywords throughout the text where they fit.
✅ Is the content appealing and relevant to both users and search engines?
Content usefulness beats the hype and meets the needs of users as well as search engines.
This means addressing topics of interest to the audience, offering applicable tips and ideas, or at least keeping readers’ attention for a good chunk of time, giving them an experience to live by.
Otherwise, they’ll bounce as soon as they get on the page, and that’s a bad signal to the search engine bots.
✅ Did I add a call-to-action at the conclusion of the article?
How do I end an article? Well, the same way you learned in Romanian class.
Briefly summarize what you’ve conveyed in the article and add a call-to-action – to buy the products mentioned, to sign up, to implement the advice, to try something, etc.
It’s usually good to guide readers to the next action, to keep them on your site as long as possible.
But don’t forget that a call-to-action will be much stronger if you include it not only in the conclusion, but also in the introduction or at various natural points in the text.
✅ Does the conclusion summarize the main points of the article?
For those just scanning your article, at the end add a tl;dr restating the main ideas of the article.
✅ Include a personal point of view supported with arguments?
Give people something that will stick in their minds and make them remember you every time they deal with the subject you wrote about.
And this can take the form of a personal, argued point of view.
Read also: Mega Guide – Blogging and Selling Online: +250 Blog Ideas and Tips for Beginners
6. Writing style
✅ Is the text written for the second person singular, as if written for a specific person?
This mode of address gives a human character and personalizes the message you want to convey in the text.
The polite plural, on the other hand, widens the digital and trust gap between you and the reader, and puts you on the back foot.
So my advice is to talk 1-on-1 with your readers, whether you’re talking to them with you or with you.
✅ Is the style natural and human?
Avoid jargon, technical terms and bombastic expressions. Imagine that the man on the other side of the screen is your friend and write to him with all your intention to help him, real.
Of course not everyone will access your articles with an open heart. Maybe they’re just in the mood for scandal.
But that’s the beauty of writing virtually. No one can take your fingers off the keys or the block button 🙂
So write them in your own style, whether it’s friendly, mysterious, humorous, grateful, romantic or a little bit of everything.
Show them authenticity and be transparent – and they’ll remember you.
✅ Use short paragraphs to make it easier to consume?
Eiiii, this is a habit I still haven’t managed to break myself. But I’m making progress, bit by bit.
Try limiting the length of your sentences. Break up the sentences.
Leave more white space.
Allows the eyes to rest.
✅ Use storytelling or other emotional tactics to make text more engaging?
Grandma Zamfira from the country first taught me how great the power of stories is.
How easily you can draw children and grown-ups to the gate bench to listen to you night after night.
And make you remember it for years and years.
People remember stories. And when the story is good, people remember who told it.
Be you the extended hand that tells a story and weaves new synapses that elicit action and emotion from your audience.
I’ve written a lot more about storytelling so I won’t go on and leave you with Storytelling in eCommerce – How to sell without giving the impression that you are selling something.
✅ Do I use white space, numbered lists, bullets and short sentences to air the text?
You can write the most fabulous text possible – people won’t read it if they see it as a block of text worthy of a treatise on quantum physics.
Don’t make your readers cry. Let them easily scan the article with white space, numbered lists, emoji, images, gifs, videos, bullets.
And short sentences.
✅ Have we checked the text for grammatical errors and logical contradictions?
These sometimes escape you. But the golden rule for anyone writing anything is to read it twice.
And if he doesn’t find a few mistakes or slips the second time, read it again. My advice is even to borrow a set of eyes, especially on important, long texts.
Mistakes slip out of your sight, and that’s normal when you’ve written that text. Or, just in case, change the font and its size, and the slips will jump out at you more easily.
✅ Did I read the text aloud to check for any mismatches or word alliances that sound strange?
“Word alaturals” sounds weird when you say it out loud. But I left it here for the purpose of example – don’t do what I did 🙂
Reading aloud also helps you identify spelling and grammar mistakes more easily.
7. Pictures / Multimedia elements
✅ Did I set an image as the cover (main) image at the beginning of the article?
The cover image of your articles supports the impact of your chosen headline, and when you promote them on social media, they even serve to draw attention to the headline.
So use an appropriately sized image, branded with your brand symbols (colors, logo, name, etc.) and descriptive of the article topic.
More recently it also matters a lot to put video in the introduction of articles (if you have or make such material).
✅ Do I use quality, self-created images or screenshots?
Avoid stock images, and add them instead:
- photos created by you
- screenshots
- content received from customers (for which you have received permission to use)
- Banners made in Canva with quotes, reviews, tips or main ideas.
✅ Do the images attract attention and are they relevant in context?
As a rule of thumb, you should have content in a different format, relevant in context, that rests the reader’s eyes, with every screen scroll (at least on desktop, but it doesn’t hurt on mobile either).
Generally it’s images, but you can also use videos, gifs, audio content, SlideShare presentations, etc.
via GIPHY
✅ If I took the images from other sources, did I mention their source correctly?
We don’t play with copyright, because we don’t know where the rabbit jumps from.
Look for CC0 images or, most simply, take your own photos (phone is ok too) or banners in Canva or other editing software.
Also, when you post content from clients, make sure you have their permission to do so – or delete their names or other identifying information.
✅ Have I optimized images for SEO with a relevant title, alt text + keyword?
Once you enter an image into unosoft, its alt-tag will be automatically populated with the image name.
So, start there. Make sure each image has a descriptive name, possibly including keywords related to its content.
✅ Do I use video and gifs to animate the text and increase interaction?
Same rules apply 🙂
Read also: How could I create content that sells
8. Links
✅ Do I have 2-3 internal links to relevant pages?
Create a network of links between articles in your blog to draw readers’ attention to adjacent topics or to deepen what they initially read.
There is even a type of content you create for this purpose.
It’s called cornerstone content and involves creating a content hub on a general theme, linking a landing page to dozens of specific content on that theme (i.e. dozens of pages), which you also link together.
In this way, the authority of your site increases, because the backlinks and their power are not concentrated in one page and flow in different directions, increasing multiple pages.
✅ Do I have at least 2 external links, to relevant and authoritative sources?
It works and vice versa. When you send links to authoritative, useful and relevant sources outside your site, it increases the credibility of your site and the quality of your site in the “eyes” of search engines.
Because like attracts like, and good quality pages only send links to… good quality pages, right 🙂 .
Of course, don’t forget to set the opening of those links in the new tab.
Here are 2 technical issues related to links that you should pay attention to:
✅ Do the links work correctly? (check for broken links or other problems)
✅ Does the text contain a reasonable number of links? (if there are too many, remove the less important ones)
9. Collecting leads/customers
✅ Display lists of products in each article – products relevant to the topic and content of each article.
We get to the commercial side of blog articles, which you can access super easy via unosoft’s blog module.
You can structure an article from the admin panel just like a landing page.
This means that you will give it sales power through product lists (on which you can even apply price lists), forms, promo content, customer registration section and so on.
So take advantage of the situation and display products directly in articles – not just at the end of the articles, but also inside them.
Sure it’s a bit more work when you structure it this way (you have to split the content into multiple sections), but I assure you it’s worth it.
✅ I’ve added specific tags, so that relevant blog articles are displayed on the product pages in the store.
Automatically add extra content to product pages, to convince people to buy them. Setting it up is simple and doesn’t take long.
Make sure you have relevant tags on items and then note them in the product page settings where they fit.
The platform will automatically retrieve this content according to your settings. No hassle and no code work.
✅ Do I use boxes and zones for subscription / lead collection?
As I said about 3000 words ago, blog articles have the strongest impact in the top of the funnel area. That is, they attract traffic to the site.
And if you prepare them correctly, they will drive people from unknown visitor status to leads closer or further away from buying.
Think about getting a conversion from every person who comes into the store. Even if it won’t always happen, at least you’ve taken a step in that direction.
Enable request forms given in each of your items.
Here’s what to remember when setting up lead generation forms:
✅ Are these attractive?
✅ Does the call-to-action button lead to the set page?
✅ I have a thank you page where I direct people after they give me their contact details?
10. Technical aspects
✅ Does the content display well on mobile and all browsers?
Few people ever get to your blog on desktop. And that means giving them responsive content that adapts regardless of the screen.
Also make sure it looks good, and is accessible on all browsers.
✅ Is the size of the video/image files optimized to not affect loading time?
Don’t load too big images!
✅ Page is monitored?
Google Analytics is sfant, Google Search Console is musai, and unosoft Insights is crème de la crème.
✅ Do I have a strategy to promote the article?
Every piece of text you write needs to be pushed out to the world through the rest of the channels you own.
Social media posts, newsletters, paid advertisements, repurposing content in another form (video, podcast, Instagram likes, TikTok, etc).
And that’s great news, because if you start from the blog, you simply have no excuse for not having anything to promote yourself on. All the content is there, you just have to promote it, tweak it and optimize it.
Your efforts will be less, because the foundation is already built 🙂 .
Read also: How to organize your content strategy to boost your sales [Checklist]
The time for excuses is over, it’s time to start writing 🙂
Consistently publish content on your shop blog and use it as the basis for your communication strategy.
You can send it to your customers, you can attract new traffic to your site, you can use it as a reason for returning customers, you can re-frame it in other formats.
You have a lot of benefits that start from one point: from your blog.
Also, now you’ve got rid of the worry of third-party integrations or extra expenses, because you have the option of create blog directly from unosoft platform.
Absolutely everything we’ve discussed today can be applied using this module. Start playing with it – if you haven’t done so before – and create a fantastic content plan that will propel your business into the eyes of profitable customers.
Good luck and have inspiring days!
Storytelling + Appetite for all things learnable. Nice to meet you. Now, let me help you sell more.
