You just wrote an insightful and thought-provoking blog post. You can’t wait until you can share it. Before you do, please consider some things that might make your blog post just a little nicer and more effective.
Select Images
Take your time and select images for your post that help to illustrate your point or make it more appealing to the eye. Make sure they are of the proper size and align it the way you think makes it look best.
If you are sharing it on social media, you are going to at least want one image. If you are using WordPress, it will be your featured image. Perhaps you can find one in your own photo gallery or you can check out royalty-free services like Unsplash.
According to Brian Biddle:
The magic number for social share on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin is currently 1200 pixels X 630 pixels.
Once you have selected images that captures what you want to say about the post and maybe yourself. Make sure you get the image to the right size and optimize it for the web so that it keeps your page loading quickly.
If you search online for image resizers, you will find lots of free online websites that will do the work for you. Try a few out until you find one you like.
I use Adobe Photoshop, which might be overkill for the process, but I enjoy using it.
After you add the images, why not add ALT tags that tell people a little bit about the image and your post?
Categories and Tags
Using categories or tags? Make sure you select ones that are appropriate to your post. Be conservative and logical. Remember, tags and categories are used for navigation.
If you have too many tags that have just one post in them, they are not very useful as navigation elements. So make sure you are reusing the same ones and minimize term variation.
For categories, use two at the most. If you post has too many categories, you might have categories with too much overlap or a post that is too sprawling.
Note: I do not use Tags on the Crazy Third Option.
Share that Post
You can’t count on Google to bring everyone to your post anymore, so make sure you have a social media account and share that post.
Don’t just copy and paste the post. People need context. Instead find what you are trying to say in the post and summarize it in your share. Before you submit, make sure your featured image looks good.
Conclusion
I find these parts of blogging to be enjoyable. At this point, I have already climbed the mountain of effort. Now I can take a moment to appreciate my accomplishment before heading down the mountain.
So before you walk away from your computer, consider taking a little extra time. It just might make the act of publishing a little more enjoyable and rewarding.