Do These 5 Things Before Hitting Publish

Who knew there were so many things you can/have to do before hitting publish on a post? Phew, There are a few things that if you don’t do, you might be left feeling a bit embarrassed.

That’s okay! I’m here to help. Here is the list of things I do before I hit publish. This is obviously not a comprehensive list since everyone is different. There are things I know others do that I don’t bother with and things that I do that others probably think are weird. Either way, here are a few tips to make sure that post is near-perfect before you send it out into the blogging world!

I reread my posts at least twice. Once in my head and again out loud. I have a weird ritual when it comes to this.

I reread it in my head > reread it out loud > do all the steps below > click preview > reread it out loud one last time.

For some reason, I like to read my posts out loud when they’re all finished – with images, grammar checked, and all the correct formatting. You don’t have to do that, just make sure you reread it at some point when you’re done writing.

I’m ashamed to say that I am probably the worst with grammar and spelling. Let me tell you, no one reads my blog because they love how well I write with my perfect sentence structure and punctuation. Either way, I still check for some basics. I’m not 100% sure how to do this without some sort of plug-in or extension other than copying & pasting (or writing) your post into a third-party program like a Word document (or being a spelling and punctuation genius). I don’t do that, but that is an option.

I use the WordPress Proof-Read Writing button as well as a Chrome Extension called Grammarly.

Proofread Writing takes care of a lot of the spelling mistakes for me while Grammarly takes care of punctuation & a few more spelling errors.  (There are different versions, I just use the free one) When you install Grammarly, when you’re in a window for typing – regardless of which website – a little circle will be at the bottom of the window. Here are some screen grabs of how it works:

As you can see, you’ll have to scroll through because it will catch things like Oftomes Publishing that is obviously not incorrect. However, this extension has saved me from a few embarrassing mistakes! You can also just click on an underlined word and it will open the same window.

I come up with my title last, every time. I give it a quick working title for my list of unpublished posts but I don’t decide on the official title until the end. Sometimes, the size of my images dictates what I title it (because it needs to fit in the white square!)

There are various ways of going about coming up with a title. There’s even a nifty Headline Analyzer Tool if you want to get real fancy. I threw the one for this post into it and I got an average score:

To be honest, I’m not that fancy. This is the first time I’ve used that tool for a year.

I like to go with what feels right and gets the point across – depending on the post and as long as it fits in that damn white square! I try to use titles that I might click. Titles that show it’s going to be a list, or a how-to, or a question. I try not to get too corny and stay authentic to myself with this – that’s why I don’t use the analyzer tool. But to each their own!

Once I have a title that gets to the point and fits in the white square, I use Canva to make my images. I’ve discussed how I use Canva in the past so I won’t go into detail here.

I like to find an opportunity within my post to link back to either a post of mine or a helpful resource. For example, I just did it above. I linked to both a helpful resource (the headline analyzer) and my post (the tutorial on Canva graphics).

I like to do both of these things because first and foremost I want to be as helpful as I can to you. It would be selfish, and not helpful, to never include outside resources. Though, I also want to share my own resources for obvious reasons.

So, just take a look through your post. Is there something you can link back to that might relate to the topic? If not, that’s okay! This is where Tags, Categories, and Related Posts come in!

I’m about to go against what a lot of blogging advice says, don’t hate me.

Don’t freak out about tags and categories.

Keep it simple. Use them to help your readers navigate your blog, but don’t go overboard. Use tags and categories that will show the correct Related Posts (if you have that option), but don’t use ones that are totally off-topic or lead to nothing useful.

Just think “what is my post about” and stick with the first 1-3 topics that come to mind!

Or just use categories (I hate tags).

Don’t get your panties in a bunch over SEO

GASP! Yes, I don’t care about my SEO, but if you do, that’s fine! I have never cared about it because it always seemed like an extra thing to worry about. ALT tags on images, keywords, meta descriptions, the whole shebang seemed like something that went against my goal for my blog.

So, if you don’t care about SEO, don’t care about it and don’t let anyone make you feel like you have to.

Or, if you care about it, make sure that you do all the right things! Such as: Using a keyword throughout your post, checking readability, having a meta description, including ALT tags on your images, etc.

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What do you do before you hit publish? What tools do you use to do any of the things above? Do you just wing it and hope it all comes out right?