Your Title: What Are You an Expert On?
Sample Titles: Your Ultimate Guide to Parisian Restaurants or The Complete Guide to Vitamin and Mineral Supplements or SEO Starter Guide: Everything You Need to Know
Ultimate Guides are blog posts designed to be the best of the best. It's supposed to be the blog post to end all blog posts–everything your reader will ever need to know about the subject.
To boost the post’s SEO, include a keyword in the title.
Every great guide should start with an introductory paragraph. This is your opportunity to persuade your reader and let them know why this post will answer all their important questions. You can share why you are the ideal person to write this guide; write a personal anecdote about how you became an expert in the field; show your empathy with your reader regarding how hard it is to find accurate information; and/or stress the frequent mistakes people make that can be avoided.
Before writing your “how-to” or “best-of” post below, add one last sentence that sums up your paragraph and offers a polished transition to your guide.
Some Quick Guidelines on Formatting
Don’t make your guide longer than 2000 words. In an ultimate guide, you also have a lot of space to use your SEO keywords. Put 2-3 keywords around in the post, in the H2 headings, and in the text itself. Add Anchors Links much like a table of contents where readers can click and go to a section of the post. To add them, click on Link in the toolbar above, select Section and select one of the headings in the post.
Heading #1: Why Is This Topic So Important?
Heading #2: What are the Nuts and Bolts of Your Guide?
Heading #3: Is Your Reader Feeling Empowered?
Heading #1: Why Is This Topic So Important?
In this first section, you set the stage for your readers. This is where you remind your site visitor, in greater detail, about the topic at hand. You can offer a brief history of the issue as well as when and how it became so popular or vital; describe the geographic location or setting if your guide is travel-focused; relay the possible mishaps that occur (or can occur) to someone who doesn’t stay up-to-date with current trends; and explain how practical implementation of your recommendations is simple.
This is your chance to get your reader excited about the guide and appreciate the real value behind reading the post in its entirety.
To boost the post's SEO, be sure to include keywords in the heading and format them as Heading 2 or Heading 3.
Heading #2: What are the Nuts and Bolts of Your Guide?
Get ready to explain everything! Start with a catchy introductory sentence or two to get the ball rolling, and then begin sharing your insights with your audience.
Decide from the start of this section if you want to write your detailed explanation of your expert guide (i.e. Parisian Restaurants or Vitamin and Mineral Supplements or SEO Steps) as a list or separate subheadings. The most important thing is to be consistent. Each entry should be clearly distinguishable and you should offer your reader concrete insights throughout.
Explain with examples and anecdotes. Try to give different perspectives so readers with different backgrounds understand. Think about your audience. Are you talking to beginners or more advanced readers? Do you need to use a more professional writing style, or a friendly and casual tone that is more relatable?
Remember that this is the largest section of your guide. Add images to make the post more dynamic and interesting, and include links from other sources or to one of your previous posts. You may want to include something personal or funny along the way to lighten the load and make the read more enjoyable.
Heading #3: Is Your Reader Feeling Empowered?
It’s time for your readers to start applying what they have begun to master. Leave your reader feeling like they learned a lot. In this last section, you can write one or two paragraphs that remind your audience what they have learned; what are the first steps they can take to apply all your advice and coaching (i.e. make reservations to the perfect restaurants in Paris for an upcoming holiday; purchase vitamin supplements or make an appointment with a nutritionist; or check their SEO search engine rankings and keywords). Provide them the needed links (can be an affiliate) to get going and encourage them to soar.
You can also remind them of other resources you have on your website as well as paid services or events that you offer. Don’t be shy. They may have more questions after reading (or in the future). Invite them to leave comments below the post so they stay engaged.