16 Things You Should Do After Publishing a Blog Post

? TL;DR: We list 16 steps you should take after publishing a new post to get immediate attention, boost SEO, and set the base for a long-term content promotion strategy. This post also includes a free checklist you can download for future reference.

After hours or days of hard work, you produced a shiny new post for your SaaS blog.

Now what?

In many ways, your work is just starting. To set up your post for great visibility and top performance, here are 16 things to do after publishing a blog post.

#1 Check the Post on Mobile

Mobile-first indexing is pretty much the default for search engines since most users nowadays consume content on mobile devices.

But neither search engines nor readers tolerate slow-loading pages or a poor page experience. So grab your phone and go through the post on a mobile device. 

Do images load and scale well on mobile? 

Consider how dense the paragraphs are. Maybe you need to increase the spacing or fonts. 

Also, what about calls to action—can you comfortably click on buttons or links, or fill out forms? 

Don’t sabotage your blog post from the word go; make sure it’s easy to read and engage with on all devices.

#2 Proofread Again

Tools like Grammarly or QuillBot can catch grammar and spelling errors while writing. Both tools also have add-ons that you can use with most text editors.  

Still, mistakes can happen while copying and pasting your content, entering captions, formatting lists and paragraphs, etc. 

To catch those sneaky errors, reread the article one more time after you hit ‘publish’. Once you move the text to a different layout or font than your text editor, it’ll be like reading with a fresh set of eyes.

While at it, double-check whether you need to break up some long or complex sentences.

Remember that mobile screens are narrower, and long sentences stretch over more rows. This breaks the flow and requires more effort to read.

#3 Link From Old Posts

Good internal linking boosts both SEO and reader engagement. So after you publish a new blog, go back to your old posts and find relevant places to link to the new content.

If you’re not sure where to start, keep in mind that you can rarely go wrong if you interlink topically or thematically related posts. 

However, prioritize linking from old posts and pages that are already crawled and indexed.

And remember to choose more descriptive anchor texts than “click here” or “read the article,” which provide zero context. 

#4 Add Engagement Features

Next, double-check if you have different options to engage your blog readers once they arrive on your page.

To keep them on your website longer, add some related articles they might find useful after reading your blog post. Do check if comments are allowed.

Don’t forget to include the email signup form. It doesn’t have to be at the end of the page or in your sidebar only.

Finally, align your CTAs to your funnel or user path. For example, try not to make a demo sign-up the only option. For top or middle-of-the-funnel content, an eBook download or webinar invitation might be a more suitable engagement option. 

#5 Submit the Link to Google Search Console

You can request indexing through GSC immediately after publishing your article. However, it’s not a guarantee that your content will be indexed instantly—or at all. 

Instead, you want to use GSC to diagnose potential issues.

When submitting your URL, you get the option to live-test your page through the URL inspection tool. It shows you if any problems could delay indexing.

Ideally, you want to see something like the screenshot below:

Maybe a plugin created a rogue redirect or blocked access through your robots.txt file, and you didn’t catch it? The live test report shows such issues right away. 

You should also check how mobile-friendly your content is in GSC. Just because everything looks okay on the page, Google might have a bone to pick.

For instance, I once tested a new table of contents plugin that looked well-optimized on the website. However, Google found the section links to be too close together and inconvenient to click on mobile devices. 

The indexing problem was solved once I got rid of the plugin. 

It’s better to discover technical errors that affect indexing sooner rather than later. So submit, test, and start fixing any errors there may be.

#6 Send The Post to Your Email Contacts

While waiting for search visits to trickle in, get some immediate readership and feedback from your email contacts.

Don’t just copy and paste your entire article into the body of the email, though. Your goal is to get people to read it on your website. 

Also, don’t just blast a link to your entire email list without any context or value proposition.

Instead, create a “teaser email.” Share the most valuable snippets or thought-provoking arguments from the post to entice the recipient to read more.

See how the newsletter below shows real numbers and promises exact steps to replicate the strategy? 

Your email subscribers have already confirmed they’re interested in your content. But few will ever come to your blog directly to check for updates.

So don’t let them miss your new post.

#7 Ask Influencers to Spread the Word

I don’t mean mainstream influencers with millions of followers. Rather, I mean those micro-influencers in the specific industry whose problems you solve.

You likely have a list of content curators or authorities in your niche. People who generally share helpful content around your topic. They can draw even more eyeballs to your content.

If your content is high quality, they’ll have a hard time saying no. After all, they also want to share valuable stuff to engage their followers. 

You could use tools like BuzzSumo, but even just searching social media for your topic will yield a list of people to connect with. 

Here’s one more nifty outreach trick. 

If you mention people or other companies in your article, drop them a note to make sure they see it. We all like to have our egos tickled every so often, and they might just feel inclined to share it with their audience.

#8 Share In Your Networks

If you’re a member of some Discord, Slack, or Facebook groups for SaaS owners, don’t forget to share your post there as well. 

Of course, review the community guidelines first. Most such networks don’t allow link-dropping or blatant self-promotion. 

Besides, the members may not even be your target audience, just peers or people with similar interests.

Instead, ask for feedback or input from other experts in your field.

Here’s how a SaaS founder shared early blogging success on IndieHackers for a series of technical articles they wrote:

You’ll probably get a few clicks from your communities. But more importantly, you’ll receive valuable feedback and share experiences.

#9 Share Snippets on Quora and Reddit

If you decide to promote your content on Reddit, you can’t just drop a link to your post. Most subreddits don’t allow that.

Also, if you’ve ever been on Reddit, you know Redditors are quick to call out spam and fluff. Unless you show some real value, you can kiss your karma goodbye, or even get banned.

However, if your blog can answer questions posted in a subreddit or Quora, go ahead.

Share tips, insights, or snippets from your post. Then, if someone shows interest, politely offer to share your blog post link.

A word of caution, though, in the light of recent events.

Google has been testing various methods of fighting the influx of AI-generated content. To surface more user-generated content, they’re now showing plenty of Quora and Reddit pages in search results.

That’s why you’ll now see Reddit pages ranking higher in search results than the original source they reference.

This specific case caused a lot of waves. Within a very short time, Reddit wasn’t outranking the original article anymore, though. But there are many instances like this, and they keep happening.

To take advantage of that visibility, people are now simply reposting their content on Quora and Reddit.

This is not entirely without merit, but it’s a slippery slope. 

If you do that, you deliberately undermine your website. Exposure is great, but think twice about whether you’re ready to risk losing all the benefits of drawing readers to your website.

#10 Share on Social Media

When you post to Facebook, LinkedIn, or other platforms, avoid sharing just the link to your blog post. Some social media platforms limit the reach of posts with links.

Simply, they want to keep users on the platform and not send them away. 

Besides, a link with no context doesn’t appeal to social media scrollers either.

Better, share the link along with some commentary, quotes, statistics, captivating images, or videos from your blog’s content. 

You can also create a short-term, low-budget Facebook ad to expand the reach of your post.  This helps capture a wider audience before SEO and other promotion tactics kick in.

If you use LinkTree, don’t forget to update your links there as well.

Lastly, you’ll want to promote the post on social media more than once for those who didn’t see it the first time around.

But followers get bored by the same “check out my new blog post” link. Enter content repurposing.

#11 Repurpose Your Content Into Other Formats

With content repurposing, you can create a library of content pieces and constantly promote your blog post without looking repetitive.

The sky’s the limit when creating new content pieces from a single, long-form blog post. Images, videos, Twitter threads, or slides—you name it. 

Don’t treat repurposing as an afterthought, but look for opportunities even before you publish. For instance, an infographic is a valuable addition to the post itself, and you can single it out to promote the post.

This post you’re reading right now can easily be repurposed into a checklist like this one:

To get started, list your channels and what type of content your audience engages with the most. Then shortlist and prioritize the options.

Content repurposing takes some effort upfront to set workflows, processes, and templates. But you’ll be grateful next time you don’t know what to post on social media.

#12 Start Building Backlinks

Getting some backlinks to your new post will put it on Google’s radar quicker, and get you in front of some new audiences. 

If link-building is one of your strategic goals, then you have considered your link targets before writing your post. That way, you deliberately created a piece of content people will want to link to. 

But if not, finding a place to insert your link will be more complicated and time-consuming. 

You can again turn to your contacts or content curators that you have a good relationship with. 

An alternative is to check your competitors’ backlinks through Ahrefs or a similar tool. 

Examine where they get their backlinks from, and what sort of posts they link to. If your post is objectively better, or your competitor’s link is broken, you have a fair chance of snagging that backlink.

You can try many different link-building strategies and approaches for your new blog post, from quest posting to roundups. But ultimately, you’ll have better results if you plan for link-building right from the start.

#13 Monitor Performance Data

Make it a habit to track how your blog post performs from day one.

SEO results can take a bit longer to kick in, but overall, you want to see an upward trend in GA4, Google Search Console, or your preferred SEO tool.

Monitor things like: 

• Is the post ranking well, but the click-through rate is low?
• Where does traffic come from? Alternatively, do you think some sources underdeliver?
• Is visibility going up or down over several weeks?
• Are engagement metrics for the post too low?

With social media analytics, you’ll see more immediate and actionable results. 

While tracking engagement for different types of posts, look for patterns around what content types your followers prefer. Then you can adjust your promotion strategy to meet those needs.

#14 Add a Refreshment Reminder

Some types of content are evergreen. Others, like stats, screenshots, trends, tools, etc., will probably become obsolete within a year or even a few months.

For such posts, plan updates and refreshments to prevent content decay. Otherwise, you risk a poor impression on readers and demotion from Google.

So set a reminder to revisit the post in 3 to 6 months. Check its performance and content, and see if there’s something outdated you need to replace.

Specifically, check things like:

• Outgoing links: do they still work?
• Statistics freshness
• UI screenshots that changed
• Trends that faded away or discontinued best practices
• New tools and competitors

Here’s another benefit of doing this: 

Say you had a post comparing different AI headshot generators in 2023.

At the start of 2024, you can check if the pricing, features, and screenshots have changed. Or maybe add a few new contenders to the list.

Once you update an old post, you practically have a new post to promote—and then rinse and repeat next year.

#15 Respond to Comments

Try to respond to comments daily or as soon as they come in, both on your website and social media.

If you don’t, your brand appears detached and disinterested, which could turn prospects away. On the flip side, your direct engagement is more appealing than carefully planned and produced marketing content.

Keep the conversation going with subquestions. Deliver even more value; if the conversation steers in a specific direction, share related resources or content.

Comments are a direct litmus test to see how the blog topic resonates with your audience. 

Instead of wasting more time on a topic your buyers don’t care about, you can move on to a more lucrative opportunity.

One good trick is to monitor how commenters talk about the problem or topic you write about. Their language, perspectives, or objections they mention are priceless for fine-tuning your messaging in the future.

#16 Start Planning Your Next Blog Post

To build topical authority through your blog, you need to cover your topic from every angle and POV. That way, you’ll position yourself as an authority and go-to source for the problems your SaaS solves.

By now, you’ve set up enough touchpoints to collect feedback, so monitor how users respond to your blog post. 

If it’s a new topic, does it generate reasonable interest? Can you create more blog posts around that or an adjacent topic to grab even more search volume?

Use Google Search Console to see other queries besides your target keyword that your post ranks for. Any good topic ideas and keywords for separate blog posts?

Also, analyze what outbound links readers are clicking on.

Is it a resource or blog post you can recreate yourself and link to your pages instead of sending readers away? Do you have a subtopic that could become a whole separate blog post?

That could be your ideas for your next posts.

The Real Work Starts After Publishing a Blog Post

That’s a lot of steps to successfully launch your blog post into the world. And we have barely even touched on promotion.

Of course, there are more things to do to promote your blog in the future. 

It’s part of a big puzzle that is your content marketing strategy. You’ll always look for ways to resurface its value for new people who are just discovering your brand and offers. 

But one step at a time. Give this puzzle piece a good start and a successful launch. These 16 post-publishing tasks will help you do exactly that.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

• 6 Ways To Boost SaaS Blog Post Engagement
• 8 Types of SaaS Blog Posts to Jumpstart Growth
• Content Upgrades: Unlock Leads From Blog Content

Struggling to create a blog strategy? Let’s discuss how you can create more purposeful and targeted blog content and how to use your SaaS blog as the foundation for an effective content marketing strategy.