Advanced
Content Marketing
THE STEP-BY-STEP
GUIDE
MODULE 2 LESSON 1
WORKSHEET
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
WOR KS H E ET
The Step-By-Step Guide
So it’s time to create your Step-By-Step Guide.
Remember, your Step-By-Step Guide will help your content stand out because, unlike
an “ultimate guide,” your content contains lots of actionable tips and techniques.
(Actionable info that helps your readers achieve a specific outcome)
That way, when readers land on your Step-By-Step Guide, they’re going to say: “Perfect!
This is exactly what I’m looking for.”
And when they actually get results from your content? You now have a reader for life.
As you know, most blog content is regurgitated BS. So when you help people get real,
tangible results, your content really stands out. And those people will become lifelong fans.
In fact, this is one of the secrets behind Backlinko’s explosive growth: people started to get
results from my content (more traffic, higher rankings, etc.). Which helped build a small army
of people that happily shared everything that I published.
With that, let’s check out two example Step-By-Step Guides from Backlinko:
Example #1: YouTube SEO: How
to Rank YouTube Videos
Unlike most other guides about YouTube
SEO, my Step-By-Step Guide isn’t an “ultimate
guide” information dump.
In fact, it’s a highly-focused list of the essential
steps someone needs to follow to get started
with optimizing their videos.
2
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
Example #2: The Complete SEO
Checklist
This post is actually super similar to my
YouTube Step-By-Step Guide.
The only difference is that my SEO checklist
guide contains more steps.
With that, let’s get into the steps.
0 Decide On a Potential Topic
This is more of a background step that you probably already have checked off. But
it’s worth pointing it out before you get started on your Step-By-Step Guide.
So if you’re like most people, and have a list of topics that you want to cover on your
blog, you can work from that list. Even if you don’t have a formated list, just come up
with some topic ideas in your head, that works too.
Just go ahead and choose a potential topic that might work as a Step-By-Step Guide.
Your potential topic isn’t set in stone. So feel free to choose a random topic for now.
You’ll find out by the end of Step #1 whether or not this topic will work. If so, great.
If not, no worries. You can always choose another potential topic and go from there.
Jot down your potential topic here:
3
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
1 Choose an Outcome
Like I mentioned in the video, your first step is to identify an outcome that someone
interested in that topic wants.
99% of the time, this outcome will be super duper obvious.
For example, with my YouTube SEO guide, I knew that anyone looking for content on
that topic wanted to rank their videos in YouTube. So I made “rank YouTube videos”
my main outcome.
Another example:
Let’s say your topic is “cold brew coffee.”
The outcome would be something like: “How to brew the perfect cup of cold brew
coffee.”
Write your main outcome in the box below:
2 Outline Steps
Here’s where you hold someone’s hand and take them from where they are to where
they want to be.
This isn’t as hard as it might sound at first.
All you need to do is note where someone is before they start. And note the outcome
from Step #1. Then, outline 4-10 specific steps to help someone reach that outcome.
4
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
One word of warning here: you don’t need to get into every single step that someone
needs to follow. Just the 4-10 essential steps to get someone on the right track so they
start seeing results.
For example, look at the steps from my YouTube SEO Step-By-Step Guide:
Step #1: YouTube Keyword Research
Step #2: Publish a High-Retention Video
Step #3: YouTube Video Optimization
Step #4: Promote Your Video
Are those 4 steps everything there is to ranking videos on YouTube search? Heck no!
There’s A LOT more to it than that.
But the point of your Step-By-Step Guide isn’t to overwhelm people with 100 steps.
After all, the goal of your content is to help people achieve a specific outcome.
That’s why you want to focus on the truly essential steps. I recommend cutting out
any “nice to have” steps or advanced steps that readers probably aren’t ready for.
Write down your 4-10 steps here:
5
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
3 Write Your Title
Now that you have an outline (your 4-10 steps), it’s time to write your title.
You have two main options when it comes to your Step-By-Step Checklist title...
Option #1: Write a title that emphasizes a specific outcome.
For example, with my YouTube SEO post, I made my title:
YouTube SEO: How to Rank YouTube Videos in 2021
The outcome I chose in Step #1 was “How to Rank YouTube Videos.” So I included that
outcome in my title. Simple.
Option #2: Focus on the fact that your post contains a set of steps.
For example, here’s a title from another Step-By-Step Guide from Backlinko:
The 15-Step SEO Audit Checklist for 2021
Either way works.
Write down your post title in this box:
4 Craft Your Intro
There’s no need to be clever with your introduction. In fact, being cute or clever can
work against you.
As you might have noticed from my own content, I’m a fan of simple, straightforward
blog post intros.
6
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
So don’t waste precious space telling people why your topic is important. Or why it
matters.
Instead, the goal of your intro is to let your reader know that you’re going to help them
get the outcome they want. When you do that, you’ve hooked your reader right off the
bat.
Here’s the exact introduction structure I recommend:
First, highlight the outcome.
Second, show people that you’re the right person to learn from.
Finally, mention the outcome again.
Here’s an example from my YouTube SEO Step-By-Step Guide:
7
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
Write the first draft of your intro below (remember: you can always change this and edit
it later):
5 Fill In The Content
All you need to do is write out the details for each step that you outlined in Step #2.
I’d like to give you a template for each step. But the content you include here depends
a lot on the specific step. For example, a step like “trim your tomato plants” will have
much different content than a step like “hire a virtual assistant.”
The only thing you really need to keep in mind here is that you want to include LOTS
of detail for each step. Don’t be afraid to hold people by the hand and show them
EXACTLY what to do. Ideally, they wouldn’t need to refer to any other post or video.
They should have pretty much everything they need on your page.
If you want to see the level of detail I’m talking about, check out Step #1 from my
YouTube SEO guide.
That said: this doesn’t mean that you need to cover everything there is to know about
that step.
8
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
Like I mentioned earlier, that’s going to give people information overload. Just keep
in mind that when you DO cover something, make sure to cover it in-depth.
At this point you’re probably better off working from a WordPress post or Google Doc.
But if you prefer to assemble your post inside of the PDF, you can fill in the content in
this box:
9
MODULE 2 LESSON 1 WORKSHEET T H E S T E P - BY- S T E P G U I D E
6 Write Your Conclusion
Your Step-By-Step Guide conclusion is super straightforward.
All you need to do is ask people which tip, step or technique they’re going to try first.
That’s it.
I actually recommend giving people 2-3 options to choose from. That way, they don’t
need to think of a technique. All they need to do is pick one of the options from your
conclusion.
(In general, the easier it is to leave a comment, the more comments you’ll get.)
Here’s an example:
And with that your conclusion is done, your Step-By-Step Guide is complete. Nice!
In the next lesson, Lesson 2, I’ll walk you through the Be The Source Blog Post
Template. It should be a fun lesson! See you then.
10