A blog can be a great way to add new content to your website, connect with and educate your clients, and with just a few extra steps, can become a major boost to your website’s SEO.
Quality Content Feeds SEO
The most important thing search engines are looking for is quality content. Brainstorm topics that are relevant to your audience. Think of the questions your clients often ask, or the things you wish they would ask about. Share your passion for your business, the things that make you unique.
Readability: Relevant Headlines and Short Paragraphs
Once you have your idea, you need to present it in a way that makes it easy to read. It helps me to think of blog posts as more of an outline than a thesis paper.
When writing a formal paper, we think of paragraphs as 3-5 sentences. For a blog post, the recommended number is 2. Most of your readers will be on mobile devices; keeping paragraphs short keeps them easy to read.
Creating relevant headlines will make it easy for the reader to skim and get the main idea. Your headlines are also one of the items that search engine crawlers can easily find on your website to identify keywords and phrases.
Creating a good user experience with an easy to read format will decrease your bounce rate and increase the amount of time people spend on your page. Both of these factor into good SEO scores!
Internal Links, External Links, & Backlinks
Once you have created some quality, easy to read content, add some links to other relevant information. Search engines see where you link (and who links to you). Associate with other quality, authoritative sites to build your own SEO.
Internal links are links within your own site, to other relevant material. If you have similar posts or related ideas, link them up. Of course, at the end of each post you should have a call to action. Often that call to action will be a link to a booking page or email signup page within your own site.
External links are links to websites other than your own. When you’re working with another professional on a project, link them up. Link reference material that you used in your research for your post or information that back up your opinion.
Backlinks are a little harder. This is when someone else links TO your website. It’s not a link you can add to your posts; but one you can work toward earning in the future. As you grow and network, others will want to link to your site.
Utilize your anchor text to highlight relevant text or keywords. Instead of a meaningless “click here” highlight an entire phrase that describes the content of the link.
For example, I have two other posts that might be super useful for those looking to boost their SEO through blog writing. First, I have a post encouraging readers to incorporate video as a way to share their story with clients and leverage SEO aspects of having a diverse media portfolio. Second, I have a post summing up some ways to identify keywords for your niche. Both of these links are internal links.
One of my favorite tools to use in checking my own SEO for each post, and a plug I recommend to every WordPress user is Yoast. Yoast has a free SEO plug-in, paid options, and publishes a ton of education on the topic of SEO. This is an example of an external link.
Text, Images, and Video for SEO
You need a variety of quality content for your site, including well-written copy, engaging images, and whenever possible, a video.
We’ve talked about the importance of quality content and readability, now add some visuals to increase your authority on any topic. You can use images from your own personal library, create images to illustrate your point, or find relevant stock photography.
Relevant is the keyword: be sure your images correlate with your topic. When you upload your image, make sure to enter alt text that describes your image (and hopefully contains your keyword). In addition to alt text, naming your photos prior to uploading is another way to insert valuable information into the background of your site. While standard camera file names (DSC957548) mean nothing to search engines
Close with a Call to Action
If a reader made it to the end of your post, they are already hooked! They want to hear more from you, now give them the opportunity to do it. Linking the opt-in to join your email list, the opportunity to book you or shop your products, or gain some followers on social media.
Speaking of, if YOU made it this far, I want to share more with you! Join the 304 Collective email list to get tips like this in your inbox. I hate spam, so I promise to only contact you when I have something valuable to share, and I’ll keep your email address safe.
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