Imagine an online experience which offers an ideal place to shop and buy products or services. This is what we refer to as website nirvana. Great blog articles will help to achieve this by providing content inspired by previous questions from clients. The more organic content we generate, the more popular our site will become. This announces to Google that we are indeed open for business and are a part of the teaching community. Our frequent blog articles will get the most traffic and the copy will be shared most on other social sites.
Longer blog articles bring big results:
In the past we suggested to our clients that a 300 to 400 word post would suffice. That is no longer the case. Today, we are encouraging our clients to write more content and blog posts can be 1,000 words plus. We have found that the viewing audience is happy to read a longer post and especially when the topic is one they find interesting. Here are a few guidelines for longer blog copy:
- Keep phrases shorter and avoid redundancy
- Use bullet points to get the message across
- Keep it simple and easy to read
- Insert keywords in a natural way
Some of the top marketing individuals feel the longer the post, the better the results. On the other hand you don’t want to write copy for the sake of writing. Make sure what you write has value for someone. Insert keywords to appear within the phrase organically for best results. Stay away from any black hat methods such as adding keywords indiscriminately with no rhyme or reason within the text. This will be viewed badly by Google. The goal for any article is to appear both to readers as well as search engine bots scanning the site.
What Not to Do!
- Never copy the ideas of others which is referred to as plagiarism.
- Never disparage competitors, this only makes you look petty.
You may be able to offer a valuable opinion as it relates to an industry subject. Readers enjoy hearing opinions from others and seek this out when they are searching online. So It is perfectly ok to write about a topic covered by others, but is not ok to copy content and use it as your own. Use your own unique voice to add credence to the subject being discussed. While discussing the latest trends in your industry we suggest you might stay away from very controversial subjects to keep out of trouble. Controversy has two sides and each side is convinced they know best.
Spend your time online teaching information which can be used by all in your industry. Provide your readership with information which will guide them to solve a problem. This is the most popular type of content and this content will be followed and shared. Using proper keywords within the copy will help to make the information credible and easy to locate for visitors.
Optimize for long-tail keywords:
it is wise to optimize the content for long-tail keywords. This will bring targeted traffic your way. Long-tail keywords are phrases which contain specific keywords. You see, whenever a customer uses a highly specific search phrase, they tend to be looking for exactly what they are actually going to buy. Your active blog will do the following four important things:
- Using long-tail keywords to optimize the copy will bring value to the article.
- Adding fresh content allows for many topics to be discussed.
- An active blog will increase the site’s popularity and attract search engines.
- Blogging frequently increases the opportunity to share content on social media.
How many blog posts are too many?
There is no specific amount required. So I would say you can’t blog too much. As long as your blog article has fresh content, is written in a natural way and is full of great long-tail keywords you can’t blog too often. We choose to blog about three times per month. Many client hire outside writers and they could blog 4 to 10 times per month with this additional help. The main thing to remember is to be consistent and write material which will help the readership. Choose an amount of posts you feel comfortable with writing and stick to that amount.
Keeping a blog calendar would help you keep track of topics and themes already written about. Assigning different members of your team to create blog posts is also a great method to share the load.
Guidelines for blogging:
Start with a great headline. Once you have decided upon a topic, come up with a title for the blog post which will draw attention. A clever headline which is no more than 62 characters is best. Your best friend as you blog is your headline. Keep referring to this to make sure you stay connected to the main topic and theme.
Body of the blog article: When writing the content for the post article, take the time to research the topic thoroughly. There may be some great information available on the topic which is trending news. This would really beef up your article and bring a better score when reviewed by search engines.
Categorize the blog post: Every blog post deserves to be listed within the right category. Search engine view the post and the post category as two separate items and they both help your SEO rank.
Check the article using Yoast SEO software: You can easily add the Yoast SEO software to your control panel and use this to see how your blog article is ranking with search engines.
Add images and a feature image to the post: Always add visuals to the blog post. Use images which speak to the topic you are writing about. A picture is worth a thousand words and especially if it fits what you’re discussing. We normally use three to four image per post article. Be sure to use only “royalty free” images. Never copy and past any images from an outside source. You could get penalized by doing this.
Include a couple of H4 tags: These heading tags are “sub-titles” which help the reader understand the subject by reading small paragraphs of content. Your SEO score can be enhanced by using these heading tags.
Thanks for stopping by today and we look forward to getting back with you soon to talk more about SEO and all things website design.
Happy Valentines Day to you and yours! Enjoy a sweet treat.
Staff Writer
