Chances are if you know anything about Search Engine Optimization then you know how often the word “Blog” comes into conversation. It may seem a little redundant but there is actually good reason for it. That is because blogs are critical for anyone hoping to increase their webpage’s search engine rankings.
By improving your SEO content, you are essentially making it so that sites like Google and Yahoo will favor your webpage when someone goes to search for it. For example if you owned a carpet cleaning company in the Virginia Beach area, then when someone went to search “carpet cleaning virginia beach” your site would be more likely to come up over other sites.
So what does it take? It’s actually fairly simple. It all comes down to the type of content you have on your page and how it is organized. This is where blogs come into play. Blogs are only a small piece of an effective SEO strategy but nevertheless they are extremely critical. There are still many things to consider but don’t worry, we are going to break it all down and take a peek into what actually makes up a successful blog and how exactly can you use it to improve your website’s rankings.
Install an SEO Plugin
The first bit of advice for anyone looking to improve their rankings is to go ahead and download an effective SEO plugin. You want to do this before you do anything else because an SEO plugin will actually analyze your work as you go and determine what elements are lacking in order to make it better optimized for search engines.
These SEO plugins will help you with your sentence structure, word count, word choice, among a variety of other things both grammar related and non-grammar related. It’s optimized in a way that considers the short attention span of the average reader so it will direct your writing in a direction that is easily digestible but also appeals to SEO techniques.
SEO plugins will save you so much time and the end result is much cleaner and effective. One program for example is WordPress SEO by Yoast. Programs like this will give you an easy to follow color coded system. Red means a certain area needs improvement, yellow means almost there, green means good content, etc. Not only that but many of these SEO plugins will also include in depth, on-the-spot, feedback of very specific areas that need to be reworded or improved.
Create an Interesting, Engaging Name
The title of your blog is absolutely critical to the SEO success of your page. It’s almost just as important as the content itself. The first thing a person sees from your blog is going to be the title and because we live in such a fast-paced society, people nowadays have developed an extremely short attention-span. This means that you only have a few seconds to catch someone’s eye before they hit that dreaded “back”” button.
You’d be surprised at the number of professional companies that still come up with textbook, mundane names for their blogs. You want to be creative and more descriptive so that the reader can anticipate what the content is about while at the same time be humored or entertained by it.
There are several things to keep in mind when creating a title for your blog but here are just a few:
- What is the overall message/theme of the blog?
- What would be interesting, compelling content in my field?
- Can I incorporate effective SEO keywords into my title?
- Who are the type of people that I am trying to reach?
It is only until you’ve considered these questions can you begin to develop an idea of what you want to title your blog. Do not make the title too long. Make it short, sweet, and to the point without being too bland. Often times even humor or sarcasm can make for an effective title. It doesn’t all have to be prim and proper. People like to know that a real human is talking and that it’s not just a compilation of regurgitated dictionary definitions.
Utilize Effective Keywords and Phrases
Blogs are the foundation of any SEO strategy and in the same way keywords are the foundation of any successful blog. The first and most obvious thing any search engine will look for are keywords so it’s important to figure out what yours are and how you can use them as best as possible.
Keywords are essentially the vital words and phrases that most pertain to the content you are providing. When someone makes a search on the internet, search engines will analyze certain words and compare them to web pages that also have those specific words and phrases in order to put you in the direction of the material you’re looking for. For example a hair cuttery might have the keywords: hair, haircut, barber, etc.
One thing you can take advantage of is Google’s Keyword Popularity Tool. Spend some time here and really do your research to learn which keywords tend to generate the most traffic. Over time you will start to notice certain patterns and you can develop an eye for certain things. Keywords can be tricky sometimes, it isn’t always what you would assume. Research will always guarantee you know exactly what words and phrases are best.
Optimize Blogs to Reach a Target Audience
With blogs, the more specific the better. You want to really optimize these pages to be directed at a specific type of people because sites like Google operate along those lines. Therefore if search engines can determine your target demographic, they will ultimately help you reach them.
So naturally this process begins with identifying a target audience in the first place. Take some time to reflect on the nature of your product or service. Think about the type of people that will benefit most from your business. Consider things like age, gender, marital status, area of employment, salary, interests, location, etc. The more specific you can pinpoint the type of person reading your blog then the better you can ensure the blog will appeal to them in the first place.
As an example if your field of work involves marketing and advertisements, you might consider making a post regarding a popular topic (such as the effectiveness of running ads on social media) in order to reach a target demographic (business owners looking to advance their content marketing techniques).
There are also several opportunities where your blog doesn’t even directly relate to your service but rather appeals to an interesting topic within your field of work. Say you run a wedding photography company for example. Maybe you write a fun blog about the most beautiful outdoor locations to get married. It may not be directly encouraging someone to use your photography expertise but it’s a fun, engaging reading that will still contain several keywords that will better optimize your page for success.
So yes, many of your blogs will pertain to your direct field of work and provide some insight into what it is exactly you do, but on the other hand many blogs can just be fun and engaging. It’s equally as valuable to create a positive image where you interact with the community because people will want to trust you and will be more willing to do business with you in the future.
Summary
At the end of the day, do not discouraged. Effective SEO strategies take time to implement. As long as you have taken the steps to put yourself in a good direction, everything will fall into place. That being said it’s important to stay on top of things. The internet world is a very very fast paced one and effective marketing strategies require us to keep up. Never let your guard down, you should always be updating your approach.
Another thing to always keep in mind is to keep adding blogs. Things like the number of blogs you have and the word count of each blog matter just as much as the content and usage of keywords. The webpage with 5000 half decent blogs will more often than not rank higher then the webpage with 3 really intricate well written blogs. Number does matter but at the same time you want to also maintain a level of quality with your writing. People will notice poorly written, hard to follow blogs and it can actually have negative effects on your business.
All in all the message is simple: good blogs mean good SEO. Articulate yourself, write about things that are relevant, be interesting and utilize effective keywords. With proper technique and a little bit of patience you’ll be on your way to the first page of Google in no time at all! If you found this reading helpful be sure to check out our other blogs. And as always if you or someone you know has more questions regarding the ever growing world of social media, marketing, and seo strategies, Bryant Digital is always a call away.
