You’re writing a blog for your business. Great! You know that having a blog is the best way to share your thoughts, tips, and advice with your customers and potential customers online.
But, what if no one reads your blog posts?
You’ve spent time and energy writing and posting these blogs. How do people actually find your blog amongst all that is on the web?
Most people search for things online using a search engine, such as Google. To show up among the first page of search results, you must have your SEO, search engine optimization, working for you.
Research shows that businesses that blog receive 3 to 3.5 times more traffic than those who don’t. So you’re doing the right thing by blogging. Now, let’s get you found!
Research
Naturally, many of the topics you want to write about are already covered in your industry. So, how do you make your blog stand out?
Start with a keyword search to find the best topics to write about so you can discover niche keywords in your field of expertise.
Keywords are phrases which are 2 to 5 words long that a person would type into a search box on Google. By adding these keywords into your blog content, your blog will appear in the query search results.
Keep in mind that these keyword phrases must be used properly in your blog. They must make sense and not just sit there. That would turn off your readers.
For your research, list all the broad topics that you can write about and then break them down into more specialized subjects. Look at each topic separately and brainstorm specific ideas for each topic.
If you’d like to see the search volume of your keywords and even get more ideas for blogging, here are some free SEO tools that will help you find some great keywords for your blogs.
Ubersuggest (https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/) – this tool gives you keyword suggestion when you insert your seed keyword.
Keyword Everywhere (https://keywordseverywhere.com/) – this is a Google Chrome extension that shows the search volume for various keywords.
Answer the Public (https://answerthepublic.com/) – this tool allows you to get a list of questions and related phrases around your topic of choice.
Optimize your posts
Now that you have your keywords, it’s time to add SEO to your blog posts.
For your blog, your main keyword should be used in the following places:
Your post title
The first paragraph of your post
A couple of times in the post itself
The URL of the blog post page
Are you worried about using the same word too many time? Don’t worry. Synonyms and variations of your keyword work well so you don’t sound repetitive.
Post on a schedule
Blogging on a regular basis is what will increase your site visits. Pick a day and time to post so your readers will know that a new article is there for them to stop by and read.
Blogging more frequently can have a greater impact on your SEO because you’re providing fresh content. The bots on the web search the web for new content. If you keep adding new content, they’ll keep coming back to your website for more. Also, more new content gives search engines more opportunities to rank your pages.
Are you mobile-friendly?
Keep in mind that many people read blogs on their phones or tablets. Therefore, your website must be mobile-friendly. You get an extra SEO boost for having a mobile-friendly site too!
Share on social media
It’s not ‘one and done’ in marketing anymore. If you write a blog, post it on your website, but also share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more. Social media is a great way of increasing your company’s visibility.