Have you noticed most businesses have a blog on their website? Business blog pages are popular for several good reasons. Blogs offer a great opportunity to connect with customers frequently and share valuable information. They can also do wonders for search engine optimization or SEO, increasing your rankings on Google and other search engine sites. If you are considering adding a business blog or you are finally ready to commit to regular posts on your existing blog page, there are some things you should know. Here are 10 expert tips to get the most out of your blog posts.
1. Word Count
Blog posts are brief, informative articles – this is not the place to write a small novel about what your business does. However, to be effective for SEO purposes, you do want them to be a certain length. Ideally, a blog should be over 300 words, preferably in the 500-1000 word range. This is long enough to get Google’s attention and short enough to keep your audience’s attention as well. It is advantageous to post longer, cornerstone articles that are in the 3000-word range once in awhile as long as it is good, informative content.
2. Engaging Topics
Blogs are a great place to share your expertise with your customers. Whether you have a new product/service you want to introduce or you want to inform your customers about news in your industry, blogs are a great venue. However, blogs should be geared toward sharing information that your audience is interested in, not a sales pitch. Stick to engaging topics that your customers frequently want more information about. Providing valuable content in blogs can increase the traffic of new visitors to your website – keep topics informative and limit the sales pitch to a short call-to-action at the end of the blog or links to other pages on your website.
3. Keyword Use
Keywords are important in SEO. These are the words your customer will type in on a search engine like Google or Bing to find information on a subject. You can find popular keywords used in your industry through SEO analytics, but many are common sense. Using targeted keywords in your title and subtitles, as well as in the content can improve your SEO ranking for the blog and your website.
4. Valuable Content
Yes, word count and keywords are important in SEO, but not as important as valuable content. There is a saying in digital marketing – content is king – and it is true. First and foremost, your blogs should be interesting and provide valuable information for your customer. Only secondly should it be “SEO friendly” or sell your business. By providing good content, you should achieve the other two goals simultaneously. Our founder, Shane Skinner, has this to say about valuable content:
“More than anything else, it is imperative that your content provides VALUE. Think about your customer avatar – What are their wants and needs? What questions do they have? What would drive them to your website, and more importantly, why would they stay?”
5. Frequency
How often should you post blogs on your page? There is not a set number of blogs you need to post per week or month. But in most cases, the more often you post quality content, the more benefits you can receive for SEO. Blogs can drive new visitors to your website and the added new content to your website enhances your overall SEO. Many businesses post one or more blog a week; some only post once a month or every few months. Whatever frequency you choose, it is important for your blog posts to be consistent – you do not want to post several blogs one month and none for a few months in a row.
6. Unique Content
One of the most important aspects of posting blogs is ensuring the content is unique. Content copied from another source will be recognized as duplicate content from search engines and it can hurt your SEO. Not only do you not want to plagiarize, but duplicate content will not offer the benefits of unique blog posts. Websites like Copyscape can check your blogs to ensure they contain unique content for SEO purposes.
7. Internal and External Links
One of the factors that helps any web page rank better for SEO is links, and this includes blog pages. Internal links are hyperlinks that make it easier for visitors to access relevant information on your website. This can be used to make it easier for visitors to navigate your website and to guide them to the next step in the sales process.
External links are links to and from your blogs to other websites. For SEO, external links are the most valuable. Linking to authoritative websites to source your information or to support facts is an outgoing external link – you want these to be quality information sources (government agencies, research centers, universities, industry resources, etc.). Even more valuable are external links to your blog – you can cultivate these by making your blog easy to share so readers create external links to your blog from other blogs or social media pages.
8. Professionalism
Every blog on your website is a representation of your business. You want to be professional while connecting to your audience. It is wonderful to use humor and show your personality, but always make sure your blog appears professional. Spellcheck is crucial, as well as proofreading for grammar mistakes. Sites like Grammarly can help you proofread your blog to catch any mistakes and correct them before you post.
9. Utilize Images
Search engines and your audience like images. Pictures enhance the point of your blog and catch the reader’s attention. But adding a picture to your blog isn’t enough. Using the right image optimization techniques can ensure your image is enriching your SEO and reader experience. This includes formatting the image for size and compression, as well as creating a relevant filename.
10. Outsource to a Professional
Believe it or not, most business blogs are not written by someone in the company. Not every business has an experienced content writer on their staff and as you can see, writing an effective business blog requires more than knowledge of the industry. You can choose your topics and add your expertise but outsourcing your blog and content writing can ensure your website is performing at the highest level for SEO and conversions.
At {DEVADiGM}, our goal is to help our business neighbors in the Cape Cod area and businesses around the world maximize their digital presence. Let us help you enhance your website with an informative blog page and digital marketing program. We offer business blog content writing, including creating content, image optimization, uploading blogs, and connecting your blog to social media platforms. Contact us today to learn more about our blog services.
