Is Your Business Blogging Yet?
By now, you?re probably well aware that content is one of the top priorities when it comes to SEO. Giving your website a steady supply of fresh, high quality content is a powerful way to increase your search rankings, and offer value to your audience. And one of the best ways to consistently add new content to your website is through blogging. Read on to find out how blogging can improve your SEO, and why it?s something every business should do.
Why Blogging?
Numbers don?t lie. Here are some shocking statistics that showcase how effective blogging can be not just for SEO, but for your business as a whole:
- B2B companies that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those who don?t
- Companies that prioritize blogging have a 13X higher chance of achieving a positive ROI
- Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website
- Blogs are rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate information online
Simply put, if you?re not blogging, you?re losing out on a huge opportunity to connect with customers, generate leads, and get more links to your site. Need I say more?
Blogging For SEO
First and foremost, your blog should serve your audience and ideal customers. That involves coming up with who your ideal customers is, or creating an avatar that breaks down your target customer based on demographics, desires, and other important characteristics that separate them from the average Joe.
Creating an avatar will allow you to come up with blog topics that will be relevant to your ideal customer. You?ll be able to identify the different search terms they would search when looking for information on the products and services you offer. And most importantly, you?ll be able to create blog posts that center around your avatar?s pain points.
Once you?ve created your avatar, write down some of the most popular questions they would have in regards to your industry. For instance, if you?re a dentist that specializes in geriatric dentistry, the topics your avatar searches might be related to dentures, restorations, and other issues that older patients face.
Try to narrow down 10-15 topics. Use sites like Quora or Yahoo Answers to see the questions people are asking about your industry, and use those questions to help you come up with topics.
All of this will allow you to improve search rankings for what?s called ?long tail keywords? Unlike the broad, shorter search phrases that might have a higher overall search volume, long tail keywords get searched less, but they?re more targeted and have less competition, which makes them easier to rank for. Also, by having content on your site that includes all of these long tail phrases, search engines see your entire website as more relevant overall for your industry. And SEO is all about relevancy.
Tips For Effective Blogging
The first rule of blogging is to always remember that your blog is not about you. It?s about your audience and your avatar. Promotional blog posts don?t get read anywhere near as much as educational and helpful blog posts that serve to help the reader. So blogging about the new line of flooring materials you just got in won?t be nearly as powerful as blogging about tips on choosing the best flooring materials for new homeowners.
Second, you want to make sure that your blog posts are visually appealing. Most people have a tendency to skim over blog posts first, and then if they?re interested, they might read the entire thing. So your blog posts have to be easy to skim. That means:
- Using shorter paragraphs (around 2-5 sentences)
- Using bold and italics to emphasize points occasionally
- Using proper headings for different sections
- Using lists (like this one)
Third, try to organize your blog posts in a way that makes sense. The general rule of thumb is to make sure to include these three elements:
- Introduction: Tell them what the article is about
- Explanation: The meat and potatoes. Talk about what you alluded to in the intro
- Conclusion: Bring things full circle and wrap up the post. Include some type of call to action (leave a comment, tweet us, etc.)
Last, don?t be afraid to mix things up a bit. Blogging doesn?t have to be limited to just text posts. You can integrate infographics, video, or even audio into your blog. Having a mixture of different types of content helps make your blog posts easier to consume, and also helps you reach a wider audience because some people prefer an infographic over a 1,000 word article.
Start Blogging For Your Business!
Now that you have the basics down, it?s time to take action and start blogging. Use the tips you learned here to create your avatar, come up with blog topics, and then just start blogging. Be a part of that 67% of companies that are getting leads from blogging, and take your company?s SEO to the next level.