Blogging is more important than it has ever been. With marketing budgets shifting to online content and hundreds of millions of business blogs, competition is fierce.
However, many business blogs are ineffective, inactive, or simply not setup to maximize the customer experience. With customers turning more and more to online content, you can’t afford to have an invisible business blog.
So the competition is stiff, the stakes are high, and the unstoppable development of the Internet always raises the bar. Only few business blogs meet great success and fortune from frequently publishing their outstanding content.
It is a fact that companies that run a blog are a lot more successful than those that don’t. They generate a remarkable 130% more leads and 7 times the organic traffic.
On the other hand, individual bloggers spend on average 4 to 8 hours a week posting on their blog. This prompts the question as to how they manage to gather the attention of thousands, if not millions, of readers.
There are several topics that need to be emphasized when starting a blog. To have a visible and optimized blog, it is important to focus on:
- SEO – Search Engine Optimization
- Attitude – the blogger’s personal approach
- Content – the information provided
- Target – the intended audience
- Layout – the visual appearance of the blog
- Network – the virtual and social connections
The infographic (see below) reveals 70 different ways to make your blog successful.
Search engine algorithms are constantly changing. No one knows exactly how browsers think, which is certainly a challenge. There is no universal rule that instantly helps you rank at the top search results for Google or Yahoo.
Therefore, search marketers, who constantly study this evolving phenomena, have drawn up the key factors that deeply influence a website’s performance and its ranking.
Just to list a few, SEO criteria is mostly related to:
- blog updates
- internal and external links
- page trust
- domain level
- anchor text
- spam level
- relevancy and length of the content
- keyword density
- load speed
Fortunately, blogging is not only about SEO. When running a blog, even the blogger’s attitude highly affects the final outcome. Time, willpower and involvement are essential to developing a performing page.
As mentioned before, a few hours a week may be sufficient to create innovative content and improve the overall performance of the blog, but results are certainly dependent on the individual.
It is important to be consistently committed to the blog. This means that the blog needs to be updated with new content at least once a week. This provides better visibility, a higher amount of organic traffic and returning visitors which can all turn into concrete results.
However, it is fundamental to bear in mind that only great content will be “awarded” and taken into consideration by readers.
Concerning writing, blog posts should be neither too long nor too short. Generally, a text of 600 words is a good compromise, giving valuable information while retaining readers’ attention.
But in SEO terms, it is important that the keyword density is proportional to the length of the text. According to various experts, the right balance of keywords that makes content worthwhile for search browsers is between 2 and 3 %.
Example: Suppose you have to write an 800 word blog post about solar energy. In this case, your meta keyword would be “solar panels”. You need to ensure that by the end of your text, “solar panel(s)” appears between 16 and 24 times throughout it.
More importantly, the keyword should also be placed in the anchor text of the title, headings and meta description. All these small changes, combined with unique and high-quality content, will make the blog post relevant in the search results.
In the example, the target audience for the blog post would be people interested in renewable energy.
The first step to writing proper content is gathering reliable information about the topic. It is good to know:
- what people are interested in
- what they search for in the browser
- what keywords they use
- what questions they ask
- what kind of answers they are looking for
Having an overview of readers’ interests and targeting the audience’s demand will always provide positive results.
It is important to provide readers with more valuable information than your competitors, and to develop rich and interesting content.
More often than not, collecting information is the longest process after writing the blog post itself. But it is essential to give the appropriate professional format to the text.
Content is essential, but looks certainly count as well. The layout of the blog is equally important in order to grab the attention of your target.
It is important that the blog is visually attractive and that the texts are easy to read. Images, spacing, bolds and lists give the eyes a break, making the overall appearance of the text more enjoyable. On the contrary, condensed texts are heavy and not as effective.
Once the blog is complete and the article is ready, it is time to spread the message and build a network of contacts. Outreaching and sharing your news to people is the next phase.
Afterwards, it is highly recommended that you link the blog to all social media platforms. Since social media has become an integral part of online marketing, we cannot neglect and underestimate its power.
Finally, retaining connections with bloggers and readers, while developing an increasingly larger communication network will help the blog quickly take-off.
Here are the 70 Smart Tips to Instantly Boost Your Business Blog
- Create a publication schedule
- Write high quality content
- Focus on your audience
- Use relevant titles and headings
- Share something unique
- Use SEO best practices
- Seek to become a reliable source of insights
- Use keywords and tags
- Find the best day to post
- Discuss relevant trends
- Cover timely news
- Blog consistently
- Write about what you know
- Be patient
- Share your opinions
- Don’t worry about conversions for every piece of content
- Share your ideas, thoughts and rants
- Show your personality
- Be concise
- Don’t be rude
- Stay motivated
- Be consistent in your approach
- Learn from your mistakes
- Be responsive to comments
- Create an annual plan
- Use keywords as the basis for your plan
- Mention semantic variations of those keywords
- Structure your article pages
- The headline, first sentence, and first paragraph should be great
- Make sure the article delivers on the promise
- Use only as many words as you need
- Use short sentences and paragraphs
- Use bullets, numbers and bold and caps
- Use a readable font
- Focus on the topic
- Use a proofreader (see what I did there?)
- Cover something no one has covered
- Write for the reader (not yourself)
- Use empathy in your storytelling
- Research your audience
- Research your topic
- Use different formats
- Encourage comments
- Create a community
- Write for repeat and new visitors
- Use social media
- Try and retain your readers
- Promote your best posts like I do right over there to the right
- Make your point clear
- Consider your overall design
- Use clear headings to various sections
- Keep paragraphs to 3 sentences or less
- Don’t underline (confused with links)
- Use images and videos
- Create white space wherever possible
- Ensure your text flows naturally
- Use links but not too many
- Add social buttons
- Promote each blog post
- Promote your content on LinkedIn
- Link to other people’s social media
- Promote your best articles multiple times
- Cover the top conferences in your industry
- Connect with the best speakers in your industry
- Leave comments on other people’s blogs
- Link to reputable sources
- Optimize your permalinks
- Collaborate with other bloggers
- Link to other influential bloggers
- Cover popular blogs in your industry
Here is the 70Smart Tips To Instantly Boost Your Blog infographic:
The post 70 Smart Tips to Instantly Boost Your Business Blog appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.
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