Last week I wrote about your blog being the Goldmine of Your Business in that it provides value to your consumers and provides additional SEO value to the search engines which give you better opportunities to be seen by potential customers in search. So, if you don’t see the value in that, not sure what to tell you!
However, what I do want to share with you is like a checklist sort of thing to be sure you have all of the components of a blog to make it most effective and why! (Yea, I am one of those who needs to know why things happen/work.. plus it helps me remember.)
What makes a blog tick in the minds of a Search Engine?
Writing a blog isn’t about just typing out words in a document and posting it online because after all, how do you plan on getting it in front of more people? So, these tips are keys to help your blog be seen, and read by consumers as well as search engines – huge bonus!
- A Catchy Blog Title – if you can’t get them to open the blog, then the words on the page are pointless so be sure you have a title that will WANT them to open and read more
- Valuable AND keyword rich content – you have to have content that answers pains for folks and then it will become valuable to someone other than you. When writing your content, you need to access the point of the blog and how it relates to your products and services and be sure to spread your keywords within that content.
- Visuals – nothing will bore people more, and make them bounce (leave your site), more than a tons of words on a page with no pictures. Keep in mind; you don’t want too many pictures as that will confuse the reader, and their eyes. There is a natural flow with reading content, left to right, and pictures should enhance your content, not overburden it, but be there.
- Call to Action – what is the point after all? You aren’t writing content, typically, just to write and to save the world from despair, but then again, that would be a pain and surely a call to action…..so scratch that one. If you offer a product or service that can answer a pain that you are presenting within the blog, be sure to provide it. You don’t have to push your services on them, but let them know that you can help solve them and are available to do so.
- SEO Voodoo Magic – hey, I am an SEO marketer, you had to know this would be in here! These are things that aren’t typically considered and often overlooked but so vital to your blog in helping it to be seen in search and clicked through.
- Title tag – this shouldn’t be confused with the title of the blog, they are two separate things, but they can be the same. There are just character limitations in order to have your specific title to show as you want in the snippet. Try to make it keyword rich, but not spammy (read: stuff a whole bunch of keywords that don’t make sense)
- Meta description – this is a short description (character limitations here too) about the blog, or page, that shows up in the search snippet also. So the goal here is to entice searchers to click through, so make it good. Oh and keyword rich too, like the title.
- There are plugins for WordPress, like SEO Yoast and All-In-One that are very helpful for you on this.
- Links – internal links are ones that link from one page/blog to another. Remember the key is to keep the consumers ON your website so when there are opportunities to share with them meanings of things on other blogs, this is a great idea. External links are ones that lead folks from your page, these aren’t bad, but if they leave, they may not come back. Just keep that in mind, link to really good stuff and have it open in a new window.
- Header tags – these are basically styles that tell the reader what this paragraph is about and usually is larger than paragraph text. Google sees these as important so hey, why not put keywords in those, if it works out naturally. Again, don’t be spammy. Plus it makes it easier for folks to read as you are breaking up the text.
- Alternative (alt) tags – these are descriptions, if you will, that you are giving the pictures. Search engines can’t read a picture or pdf, so they will read the picture name or alt tag. Take advantage of inserting keywords in here too.
If I haven’t drilled it down… some additional key points are:
- Provide a valuable (answers pain) blog that folks will want to read AND share! Score!
- Make your content keyword rich, SEO stuff too
- Be natural in your keyword richness – natural trumps spammy over stuffing any day
- Most important content at the top, just in case they don’t read the whole thing *gasps*
- Make your blog readable, with spaces, paragraphs broken up, pictures and headings
- Provide them help – with your product or services
Hopefully you resonated with these tips and blogging must haves and that you learned something that you didn’t already know and are able to put it into action. I have linked, internally, to several other blogs explaining some of these SEO Voodooness, so feel free to check them out.
Or, if you are interested in a marketing consult, I can take a look at what you are doing and how you can improve.. essentially teach YOU how to DIY… or yes, I can take all that stuff off your hands so you can focus on what you do best. Let me know how I can help and what you learned here. If you are interested in 10 Insanely Easy Easy Tips You Can Do Now, be sure to check them out too!
~Kristen
I think that you wrote some really good information. I agree that the idea of working the keywords in a gentle way is crucial and it’s something that I have to keep reminding myself to do.
The other great point is to remember to add a few pain points.
Great tips to add that call to action.
Thank you.
Thanks so much Marguerite, I appreciate it and yes, set aside your long tail keywords and try to incorporate what you can
Great post as usual! I think I struggle most with trying to balance having a catchy title and using keywords in it. It always seems that I settle for one or the other.
Thanks Beth… yea, same here.. I go for catchy over keywords any day.
I’m fortunate that my content management system provides just this checklist before I hit the “publish” button. For headlines, I use a combination of a keyword tool and the headline analyzing tool found here: http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/ It’s great stuff. Thanks for the confirmation that I’m doing the right things…even if I have to be reminded! 😉
Yea, Hubspot is great for that. SEO Yoast plugin has some tools like that folks can use… if they actually open it. lol I’ll check out your analyzing tool… would expect nothing less than to have my wordsmith pal with tons of tools for that stuff. Thanks
I’m creating a library of your posts. Love how you explain things. I struggle with using google keyword search but love using the one Jackie referenced. I got 100% on last weeks headline- Talisman: Your Secret Weapon. Fortunately, Talisman was ok in keyword search & it had to be the secret weapon that was the ‘hot’ headline.
Really appreciate your generosity of your wisdom and skills.
Well, you can bookmark them… I use delicious.com and tag them to what they are regarding… or heck, they are categorized here by SEO, PPC and social. LOL Thank you Roz.. one of my biggest fans. 🙂 BTW, the KW tool isn’t as good as it used to be.. it’s still robust, but the thing is… they have too many options, so you have to take the time to sort them out, folks won’t do it.
Great read as always, Kristen. So much to learn and so much I have chosen to do to suit the style of what I write. I find that when I work more organically, this works for me. I do use a headline analyzer from time to time, however, I find that my instinct usually suggests my titles and my headers.
I am curious if the title tag works most of the time being the same as the blog title? This is something I have been doing even when it is a bit too long. I imagine you’d suggest shortening the title tag so it doesn’t get truncated by Google. Appreciate all the very clear and followable info you share. It does make it seem like this is much easier than I sometimes imagine it is, especially with all the info floating around in cyber space on how to do things correctly.
Thanks Beverley, you’ll get there. I tried out the headline tool Jackie suggested and the last 5 blogs got 0% so my aim is more grabbing and not as much emotional, I guess.
The title tag works as the same as the blog title if you want to. Often times I will add to it, shorten it or completely change it.. so I mix it up. Nothing wrong with it but, like you noted, being sure it is within the character limits.
Glad I can make it easier for you
Great post Kristen. My personal challenge is balancing the SEO side of alt tags for images with the Pinterest side of alt tags (given Pinterest draws the description by default from there). I am not convinced I am getting that anywhere near right at this stage of the game.
I have been sharing more on Pinterest, hadn’t been using it too much by cross breeding, and trying to see what it is pulling… sometimes it seems as if it is pulling the name of the file.. so it would be worth the time to play with it… as far as sharing, or posts’ sharability.
Let me know if you are having any issues outside Pinterest
Actually, it is pulling the alt text if you share, I just checked what it would do if I am on my website and share it to Pinterest, is that what you mean?
I learn so much every time I read one of your blog posts, Kristen. As usual, this was on point. Although, I think that my current blog post is more personal than value-added, but I wanted my readers to know who they are dealing with! So, maybe that is value-added?
So glad to hear it Carol.. and best yet, it’s free and you are learning! Your current blog post was perfect just the way it was.. it did what you needed it to do and should do! Makes me think, I need to do one too!
I’m still working on incorporating all of these ideas. Each time I post I remember to do one more thing. It’s the alt tags that I forget. When you don’t see them once the picture is inserted, it’s easy to forget.
Maybe make a check list for yourself Kristy so you don’t have to go back, and quite honestly, you know you won’t right? When I upload my picture and click the check mark to enter it… I look at the features (r, center, l and size) and then update the alt tag right there before I insert the image.. try that.
Kristen, I don’t know if I should print out your blog posts so I can highlight things, or just make a new checklist every time I read a new post. You have such great tools and information, which is great for a newbie like me. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
You can print them out.. or book mark them?! 🙂 Or make a checklist of things you need to do with.. every page, every blog.. when you do xy or z. I have lists and stuff like that too. 🙂
This is a really thorough explanation of how to write a good post. Really, why bother writing if no one is going to read it?
Right.. because I surely am not writing for the heck of it.. I have an end goal as a business owner.. right!?
Great article. One thing I always stress is writing blogs often is great but they have to be easy to read, interesting and valuable in content. Also finding out what your potential customers need and want to know about is key too. Providing great tips, advice will show your expertise and they will be more likely to engage for more information and trust you enough to use your product or service.
Yep.. I’ve done one on website readability and keeping it clean.. nothing like getting driven to a blog that just looks horrible, is confusing or is distracting. Great points Mike.
It is a very interesting post. It provides valuable information on the different components of an optimized blog for the purpose. Thanks for sharing aimed at enriching one’s knowledge on the matter, among others.
Thanks Lorii
Very informative but you ‘lost’ me at Meta Tags! LOL I admit I am more creative when I do my blogging and have yet to figure out the SEO thing. I need to do more research, it’s not rocket science, right?
Oh Liz! You’ll get it because I write about it a lot. Check out some of the other blogs, it will make more sense, at least that’s what everyone else says. 😉
While I believe I write very well and my blogs are engaging I have never really concerned myself with optimization. That said, I am going to be writing more of the blogs for my husband’s mortgage company in the future now that I am working there on a full time basis and will definitely need to “get with the program”. I will be calling you!!!!!
I think your followers are different when writing your blog, but it will be more necessary for OJ… especially because you want/NEED people to see it… now, it’s different. I look forward to helping.
Great details about optimizing your blog posts for SEO. I find that at the beginning of the blogging journey, actually writing posts is a struggle, and so “just” writing is totally OK, without concern for SEO optimization. It’s when you actually want your blog to reach over and above the community you established that it’s really important to set some SEO goals and go from there.
You are the perfect person on this since you are the blogging queen! 🙂 Just writing is not a bad thing.. it all will depend on what the goals of the website or blog are. I am typically referring to folks who have a website for their business and need to add a blog for content. Yes, great points!
Great reminders Kristen, you always make me want to go back and edit old blog posts to make sure they’re A++
Thanks Stacey.. glad you are finding the value and able to tweak your stuff still.. that is the action you need on your website. Thanks!
Hello,
Great read and full of great tips on how to have SEO on your website. Alot of great information about header tags and links that really important for the blog and it to be successful. Thanks for the tips, very helpful.
Lori English
Thanks Lori.. yes, lots of valuable tips on SEO on my website – that is my bread and butter. 🙂