Guide to Writing a Blog

When your blog post ranks on Google, it attracts traffic from people who need your expertise, your product, or your service.

This guide helps you create a blog post that ranks on search engines like Google.

We offer practical tips covering several important steps in crafting SEO-friendly blog posts.

• Content Marketing and SEO Blogs
• How To Write A Great Blog
• Choosing The Right Keywords
• Understanding Tags in Blogs (Or Writing Strong Titles)
• Making Meta Descriptions Work for You

Content marketing is an inbound marketing strategy that attracts customers to you!

It may sound too good to be true, but it is all about offering value to your readers (who may become your clients or customers!)

Some inbound marketing tools include your website, your blog, video sharing channels like YouTube, and social media channels. Your blog has an extra benefit because it is a highly effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

Regularly publishing blog posts takes your website’s SEO to the next level.

When you publish new content regularly, you send Google and Bing a message that your site is current and fresh.

Even more important, blogging offers your brand a chance to create content that is of value to your readers. It establishes you as a thought leader and as an expert in your field.

But how does blogging boost your SEO ?

Every day, your customers search the web for ideas about how to solve their problems or make their lives easier.

Your business can meet consumer needs through content like blog posts. But not just any blog post will do. According to Google, in 2015 people used Google for over 100 billion searches every single month.

For the strongest SEO blogs need to answer searcher’s questions. Also, in-depth content tends to rank higher than thin or superficial content. This is why long-form content does so well.

Best Practices When Creating SEO-Optimized Blog Posts:

• Target each blog post to address a pain point affecting members of your ideal audience
• Answer one or more specific questions within each post
• Offer in-depth, detailed content. Don’t be afraid to publish 1000 – 1200 words or even more if appropriate to the subject.
• Write for humans to read and make the content easy to skim.

Think beyond the traditional short, opinion-based blog. Your blog posts may take many forms. In-depth content like resource guides, how-to tutorials, comparison guides, and case studies all offer value.

In-depth content differentiates your website from your competitor’s website.

Now that you know why let’s discuss how to create a blog post that meets your reader’s needs and ranks on Google.

First always remember it is not about you. It is all about your readers!

After choosing topics that address your customer’s common pain points, then start researching and planning your content.

Consider the parts that make up a great blog post. Keep in mind there are always exceptions, but popular blog posts often have several things in common.

Organize your articles or blog posts, so they have a clear, logical structure. This improves reader experience as it is easier to skim the content for key takeaways.

How To Structure Your Blog Posts

• Strong, attention-getting headline
• Include one or more captivating graphics
• Lead sentence or paragraph that summarizes the content (without spoilers) and introduces the topic
• Main points
• Visually break-up your content through subheadings, bullet lists, block quotes, numerical lists, images, and captions
• Give lots of details to make your article an authority on the topic
• Conclusion and call to action
• Suggest related blog posts to keep the reader on your website

Be sure to include some of your unique insights. The internet is full of generic content. Your perspective keeps your content from being generic.

When you use research, but sure to focus on authoritative and credible sources. This further establishes your expertise.

After crafting valuable content, spend a little extra time fine-tuning your post title.

Take a lesson from the masters of click bait. An attention-grabbing headline has the power to persuade attract readers to click.

Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said that readers are five times more likely to read the headlines than the rest of the text.

Sometimes page titles are called title tags. Understanding tags in blogs improves the odds readers will visit your page.

After you finish your post, revisit your title. Dial it in a little more to speak directly to your ideal audience.

Your headline or title should summarize your topic, use your main keyword, and inspire interest.
Writing a great blog post is just the beginning.

Before you press publish, optimize your new post to make it easy for Google to rank and categorize.

People frequently categorize SEO tactics as either on-page SEO or off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to actions you can take on your own website. For example, site structure and choosing the right keywords are on-page SEO tactics.

Since you can control your on-page SEO, focus on getting the details right for your audience.

Keywords are both an essential SEO strategy and a highly overrated strategy. When used well, the right keywords make it easy for Google to categorize your website and it makes it easy for your readers to understand.

However, awkward and repetitive keywords sound robotic and may cause your readers to bounce!

Whenever possible, focus your keyword strategy on natural language. If you phrase your keywords similar to how your readers talk, you are more likely to match their search queries.

Mobile devices and voice assistants are changing the way readers search.

More and more people phrase searches conversationally, thanks to voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and others.

Google anticipates an 80% increase in “best” searches using voice assistants like Siri. Best searches include searches for specific topics like “the best pizza in New Haven.”

Keep this in mind when you select keywords and key phrases to target. Often users phrase these conversational search queries like questions they might ask another person.

Also, GPS-enabled mobile devices popularized the use of “near me” style searches. When combined with a voice assistant, a searcher may ask a voice assistant something like:

“Where do I find the best pizza near me?”

• Some other keyword use tips:
• Aim for conversational and natural sounding keywords or phrases
• Consider using Latent Semantic Indexing keywords. This refers using words or phrases related to your topic that are different from your keywords.
• Be sure to include keywords within your subheadings (especially H2 or H3 level)
• Don’t keyword stuff or over-optimize

Your meta description is a short summary of your article or blog post.

When you designate a meta description, Google uses that text within search results. The right description dramatically impacts whether a searcher clicks through to your post.

If you don’t designate a meta description, Google typically uses the first sentence or two. Sometimes this works well, but some introductions are not ideal as meta descriptions.

Think of your meta description as a short summary and teaser ad for your copy. Tell your prospective readers how they will benefit from your content.

Your title tag and meta description work together to attract readers who will value your content.

Links are gold in the world of SEO.

Many webmasters obsess over external links but forget about their internal links.

Internal links refer to links connecting to other content from your blog or website.

When you link to your related content, it keeps your readers on your website longer and it clarifies your site structure to Google.

By creating and optimizing helpful, original content you are well on your way to rank on Google.

Keep in mind high search engine result placements are not instant.

They are the result of a solid strategy, planning, and determination.

An experienced SEO agency saves time and eases your learning curve.

If you need a top Atlanta SEO contact ClickReady Marketing.