How to Write a Blog Post: 7 Ways to Get the Most Search Engine Bang for your Buck
You may think you have a killer blogpost – and you probably do, but are you gaining all the search engine traffic you possibly could?
1. Choose a narrow topic. If, after you start writing, realize you’ve chosen a broad subject that you could write for days on – split it up into smaller blogposts; even a series.
2. Choose a title. Not just any title. Think about how to make your topic the most interesting it could possibly be. Lists are great (Top 10 Reasons to…, 5 Ways You Could…, 6 Things You Can’t…); how-to’s and answers to frequently asked questions are also hot blog topics.
Think about what your audience might be searching for in order to find an article like this, then phrase accordingly.
3. Continuing to think about what your audience is searching for, create content around those keywords. In other words, write keyword rich content – using your 2-3 major keywords about 2-3 times. As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to keep content short and sweet: around 250 words should do it.
4. Include an image if it applies. As they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words.
5. Don’t forget about video – maybe there’s one that exists already, or one you could create that helps engage your readers – include it!
6. A call to action is critical, if it makes sense. It would probably apply for this post if I ended with: “For more helpful tips on blogging, contact flyte new media today.” Notice I linked that entire sentence. I could have linked “contact flyte new media”, but that wouldn’t have been taking advantage of anchor text, now would it?
7. Depending on what type of content management system you use, you’ll have the ability to assign tags and categories to your post. In WordPress, you can list a number of tags – or keywords – you’d like to assign to the post. Tags are helpful if a reader wants to see related posts tagged with the same keyword.
Categories help group your blogposts into just that – categories. Try to keep your categories general enough so you can keep them to less than 10.
Tags: Blogging
December 14th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
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December 14th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Great article Nicki. Would love to see a post further explaining optimum use of Tags.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nicki Hicks, Gloria Maher. Gloria Maher said: RT @nickihicks How to Write a Blog Post: 7 Ways to Get the Most Search Engine Bang for your Buck http://bit.ly/7iF9mn [...]
December 14th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
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December 15th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
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December 15th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Nice post Nikki-
Some people have difficulty thinking of how to write a post using SEO keywords. I think they are doing it backwards. Write your post first, then go back and modify words to become keyword rich. Then, you don’t have anything to get in the way of your post and editing is always easier!
December 15th, 2009 at 12:43 am
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December 15th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Gloria, Thanks – that gives me inspiration for a new post….
Candace, Agreed. However, I find sometimes going backwards to be difficult for some. In the end, they simply stuff keywords and content no longer flows naturally.
For those who can do it successfully, though, you’re right – it works!
February 8th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
[...] You may be thinking: four blogs? Four? Well, with such niche fields and enough manpower to create plenty of great content, it seemed like a no brainer – especially with all the great search engine visibility blogs provide. [...]