Who wants to read another blog on blogs?
You do, if you want anyone to read your blogs. And if you prioritize blogging you are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI. And companies that publish over 16 blogs per month get 4.5x more leads than companies that only publish 0-4.
So, are you ready to read another blog on blogs?
We want to talk about writing blogs that are not only engaging for readers but also rank on Google. You might think it’s a tightrope walk straddling two worlds, reader appeal and SEO. But Google algorithms have changed and it’s become about much more than simple keyword density and backlinks.
The algorithms are smarter and more human-like. Sure, keywords and links still matter but Google has developed systems that seek out rich, thorough and authoritative blogs.
Here are some principles to remember when writing a blog for readers and for Google.
Consistency
It’s hard – some might argue that it’s impossible – to thrive in content marketing without regular, consistent blogging. Blogs are the lifeblood of content marketing and it’s consistency that’s going to get you noticed by readers and by the search engines.
The ruler here is simple. Blog regularly. Blog consistently. For some companies this might be once or twice a month. For others, it could mean a few times a week. The more regular and consistent you are, the more content you share and the more Google (and readers) may begin to notice you.
Value
Perhaps the most important aspect of blogging is providing value to your readers. This is no more or less than figuring out what your readers want to and solving a problem for them.
Offering valuable content isn’t some secret hack. It’s a very simple (yet difficult to achieve) principal that gives people a reason to read. If you’re not providing useful information or helping people solve their problems, then your content is really giving anyone a reason to click on it.
SEO
You didn’t think we’d get through a whole article about blogs without talking about SEO, did you? Let’s start with optimization. Optimizing does two basic things, it creates content you know your readers want and need and it shares what this content is with search engines. Think of your reader first and the SEO will follow.
Next, you need to have a strong keyword phrase in mind for each blog. The more niche and narrow your keyword phrase is, the higher your chances become of rising above the uproar.
A great title is next on the list. You need a title that’s both catchy and uses the keywords from your content.
Don’t forget the meta description. This is basically the summary for your blog. Give people a description and reason to read your blog without stuffing it full of keywords.
Finally, don’t forget heading and internal links. Heading are like the chapters and guides for your blog. Internal links get people to keep reading your content and spending time on your site.
User experience
When someone clicks through to your blog they don’t want to get sent to a site that looks like it’s from the 90s with neon font colors and a dozen different font types and sizes. They need to have a pleasant experience. Give them a nice interface to interact with, eye-pleasing fonts and layout and high quality images.
Essentially, you need content and aesthetics to both appeal to your reader. If you have the greatest blog ever written but it looks like a word processor chewed it up and spat it out, you’re losing readers because they’re not enjoying the user experience.
And there you have it, four principles that will guide you in your quest to become Google famous. Don’t forget us when you’re ranking #1!