My Top 5 Blogging Tips.
Shedding Light On Better Blogging
These are MY blogging tips not “THE” blogging tips
This advice is based upon 5+ years of working in the SEO, digital marketing arena and the 1000’s of websites and blogs that I’ve looked at, helped and worked with.
For the basis of this article I’ll take it that you either have an existing blog, are thinking of starting a blog or you may have a blog attached to a website.
1 – How Often Should I Blog?
If you have something to say that you feel passionate about then blog about it, if you don’t have anything to say then stay quiet until you do.
Do not blog because you feel you should be. Doing this tends to result in lower grade content because you are writing for the wrong reasons. Neither people nor Google like boring blogs and both can spot one a mile off.
I’d say once a month is a minimum if you can. If you’ve got lots to say then blog as often as you can find the time. By following the basic rules laid out in this article, you should become a better blogger.
2 – What Should I Blog About?
Think of it this way – If you were at a networking event that was relevant to your chosen sector/topic and you were chatting with other people who operate in the same sector as you, what would you talk about and what opinions would you give when chatting with people?
Those topics are as good a place to start as any. If you ever attend industry networking events then take the time to listen to the questions/comment you hear over and over again and use these as the basis for your next few blog articles.
Remember – Only write if you feel you have something to say, do not write because you feel you have to.
3 – Use Headings In Your Blog Content
This is another of those things that both humans and search engines love. If someone arrives at your blog to find 4,5 6 or more paragraphs with a single heading at the top then it’s difficult for them to quickly work out which bits of the blog they are interested in.
If the piece of info your visitor really wants is in the 4th paragraph then you are expecting them to spend the time finding it and this will lose you visitors.
Look at how I’ve used headings in this blog. It helps split the content up and make it more digestible by putting it in bite sized chunks. Try and follow this rule when writing your blog content and remember to set your headings as H1 or H2tags to help with keyword relevancy.
Here is a rough blogging layout guide for you to use in the future.
Main Heading (Set as H1)
Sub Category Heading (Set as H1 or H2)
Paragraph text.
Sub Category Heading (Set as H1 or H2)
Paragraph text.
Sub Category Heading (Set as H1 or H2)
Paragraph text.
Conclusion Heading (Set as H1 or H2)
Paragraph text + Call to action.
4 – Blogging For SEO
This method involves understanding the words and phrases that drive people to your website and then writing blogs that directly target those visitors their needs and questions.
Real Example – A swimming pool installation company getting around 1,500 unique visitors each month wanted to increase traffic to the site via blogging. A quick glance at analytics showed an easy way of achieving what the client wanted.
The organic keyword list in analytics showed 3 or 4 occasions where “cost” was used in the visitors search request. By producing a series of informative blog articles based around “how much does it cost to……” the client saw every new blog article begin to drive 250+ new visitors to the site each month and this number has remained stable.
If you know how to find your organic keywords in Google analytics, go and extract the whole lot in and XL document. If you don’t know how then follow these simple steps.
1 – Log into your Analytics account.
2 – Click “Acquisition” – “All Traffic” – “Channels”
3 – Click on “Organic Search” and this will show the keywords.
Remember to set it so that it shows 1000 rows to ensure you do not miss any.
Look at the longer tail search requests and see if you can spot a word or phrase that is used more than 4 times. If you can, think about the word and what it means to the visitor and write content based around that specific subject or topic.
If you get the subject matter correct then you’ll see more people finding your website via your blog articles.
5 – There Is No 5th Rule
Following my own advice, I have no 5th rule, at least not one I feel strongly enough about to bother adding to this blog!
If you follow these 4 simple rules then you should blog better and get more value from the effort you put into it.
If you try these rules then please let me know how you get on!
