Creating and publishing content on a company blog is great, but if you’re looking to boost your SEO and actually draw people to action, you’ll have to do more.
Writing effective blog posts is never an easy task, and the success of a post relies on a variety of elements.
That’s why today, we’re sharing 7 tips to help you on your way as you practice effective content marketing through your company or business blog.
1. Use short paragraphs and bullet points
Your blog post might contain the most valuable content in the world, but if it’s visually dense and poorly formatted, very few people will read it. Online copy reads better in short, concise segments, so keep your paragraphs on the slim side. Using bullet points and lists also helps deliver information in a quick, digestible form.
2. Include images or video
Every blog post should have at least one multimedia item. Internet users are more likely to click on content when it’s accompanied by an interesting image, graphic or video. At Alexander’s we’re of the opinion that multimedia doesn’t just enhance written content, it determines the success of the content. So look for creative and relevant media to accompany all your blog posts.
3. Keyword research
With Google’s search algorithm changing so often, you’ll hear a wide variety of SEO tips. In the old days of SEO, keyword stuffing was a pretty effective tactic. But now you have to make sure that you’re including keywords that are actually relevant and natural sounding within your text. Don’t eliminate keyword usage, just be smart about it and find words that will actually boost your search by utilizing tools like Google AdWords.
4. Write in a conversational tone
You want to present your company or business in a professional and credible manner. Don’t sacrifice professionalism, but for SEO purposes, conversational and search-oriented verbiage performs better. You can use a more formal tone on your website and in news release content, but your blog posts should display the human behind the post. When you write in a conversational tone, or when you use phrases that people search for, Google will rank your content higher.
5. Don’t leave out calls to action
All too often blog posts deliver great information but with little benefit to the content creator. You aren’t blogging just for the fun of it, so make sure that your content drives people to action. You don’t want all your content to be promotional, so be smart and look to include helpful and relevant information. Be sure that you’re including lead generating calls to action within your text. Give them something to do after they read your post, whether it’s a link to another article, a download, or a survey.
6. Include social share links in all your posts
You want people to have an easy way to share the information they access on your blog. Be sure that in every post you include social media sharing buttons to facilitate sharing.
7. Keep your content lengthy
It’s true. Lengthier content produces betters search results. However, fluffy and uninformative content doesn’t. When you sit down to write a blog post, try to produce rich content that informs, and you’ll likely find that you’re producing longer posts than you once were. Keep your content engaging and you have no reason to be afraid of going into detail.
If you need help with content marketing, or would like help with your digital marketing strategy, please contact us. We’d love to help.
