One topic of concern regarding digital marketing that always comes up when dealing with our clients is the topic of blogging. Many clients want to know what a successful blogging strategy looks like, what to blog about and is it possible when I learn what to blog about to make money.
There are 2 main reasons why blogging is a good strategy: #1 – because it is very effective at generating free traffic from search engines like Google and #2 – as part of a powerful content marketing strategy it lets potential clients know that you have experience in the things that you talk about. Experience is the #1 “what to blog about” topic.
If you want to know what to blog about some of the best topics are:
- “How to” Information
- Current events
- Trends
- Strategies
- Statistical information
- To showcase results’
- Introducing Articles
When putting together a successful blog post it is important to follow these 7 steps in order:
Step #1 – Keyword Research
Once you’ve chosen a topic for your blog, do some keyword research to find one main keyword phrase and several sub keyword phrases. To accomplish this task can use the Google keyword planner or software like Market Samurai.
It is important to find keyword phrases that get a reasonable number of searches but also have weak competition. While the Google keyword planner will not give you “competition metrics” you’ll have to use something like Market Samurai.
In my experience is not always the best idea to choose the most popular keyword phrase because obviously that will have the greatest amount of competition. If people search for the keyword phrase and do not find your blog post listing, then as a traffic strategy it’s pretty much worthless.
It is important as a traffic strategy to not just choose the most popular keyword phrase for your blog post but you should also choose sub keyword phrases based on the initial keyword phrase so that you’re getting more traffic from multiple keyword phrases rather than just one.
Step #2 – Create Powerful Content
Create the content for your post in a word editor like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. It is important to focus on 3 main subtopics within the article. The reason for this is that people can only absorb so much information and sometimes don’t have the time or the inclination to read everything. Your topics must stand out with sub-headers so that people who scan the webpage can find the areas they’re most interested in.
In terms of the amount of content I typically like to keep my posts a minimum of 750 words. he more content you have the better it is for the search engines. But keep in mind the more content you have it must be laid out in a way that attracts the eye for people who are scanning the webpage.
Step #3 – Indoctrination
Because blogging tends to be a very powerful traffic generating strategy, then it’s always a good idea to indoctrinate new readers with links to valuable resources. I like to indoctrinate my readers after the opening paragraph and give them options to go to various places on your website or to even opt-in to receive a free gift.
Make sure that you keep the indoctrination sequence short and on topic. For example, if the topic of your article is “what to blog about” then It might not be a great idea to indoctrinate people with information about “public speaking.”
In addition to and indoctrination sequence after the opening paragraph, I always like to put another one at the end with links to “next steps” or “additional resources.”
Step #4 – Images
Try to use images throughout your blog post that enhance the content rather than take away from it. Choosing stock photos that have little to do with your content, just to make things look interesting, is not the best idea. It’s the words that are more hypnotic than the images themselves.
I always like to keep my images in some sort of container so that they are not random sizes and shapes. As a photo editor like Photoshop to create a branding container that keeps your imagery consistent and concise.
Use a different “title tag” and “alt tag” for each of your images. Use the keyword phrases that you researched in step one to name your images.
Step #5 – Insert keyword phrases into the content
Once you’ve created your content, Go back to the article and insert your main keyword phrase several times where appropriate and do the same for your sub keyword phrases. You may have to add a sentence here or there and change the format of existing sentences. But without those keyword phrases, you won’t get nearly as much traffic as you could have.
Step #6 – Meta Tags
Use a WordPress plug-in such as Yoast SEO to properly tag your content. The title must include your main keyword phrase, and the description should contain your main keyword phrase plus a couple of sub keyword phrases where possible. You only have 160 characters to do this so make sure that the call to action is prominent as well. Don’t use passive language in your description. Make your call to action clear, concise, and creates curiosity.
Step #7 – How To Promote Your New Post
With a plug-in like “Shareaholic” you can easily promote your post by publishing it and then clicking on each of the different social media buttons. Use the keyword phrase “new blog post” along with keyword phrases from your article in your social media posts.
If you feel that it is a great blog post and you want to let your readers know, then send out a broadcast to your e-mail list using your CRM or autoresponder. We use Infusionsoft for this task because it lets us track the engagement rates.
You should also take a minute and create a couple of backlinks from other blogs. Use a twitter search to find blog posts that have similar content as yours and make a comment and insert your link in the comment or in the “website” field provided.
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