Content marketing is an effective technique for driving traffic to your website. This technique involves the creation and consistent distribution of valuable, relevant content to attract a specific audience (i.e. your target market).
The foundation of content market is, well, the content. The blog posts you write.
Are your blog posts fully optimized?
Here are 10 tips for optimizing your blog post BEFORE you publish it and begin content marketing.
- Enticing Headline
Your headline should include your keyword(s) for the blog post, so it is very clear to search engines the information contained within the post. Plus you want it to contain the actual words and phrases that people enter into google when they do a search on the particular topic. - URL Contains Keywords
The URL for the web page (blog post) is one of the first pieces “crawled” by search engines to determine page content. Make sure it includes your keyword for the article. If you are implementing #1 above, then it’s an easy rule of thumb to make sure your url is always the title of your blog post. - Keywords in Copy
Do not “stuff” your article with keywords. You do want to include keywords, but they should naturally flow within your copy. - Keywords in meta-description
A meta description is an HTML attribute providing a concise summary of the blog post content. It is most often used by search engines and displayed in search results. See the below image.The sentence that starts “Online retailer of books…” is the meta description Amazon set for their website.
If you have a WordPress website, there are many SEO plug in options that will double check and flag these top four for you as you set up your blog post.
- Sub-headings
Most users like to scan content versus reading it word for word. Make this easy for readers with visual breaks in the content utilizing sub-headings. - Smaller chunks of content
Break up your long paragraphs into shorter chunks of content…another way to facilitate scanning. - Conversational writing
Most readers are not seeking industry jargon. Write as if you were carrying on a conversation. Keep your language simple and don’t be afraid to show your personality. You are a service based business and this is another way for the reader to connect with you and begin to build a relationship. - Feature image
Articles with images tend to get more views. People like visuals! Select an image that is not only relevant to post content, but that will also trigger an emotional response. This helps boost reader engagement with the content and they are more likely to comment.Images are subject to copyright laws. Make sure you have permission to use an image.
- Share Buttons
People love to share “good finds” with friends and family. Make it easy for readers to share your content with others. Your readers then do your content marketing for you. :) - What’s the next step?
Reading your post might be the first contact someone has with you and your business. What is the next step you want them to take? Lead them there. Share a comment? Access a gift you provide? Contact you? Spell it out step by step. Include the link to the next step right there within your post.
Are you looking for support as you expand your content marketing plan? If so, I invite you to learn more about our Content Marketing Package here.