A huge part of maintaining good SEO is regularly publishing new, optimized content for search engines to find. Since constantly adding new pages to your website will ultimately make it difficult to navigate (not to mention load!), the best way to publish new content is blogging. A blog that updates on a predictable schedule provides something new for your audience, gives more material to Google, and gives you a chance to add your voice to online discussions.
But not everyone is an expert writer. If you want to produce new content and maintain your ranking, how can you continually write enough engaging blog posts to keep your audience interested? Let’s take a look at how to write a blog post that will attract new readers and keep old ones coming back for more.
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Keep Track of Your SEO
Randomly sprinkling relevant keywords throughout your blog post is a lackluster SEO strategy for sure! Keywords are important, but the way you incorporate them is equally important. Use a keyword in your title and permalink, and use your most relevant keywords at the beginning and end of your blog post. Don’t forget subheadings either! Not only do they break up a long piece into easily digestible sections, but they also tell Google that each section discusses a different topic. Try using keywords in your subheadings too for even better results. Finally, link to other pages in your website, especially past blog entries. Not only will this encourage readers to click through and keep reading, but it also tells Google that your website has plenty of information on your chosen topic.
A Few Rules for Writing a Winning Post
Of course, an article can meet every single standard of excellent SEO requirements and simply be boring to read. Provide your audience with engaging content. Keep your posts short and to-the-point for a quick reading experience, but don’t make them so short that your reader feels like they wasted their time. Base the length and format of your post on your topic. How much do you have to say? What do you want the reader to get out of it?
Additionally, think about the links you’re including. Citing your sources and linking to other pages on your website are both important parts of any blog post. But if you’re linking to an external site, think about how the link should open. You don’t want to lose your reader, after all! Consider formatting the links to open a new tab or new window so your website stays open on their screen.
Pro Tip: No one wants to read a wall of text on a blog. Break up your article with subheadings to indicate a change in focus.
Developing Your Writing Schedule
Every author has their own writing schedule that they swear by. While it’s true that different people work in different ways, writing a blog post generally follows a pretty standard structure:
- Research a competitive topic and find reliable information on it.
- Outline your thoughts and the general structure of your post.
- Write a first draft to get your thoughts down–don’t worry about proofreading or SEO quite yet.
- Add whatever keywords, links, images, etc. are necessary to optimize your post for SEO.
- Proofread your post or have someone else do it for you. Correct any mistakes.
- Post your article.
- Share the article on your social media, link to it in future blog posts, and generally get it in front of your audience.
Don’t Stop Writing!
The more interesting content you can publish on your website, the better you’ll look to Google and the more material your audience will have to peruse. Keep your inspiration going and keep writing great blog posts!
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