Great content is one of the most crucial ingredients to ensure your website performs well in
search engine results. Here are our tips to help you write great SEO blog posts that will draw
people in, get them to connect with your brand – and turn them into customers.
Always begin with keyword research.
As a starting point, create a mission statement for your business. Who are you, what problems do you solve for your customers and what makes you unique? Formulating a mission statement makes it easier to carry out keyword research. Next, put yourself into the shoes of your customers and consider what words and phrases they would need to search for in order to find your website. Make a list of these search terms; these are your keywords. You can also use tools such as Ubersuggest or LSIGraph to find keyword suggestions.
Consider the intent behind the search phrases your potential customers are using.
Are they looking to buy a specific item? Are they looking to research a topic/product? By considering the intent behind their searches, you can create content that answers their needs.
Don’t forget long-tail keywords.
These are more detailed phrases that are more specific and are often used by customers who are closer to making a purchase. They are becoming more important as more people use voice search, and they tend to indicate intent – for example, “What is the best freezer to buy now?” clearly tells you what the searcher intends to do. Because long-tail keywords are more specific, there is often less competition to rank for these, so they are an excellent place for a new business to start.
Plan your content.
Now you should know who you are writing for, why you are writing the post, and what customer questions and needs it will answer. You also know which keywords and phrases to include in your content. Now it’s time to get a bit more specific. Come up with a punchy title (remembering keywords) and decide on the core message of your post. Your readers need to come away feeling it was worth reading.
Make your blog post easy to read.
Once you’ve picked a topic, it’s time to start writing. But remember: you must make it easy to read. This will ensure your content is understood and appreciated by as many people as possible. Always try to make your points in plain, simple language. Keep your paragraphs short and to the point and include keywords – but not so many that they spoil the flow of the blog post.
Give it a clear structure and sub-headings.
This will make your article easier to read and will make it clear what questions you are answering (you can even use questions as sub-headings). Think in terms of bite-sized chunks with attention-grabbing headings.
Put your key points at the beginning.
Your headline, intro and headings should include the most interesting and important information; you need to draw people in. Another good tip is to add a brief introduction or a few bullet points at the beginning of the article stating what points it will cover.
Include great visuals.
Break up your text with attractive images to make it engaging and easy on the eye. Make sure you give your images file names that match their content (not just numbers) and remember to caption your image and tag images using alt text and title text. There’s more detail on this here.
Write longer… but don’t waffle.
There is some evidence that longer content gets better search engine results, but don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.
Write a good title tag and meta-description
These are the details about your page that show in search engine search results. Treat writing these as though you are writing an ad, and make sure you include your most important keywords at the front.
Need help with your SEO? At Primedia Marketing we can do all of the above and more for you, leaving you to focus on running your business. Get in touch today to find out more.
