All these positive outcomes of blogging can be undone, however, if a website\u2019s blogs are not properly optimized. To help make sure your blog posts are pulling their weight in your company\u2019s SEO strategy, Alecan Internet Marketing<\/a> has put together an exhaustive list of blog writing tips, do\u2019s and don\u2019ts, and everything in between. Read on for great insider advice, or contact Alecan<\/a> today to learn about how a business blog can help boost your search engine rankings.<\/p>\n Feeling a little lost? Review our comprehensive glossary of terms<\/a> now.<\/em><\/p>\n Choosing an appropriate SEO blog topic can be challenging, especially if you\u2019re not familiar with the industry, service, or topic chosen by the marketing coordinator. First, try putting yourself in the shoes of the\u00a0target audience. Ask yourself what types of things the blog\u2019s established audience would like to read about, and what topics could bring in new readers. If you\u2019re still having difficulty nailing down a topic, try incorporating one or more of the following into your brainstorming sessions:<\/p>\n Do you have a question about a company\u2019s service, product, history, or process that you think readers would like to know the answer to?\u00a0Articles that answer questions are some of the most widely-shared posts on the Internet, and will also help establish your brand as a trusted authority within a specific industry or niche. If your not sure what types of questions your audience is asking, try searching for a topic on Google\u2019s Quora.com.<\/p>\n Writing a post on a trending topic is a great way to get readers to share your article, and also sends search engines like Google a strong signal that your company or brand is creating relevant, informative content. If you\u2019re not sure what topic are trending, try Facebook and Twitter. Both of these platforms now include a \u201ctrends\u201d or \u201ctrending\u201d section that includes a short list of the day\u2019s most popular stories, articles, and news.<\/p>\n Today, more people are going on the Internet to learn how to perform tasks\u2014changing the oil in their car, using a piece of software, baking chocolate chip cookies, etc.\u2014more than ever before. As a content creator, your website can\u2019t afford to miss out on a piece of this pie. And while listicals usually don\u2019t ascribe to the \u201chow-to\u201d format, they are<\/em> widely-shared and relatively easy to create.<\/p>\n Though this tactic is a bit underhanded, looking at a competitor\u2019s blog articles might help\u00a0generate new\u00a0ideas and let you see an industry blog from a reader\u2019s perspective. If you happen to see a great article topic, don\u2019t steal it outright. Instead, think of how you can approach the topic from an original angle or put a unique spin on it.<\/p>\n Google hasn\u2019t released a definitive guide to\u00a0how long a \u201cquality\u201d blog post should be (no surprises there), but in general, any article under 400-500 words runs the risk of being considered \u201cthin content\u201d and could actually hurt your SEO strategy in the long run. (The obvious exception to this are Buzzfeed-style listicals, which typically don\u2019t surpass 200 words.) From a content standpoint, any article that covers the topic well and provides trustworthy information should be well-received by search engine algorithms. From a user\u2019s<\/em> perspective, however, longer blog posts tend to be ranked higher, generate more traffic, and are more widely shared.<\/p>\n Read More About Why Users And Robots Love Long-Form Content<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Assuming that you already have a target keyword or keyword phrase in mind\u2014performing keyword research is an article for another time\u2014it\u2019s best to include your keyword in the meta title, meta description, in your article\u2019s <H1> (typically the title of your post), in the first sentence or two of your first paragraph, in the last paragraph of your article, and throughout your post when applicable. \u201cKeyword stuffing\u201d, or deliberately overusing keywords, however, may land your article in Google\u2019s sin-bin, so try to keep your keyword density<\/em> (how many times the keyword appears \u00f7 the total number of words in the article) to around 2%. Finally, never compromise content in the interest of squeezing in a keyword. If the keyword doesn\u2019t make sense in a particular place, better to go without than create user-unfriendly content.<\/p>\n Just as they do on a website\u2019s static pages, internal links in the text of a blog article helps create an intricate, intuitive linking structure for both users and search engine robots to follow\u00a0and sends an SEO boost rippling throughout the website when each blog post is visited. As a general rule of thumb, blog posts should contain at least one hyperlink to another page on the site\u2014either to another blog post, a static page, or, whenever possible, to one of your website\u2019s all-important landing pages\u2014and each hyperlink\u2019s text should be as relevant to the linked content as possible. Sending\u00a0a hyperlink with the phrase \u201cbest Internet marketing company in Los Angeles<\/a>\u201d to a post about donuts, for example, will hurt your SEO efforts more than helping them.<\/p>\n Similar to titles, headings, and subheadings in an article or paper, <H Tags> help both readers and robots to know what each blog post is about and increases the article\u2019s \u201cscan-ability\u201d (which most users prefer over large blocks of uninterrupted text). Typically, an article\u2019s title will be set as the default <H1> tag, and subheading may be turned into <H2> and <H3> tags by highlighting the blog post text and selecting the appropriate heading type (i.e., Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.) from the drop-down menu at the top of each post\u2019s visual editor. It\u2019s important to note, too, that different <H Tags> use different fonts, sizes, and colors, depending on the theme. You may want to see what headings look like. You can do this by clicking \u201cview post\u201d in the editor menu on the page before publishing a blog post.<\/p>\n Because there are literally millions<\/em> of headlines on the Internet and each\u00a0one is\u00a0screaming for the attention of readers (who may, in turn, become subscribers, followers, customers, or clients), many blog writers believe that crafting\u00a0an attention-grabbing, click-getting headline is the most important aspect of the blog writing process. Copyblogger, a popular content website, estimates that only 80% of people will actually read an article\u2019s headline, and only 2 in 10 users\u00a0will actually click through to the article.<\/p>\n Asking questions (\u201cDo You Know How to Create the Perfect Blog Post?\u201d), offering how-to\u2019s (\u201cHow to Create a Perfect Blog Post\u201d), and using numbers (\u201c10 Tips For Creating Great Blog Articles\u201d) in your meta title are all great ways to inspire readers to learn more about your topic. If you\u2019re having trouble penning an effective title, \u201cNumbers + Adjective + Target Keyword + Rationale + Promise\u201d is a good formula to follow. (Example: \u201c10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier\u201d.)<\/p>\n Writers may cringe, but one great photo, image, or graphic is as important to an article\u2019s \u201csuccess\u201d as 2,000 words of well-researched, expertly-written copy. In fact, a 2,000 word article should contain about six images, or one for every 350 words of text.\u00a0Some other important things to remember about blog post images:<\/p>\n Performing\u00a0a Google Image search may return the perfect photo to use in your article, but unless the\u00a0search is filtered using the Search Tools\u00a0\u2192 Usage Rights\u00a0\u2192 Labeled For Reuse advanced search option, a blog writer can never be sure if the image has been copyrighted. (Tip: Most\u00a0images of celebrities are<\/em> copyrighted, usually by the Associated Press or Getty Images). To avoid fines or legal action when choosing an image for your blog articles, best to legally purchase the rights to the photo through a distribution company like Getty Images, BigStock,com, or Shutterstock.com, or search Flickr.com for free, non-copyright images posted by the site\u2019s users.<\/p>\n Alt Tags,\u00a0manifested\u00a0as the text that appears when you hover over an image,\u00a0may seem insignificant, but they are actually an important part of a collaborative, integrated SEO strategy. Because Google can\u2019t actually see a blog post\u2019s images (yet!), including alt-tags helps search engines know more about each picture and rank the page it appears on accordingly.<\/p>\n The larger the image (either in actual size or resolution), the longer it takes for the website to retrieve that image from the server. Because \u201cpage load speed\u201d is now part of Google\u2019s mysterious ranking algorithm, peppering posts with jumbo pictures will likely counteract any positive SEO effects an article might have earned, regardless of how good the article may be. To keep large images from clogging up all your bandwidth, choose photos that are less than 1000 x 1000 pixels.<\/p>\n If getting a post to go viral is the ultimate goal for content creators\u2014and who wouldn\u2019t<\/em> want their article to be read by millions?\u2014making each article as shareable as possible is a must. Adding tweet-worthy quotes and social sharing buttons on every post is a simple way to increase an article\u2019s likelihood of being passed on or posted on another person or business’s social media page.<\/p>\n Track Maven, a digital marketing analysis firm, looked at over 4,600 blogs and 1.2 million blog posts to determine the best time to publish blog articles. Their findings? Blogs received more social shares (despite less posting frequency) on the weekends, while weekday blogs performed\u00a0best when posted early in the morning and late at night, but not so well when posted throughout the workday.<\/p>\nChoosing A Great Topic<\/h2>\n
Answer A Question<\/h3>\n
Trending Topics<\/h3>\n
How-To\u2019s And Listicals<\/h3>\n
Spy On Your Competition<\/h3>\n
Determining The Best Length<\/h2>\n
![\"Alecan](\"https:\/\/dev.alecanmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Alecan-Marketing-Blog-Writing-The-Perfect-Blog-Post-01.png\")
Using Your Keywords<\/h2>\n
Adding Internal Links<\/h2>\n
Employing <H Tags> In Posts<\/h2>\n
Penning Click-Worthy Meta Titles And Descriptions<\/h2>\n
Blog Article Meta Titles Should:<\/h3>\n
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Blog Article Meta Descriptions Should:<\/h3>\n
\n
Blog Article URLs Should:<\/h3>\n
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Incorporating Eye-Catching Images\/Photos<\/h2>\n
Be Wary of Copyrights<\/h3>\n
Include Alt Image Tags<\/h3>\n
Mind The Image Size<\/h3>\n
Increasing A Post\u2019s Share-ability<\/h2>\n
Paying Attention To Post Time<\/h2>\n
![\"Alecan](\"https:\/\/dev.alecanmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Alecan-Marketing-Blog-Writing-The-Perfect-Blog-Post-02.png\")
For more insider tips on how to optimize your business\u2019s blog or how Alecan\u2019s Digital Marketing services can help supercharge your business with content creation (including blogging), PPC Advertising, and social media marketing,