So, you have started a blog for your business – great! But are you seeing the results you had hoped for? Perhaps you have been blogging for months without much fanfare, or maybe you just started and want some tips for writing blog posts. Whatever your situation, there are key rules every blogger must follow when it comes to crafting useful content that readers will consume, enjoy, and share with others. But how do you write a blog post that gives you the results you desire? Read on, blogging novice, it’s time to take notes.
Tips for Writing Click-Worthy Blog Posts
A regularly-updated company blog can play an integral part of increasing visits to your website, but it is just the beginning. Search engines don’t just love content, they love SEO-friendly content, and the more pages of click-worthy SEO content you have on your website, the more pages can be indexed and then found by your target audience on search engines. A keyword-focused blog can make a significant difference in your search rankings while playing a crucial role in acquiring new and returning customers.
Before you start writing, it’s important to understand that the content you’re creating must appeal to your audience as well as search engines. If you want a potential patient, client, or customer to click on your content, read through it, and then take action (e.g. book an appointment online, purchase a product etc.) you must be able to do three things:
- Write content that is SEO-friendly.
- Write in an engaging tone.
- Solve a problem specific to your audience.
If you can’t accomplish these three goals, then your blog content may not be seen by anyone at all.
Focus on Just a Few Keywords
While you may have heard that incorporating a lot of keywords into a blog post will help you rise in search engine rankings, this is entirely untrue. Cramming as many keywords as possible into your blog posts will result in stale, invaluable content that search engines will gloss over. And guess what? Your audience won’t be paying attention either.
It’s important to choose just a handful of core keywords and long-tail keywords to focus on in your blog post. This will not only show search engines that your content is rank-worthy, but it will also be enjoyable and worth reading.
Utilize Keyword Synonyms
Using keyword synonyms within blog posts is a simple way to include keywords you want to rank for, while also increasing search traffic to your blog. For example, if you have a blog post that focuses on dental fillings, you could also use the synonym, “tooth fillings” in both the body copy and in subheadings.
Optimize Your Blog Post with Relevant Questions
Writing a great SEO-friendly blog post goes beyond just user intent. For example, while someone may be searching for “tooth filling dentists in Columbus” they and other people who are researching the topic are usually curious beyond their intent to simply find a local dental practice.
If you are like most people, you have used search engines to find answers to specific questions. For instance, if you know that you have a cavity and need a filling soon, you may be curious about the dental filling procedure, how long it takes, if it hurts, and so on. Just know that you aren’t alone in this! If you type, “do fillings hurt?” into a search engine, you will see that there are plenty of blog posts that answer the question, and you will even find related questions on the topic that people are actively looking for answers to.
As you can see here, you may want to think about incorporating a handful of relevant questions into a blog post if you want to rank higher for “fillings”, “dental fillings”, and the like.
Optimize Headings and Subheadings with Keyword Variations
Before you write your post, think about searching for keyword variations of the main keyword your post is trying to rank for. For example, if your blog post will be focusing on a broad term such as “dental procedures” you could add related keywords such as, “cosmetic dental procedures” and “pediatric dental treatments” or “emergency dental procedures”. You can then use these variations as subheadings with descriptions and bullet points of the various types of procedures or treatments. However, be careful not to overdo it; integrate additional terms like this only if they make sense from a readability standpoint. A blog post that incorporates these keyword variations would benefit from a title like, “Common Types of Dental Procedures”.
Words of Wisdom: Breaking up blog content with relevant subheadings when possible also helps readability. Users love to skim articles first to see if the content may resonate with them. If they can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they will move along to another article — and search engines may even direct them to a competitor’s site instead!
These ideas are just the beginning when it comes to writing SEO-friendly blog content. But these guidelines will help your blog get started on the right foot so the right customers will find your content, read it, love it, and return for more.
Author BIO
Natalie Lynn is the content director of Two Wheels Marketing, a Columbus, Ohio based digital marketing firm specializing in search engine marketing (SEO, PPC), paid and organic social media marketing.
