If you’re already running a blog for your business, it’s probably because you understand its value as an online marketing tool. Have you taken enough steps to optimize your blog content so that it’s more attractive to search engines? Far too many commercial blogs are delivering less than their full potential as marketing tools. Effective blog optimization is crucial for ensuring that your posts reach the right audience, rank well in search engines, and drive meaningful engagement.
Blogger.com recently conducted a study of business blogs. While over half of all businesses (60 percent) now run blogs, a majority of them (65 percent) have gone without updates for over a year!
If you supply your blog with a steady stream of relevant content and take basic steps to optimize your posts, you’ll unlock its full promotional power. Take a look at these six easy optimization tips that will make your blog easier for potential customers to find.
1) Research Your Keywords
As long as you keep your blog posts relevant to the interests of your business, you’re probably including useful keywords in your content already. But to get the most out of your blog, you need to research the keywords that search engine users prefer. Many tools and strategies will help you discover new and powerful keywords. Two good resources to start with are the Keyword Tool provided by Google Adwords and semrush.com according to Dallas Seo Experts, Pixel Cut Labs. Good keyword research doesn’t just familiarize you with the common keywords currently in use; it also shows you what words and phrases are being used by competitors in your niche.
2) Employ Keywords in Key Positions
After researching the keywords you want to target, you need to feature them on your blog in places where they’ll attract both search engine algorithms and human visitors. The following power positions are all preferred places for deploying keywords:
* Titles
* Headings and Subheadings
* Posts’ first sentences
* Posts’ concluding paragraphs
* Title tags and meta tags
* Anchor text (words included in hyperlinks pointing to other relevant pages)
It’s important to avoid keyword stuffing. This is what happens when you load blog posts with keywords so heavily that they become hard for human visitors to read. It’s not just readers that suffer from keyword stuffing; it will also earn you automated penalties from Google. Placing two very relevant keywords in the right place on a single page is enough to do the job.
3) Optimize Images
Every good blog needs photos to run alongside its written content. Your images can and should help with your optimization work. Just remember your keywords and include them in the names of your image files. Make sure each image has an alternate text tag that describes it appropriately – this is another place to include a relevant keyword.
4) Step Up Your References
When you refer to offsite resources in your blog posts, always set up a link that visitors can use to visit your sources. This is good blogging etiquette, and it can also be a powerful blog optimization tool. You may even score a reciprocal link from your target site. Strong and relevant links improve your blog’s search engine performance.
5) Offer a Subscription Option
Set up easy-to-find RSS/Feed Subscription buttons. If at all possible, let your readers subscribe via email, too. Automating your relationship with readers is a great way to turn one-time visitors into regulars. Don’t force your readers to check your site for updates on their initiative; notify them!
6) Make Use Of Social Media
More and more businesses are exploring their social media options for connecting with customers on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Unify all of your Online Marketing Efforts and turn your social media accounts into tools to promote your blog content! This process can be effortlessly streamlined with free tools like Hootsuite. With just a few clicks, you can promote your latest blog post on all of your social accounts.
Your blog can become a promotional juggernaut! Simply practice the sort of basic optimization habits described here and you’ll soon be enjoying more exposure, more traffic, and more conversions.
