web development | internet marketing
Blogging
Best
Practices
Blogs are a great tool for generating traffic and
adding value to your website. If you’re doing it
wrong, you could be wasting your time. We’ve
put together a list of best-practices that will help
increase your blog’s effectiveness and engagement.
www.bkmediagroup.com
More than anything else, blogs need to provide good, quality content to readers. Great content
can score you prime real estate on search engines and shares on social media, both of which help
to drive more traffic to your site. While the main goal of your website is likely to sell a product or
service, you want to be careful not to push too hard in the blog. If readers feel like they’re being
sold to too much, they won’t read and they definitely won’t share your content.
Topic Suggestions
Give Your Two Cents
Ranging from informative to entertaining, blog topics should add value or insight. Position
yourself as a thought-leader or subject matter expert, even if your whole post is centered around
someone else’s article (Don’t just link to someone else’s article and say "here it is," give your
unique take and discuss how it affects you, your business/industry, or your clients/customers).
Don’t Cannibalize, Graze
It’s fine to use someone else’s work as inspiration for your own. You can even borrow certain stats
and quotes, as long as you give credit to the source. Don’t, however, take someone’s post and
simply rewrite it as your own. You have codes and ethics that you follow in business… they should
apply to blogging too.
Gather Ideas From Your Audience
Your customers/clients undoubtedly ask you questions. Take the most common or most
interesting of those as the basis for posts.
From One, Many
Whenever possible, break your idea into multiple posts. For example, don’t write a blog about
the zoo with one sentence per animal, dedicate an entire post to each animal. Posts that are most
focused tend to get more traction than those that are general, and the promise of ‘more’ can also
encourage return readership. This also helps you with content creation - you now have the outline
for many possible posts, all from one idea!
Let It All Hang Out
Don’t be afraid to give away what you know. If you view everything as a trade secret or proprietary
information you’ll be saying anything new or exciting. Sometimes you have to give away a little, in
order to keep someone on the line for a lot.
Titles
Titles should be attention-grabbing. Whether
on social media, email or search results,
oftentimes the title is the first and only part
of your article that someone will see.
Keep it Grounded in Truth
Keep in mind, though, the title has search
engine implications, so you need to balance
sensationalism with relevance (what you want
it found for). Search engines put a lot of weight
on titles to determine what a post is about and
if/when to show it.
The Title is Important - Treat it that Way
Your title, while oftentimes one of the last
things that’s decided on, shouldn’t be an
afterthought. A great piece of content with a
bad title can render all of the hard work you put
into it pointless.
Try, Try Again
Your first title is almost never the right one.
Spend time crafting multiple titles to figure out
what’s going to work best.
Layout/Writing
Organize Your Thoughts First
Images or No Images
Take the time to layout the idea, main points, and
purpose of a post before you start writing. This quick
exercise can shed light on the organization of a post,
as well as provide the blueprint for your subheadings.
Images can help you explain your points, but don’t
feel the need to use images simply for the sake of
using them (make sure they provide value).
Brief is Bad
Shoot for 300 words minimum. Shorter posts can
be good, but seldom provide the same value (to
readers or search engines) that longer posts do. Go
into detail. Explain yourself. If you’re doing that you
won’t have a problem getting to at least 300 words.
Break It Up
Use bold subheadings to break up your posts into
scannable sections. Many people like to scan first,
so engaging/to-the-point subheads can convince
someone to commit to reading.
List Things
Using bulleted or numbered lists is another great way
to catch the attention of readers without requiring
them to read the actual post first. They may be
expanded upon later.
Make it Digestible
Short paragraphs are better - use paragraph breaks
every 3 or 4 sentence. Huge blocks of content are
intimidating and will likely turn away would-be
readers.
Use Internal Linking
Cross-reference other blog posts or content on your
site with internal linking. The linking between articles
is beneficial for optimization as well as encouraging
more page views/exploration by the reader.
Use References
Don’t hesitate to cite and link to authoritative web
resources (this can include other blogs). This can
give your article more credibility, both in the eyes of
the reader (you’ve done your research) and search
engines (helps establish your site in the particular
field/category).
Consider Calls-to-Action
Consider putting a call-to-action (CTA) at the end
of your post to give someone a ‘next-step,’ whether
that’s another article to read, a signup for your email
list, or a purchase/free trial. Keep in mind, not all
posts need a CTA, and they can sometimes hurt you if
they do not align with the content.
Before You Post
Don’t Go Category Crazy
Try to determine a handful of topics that your posts
will fit into, and stick to them. Oftentimes, the
use of categories and tags is unregulated, and you
can end up with multiple versions of the same tag,
each with one article each. If you’re not doing it
right, you’re defeating the purpose of the tool. Ask
yourself: Do you even need categories or tags?
Proofread
Have someone else read the post beforehand to make
sure it flows and makes sense. If nothing else, read
the post out loud; when you read it in your head,
you’re more likely to miss things because you know
what you meant to say.
Edit Post-Publish
Read/edit your post once you publish it. Are there
extra (or missing) hard returns? Do you need to add
another subhead? Your post will look much different
once it’s actually on your site.
After You Post
Be Consistent
Stick to a schedule. Once a week is a good goal to
strive for - It gives you adequate time to write, doesn’t
flood your readers with posts, and keeps your website
fresh (stale websites can lose ground in search engine
results to those that are regularly updated).
Promote!
It’s hard to build traffic organically. If you’re not
sharing and promoting your content through
multiple channels, you’re relying solely on the
search engines to put your content in front of
people, which will likely be slow and inconsistent.
Use your networks on social media, email, and
elsewhere to share and promote your content,
and don’t forget to sell it! Most avenues allow you
to accompany your link and title with some extra
text… use it to draw people in!
web development | internet marketing
Blogging
Best
Practices
While you’re planning and while you’re writing, ask
yourself: “Would I find this informative/enjoyable?
Would I share this with my networks?”
www.bkmediagroup.com