If your business doesn’t already have a blog, it’s advised that you start one. But your blog isn't just for writing up whatever posts suit you from day to day. They need to be optimized so they actually help your site. With just a few quick tweaks, you can fix your existing blog posts and improve your future posts so they bring in new visitors to your site.
Unfortunately, many bloggers miss out on the marketing potential of their blogs. In fact, a recent study by blogger.com shows that although roughly 60% of businesses have blogs, 65% of those blog owners haven’t even updated in the past year. This is a huge missed opportunity. If you aren’t keeping up with your blog and using it to your best advantage, then you might as well not have one.
If you want to have a business blog that gets you noticed and brings in more customers, follow these five easy SEO tips.
1. Do your research. Having the right keywords in mind when you write your blog is essential. Chances are, if you are providing valuable content on a specific topic, you are naturally including keywords without realizing it. You'll want to see what keywords are relevant to your site and being frequently searched by your audience. Then take those keywords and start creating blogs around them. If you aren't sure where to start, try this blog on keyword research.
2. Utilize keywords throughout your post. Once you’ve found valuable keywords, it’s time to integrate them into your site and your blog. You want to get the most bang for your buck, and put them in places where both humans and search engine crawlers will notice them. You need to iclude your keywords in the following places:
Title
Headings and subheadings
Introductory sentence
Concluding paragraph
Anchor text (text you hyperlink to other related pages on your site)
Title tags and meta descriptions
But be careful. Search engines have caught on to what is called “keyword stuffing,” where you fill the content with so many keywords that it is no longer readable. This will irritate your readers, and you’ll get penalized by Google. A keyword density of around 2-3% should do the trick.
3. Optimize your images. Whenever you add a photo to your blog or site, you want to put the keywords in the file name and fill out the alternate text field with a brief, keyword rich description of the photo. This description is also used for the sight-impaired to understand what the image is, so have that in mind when you write it.
4. Reference other sites with links. When you mention another blogger or article from the web in your post, include a link to that site. This is good blogging etiquette, and will encourage others to link to your site. Quality links in to your site are valuable, and Google will reward you for your good press.
5. Use social media to broaden the reach of your blog posts. You likely have some social media pages for your business, whether on Facebook. Twitter, or Instagram. You should also be promoting your blogs on those sites. Starting an email newsletter to send your blogs to those who opt in also brings more visits to your site.
By following these simple SEO tips, you can encourage higher rankings in search engines, increased web traffic, and higher customer conversion rates.