The Importance of Blogging

@jlysne

THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOGGING

Why The Extra Traffic?

• Blogs provide fresh keyword rich content.

• You can highly target a blog post for SEO.

• Google ranks blogs strongly.

• Keeps people (and Google) coming back to see the fresh content.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD BLOG?

Descriptive Tagline

Keyword Rich TitleShort Title (URL)Humanizing Photo

Obvious SearchConnectivityClear NavigationCredibility BoostersAuthor BioImagesLots of spaceSubheads

Anatomy of a good blog

WRITING A BLOG

4 Things To Consider

1. What are you passionate about?

2. What other blogs are talking about the same thing?

3. How can you differentiate yourself?

4. Can you blog regularly?

5. Can you write 10 headlines in the next 10 minutes?

5 Steps In Blog Writing

1. Choose Your Topic

2. Keyword Selection

3. Headline Writing

4. Formatting

5. Tagging

Choosing Your Topic

• Don’t get too broad with your topic.

• Better off having multiple keyword rich posts about specific things than one large broad post.

• Think about it from a consumer perspective.

– What do they want to know?

– What do you want to tell them?

PICK A TOPIC

Keyword Selection

Good search terms

Keyword Selection

Keyword

Lake Superior

Lake Superior Shipwrecks

Competition

7,020,000

104,000

Volume

135,000

1,300

How Do I Know That?

Step One – Google Search

How Do I Know That?

Step Two – Google Keyword Analysis

PICK SOME KEYWORDS

You Are Your Headline

• 120 characters or less

• Challenge wisdom

• Numbers/lists

• Unexpected action words

• Keywords

WRITE YOUR HEADLINE

Formatting and Writing

• Repeat key words in the body (4x6 times)

• Use H1/H2 Tags

• Include a photo

• Start with a question

• End with a question

• Leave post unfinished

• Take positions

Tagging

It All Adds Up To Visibility

Measurement

What does success look like?

• Readers

• Time Spent

• Inbound Links

• Comments

Look beyond these metrics. How are they moving the needle?

COMMENTING

Responding To Comments

• Respond to all comments as quickly as possible.

• Thank your readers for commenting.

• Use comments as a way to stimulate conversation.

TIPS FOR DRIVING TRAFFIC

Traffic Driving

• Post regularly to stay strong in organic search

• Share your posts through your social connectivity

– Twitter

– Facebook

– LinkedIn

• Actively read and comment on other blogs in your category

5 Final Thoughts

• Know why you are blogging

• Keep keywords top of mind

• Sticking to a schedule is important

• Engage with your readers

• Promote through your social connections

THANK YOU