are you clueless on how to blog for SEO? This beginner’s guide will take you through simple steps on how to get your blog posts in tip top shape for when the search bots come crawling.
Why Blog for SEO?
There’s two very good reasons you should do this, which lead me to put together this beginner’s guide on how to blog for SEO.
1. Since you’re already taking the time to write the blog, so you might as well know how to blog for SEO.
2. It will help drive extra traffic to your blog in the long term – which is why you’re blogging right?
How to Blog for SEO
First you should plan out your blog post. It might seem like extra work, but believe me it will make the whole process a lot easier. You can download the plan I used to prepare this blog for SEO here.
Topic – First you’ll need to decide on the topic you’ll be blogging about. Ideally it should be a trending topic or something you know is popular with your target audience. There’s no point writing about something no one’s interested in.
Keywords – Probably the most important consideration when tailoring your blog for seo is the keywords you’ll use. Once you’ve decided on your topic, the best way to select keywords is to head on over to the google keyword tool, which will show you a bunch of suggestions for the topic you enter. Ideally try to choose 2 or 3 phrases which have high search traffic and low competition. If you downloaded the plan I used for this post, you’ll see that the phrases I’ve selected are ‘blog for seo’, ‘how to blog’ and ‘beginner’s guide’, which all have low competition and searches in the thousands.
Outline – Next you should come up with the outline for your article which should look something like the below. By creating a good outline all you’ll need to do when it comes to writing the article is fill in the blank. It will also help with keyword placement.
Main Idea
• supporting detail
• supporting detail
• supporting detail
Main Idea 2
• supporting detail
• supporting detail
• supporting detail
Main Idea 3
• supporting detail
• supporting detail
• supporting detail
Tailoring the Blog for SEO
Okay now you’ve got the plan and outline sorted, it’s time to think about how to blog.
Title – First up you need the title, this is probably the most important thing from the SERP point of view. Try to have your primary keyword as close as you can to the beginning; mine is ‘blog for seo’. If you can work a secondary keyword into the title, then have at it. I’ve managed to squeeze in two secondary keywords ‘how to blog’ and ‘beginners guide’. Don’t make your title all about keywords though, remember it still needs to be intriguing and memorable to your target audience.
Subtitles – it wouldn’t be a beginners guide if I didn’t mention subtitles. There are so many bloggers out there who show their clear lack of understanding on how to blog by churning out massive chunks of text and paragraphs with no subtitles. Subtitles make your blog posts heaps easier for the reader to absorb and it also helps prepare your blog for seo by helping the bots understand what your article is about.
Introduction – Your intro should be a stripped down, bare bones account of what the reader can expect from the rest of the article. Try to have your primary keyword as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible, and ideally keep it to 70 words or less.
Body – Here’s some simple tips to follow when writing the article body:
• Keep your paragraphs focussed, and concentrate on one topic at a time. Make sure each paragraph is under 100 words.
• Use your primary keyword once every 100 words or so
• Stick to your outline! Have you ever read a blog post that made you feel like you were being pulled in 8 different directions? Fair chance they didn’t use an outline. Articles that use an outline are always more organised and compelling than those that don’t.
Conclusion
If you’re taking the time to learn how to blog for seo, then there’s a high chance you also want your post to convert, i.e. lead the reader to some form of action. For a blog post to convert successfully, the body should compel the reader toward a powerful conclusion which will drive home what the post has offered and convince them they must take action now.
Although this is just a beginners guide on how to blog for seo – following these steps diligently and persistently will no doubt have a big impact on your blog traffic. And unless your blog is a personal diary, traffic is the point of it right?
What other SEO tips have worked for your blogs? Please comment below!
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