- Be regular.
The content in your blog will go stale if you donât update it frequently. And so will your search engine rankings, as Google will stop indexing your webpages. How frequently should you post? That depends on a number of factors. The nature and size of your business, the marketing resources you have available to create high quality blog posts, your content marketing budget, etc.
Whilst quality certainly trumps quantity in this case, anything less than once a week is less than ideal. Moreover, think of blogging as yoga (or any fitness activity of your choice). Consistency is key- itâs better to post once a week on a uniform basis than publish several posts in a day and then go AWOL for a month or more!
2. Research keywords meticulously.
Incorporate the right mix of high volume and long-tail keywords in your blog. Whilst high volume keywords are more frequently searched for, they also face tremendously more competition, making it difficult for a new blog to rank for them. On the other hand, long tail keywords are keywords with more specific search queries.
Since theyâre so niche, there are much fewer competing brands that would be using them. So that gives you an edge if youâre new to the blogosphere and canât compete with websites, which have much greater site authority.
What is site authority? In simple terms, it is the reputation a well-established and popular site enjoys on Google. As you probably know, Google ranks a webpage on several parameters such as load speed, choice of keywords, quality of content and of course, one of the most important-site authority.
Want an example? If you had to look up certain health symptoms online, wouldnât you prefer WebMD or Mayo Clinic to a newly formed webpage that youâre not sure you can trust? Google knows this, thereby giving preference to the content on these sites over others. So these sites have what webmasters would call an extremely high âsite authorityâ.
So if you were a newbie healthcare site that creates great content, your strategy would be to build site authority by addressing healthcare topics that arenât present or insufficiently addressed on WebMD â using long-tail keywords. And then once youâve had your first, second, and third ripple of visitors, you can start to gradually introduce high volume keywords into your content as well!
3. Not too long. Not too short.
 If the length of your blog post is too short (say, less than 300 words), search engines wonât be very interested in indexing it as chances are there will be several other blog posts of the same topic offering much more detailed insight.
On the other hand, if itâs too long-winded, containing a ton of fluff, readers will lose interest in it. Whilst there is no golden rule for the ideal length of a post, your best practice would be to have the depth of information that informs and engages your reader but also leaves them wanting a wee bit more. We usually find 1200-1500 words a good benchmark for a solid post- but do treat this as a benchmark and not a hard and fast rule.
4. Blog titles hold the key to a readerâs heart.
So keep them crisp and engaging. Moreover, titles with 6-13 words get maximum hits. Also, extra brownie points from Mr.G if you can manage to sneak in your primary keywords(s) into the title.
5. Readers love visual content.
Pair text with images, infographics or charts to keep the reader engrossed. Nobody likes to go through a thick wall of plain, boring text so DO NOT subject them to this trauma.
6. Answers questions that your real-life customers pose through your blog.
 If you have customers in real life that consistently ask you certain questions, you can BE SURE that there are a million other prospective customers online who have the same burning questions. Address these doubts and queries in an informative and helpful manner in your blog posts to attract them to your brand and youâre sure to win more than a few hearts digitally!
7. Put your blogs in the limelight.
Share links to your blogs on social media and newsletters to increase traffic. You have to rely on several avenues to promote your content, especially when you are just starting out.
Last but not the leastâŚ
8. Be patient.
It takes time and hard work to attract readers and create a large following. So if progress seems slow, donât let that discourage you. Just keep at it consistently and you will definitely see results!
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