Are you looking to get into blogging? Or perhaps you are an experienced blogger looking to refresh your memory, we’ve got you either way!
Blogging is a sure-fire way to keep your website fresh and inviting, it keeps your website active and keeps people on your website for longer. A quality blog gives other sites a reason to link back to your site which can build trust.
Keep reading all about HOW to make your blog the best it can be, and some of our personal favourite tools (shhh…it’s just between us!)
Write About Topics People are Searching For
Once you have decided blogging is for you, you will need to find your blog’s topic. You can write blogs about ANYTHING! If someone is searching for it, you can blog about it. Technically you can blog about something no one is searching for, but no one will see it so…what’s the point?
What do you enjoy? What are you passionate about? Your topic should reflect this. If you are not passionate or even interested in your topic then it will show through in your writing.
Blogging tips:
Use short paragraphs – Short paragraphs invite readers in whereas long paragraphs are daunting.
Include multimedia – Images, GIFs and videos can illustrate your point without more text and can provide relief from reading.
Use short sentences – Most people read in their mind’s voice and using short sentences can be easier to follow.
Read your work out loud – This helps point out areas that your content is boring or doesn’t flow right. Don’t worry, you don’t have to read to anyone else, just yourself!
Your blog title is so important! A brilliant blog title will improve the click-through rate of your blog. What is a click-through rate, I hear you ask. It is the ratio of users who click on a specific link versus the number of total users who view the page.
Here’s an easy way to get the best blog title. First, decide on your topic, then decide what sort of title you are looking for… Is it a guide? An answer to a question? A list of things? Then you can create a basic working title for your blog and develop it into the BEST title.
Check out our examples below!
Example blog titles – Guides
“A Start-To-Finish Guide…”
“…: A Step-By-Step Guide”
“An Experts Guide to…”
Topic: Using WordPress
Okay Title: A Guide to Using WordPress
Great Title: A Simple Guide to Using WordPress
Best Title: An In-Depth Guide to Using WordPress Efficiently
Example blog titles – Listicles
“5 Myths About…”
“10 Reasons Why…”
“The 8 Best Tools For…”
Topic: Writing a Blog
Okay Title: 5 Blogging Tips
Great Title: 5 Blogging Tips Everyone Should Know
Best Title: 5 Amazing Blogging Tips That You Might Not Know
Example blog titles – Questions
“…? Here’s How…”
“What Is… And How Should You…?”
“…? These Tips Will…”
Topic: Social Media
Okay Title: What Social Media Should You Use?
Great Title: What Social Media Should You Use? 10 Questions.
Best Title: What Social Media Should You Use? 10 Questions to Help You Decide
This is not an exhaustive list of titles, there are hundreds of phrases to choose from, the key is to make it catchy yet to the point. Your readers want to know WHAT they are going to read before they even click.
Check Out Our Favourite Tools
Now that you know your topic, it is time to start researching your blog! Before you start writing your blog, you should find out what people are SEARCHING for and what people WANT to know.
If you want your blog to be found, you need to know what people are searching for. Using a tool such as Ubersuggest will allow you to find keywords to use in your blog.
Keywords are what people enter in a search engine to find a website. Using relevant keywords throughout your blog can improve your ranking on Google and increase the chances of your blog being found.
Want to find out more about how blogs help you get found? Click hereto check out our content on how blogging helps SEO.
Another blog writing tool is AnswerThePublic. This tool is used to research what people are searching for on search engines. When you know your blog topic, this tool is useful for deciding what information to include and can be useful for writing subheadings.
Another amazing tool for your blogs, to ensure your grammar and spelling are up to scratch, is Grammarly.If your blogs have spelling errors or grammatical mistakes, people may not trust what you say or can even leave your website all together! Harsh but true.
Now, Go Forth and BLOG!
With your new found knowledge you should be all set to venture into the world of blogging!
We have lots of our own blogs on our website to help with all things blogging, SEO, social media and digital marketing. Click here to visit our website now or click here to have a chat with us!
Is blogging in your marketing strategy? If it is, perfect! Keep reading to find out some nifty tips and tricks to give your blogs an extra edge and find out how blogging makes money. If blogging isn’t in your marketing strategy, let me show you why it should be!
Did you know that 77% of people regularly read blogs online?
In 2020, the number of blogs on the internet grew to over 600 million. With such a large amount of blogs available, it may seem overwhelming to break in and succeed but trust us, it is definitely possible!
What is blogging?
Blogging is the act of posting content on a website. They are informal articles written for the purpose of showing thought leadership and expertise on a topic.
Often people will be reading a blog and they don’t even know it! Maybe you search for dinner recipes or help with your tech, more often than not the webpage you end up on will be a blog.
I’ll let you in on a secret…this is a blog! Shhh keep it quiet. Want to check out one of our other blogs on how to make your marketing cost effective? We bet you do.
Setting up your blog
Before you start making money, making a blog should be the first thing on your agenda.
Your blog needs a niche to grow, it doesn’t need to be radical, it just needs to give you a unique voice. Pick something that you enjoy, I mean why would you blog about something you don’t care about. If you aren’t passionate about your blog, then it can show in your writing and people will notice.
Once you have decided on a niche, you need to find out whether it can bring in readers, a blog can’t make you money if no one wants to read it. A quick Google search can show if people are searching for your topic or not.
Then…pick a name! Think catchy, short and memorable.
Once you have decided on your blog topic and name, you need to sign up to a web hosting service, we recommend blogging with WordPress, and choose your domain name. Once this is all set up, you have your blog!
Now, your blog will not look inviting to begin with, so you need to customise it to suit your style. If you are using WordPress as we suggested, you can click on ‘appearance’ in the sidebar and select ‘themes’. Click ‘add new’ and then select one of the many WordPress themes to add!
Optimise your blogs for SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital for making money from your blog. SEO is the way in which you optimise your website to rank higher in search engines through keywords and phrases.
If you are blogging with WordPress, you can install a plugin called Yoast SEO which gives you tips and suggestions to improve your SEO.
Improving your blogging SEO will make your blog more visible so it is imperative to pay attention to it.
If SEO confuses you or you would like to learn more then you click here for our beginner’s guide to SEO. Alternatively, we can do this for you too! Book a call nowto find out how we can help with your SEO.
How blogging makes money
Using ads is one of the best ways to monetise your blog. When incorporating ads onto your blog, you should try to use targeted ads that will appeal to your readers instead of bombarding your readers with unnecessary and unrelated ads.
Keep track of your analytics and monitor if your bounce rate changes when you add ads, if you notice a higher bounce rate then you may need to consider repositioning your ads or reducing the amount.
If you have a product or service to sell, using your blog to do this is a great way to make money through your blog and direct traffic towards your business.
How else does blogging benefit your business?
Blogging has other benefits for your business other than making money such as helping your websites SEO.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the way in which you increase your website’s visibility and chances of being found in search engines.
SEO drives organic traffic onto your website. A recent study found that 28.5% of people click through on the first organic search result demonstrating that people trust an organic result more than a paid advertisement.
What is blogging?
Blogging is the act of posting content on a website. They are informal articles written for the purpose of showing thought leadership and expertise on a topic.
Did you know that 77% of internet users read blogs regularly?
Or that over a third of all websites are blogs?
There are estimated to be over 600,000,000+ blogs on the internet today!
How does blogging help SEO?
Blogging keeps your website fresh and current: Websites that are regularly updated signal to Google that the website is alive and offering fresh content. After all, Google is King.
A blog keeps people on your website for longer: While Google hasn’t said outright that dwell time, or the time that people spend on your website once they land on it, is definitely a ranking factor, they’ve made other statements that make it clear it’s something they pay attention to and impart value to.
A quality blog gives others sites more reasons to link back to your site: For Google to see your website as trustworthy and authoritative, other sites (and respected ones) have to link back to yours. HubSpot has found that companies that have a blog on their website earn up to 97% more inbound links.
To find out how many inbound links your site has, we recommend using ubersuggest.
A blog helps you connect with your audience: When your audience reads a post they love, they’re more likely to share it, drive more traffic to it, come back to your website again to see more of your content and maybe even sign up for your email list!
When you get lots of traffic and repeat visitors, that shows Google that people like your website and raises your authority level in their algorithm.
A leading figure in the world of SEO and blogging is Neil Patel. Neil Patel is an entrepreneur and marketing specialist. We would highly recommend looking at his blogs (click here) to see how his content is structured and learn how he optimises his content for SEO.
Blogging SEO tips
The importance of blogging should now be clear, but how do you begin? Here are some of our tips for blogging.
Use websites like Answerthepublic andUbersuggest to find keywords and the top questions in your industry.
Use engaging RELEVANT titles. There is no point catching someone’s attention if they aren’t going to actually be interested.
Use images with relevant alt-text (this allows search engines to know it is relevant).
Use internal links to draw your content together and to help search engines know their relevance to each other.
Keep old content up to date.
Now that you know the importance of blogging for SEO, do you want to start but don’t know how? Stuck for blog ideas? That’s where we come in.
Book a discovery call with us today to find out how our marketing business can help you!
