Is blogging dead? This is an inevitable question which comes up time and time again every year but the swift answer is NO!
Blogging is absolutely still relevant in 2022!
However, the practice of blogging is everchanging and getting your blogs seen by an audience may be harder than ever.
Blogging is still a totally viable digital marketing strategyin 2022 and beyond, which is why we are going to share with you our 5 top tips on how to ensure your blog can thrive in 2022…
Share Your Blogs
Whilst blogging will primarily occur on your website, other platforms can grow your audience and create more engagement with your blogs.
Platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and others can drastically improve your popularity. Which platform you choose will depend on your content and your audience. If your content is formal and business-focused then LinkedIn will be the spot for you, whereas if you write informal and chatty stories or guides then YouTube could be your friend.
The best way to share your content to these sites is through repurposing.
Repurposing is the act of using content you already have and creating something new with it.
You can repurpose your content by:
Creating a video: This could be of yourself talking about your content or an infographic video showing a how-to guide.
Social media posts: If you have written a blog then you will have lots of written content ready and available. Use a website like Canva to create visually appealing text posts using the most important parts of your content. Use more content to create an appealing caption and link out to your blog.
If you are not confident appearing visually in person, don’t worry! You can create videos and social media posts anonymously without your face or, if you are posting as a business, you can find another employee who is willing to be involved!
In 2022, your blog will not be found as easily as in the past therefore you need to make yourself stand out more especially when you are just getting started.
Create Visual Content
People love visual content and it is a great addition to your blogs to keep your audience engaged.
When most people find your blog, they will not have searched for your website specifically and have no prior connection to your blog. This means that you need to keep them interested and engaged from the outset.
Using videos and images, you can break up your text into more manageable chunks and brighten up your page.
When including images on your page, you need to include ‘Alt Text’. For those of you who do not know that that is, alt text is the writing which will be displayed in place of an image if the image fails to load or to help visually impaired users.
Your alt text should describe the image clearly and in detail for your audience.
Update Old Content
If you have had a blog for a period of time then it is common to have old content which may now be out of date or in need of a refresh.
Taking time to update this content can be just as useful as creating new content. As you create blogs, you will learn skills, develop your writing style and the world will change.
Giving your blogs a (metaphorical) facelift can be all you need, here are a few tips to look out for in your old blogs:
Outdated statistics. If you have outdated statistics from years ago then your audience will presume the rest of the content is outdated. Make sure to update your statistics often even if this means that you need to update the rest of the content of the blog.
Broken links. If your blog links out to other sources, websites, brands or products then you should check that these are all functioning and in use. If any of your links are broken then you should change these. Search for other links that can serve the same purpose to avoid reader disappointment.
Outdated strategies. If your blog is business-related or notes the best practices in an industry then it is important that this is current and accurate information.
Use Email Marketing to Promote Your Blog
Once your blog is reaching an audience, you need a way to keep them connected and engaged with your blogs even when they aren’t reading them.
Creating an email marketingstrategy for your readers and attaching a button/link to your blogs ensures they can be notified every time you post a new blog.
Using a platform such as Mailerliteallows you to easily create email campaigns with a drag-and-drop editor. This means that you can create your own emails even with no prior experience or knowledge.
The main items you should include in your emails are:
A catchy title
An intriguing subject line
CTA’s. These can be in the form of links in the text or interactive buttons
High-quality images
Make Your Website User-Friendly
So far, all of our tips have been directed towards the content of your blog and sharing it with new audiences however this tip is regarding your website.
Having amazing content is great however you need your readers to be able to access your blog easily.
How many times have you been on a website and immediately left because it was taking too long to load? Or because on your mobile phone, the text and images didn’t fit on your screen properly?
Most readers are now searching on their mobile which means that your blog not only needs to be optimised on desktops, but also for phones. Below are a few things to consider when making your website user-friendly:
Ensure quick loading times
Simple website navigation
Display social media icons
Use a chatbot
Use high-quality images
So, is blogging dead? No! By using these 5 tips, you can keep your blog relevant and thriving in 2022.
Do you need help creating your own blog in 2022? Look no further…
We love creating articles (blogs), posts, quotes, and top-notch content to deliver to your audience through your website, email campaigns, and social media.
We work with you to develop a content strategy which will also be researched in line with our SEO service to ensure we maximise the reach and engage the right people, your ideal clients.
When running your own business, using keyword tools for SEO can save you lots of precious time and they are often free or inexpensive.
Do you know what an SEO keyword is? If not, click here to find out.
As a small business owner, your time is valuable, and time spent finding keywords for your SEO and blogging can feel like it is taking you away from other responsibilities. We understand this and have created a comprehensive list of our top 4 keyword tools for SEO to help streamline and improve your SEO.
Learn from the experts, this is what we do!
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a free to use keyword tool which assists in keyword idea generation and aids in search engine optimisation (SEO). You can also pay for it which unlocks more useful analytics and allows you to search for keywords without a limit.
When used to search for keywords, you can see search volume, keyword suggestions, how difficult it will be to rank for the keyword and even more.
You can use Ubersuggest to analyse your competitors and see what keywords they rank for. This allows you to see what is working for them so that you can adopt your strategy accordingly.
As well as seeing related keywords, you can also see a table of 100 Google search results for that keyword. It included estimated visits, a domain score, backlink numbers and how often that page is shared on social media.
A useful feature of Ubersuggest is the ability to analyse your websites SEO as it can tell you any SEO issues which need fixing such as headings and meta descriptions.
AnswerThePublic
Do you ever want to create a blog post but need help knowing what people are searching for? Or not know what questions people REALLY want the answers to?
AnswerThePublic is a free online keyword tool where you input a keyword and it will tell you the most common questions searched in relation to this keyword. The information can be viewed in a list or as a visualised infographic such as in the image below.
This is a useful tool as the keyword suggestions are based on Google and Bing’s auto-suggest feature. The free version of AnswerThePublic is great but you can also pay to be able to complete more searches per day.
SEMrush
SEMrush is an SEO tool used to perform keyword research. Using the keyword overview tool, you can find out everything that you need to know about your selected keyword such as how many people are searching for it per month, how its trend is changing and all sorts of other useful information.
You can also use it to find out similar keywords to use alongside your keyword and it also shows a list of organic search results for competitor research.
Using the topic research tool can give you an extensive set of related topics to your keyword which can guide you with your content and blogs to improve SEO.
Google Trends
You can useGoogle Trends in two ways to perform keyword research, let’s look at the first.
The first way is to enter a specific keyword and then take a look at the “related queries” section to find out what other people have been searching for regarding this keyword. This can help you find more keywords, questions that people need answering and what everyone is searching for.
The second thing you can do is view whether your keyword is growing or declining in popularity. Take the image below as an example…
In blue is the term “digital marketing” and in red is “content marketing”. You can see that digital marketing has been growing and staying at a steady search rate whereas content marketing has plateaued and is no longer gaining momentum to improve.
Now, this doesn’t mean that content marketing is a bad keyword, it is searched less which means you will have more chance at ranking highly for it whereas for digital marketing you may struggle to make a dent.
Keeping track of keyword trends allows you to switch up keywords if suddenly another keyword has a rise in searches.
All of these keyword tools for SEO are brilliant but you may wish, and we would also recommend, using multiple tools as they all serve an individual purpose. AnswerThePublic does not show the amount each keyword gets searched whereas a tool such as Ubersuggest does show keyword traffic.
If you need help with your SEO keywords and want our marketing agency to work on your keywords then get in touch now.
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!
