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Blogging for Business? Optimise Your Content for SEO & Shares

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Date
14th April 2016
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Reading Time
5 minutes
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Author
kayleight

Running a blog for your business? Feeling uninspired about your next post? Want to learn more about SEO, keyword research and how to get more traffic to your blog? Here are some great tips to help you maximise your content by getting it in front of more people. From SEO headings to clickbait titles and content promotion- take your business blogging to the next level.

What's the point of your post?

It's important to be clear on what the point of each bit of content is. Is this a branded company news post, or a post you are looking to reach a wider audience with? Is the content funny, informative, or both? Make sure that your company blog still 'sounds' like you, but don't be afraid to mix things up a bit. A blog can be a great place to loosen your brand voice up a little bit.

If the point of your blog post is to get more traffic, then make sure that you have done the necessary keyword research, including all the key phrases and words your audience will be searching for. By doing this, you can be sure that your writing will meet user (and search engine) requirements for great content.

A good place to start with keyword research is Google’s own keyword suggestion tool in Adwords, but also use tools like Ubersuggest for longtail keywords and questions. Don't just stop at one or two main keywords: think beyond that to keyword themes and word families. This will ensure that your post includes a healthy spread of relevant synonymns and variants.

Shareable content is always better

Trying to write interesting content in a tough niche? Think you can't write about interesting stuff? Think again! There are plenty of little content marketing tricks you can use to maximise the potential of your content. Here are some tried & tested methods:

What's hot right now?

A roundup post of what is happening in the industry right now is always good. Talk about the latest trends or innovations you're excited about. Use tools like Buzzsumo to research what content is performing well in your niche right now, and use them as inspiration for your post. You'd be surprised how much content is already out there, so use previous content successes to your advantage.

News jacking

Local event coming up? Global conference down the line? Write about it and jump on the #! Get on social media to promote your post and always take photos at local events so that you can do a write up about it later. A simple yet effective way to tick the relevancy box.

Humour

Bringing in a bit of humour could pay off. A well-placed pun or a roundup of funny tweets or GIFs may give your blog a bit of a lift. Just make sure you've judged it right and don't let the jokes completely take over.

Ego bait

Including relevant people in your post, like rounding up your favourite Twitter influencers, is a great way to potentially get more shares for your content. Once the post is live, bring your content to their attention. Busy people are always looking for relevant content to share, and it's always nice to be thought of!

Take a stand

Going on a rant or having an opinion on a hot topic might be a great opportunity for a clickbait blog post. This one can be tough to manage in terms of brand reputation; a clickbait title is a good place to start, even if your actual post is more moderate. Don't be afraid to take a stand if it's something you believe in.

How to's & lists

Simple lists and 'how to' formulas are signs of helpful content that is always a good idea. Monitor what the most popular FAQs in your niche are and work on creating content that answers those questions. Remember you are trying to add user value, so don't just repeat what has been done elsewhere!

SEO friendly blog posts

Make sure that your posts are optimised to capture search traffic. It won't take long in most content management systems and should make a significant difference.

Title, URL & meta description: Clickbait & keywords

Your post title should appeal to both people (conversion rate) and search engines (SEO). Use a free tool like this Headline Analyzer from CoSchedule to make sure your title is catchy and shareable.

When editing the page title of the post, make sure your most relevant keyword is near the start of your page title, where it will have the most impact.

Optimising your post's meta description and URL will also help maximise search traffic and click-through rate, so make sure you include keywords and compelling copy in them too.

Frontloading & Linking

The top part of your blog post is really important, so make sure the lead-in paragraph is good and clearly outlines the point of your post. It's the content people are most likely to read, so make it engaging and focused on keywords.

Include relevant external links in your post, as well as any links back to your commercial pages if relevant. A good external link would be a link to a relevant blog post or news article, or an online tool or resource you mention in the post.

Headings

Using headings in your post is good for SEO, but it's also good for the busy browser as it will guide them through your post and give an at a glance idea of your main points.

Put the post title in the H1, and then tag up any sub-items as H2s or H3s. A good information architecture will help you structure your content, and putting keywords in headings is always a good idea.

Image alt texts

Often neglected, image alt texts are a great way to optimise your blog post even further. Describe the photo and include relevant keywords for maximum effect.

End on a high

Include a call to action at the bottom of your post, or a concluding remark that sums up your post. Even better if you can embed a share function ready with a shareable snippet so that people don't even have to think before sharing your content.

Now that it's published, sit and relax...wrong!

Content marketing is all about post-publication promotion and optimisation.

Don't wait for people to find your content on page 3 of Google, take them to it! Leverage your social networks and shout about your latest post. There are plenty of ways to let the world know about your latest post like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogging directories and your email newsletter. Don't just promote a post once, promote it many times to get the maximum return out of the content. After all, you put all that time into creating it, so get people involved.

There's no magic wand for content marketing, but it is a technique that every business can utilise on their blog. Optimise your content, make it shareable, spend time promoting it, and you'll be off to a good start.

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