Blogging Best Practices

Your blog is a powerful tool for attracting prospects, showcasing your brand’s expertise, and elevating your online reputation. Following blogging best practices and optimizing SEO helps your content get views and helps your consumers get answers. Starting a blog for your business can be intimidating, but with the right foundation, your blog can become provide value to your audience and become an instrumental part of your marketing strategy.

 

Kick off your blogging strategy with GROWL’s blogging best practices for 2022.

 

Before creating a blog, it’s critical to conduct foundational research on existing blogs and content that fits your brand’s larger goals. Consider who your competitors are, what industry leaders are talking about, and most importantly, what information or solutions your prospective audience is searching for.

Additionally, take note of how popular blogs are structured. Different formulas work for different blog types. From list formats to providing infographics, choose the layout that will best fit the topic you’re writing and be easily digestible for your audience.

 

After conducting your research, determine the purpose of your blog and why your prospective audience should read it. Having a direction will help build your reputation and resonate with your desired audience.

Don’t forget to consider your buyer persona and which stage of the buyer’s journey they’re at when choosing your “why.” Choosing your “why” will help set the tone for your brand authenticity and keep your blog aligned with your values and mission.

 

Writing a blog is an excellent way to showcase your brand’s personality and open a conversation with your audience. Don’t make your writing stiff, or you’ll lose your audience’s interest. Blog writing is encouraged to be conversational, as it’s more approachable and more enjoyable to read. The more approachable and personable your writing is, it will help attract more readers and gain traction.

 

Keep in mind that the purpose of these blogs will be to provide value to your prospective audience. Before writing your blog, it’s important to conduct keyword research to help align your content with topics your audience may be searching for. Resources including SEMrush and Moz can help you discover keywords and phrases to implement within your content to improve your SEO.

Utilizing keywords is an excellent way to help the right audience discover your blogs. However, overusing keywords can hurt your blog’s SEO and make the content difficult for your audience to read. To follow best practices for SEO in your blogs, choose one primary keyword and 1-2 secondary keywords to add a few times throughout body copy and, if possible, within a subheading. Only use these keywords in places that seem natural and flow within the copy.

To enhance your blog’s SEO, add your primary keyword to the page’s meta description and alt text associated with images. Additionally, utilize internal and external linking to reference sources and direct readers to other relevant blogs on your website.

 

When you begin your blog research, you’ll notice other publications will have similar ideas and topics to you. Help your blog stand out by providing valuable, meaningful content that provides actionable insights for your audience.

Don't rely on conceptual ideas without any actual steps for success. After reading your blog, what is the next step you want your audience to take? Providing a clear call to action that speaks directly to which stage of the buyer's journey your audience is at allows your blogs to become more conversion driven.

Knowing your writing style, understanding your audience, and researching will help you excel in your blog writing and become a thought leader for your industry.

Want help improving your company’s blogs? Contact the GROWL team today!