Congratulations: You’re doing a blog. You’re thinking about search engine optimization (SEO). You have the machinery in place to consistently produce a couple of posts per week on topics that will interest customers and prospects. Now: How will they find you?
Blogs are great search engine bait
One of the reasons I favor blog posts and other content is that it is search engine bait. When someone is searching on a problem they have that you can solve, your content is the most likely way they will find you and see you as the solution to their problems.
Here’s a video from Rand Fishkin of MOZ on how to make it a practice (key concept!) to make your blogs (and other content) appeal.
Some key ideas for optimizing search for blogs:
- Make your content unique and valuable. Are you solving a customer problem?
- Think about who you want to reach (executives? coders? bakers? managers?); what you want them to gain; what you want them to do as a result.
- Pick 3-5 search terms as your target for this article. All should have same searcher intent and be juicy terms that people actually search on, are reasonably unique, and have great click potential.
- Look at who else appears for those terms and readjust of you realize you can’t compete.
- Now: Make your posting, armed with knowledge about what will work.
- Do the appropriate technical tasks and keywording.
- Watch your results so you can learn and adjust.