What to Include in Your Blog Content
Blogs are one of the best online tools you can use to drive readers to your website, lend credibility to your business, and give ammunition to search engines. If done incorrectly, however, blogs can actually turn people away and hurt your rankings. So, what are the exact steps needed to create a memorable blog?
Ensure Your Blog Clearly Identifies a Problem
Every blog should have a definitive problem that needs to be addressed. The better the issue is defined, the more viewers will want to learn. For example, if you are a travel agent and you are writing about your latest vacation, the delicious food, the gorgeous weather, etc, most readers will lose interest unless they can learn something. Writing about the “Top 10 Things to Pack for a Cruise” or “The Top 5 Sites You Won’t Want to Miss in Maui” will capture a much larger audience.
Research is Key to Honing in on a Blog Topic
Find out what is trending by conducting a search on your idea. Take note of blogs that come up on the first page and compare them to those that appear on page 5. What is the difference? What can you add to your own blog to make it comparable and exceed those on page one?
Anchor your main topic to keywords that trend well. Try Google Trends, or you may need to subscribe to a service that gives you this type of information (Semrush, Ubersuggest, and Upwork are a few good ones).
The Title is Everything in a Blog
You should spend the longest amount of time on your blog's title. This is where you either intrigue someone to read more or pass right by your blog. A good title often includes
How to…
Top 10 …
Best Ways to
The Easiest (or Quickest) Way to
Negative headlines also work incredibly well.
Worst blog writing mistakes
What not to do
The goal is to invoke curiosity and propel your reader into finding out more.
Blogs that Offer a Clear Solution
Once you identify your topic and clearly state the problem, create an outline that offers practical and actionable advice. There is nothing worse than a rambling, unorganized article that leaves the reader uninspired, or even worse, bored. Your solution should be easy to follow and leave the reader excited about the possibilities. The goal is to offer a good, solid solution and invoke trust in you or your brand.
What About AI or ChapGPT?
Yes, AI is fast, cheap and easy. Many marketing firms churn out content in minutes that used to take hours. But at what cost? According to world marketing expert Neil Patel, original, handwritten content outranks AI content over 94% of the time. This means that although you may be producing more content, Google and other search engines will start to flag your site unfavorably.
It’s far better to have original content, and less of it, than mass-produced amounts that can hurt your overall SEO score.
Is AI-generated content helpful at all? Yes. You can quickly find basic information and perhaps create an outline, or it may trigger other thoughts. Using that basic data, you can write your own piece that will rank better in the long run.
How Long Should a Blog Be?
In order to rank well, it was recommended that blogs exceed 3000 words. That is no longer the case. Google and other search engines have adapted their algorithms to reward original blogs that clearly solve a problem, even if it is only 1000 words. Some top trending blogs may be as short as 500 words, but most tend to stick to the 1000-2000 word range.
Beyond Words - Images, Videos, Graphics and More
No one wants to see a wall of words, so breaking up your content is important. Visual interest will keep viewers longer. Add relevant images, videos, infographics, or animation to keep your blog intriguing. Ensure any multimedia added is clear, optimized to load quickly, and truly enhances your words.
The Technical Details Behind a Blog
Here is where many bloggers fall short. You may have the best article in the world, but without the proper structure, it is going to be hard to find. Google Search algorithms require certain items within your blog in order to rank it.
Correct usage of headings—Not only are headings pleasing to the eye and help organize an article, but the words used in them make the content more scannable.
H1 is the most important and used for the title. It should have keywords and subject matter that explain the overall idea of the blog.
H2 headings help break up content into sections, again using relevant keywords
H3 headings are used for subcategories to break up the content further and make it easily scannable. Depending on the length and complexity of your blog, you may or may not need them.
Internal linking—An internal link is any link from your blog to another page (or blog) on your website. By adding the right internal links, you ensure Google understands the relationship and value of pages.
On-page SEO - On-page SEO (also called on-site SEO) optimizes web pages to rank higher in search engines. Not only will your blog need to contain relevant keywords (especially in the headings), but there are places to add searchable content “behind the scenes”.
You will want to ensure that your URL slug (/blog/URL-slug) has searchable keywords in its name
Add up to a 160-character SEO description (meta description) for the page (less is more so stay concise)
Create Alt Text (also known as alt tags or alt description) for every image whose purpose is to describe images to visitors who are unable to see them
Optimize your images and videos - reduce the size of your images or videos so that they load quickly
Learn more about how to get your blogs ranked.
Summary
Blogs are great tools for so many reasons:
Blogs lend credibility to your business
Blogs can be used as marketing pieces to drive people to your site
Blogs help your website stay current and viable
Blogs with the right SEO are loved by Googlebots as they scan the web for new material
Have any other questions about blog writing? Charlotte’s Web Designs, LLC can provide you with a list of trending topics, give suggestions on content, or even write blogs for your business on a continual basis.