You may be aware that writing Blogs is a fantastic avenue to go down if you’re desiring more traffic to your Site, and it has the added benefit of contributing to your Online growth as a business.
But even after you’ve decided you’re diving in head first, set it all up on your Website and then written and published your Blog, you might find that you’re not achieving the traffic you’d hoped your Blog would attract.
Fear not! There is a method to the madness of preparing, researching and planning before and after you’ve written your insightful Blog. And we’re here to show you how. All it takes is several steps and you’ll be well placed to get even more eyes on your content.
Step 1: Know Your Audience
Before you put pen to paper, (or in this case, hand to keyboard) stop what you’re doing! First thing’s first, you’ll need to conduct a little bit of research.
It’s time to consider the audience you’re attempting to reach with your Blog. Do some digging into their interests, what makes them tick, what are their pain points? You can find this sort of information Online via forums and Social Media.
The more you monitor the reactions and discussions of your target audience, the easier it will be to decide on topics for your Blogs, and pinpoint areas that will interest them, catching their attention.
This research will also set you up for the next step...
Step 2: Keyword Research
One of the keys to generating organic traffic is using keywords, which are words or phrases that your target audience types in Search Engines when they’re searching for something specific.
It’s up to you to nail your research and find the keywords that work best with your business and brand. Hopefully during your audience snooping you discovered some that could come in handy.
There are a mountain of tools that are worth looking into to identify how specific keywords are tracking. You can even have a cheeky look at your competitors.
Step 3: Content Planning
After all this wonderful research you’ve been conducting, the exciting part is coming! We know you’re desperate to start typing up the perfect Blog, but there’s still a little left to plan.
Now that you’ve gathered keywords and content that your target audience are going to be drawn to, you’ll need to figure out how to integrate all of that into your Blog.
Creating a plan for your Blog before you begin is key, consider the structure of your headings, subheadings, paragraphs and sentences to include the keywords you spent a copious amount of time researching.
Weave these together and your Blog should be top of the pops when your potential Customer is searching those words and phrases in the search engines.
It also drives the topic and specific content ideas for your Blogs. Write about what the client desires! It’s going to equal more hits on that lovely written piece of yours.
Step 4: Get Writing
Now it’s the fun bit! Though for some people, it may be the dreaded bit. Writing can be a nerve-wracking, difficult experience, especially for a busy Small Business Owner, but there are methods and tools to research that can help you along your way. (We’ve even written a few Blogs about it! Check them out if you need some tips)
If you can, structure your Blog for SEO, allowing your Customers to find it much more easily when they’re searching for specific keywords, you know, those ones you researched earlier. Wink wink.
If you believe you don’t have any of the skill or time to write it yourself, you can always hire a third party professional to write it for you. Sites n Stores actually has this service if you so desire!
Step 5: Publish and Optimise
You’ve done it! The hard part of writing the Blog is over, and you’re ready to release it out into the world for your Customers to see, and hopefully be drawn to.
But of course, algorithms don’t start working overnight. It will take a bit of time before your traffic starts rolling in. Make sure your SEO is implemented to bump you up on the SERP and ensure that you’re utilising other areas of your business, such as your Social Media platforms or email lists to spread the word of your fantastic new Blog.
Attracting traffic to your Blog isn’t the easiest of processes, and of course it’s not as simple as writing and being done with it. But no matter if you’re a complete pro at writing, yet hopeless at the optimisation or love putting your SEO hat on but can’t handle putting pen to paper, there is help on either side!