There are two big things that matter in every piece of content you write.
The first is the content. You need to create content that provides value to your customers.
You want them read your post and walk away feeling like they got something out of it. Maybe they found a new tool, a new way to use your product, a tip they can apply to their business.
When you're able to do this consistently, you'll start seeing some nice traction in your blog and social media. You'll get more readers, add to your email list, and eventually see more paying customers.
To start, content is what matters. And not just ok content but great content. So that is the thing you want to focus on first. Creating amazing content every single time.
The second thing to pay attention to, once you've got the content part down, is optimizing for search engine results. After all, if no one can actually find your content the chances of them reading it is slim to none.
How to Think About Search
Ok, so first let's back up a minute. When I say optimized for search, what does that actually mean?
It means that while what you write is very important you always want to write in a way that is search engine friendly. After all, the higher your post displays on a search engine results page, the more clicks you are going to get.
So, when you write a post you want to keep a keyword in mind. Something that will show up on search engines when people search for that term. This is especially important for local businesses.
Here's an example:
Let's say you're a yoga studio in the Back Bay and you want to expand and get a few new clients in your local area. Here's what you can do.
In this case, let's keep it simple. Your best bet for getting more search traffic is to be on the first page of Google for terms like "yoga studio Back Bay" and "Back Bay yoga" to name two examples.
Tools and Tactics to Optimization
So, you're going to want to create good content that also incorporates your keyword into the post.
Here's how to do it.
If your blog runs on WordPress, it's simple. The easiest thing is to get a WordPress plugin that can help. The two best are Yoast and All In One SEO. You can see an example of what Yoast looks like inside WordPress below
These plugins are going to help you see where you're missing easy wins in your posts. And, they let you get your posts and pages optimized really easily. No coding or anything like that, just fill in your keyword and some info and you're good go to.
These tools are going to highlight that you have your post optimized in a few places. Here they are:
Title
Whenever possible, always have your keyword in the title of your post. If you're a local business, absolutely have your keyword (which should feature your location) in the title of your pages too.
Heading
You also want to try to have at least one heading in your post that contains the keyword you're trying to rank for. Ideally, you'll have headings every 200-300 words.
Image
There are two things you want to do with any images in your post. First, include your keyword in the name of your image. And second, in the "alt" section of your uploaded image in WordPress add your keyword to the
Post Content
Don't go crazy and start jamming keywords everywhere. You're going to get targeted as spam if you do that. What you want to do is feature your keyword in the first 100 words of your content, and then again just one or two more times.
Metadata
Your metadata is text that shows up right underneath the link in the search engine results. It's a quick sentence that summarizes what your post is about. Tools like Yoast will have a box on each post and page you can fill out that will take care of the metadata for you.
Most people ignore this stuff. That's a mistake.
Even if you know nothing about SEO (search engine optimization) you can take about 5 extra minutes with each blog post you write to make sure it's optimized.
Just these small changes can help your content climb the search engine ranks and get your found by more people.
