By Alan Coleman on 1 May 2013
Have you started blogging yet? If you have, well done! You have taken a huge step towards future-proofing your ranking on Google. But the questions is, are you blogging optimally? The last thing you want is to waste time engaging in worthless blogging. Eh…there is a ‘correct’ way of blogging? Yes! You might think that blogging is just about writing an article here and there about something related to your business and your target audience. However, it is not as simple as that. Here are five very simple tips we have for optimising your blog posts. 1. Think about the name of your blog post When you are naming your blog post, think about terms and phrases that your readers will be interested in and are likely to search. If your title is a close fit to something your readers are likely to be looking for, it is more likely to show up on Google. Furthermore, searchers are more likely to click through. 2. Tag Blog Posts with the Correct Meta Information Google have said time and time again that ranking does not depend on meta info. However, we still believe that it is very important to fill out meta information as fully and as completely as possible. The reason for this is that Google pulls information from the meta descriptions whenever your page shows up in Google’s organic results. This means that meta descriptions warrant just as much thought as blog content does, as they can play a major role in attracting people to actually click through to your website from the SERPS. 3. Don’t Stuff Your Blog Posts with Keywords You do, of course, have to include SOME level of keywords in your content. However, Google will notice if you fill your content to the gills with keywords. Even worse, they will penalise your for it. As a guideline, we suggest including your primary keywords a maximum if four times throughout a typical 500 word article. 4. Have Some Personality Who wants to read something boring? Striking the balance between being informative and engaging (and perhaps a little bit entertaining) is a talent but it is something which should be worked towards. Give your readers something to return for. Make them realise there is a person behind the blog. Write like a person having a conversation with your reader. Don’t speak AT your reader. We think Irish businesses are in a unique position to do this. We even wrote a…ahem…great article on why Irish businesses are particularly suited to creating great content. 5. Include a Call-To-Action So you have written a great blog post which has spoken directly to your reader. Your reader is captivated by it. But now what? Humans need to be told what to do. Include a call to action at the end of your blog post; tell them to share your post through the various social media channels, to leave a comment, or sign up for a company newsletter. Hopefully you find this guide useful! And don’t forget to Retweet it or +1 it if you are that way inclined – it’s as simple as clicking the buttons underneath this article. Last but not least, sign up for our newsletter – something highly entertaining to read every month!
