Take a deep breath: writing a blog post isn’t as hard as it sounds and can make a huge difference in your search rankings! 

But just like anything else, there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. By utilizing some best-practices, you can increase your blog posts’ ability to rank better, increase your overall website traffic, and ultimately increase the amount of leads funneling into your business.

To make the most out of your blog writing time, here are 10 tips to remember when writing your next blog post:

 

#1 Your Post Should Answer A Question, Provide Guidance, Or Solve A User’s Problem

Think about a situation you might have found yourself in recently: you had a question about something while you were online- what did you do? You probably typed your question into Google.

Users that are visiting your website and/or blog are no different. They are looking for answers to their questions. So think about the questions or problems that your customers are coming to you with. Those are great things to write about!

If you’re struggling to come up with content ideas, type your business’ primary service into Google, scroll to the bottom, and observe the “Searches related to ____.” Those can spark some ideas of what to write about.

 

Mountain-Mojo-Group-Organic-SEO-Google-Search-Results

Some great ideas for your next blog post can be pulled from this:

 

For more in-depth post ideas, we recommend you utilize Answer the Public. This site provides free suggestions (with a daily limit) for great post concepts and content ideas. It aggregates the most common questions related to your provided keywords and is a life-saver for someone stuck trying to figure out what to write about.

 

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A small sample of what you can get from “Answer the Public.” These ideas are great if you’re a water restoration contractor looking for content ideas!

 

When trying to build a relationship with a stranger that is a potential future customer, giving them value in a well written blog is the perfect way to build that initial trust. Too busy to research and/or write blog concepts? We’d love the opportunity to write them for you!

 

#2 Keep The Self-Promotion To A Minimum

When writing a post, remember to stay away from self-promotion and telling personal stories. You can also sprinkle in self-promotion and personal stories in a post but don’t make it the center of the post altogether. Remember, the internet is brutal at times.

Some users don’t care about your personal stories. Users came to your site looking for answers to their questions or to learn about your products or services.

We’re not saying that your personal stories are not important- they absolutely are! They are just better used on your “About,” “Our History,” “Our Story,” “Our Team,” or “What Makes Us Different” pages instead! Include links to those pages in your posts and then write as much as you want about your personal history and stories on those pages- just keep it to a minimum on your posts.

 

#3 Keep The Reader In Mind At All Times

Everyone is busy and readers are looking for answers to their questions, right now. The last thing you want to do is make your content hard to read, full of fluff, have personal anecdotes, and unnecessary information not related to your post’s topic. Remember, a user can exit your post and website in a single click- so don’t annoy them! When you’re crafting your post, picture your target customer or persona and think about how to keep him/her engaged on the post you’re writing.

Not sure who your demographic is or still think everyone is your demographic? Think about your ideal customer, the one who uses your services most and also is the best to work with. That’s a good demographic to start with!

 

#4 Do A Deep Dive Into Your Concept

This might seem counterintuitive with the previous point but when you’re writing your post, go in-depth with the content. Try to think of all the related questions or topics to what your main focus is on.

For example, if your blog post is on “Water Damage and Flooding,” think about what people might be searching related to that topic. They might be searching for:

  • Indoor or interior water damage
  • Outdoor or exterior water damage
  • Common water damage sources
  • What to do if you find water damage
  • How to prevent water damage

Those bullets can all be headlines in your post with content written about them!

In addition, posts that are 1,200-1,600 words in length tend to outperform and rank higher than posts that have less.

Your reader came to the internet to solve a problem, typically a complex one, thus the need to use Google. Although not every reader has a long attention span, most will take the time to learn more than what they’re searching for. As long as you keep it engaging of course!

 

#5 Use Engaging Headlines To Break Up Content

By using engaging headlines (like the ones in this post for example), it causes readers to pause, read your headline, become interested, and continue reading what you have written underneath the headline.

Here’s a real-life example of how headlines stop readers. This is a heatmap of a blog post and shows where users have stopped on the page. The “hotter” the color, the more often they stopped to read. The “cooler” the color, the more likely users blew right past it without stopping.

 

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Notice where the red is? It’s over the headline. Notice where the blue is? It’s at the very bottom of that text section.

 

Without using headlines, readers would skim your blog post and leave without retaining anything that you spent hours writing.

 

#6 Add In Photos To Break Up Text And Illustrate A Point, Not To Add “Fluff”

Similar to adding engaging headlines, images break up text, spark attention, and increases the likelihood that users will read your content. Take these two posts for example:

 

Post #1:

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Post #2:

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Images courtesy of NeilPatel

 

When we suggest adding images to your posts, don’t just add in images for the sake of adding images. Images are great visual elements that can drive home a point to a reader!

Did you notice in bullet number 4 that I added an image to demonstrate my point about adding engaging headers to your post? There was a point to that image– it wasn’t added as “fluff!” Before adding an image to a post, ask yourself this question:

“Does this image help explain my point or help the reader understand what I’m talking about?”

If the answer is no, choose a different image! 

Adding in random images that have nothing to do with your post can potentially confuse your readers and harm the post’s authenticity. Don’t add “fluff!” It doesn’t make your post and content stronger. And don’t forget about infographics! People are often looking for statistics to support their decision making. Infographics also help the reader who might not be interested in your article yet, to scroll down and get ‘hooked’ on another of your blog’s points.

 

#7 Use Keywords Related To Your Business’ Services Or Products

This point ties in with keeping self-promotion to a minimum and writing content to answer users’ questions. When you are writing your posts, make sure that you are inserting keywords related to your business’ services, products, or service area. Blog posts are great ways to increase your website’s visibility, rankings, and leads because of the amount of keywords you can add to your entire site.

 

Think about it this way:

You create a 10-page website. On each page, you add around 20 keywords (avoiding keyword stuffing, which can get you penalized by Google).

So you have a total of 200 keywords on your website for your products or services.

 

Now let’s add in a blog:

If you write two posts a month with 20 keywords on each post per year, you’ll add 480 keywords to your site each year.

And keyword-rich posts work! Here’s an actual example of increased traffic from one of our Clients:

 

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These are the clicks generated from all blog posts:

 

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These are the impressions on Google generated from all blog posts:

 

Blogs are great places for keywords that can make your website a better source of revenue and leads by increasing your rankings and traffic! In fact, utilizing a blog as part of your website with regular content will give you a 434% better chance of ranking on search engines.

 

8# Link, Link, Link 😉

Whenever possible, always add links in your posts. Internal links, or links to other pages or posts on your own website can benefit your site in a few ways:

External links are links that link out to other websites and are just as important as internal links. In fact, adding external links to your website can:

  • Increases your website’s relevance by Google for keywords related to your business
  • Improves your trust and reputation from both users and Google alike

So whenever possible, make sure you add in both internal and external links to your posts!

 

#9 Summarize Your Post With A Conclusion Paragraph

You were probably told in high school to never add in a “Conclusion” paragraph or even use the word “Conclusion” in any writing. Well, this is 2019 and blogging is not your high school essay paper.

Adding in a conclusion paragraph is a great way for readers to read through your content and get a general idea of what your post is about. In fact, NeilPatel has documented cases where users will read the conclusion paragraph first and then circle back up to the top if they read something they like in the conclusion.

While we hope that your engaging headlines and images will slow users down as they begin to read your content, tying up an entire blog post with a conclusion paragraph is a nice way to summarize your thoughts and hit your readers one more time with your post’s points.

#10 Promote Your Blog Post Wherever You Can

After your blog post is finished, tell the world about it! Post it wherever you can: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Medium, Reddit, SlideShare, etc. You never know where someone might read a snippet of it, become interested, and click through. In fact, 66% of marketers used social media to promote their blogs. Promoting your blog on various platforms increases the likelihood that your post will be read.

Remember, not everyone has been to your site…but most people have been to Facebook…so make sure you put your content there as well!

 

Conclusion

Writing consistent posts for your website’s blog can make or break your website’s traffic- no one is arguing that! And because blog writing takes so much time to do (on average 3 hours and 16 minutes per post), we believe that you should do it the right way- so you’re not wasting your time on content that doesn’t do anything for your website.

When writing your next blog post, make sure you are writing your content with your users in mind by answering a question, providing guidance, or helping them solve a problem. Your posts should also contain a deep dive of a topic, rich keywords, engaging headlines and photos to break up text blocks, lots of links, and a good conclusion paragraph to tie everything together. When you’re done with writing, make sure you promote your blog post wherever you can!

By utilizing some best-practices, you will be able to maximize your post’s (and website’s) rankings, traffic, and ultimately the amount of leads funneling into your business.

Happy writing!

Still have questions about blog writing best practices? Set up a training with one of our digital strategists! Feel like your time can be spent more efficiently on the business? Set up a meeting to discuss ways that Mountain Mojo can write those blogs for you!

 

The text "Have an idea? Let's find your Mojo," lies above the Mountain Mojo Group logo.

 

Mountain Mojo Group is located in FlagstaffWilliamsthe White Mountains, and Page, Arizona and provides top-quality marketing solutions and design! Our team works with small businesses all across the state of Arizona, providing a variety of marketing and design services including, social media managementphotographyvideographystrategyweb designgraphic designSEO, and paid search engine marketing. Our team of creatives is ready to tackle your next marketing project. Contact our team today at (928) 440-5301 or stop by one of our offices located throughout northern Arizona.

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