Many businesses have blogs, but most struggle with creating quality content that engages readers. That’s because writing a good blog post requires more than just slapping together a few sentences.
It’s one thing to write something interesting or entertaining, but you also need to take your content to the next level by writing posts that are entertaining and SEO optimized so they can boost your capability to be found by online searchers.
In this guide, we’re sharing tips for putting together the essential components and creating a solid, compelling blog post. These are the building blocks you need to create great content that will engage your readers and help boost your search engine rankings. Let’s get started!
1. Don’t Skip Meta Descriptions
The metadescription tells search engines what your page is about, and it’s commonly displayed when your site shows up in search results. With your metadescription, you have the opportunity to describe what readers can expect from your post, enticing them to click that link and read more.
Ideally, your meta description should be no longer than 155-160 characters, and it’s a good idea to include at least one keyword that describes the topic of your post. I write my meta descriptions using a character counter tool that also shows the percentage of similar words/phrases so it doesn’t look like I’m overstuffing it with keywords.
For example, if you’re writing an article about marketing your small business, you might use a keyword like “small business marketing” in your content and meta description.
Then your meta description might look like this: “Small business marketing requires a mix of traditional and digital tactics. It all boils down to one thing – sharing information and creating loyalty. Learn how.”
Your meta description is prime real estate for SEO, so don’t waste it by using meaningless or generic copy! Instead, make it count, use a CTA and hook your readers in so they want to click through to your site.
2. Create a Structured Content Hierarchy
If you’re like most people, when you sit down to write a blog post, you have a general idea of what you want to say. But if you’re in a rush trying to create content on your own, that might be about as far ahead as your planning goes.
This approach can be problematic because it can lead to long, disorganized, rambling posts that are difficult for readers to follow. And if your readers can’t follow your content, they’re not going to stick around for long.
To avoid losing their attention, you need to create a content hierarchy and organize your thoughts into a structure that’s easy for readers to follow.
The best way to do this is to use headings and subheadings (H1s for headings, H2s for subheadings, H3s for sub-subheadings, and so on). This will help break your content into logical, bite-sized chunks that are easy to read and understand.
Plus, you’ll make your post much more SEO-friendly, as search engines take headings and subheadings into account when ranking content.
If you want to take things a step further, you can also use bullet points and lists. This is especially helpful if you’re writing a how-to post or a listicle. Bullet points and lists make content more skimmable, which is important because many of your readers may be accessing your content on mobile devices between meetings, on their lunch breaks or when they’re outside the office.
3. Integrate Internal and External Links
Next, you need to make sure that your content includes a good variety of links. In addition to linking internally (to other pages on your site), you should include external links, as that can help build trust with readers and boost your SEO rankings.
Internal links can boost user experience and time spent on your site, both of which indicate that your content is valuable and trustworthy. Include at least one internal link wherever relevant and natural to guide your prospects through your content and further down your sales funnel.
For example, if you’re writing a blog post that discusses SEO tips and touches on keyword research, your first link should be to one of your blog posts about choosing the best keywords for SEO.
External links associate you with other authoritative sites and can even help you rank higher in SERPs. Statistics and studies are often good sources of external links (but don’t go overboard – no one likes being spammed with tons of external links and you don’t want to pull focus away from your article and products/services!)
In both cases, make sure every link in your blog post is working and takes readers to where they’re supposed to go. It’s frustrating for your readers to click on a link and get an error page and having 404s on your site can also negatively impact your rankings/performance.
4. Have a Plan For Your Reader’s Next Step
When people are reading your blog, you don’t want them to be one-and-done. Instead, think about your goal as you write and determine where you want to send them next. For instance, do you want them to:
- Keep learning about you? It can take several interactions for a customer to be ready to buy. You want to give them the opportunity to absorb more of your content. Make it easy for them to access via the links you include in your article, your images, your offers, etc.
- Make a purchase? Do they know enough about your product? Link them to an opportunity to buy, or give them a chance to find our more and become more intrigued by connecting them to a guide, image gallery, set up a conversation, etc.
- Deepen the relationship? Guides and other downloadables can be really attractive lead magnets that move people further down your marketing funnel from awareness/interest to consideration/decision. You can also gate your downloadables, collect email addresses and use email as a way to communicate more directly with your customer/prospective customer
You know your product and site, but your customers can’t read your mind. You need to give them a good, solid trail of breadcrumbs that leads them to an eventual purchase.
5. Use Images, and Don’t Forget About Alt Text
Images are a great way to break up your text and add some visual interest to your blog post. You can also give your posts a boost by optimizing those images for search engines too.
The easiest way is by adding alt tags, which are descriptions of your images that appear when an image can’t be displayed. Alt text helps with accessiblty for your site users and it can also help search engines understand what the image is showing and why it’s relevant to your content.
You can include relevant keywords in your alt text so that your image will show up in the search results when people are searching for relevant information.
However, there’s an art to including them and doing it well. Your alt text should really tell people what’s happening in the image. Stuffing your alt text full of keywords isn’t the right thing to do from either an accessibility or a user experience perspective.
6. Create Content in Different Categories
To make your blog posts more attractive, diversify the types of content you create. The diversity should be reflected in topics, formats, lengths, and styles because different types of content will appeal to different people.
Every post doesn’t have to be a marathon but longer posts perform better. Shorter posts can be easily skimmable and accessible as long as they are compelling in some way (including using multimedia components or visuals). Below are a few ideas for types of blog posts/content you can create and guidelines for creating them effectively.
- Long-form blog posts: These are meant to be comprehensive guides or resources that cover everything someone needs to know about a particular topic. These mega-pieces tend to be 2000+ words because they’re immersive and traffic-driving gold.
- Short and sweet blog posts: These are great for quick reads or lighthearted topics. They can be listicles, “how-to” guides, or even just short pieces that get straight to the point. Anything under 1000 words usually falls into this category. To get some immediate gratifications in this category, you can repurpose other content. For example, many sites create blog posts that transcribe podcasts, videos, or webinars.
- Multimedia blog posts: These are super short pieces meant to go along with an infographic, video, podcast episode, or other pieces of content. They’re just there to accompany the main event (and give the post a little SEO juice). They should usually range between 300 and 400 words.
- Human interest and branding posts: These are short pieces meant to humanize the brand. They can be guest contributions, employee spotlights, interviews with experts, or anything of that nature. These are usually around 1000 words.
Wrapping Up
Not so difficult, right?
Now that you know the essential components of a good blog post, it’s time to get writing! Just one more thing to remember – the most important part of writing a good blog post is GOOD WRITING.
Create content that fills a need and that your customers/prospects care about. Consider the different personas you’re creating for and keep them in mind as you strategize and write. That’s the best way to ensure you’re capturing their business – by answering their questions and giving them the information they need to make a decision.
Keep these elements in mind as you create new content, and you’ll be well on your way to developing a successful blog that drives traffic and engagement. All it takes is a little practice, so get out there and start writing those killer blog posts!
