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Content Marketing for SaaS: 25 Types of Blog Content to Increase MRR (with examples!)

Martin & Lyndsay — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 09:19:28 +0000

There are two big problems with content marketing in the SaaS industry right now…

1. SaaS content isn’t good enough
It’s thin, generic content created solely for ranking on Google. It’s not creative or different, and although it may get rankings and traffic, users bounce off the page pretty quick!

2. There’s only one goal: to get rankings and traffic
Of course, content should increase a SaaS company’s rankings and traffic, but content should also help you hit other business goals, such as increasing sign-ups, improving retention, or attracting enterprise clients. This needs an entirely different content marketing approach – but if it’s done well, it can increase your MRR!

Ultimately, investing in content should increase your monthly recurring revenue and give you a good return on investment – and that takes more than just creating content that ranks for any old keywords.

Because if you’re increasing your website traffic but not your sales, then what’s the point?

How did we help increase paying customers by 187% for a SaaS Client?

Through our content marketing strategy, we helped increase ScoreApp’s paying customers by 187%.

This was because we created a content strategy based on their goals. So yes, part of that was increasing rankings and website traffic, and other parts are focused on increasing conversions and customer retention.

What business goal are you focused on?

This blog post breaks down the EXACT content you can create to help you achieve a specific business goal.

Content can actually help you do the following:

Focus on the most pressing goals first!

Increasing traffic and rankings is only part of what good content can do for your SaaS business.

So, start with your most pressing goals from the list above, and work your way backwards to identify the right types of SaaS content to get there.

Luckily, we’ve already done the hard work for you! We’ve outlined how to achieve each goal below and precisely the kind of content you need to create, too!

Goal 1: Blog content to help SaaS businesses get found on search engines

Your target audience is already out there googling questions about their pain points.

So, they’ll find you when you answer them (and optimise your blog posts for those keywords). If you don’t? They’ll find your competitors instead!

1. How-to articles and tutorials

Pretty self-explanatory, right? These blog posts teach your audience how to accomplish a specific task.

In most cases, your target prospects are googling them because they’ve encountered some kind of problem – and are now stuck.

These SaaS blog posts are especially relevant for top-of-the-funnel prospects: those who are still trying to figure out what’s causing their pain point and how to take the first steps to fix it.

But if you make them more specific (e.g. “How to run a webinar on Zoom“ rather than just “How to run a webinar”), you can target prospects with more awareness, too. Once again, it all depends on your goals!

It’s worth noting that top-of-the-funnel articles like this are typically the most difficult to rank (as they have a LOT of competition), so we’d recommend doing some in-depth keyword research to figure out the content gaps out there and what you could realistically rank for.

It’s certainly possible – but only with the right amount of prep!

Examples of SaaS Content:

Writing SEO Articles with Semrush: The 4-Step Guide – notice how this is about their own product? The people reading this will much more likely convert to customers
How to Use a CRM: The Ultimate Guide
How to make a website with Canva

2. X vs. Y articles

Once they get closer to the bottom of the sales funnel, your prospects know what type of SaaS product they need. Now, they’re comparing different options to find the perfect one for them.

So, make their life easier with comparison articles (i.e. “you vs. one of your competitors”).

Don’t be biased, though! I know it’s tempting to always say that your SaaS product is better, but this would backfire. You’d either:

lose your audience’s trust
end up selling to customers who aren’t the right fit (have fun dealing with complaints and refunds!)

Instead, create objective overviews that showcase who each software is – and isn’t – for.

Examples of SaaS content:

3. Review articles

Just like comparisons, these SaaS blog posts are for prospects who aaaaaaaaaaaalmost know what they want. The superpower of review articles, though? They can either confirm your audience’s hunch or…. flip their world upside down!

So, create (*holds up a megaphone*) OBJECTIVE reviews of both your own SaaS tool and your top competitors.

To avoid coming across as biased, you can also back up your claims with screenshots and user-generated content, like reviews and testimonials.

But still, whenever you identify a competitor’s weakness that you solve with your own software… well, it’d be silly not to clarify that!

Oh, and by the way, you can also review tools that aren’t direct competitors but, on the contrary, would complement your own! Just make sure that’s clear in the article.

Examples of SaaS content:

4. ‘Alternatives to’ articles

Some of your target customers have already tried (or at the very least, ‘looked into’) one of your competitor’s SaaS tools. But they’re now realising it doesn’t match their preferences, budget or goals.

Basically, they’re back at the drawing board (=Google). Except they’re now using keywords like ‘best [competitor name] alternatives.’

So, plan some strategic blog posts around them! You can list a few different names (including your own, duh), detail their pros and cons, and clarify who they are/aren’t for.

Examples of SaaS Content:

Goal 2: Getting customers signed up for a free trial or ‘Freemium’ version of your SaaS product

Many SaaS purchases start with a free trial or a ‘freemium’ version (i.e. the basic level of the product you can use for free.

Your blog can convert traffic into free trial sign-ups or freemium members, with the aim that they later turn into paid subscribers.

You might think that a free trial is easy to convert – after all, it’s free! What is there to lose? But you’re still asking people to dedicate time to figure out a new tool. So there’s still some resistance there.

In fact, research shows that only 8.5% of organic traffic converts into free trials (although it’s higher for organic traffic than it is with paid ads).

So your trick is to increase this as much as possible.

You do that by creating content where that trial would be a logical next step. Here are the best SaaS blog posts to do that…

‘How to find the right [type of SaaS product]’

Some of your prospects have already figured out what type of product they need. But as for identifying the right one for them? They’re still not sure.

So, to get them out of their ‘overwhelm mode’ (and onto your website), write blog posts that guide them through this consideration.

But once again, be objective! You probably created your SaaS product with a very specific audience, problem and/or goal in mind. That means it won’t be for eVeRyOnE.

So, make sure your blog posts reflect this – and direct the right prospects to your trial.

Example of SaaS content:

2. Buyer’s guides

Much like the previous example, this type of SaaS blog post aims to help your audience find the right product for them.

Buying guides tend to be more in-depth and have a stronger focus on, you know… TAKING ACTION!

Psst: if you want to get more trials for your Enterprise plan, consider gating your buyer’s guides. That way, those large companies will still gain access to your juicy insights. And you? To the email address or phone number of their key players. A win-win!

Examples of SaaS buyer’s guides:

3. Industry reports

Sure, they’ll take a bit (*cough cough* A LOT) longer to put together, and you’ll need to conduct your own research. For instance, at Jammy Digital, we used a quiz to gather exclusive insights and compiled them into a report on Entrepreneur Mental Health.

But trust us, it’ll be worth it. Industry reports are the kinds of SaaS blog posts that get you more trial sign-ups and position you as a thought leader too.

So, that’s why you don’t want to give them away to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Instead, tease some stats in the actual blog post – but ask for an email address to get the full report.

Examples of SaaS industry reports

The Entrepreneur Mental Health Report 2023 (okay so this is ours, but you get the picture )
Accounting & bookkeeping industry performance report
e-Learning Industry Report

4. ‘Why’ content

Even when they’re pretty serious about (potentially) choosing your product, most prospects still have plenty of questions and objections.

THESE are the types of SaaS blog posts that will answer them for you!

Think of articles like “Why we’re more expensive than [competitor].”

We can feel your reluctance from here: “Lyndsay and Martin, are you okay? I can’t do that! I’d put people off.”

But we create this kind of content regularly (even when we start hyperventilating before pressing ‘post’):

You do need to put some people off – Hint hint: those who wouldn’t be the right fit for your SaaS product
These articles can actually get you more sign-ups from the right audience – After all, 85% of consumers are more likely to support brands they see as honest.

So, answer those uncomfortable WHYs, too.

Example of ‘why’ content for SaaS:

Goal 3: Get someone onto a paid plan after their free trial

So, you got more trial sign-ups (*virtual high five*). That doesn’t mean you should stop creating SaaS blog posts for these customers.

Don’t get us wrong: some people will switch to a paid plan at the end of the free trial. Smoothly and spontaneously.

Some others might consider it – but they still have doubts or reservations.

So, answer their questions, show them exactly what the next step should be, and remind them of WHY they should go for it.

Essentially, create ‘onboarding content’ that helps your customer understand your SaaS as much as possible and see the benefits of using it.

‘How to set up [your product name]’

Let’s face it: not everyone is good with tech!

And even though you think your SaaS product is easy-peasy, it might not be that lemon-squeezy for some customers.

So, offer them an additional helping hand: write simple tutorials on how to get started, step-by-step.

Examples:

2. FAQs about your SaaS product

Do your sales and customer service teams get the same questions ALL. THE. TIME?

You can easily make their stress levels lower and your conversions higher: just answer those questions in one place. Keep a working web page of FAQ that even your customer service team could update (they’re the ones who know the answers to these questions the best!)

You can also create separate SaaS blog posts to expand on some of them individually. FYI, this is FAB for search engine rankings, too!

But have a clear FAQ that answers questions, and if you have an article or video that goes into more depth on the answer, then link to that, too. It’ll be a HUGE help for your audience.

Examples:

3. Case studies

Case studies are excellent for:

bottom-of-the-funnel prospects (those who’re SO close to saying “I choose you,” Pokémon-style)
anyone who’s already gone through the free trial and now needs a final nudge

So, instead of just telling them how much of a difference your SaaS tool will make… SHOW IT to them!

Share case studies of how another company generated X results with your product.

And to really trigger their FOMO, be specific. Use both clear examples and client input (like testimonials).

Examples:

How Apollo Used Chili Piper to Increase Revenue by 300%
How ClearPivot Saves 40 Hours On Client Reporting Every Month (& How That Improves Performance)
Drift Uses Gong’s to Increase Sales Productivity “GOLDMINE OF DATA” to Increase Sales Productivity
How we helped increase customers by 187% for ScoreApp – okay, this is ours, but it would be rude not to share it, right?!

4. ‘How to get the most out of [your SaaS product]’

People are so busy, with a lot on their minds. So they may have signed up to your SaaS with great intentions of getting stuck in, but then they lose interest and get distracted.

So, some of them will sign up for your free trial BUT:

Forget to use it
Only look at it briefly (and end up missing out on the juiciest bits)

That’s why you need a magic wand from Ollivander’s to turn more free trials into paid customers.

Only joking. What you actually need is to create content on how to get the very best out of your SaaS software.

Basically, highlight its features and benefits and show your customers what difference they’ll make for them.

Examples:

Goal 4: Helping new customers transfer from your competitor to your software

Some people choose to go with your competitor over you (a bit annoying, but okay.)

But some of those people might find that your competitor’s product just isn’t working for them.

Or perhaps you know that your product is better suited to what they need – maybe you can save them more time and money or offer better features.

You can use content to get them to move over from your competitor to you – but this does take some education.

We’re not just talking about a monetary cost here; there’s a huge pain in the arse cost! Because your customer has to spend their time transferring to you – and even if they know your product is better suited, getting someone to do that is tricky.

It’s why companies like ActiveCampaign offer a free migration service for new customers (a fantastic idea!)

So, yes, it’s tough. But with the right educational, honest content, you can get people to transfer from your competitor to you.

Here are some ideas to help you…

‘How to/how long does it take to switch from [competitor name] to [your name]’

The biggest concerns when switching SaaS tools? Time and difficulty.

If they don’t know what to expect from you, some prospects will assume the worst (=that the transition would be too time-consuming and difficult). And, you know… give up without even trying.

Instead, write SaaS blog posts or create video content that walks them through this switchover and tell them exactly how long it’ll take.

Examples:

**2. ‘Is it really worth moving from [competitor name] to [your name]?’**

It’s becoming the mantra of this article, but once again: be objective!

Switching SaaS products:

will be worth it for some users and in some specific instances (if so, then talk about that)
but also talk about who it is NOT right for (so, be honest. After all, you don’t want to mislead wrong-fit customers… and then deal with refund requests, do you?)

Examples:

3. ‘How do we support your moving from [competitor name] to [your name]?’

It doesn’t matter if it’s to the other side of a stream, a rickety escalator or… a different SaaS tool: any jump feels less scary if you know there’s a helping hand on the other side (“You jump, I jump,” as Rose and Jack would say).

So, show your prospects that, when they switch to your software, you’ll be there to catch them.

Examples:

Goal 5: Make your customers successful by using your SaaS

You might have been led to believe that getting new sign-ups is the end goal. But to reduce churn, you should create content that assists your current users too.

So, here’s how blogging for your SaaS tool can turn existing customers into faithful FANS.

‘So, you’ve successfully set up [your name], now what?’

Your customers have signed up for your tool, and now they’re met with a new interface they know next-to-nothing about. Some of them will start to feel a little (=very) overwhelmed.

After all, nobody wants to waste HOURS trying to figure it all out on their own, jumping from one help forum to the next.

So, bring all the next steps in one place!

Examples:

2. Learning more tricks

Ever thought that a popular film was over-hyped because you just didn’t get it? But then someone mentioned, “Oh, it all clicked together with the post-credit scene,” and you were like, “Wait, there was a post-credit scene?!”

You DON’T want that to happen to your SaaS customers!

So, create blog posts that help them unlock all the best features or save even more time. For instance, you could share these tricks in a round-up article or go more in-depth through separate ones.

Examples:

3. How-to articles to teach customers how to be successful

Can your software be used by different audience segments? Perhaps in different ways, too?

Then, create more personalised tutorial-style articles for each of them. Show them what they can actually achieve when they use your tool strategically!

One of ScoreApp’s most shared articles in their customer support Facebook group is 29 Ways to Launch Your Quiz – a simple yet hugely effective article that helps users once they’ve set up their quiz!

Examples:

4. Templates to make your customers’ lives easier

We bet your software is already saving them time and headaches. But maybe some templates can make even MORE of a difference?

Then, when blogging for your SaaS company, draw attention to them. For instance, you could round them up by highlighting the best templates for each segment or goal.

Examples:

Goal 6: Attract Enterprise customers (i.e. the big players!)

Even though they require longer sales cycles, these clients bring you the most moolah.

So understandably you want more of them. But, as you probably already know, they tend to be different from your average user.

Attracting Enterprise clients needs a different approach to content marketing. They’re unlikely to sign up to a free trial straight away. You may need gated content, a solid email nurture sequence, webinar and individual sales calls with larger clients to walk them through your content.

Ultimately, for Enterprise clients, you’re looking at creating sales enablement content – content that helps your potential clients make a buying decision and supports your sales teams in selling your SaaS.

Here are some ideas to help you…

Industry reports as lead magnets

We talked about these reports before because they also help you ‘sell’ more free trials.

Think about it, though. Who’s more likely to download and read a long report: a freelancer or someone behind a big company?

Yep, the latter.

So, write a blog post that teases your report’s key points and stats but treats the actual document as a proper lead magnet.

That way, your sales team will get to contact the decision-makers who downloaded it!

The results of these reports supports your sales copy and messaging – it backs up your argument.

Examples:

2. Original research that supports investment in your SaaS

These types of SaaS blog posts are fabulous for grabbing the attention of the big players. Why?

They prove you KNOW what you’re talking about – unlike those competitors who are regurgitating the same info as everyone else
They show them the difference your software will make, with concrete examples

So, share relevant and original research – and tie it back to your product.

Examples:

3. ‘What is our Enterprise plan, and is it right for you?’

Sometimes, the simplest solutions really are the most effective.

You want to get more people onto your Enterprise plan? Talk about it more!

And most importantly, show these big companies exactly how it’ll benefit them.

Examples:

4. Use cases

No, they’re not exactly the same as ‘case studies.’

Instead, these additional SaaS blog posts will cover how your software can be used:

By one of your audience segments (e.g. marketing agencies, multinational companies, etc.)
To overcome a specific problem or reach a goal (e.g. “How [segment] can use [type of SaaS product] to increase their sales by 50%”)

You want to attract more Enterprise customers, right? Then focus on ‘use cases’ that’d make their key decision-makers think, “OMG, was this written about me?!”

(Just… not in a creepy way).

Examples of SaaS Use Cases:

Goal 7: Getting affiliates

There’s a difference between ‘regular customers’ and ‘faithful fans’.

A benefit of attracting the latter is… they can even do the selling for you! As long as you promote your affiliate scheme and make their life easier, at least.

So, blogging for your SaaS company will also turn some customers into your best salespeople.

‘How does our affiliate scheme work?’

Once again, the simplest ideas are often the smartest.

To help more people find out about your affiliate scheme (and sign up for it), blog about it more.

Walk your customers through it, and show them how it’ll benefit them.

Examples of affiliate promotion for SaaS:

2. Content that makes it easier to be an affiliate

Some customers might be intrigued by your affiliate programme. But if promoting your brand sounds like ‘effort’? They might go, “Thank you, but no, thank you.”

Instead, make the whole process as smooth as that first coffee of the day.

Create resources they can use (like email swipe files, promotional images and social media post templates) and… yep, blog about them, too.

Examples:

We can create all that stand-out content for your SaaS company blog

Oof, that was a LONG list! But by now, you should be crystal-clear on what to blog about to reach those different goals.

Does it sound like a lot of work? We’re not going to lie: it is.

But it’s the kind of work we LOVE doing (and happen to be pretty well known for).

So, as long as you’re happy to share your expertise during our onboarding process, we can keep blogging for your SaaS business. Get in touch, and let’s turn your blog into a lead-generating machine.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post Content Marketing for SaaS: 25 Types of Blog Content to Increase MRR (with examples!) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

What content do you need to create to hit your business goals in 2023?

Martin & Lyndsay — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 08:00:41 +0000

We typically think of content as something that can get you better rankings and more website traffic. And content definitely helps you do that. But it’s also so much more than that!

Content can support you with a variety of goals. The key is knowing what type of content can help with which goals, so you can be more intentional and strategic about what you create and share.

Sounds good?

Then let’s take a look at your business goals for 2023 and at the type of content you want to create to achieve those goals.

1. Growing your audience/email list

The more you become ‘known’ in your industry, the more customers you’ll attract. It’s that simple.

But even though social media is great and everything, nothing quite beats growing your email list. Having your potential customers’ emails means you can speak to them directly, whenever you want, with little distraction. It’s a powerful tool.

We know this ourselves because we’ve personally managed to grow our business on a tiny marketing budget. All we did was publish the right kinda blogs, convert readers into email subscribers, and, when we’ve built enough trust, sold them our content writing services.

Unfortunately, a lot of small businesses struggle to build a sizeable email list. In a study of over 1000 small business owners by Andrew and Pete at ATOMIC, they found that over half of respondents have an email list of 0-51 people 😬

When you don’t have your own audience, i.e. a list of people you can communicate directly with, you’re reliant on ads (which are pricey), referrals (which are inconsistent) or social media (which can be unreliable).

So how can the content you publish on your website help you grow your audience and your email list?

You can grow your audience by producing more SEO content.

What is SEO content?

SEO content is what you create in direct response to your customers’ internet search queries. It’s in-depth, well-written, engaging content that’s both informative and educational.

And it’s also optimised content, meaning that is written in a way that helps your content pop up in the search results.

The benefits of SEO content

The main focus of SEO content is to help you rank on the first page of Google so that more of your prospective customers can find you.

Being in the search results on the first page is the ultimate aim here because, unfortunately (and you know this as a user yourself), people hardly ever click on the second page or beyond. In fact, according to research, only 0.63% of all Google searchers do!

So for your website to show up higher in the ranking, you need to create SEO content regularly and consistently and always optimise it for search.

This means you need to:

Research keywords on topics that are relevant to your industry and that are sought-after by your ideal customers (i.e. what are people searching for?)
Make sure that those keywords are organically (i.e. naturally) included in your content in strategic places (for example, the title, the sub-headings, the description of the images, etc.) You want your content to read well – not sound like it was created by a robot!
Make sure your content includes both internal and external links to other helpful and related content (just like we’re doing in the next line).

Examples of SEO content

A simple way of understanding SEO content is by thinking about some of your own web searches. What do you typically search on the internet? Often, we’re after information or tutorials (‘How To’ type of content), such as “How to complete your tax return” or “Best pet-friendly cafes in Liverpool.”

Here are some examples of SEO content on our website:

7 Ways To Write An Irresistible Blog Post Headline.
What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work?

What makes for ‘bad’ SEO content?

Having SEO content on your website is a must. But we see a lot of business owners not quite hitting the mark with this.

Yes, your aim is to rank on the first page of the search engine results, which means the SEO content you produce must be driven by the type of searches your ideal customers type into Google. And you can use the internet and other more specialised SEO tools to decide what topics you should create content around.

But that doesn’t mean your content needs to be boring. Or that it needs to be the same as everyone else.

Quite the opposite, in fact!

You want to make sure your voice, personality, and your individual experience and expertise shine in your content. You’re creating educational and informative content, but you need to be doing this as you.

Because that also gives you a chance to highlight how you’re different and to start creating the brand awareness people need to decide to go ahead and buy from you.

Related content: How to use humour in your marketing, so people fall in love with your business (+11 prompts to help you!)

2. Increasing brand awareness

If your goal is to increase brand awareness with your content, you need to create thought-leadership content.

This is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but is an essential part of content marketing. With so much content out there, the only way to stand out is to create that positions you as the leader in your industry.

You can increase brand awareness by creating thought leadership content

What is thought-leadership content?

Thought-leadership content uses your expertise, insight, and experience to help you become the go-to source of information in your industry.

Rather than a specific type of content, we like to think of thought-leadership content as an approach to content creation. It can be about expressing controversial or outspoken opinions if you want it to be. But it doesn’t have to be.

It’s definitely not about picking fights with people! It’s more about not sitting on the sidelines and letting your audience know what you think about certain topics. We’d like you to see it as content that’s authentically and recognisably you, with a strong brand voice.

So thought-leadership content will typically include:

Stong and/or controversial opinions
Evidence of new findings within your industry based on your experience
A desire to share your knowledge without any limitations – i.e. showing us the why and the how!
Original research conducted by you and your business and your findings
A strong voice or different approach to whatever it is you do.

The benefits of thought-leadership content

The main benefit of sharing thought-leadership content is to help you build credibility as a business and be seen as an expert. That’s a sure way to strengthen brand awareness with your prospective customers and clients.

Examples of thought-leadership content

Thought-leadership content can cover the following topics:

Original research
Business decisions you’ve made and why you’ve made them
Expert interviews with others in your industry
Customer client stories and case studies – ones that show the exact steps you took to overcome a problem with lots of evidence and value. Not just saying nice things about yourself
Insider looks into your business that is actually helpful for your target audience e.g. publishing your income and expenditure every month and breaking down how you made sales that month (we always love these articles when we see them!)

Here’s an example you might recognise from our website:

How to market your business during a recession: 20 industry experts give us their views

What makes for ‘bad’ thought-leadership content?

Thought-leadership content is almost always a good idea unless you’re trying to be controversial for the sake of being controversial. Remember you’re not trying to pick an argument here!

There’s a difference between saying what you think and firmly drawing lines in the sand and explaining why you believe what you believe and trying to pick a fight with your prospective clients or competitors.

Be mindful of the difference!

Thought-leadership content will typically attract the people who are right for you and your business and ‘repel’ the ones who aren’t. But it doesn’t mean that you have to offend people or burn bridges in the process. There’s no need to criticise a competitor or expose a client, for example. You can express your opinions with objectivity and balance while also being kind to others!

3. Converting more leads

Another goal you might have in 2023 (and you should have this goal all year round every single year!) is to convert more leads. This goal is just (if not more important) than the first goal of growing your audience or email list. Because yes, it’s great doing that, but a large email list doesn’t pay the bills, you’ve still got to convert those subscribers into paying customers.

And that’s something businesses often neglect!

So what type of content can help you convert more?

You can increase conversions by creating sales-enablement content.

What is sales-enablement content?

As it says on the tin, sales-enablement content is what you produce throughout the selling process to engage with your prospects and directly address their concerns.

It shouldn’t just talk up your products or services, but it should also tackle the ‘objections’ your prospective customers have towards working with you. Whether they vocalise them or not, it’s your job to identify them, break them down, and explain (step-by-step) either why they’re not applicable or how are you planning to address them through your work.

For example, if you offer online fitness coaching, someone might think the service isn’t for them because they think they won’t be able to keep themselves accountable unless they have their coach physically in the gym with them. So how do you address that? How can you show them, through your content, that your service can actually help them and solve the problem they’re experiencing right now?

The benefits of sales-enablement content

Sales-enablement content help you gently guide your prospective customers towards making the informed decision to buying from you.

It’s not about being pushy or ‘salesy’ here. You’re not trying to convince just anyone to buy. You’re explaining to the people who are right for you what you can do for them and how, so they can feel reassured and confident in thinking you’re the right choice for them.

Examples of sales-enablement content

Sales-enablement content can include:

Case studies from clients
Objection-led content – problems with your industry, products or services, why you’re priced differently, why you don’t do something that others in your industry do etc
“How to find the right…” type of content, such as “How to find the right Virtual Assistant for your accountancy business.”
Buyer’s guides
Use cases
Content that breaks down the process of working with you
FAQ style content

Some examples you can find on our website are:

What is our Black Friday offer all about then?
Why is our SEO content writing & blog management service so expensive?
Biggest Problems with SEO Companies (and how you can avoid them!)
SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: Which One is Best for Your Business?

What makes for ‘bad’ sales-enablement content?

When creating sales-enablement content, you don’t want to be overly promotional. But there’s an easy way around this – think about your customers and what they need. Put yourself in their shoes:

What are they worried about?
What’s holding them back from going ahead and working with you? Is it money? Lack of time? Lack of self-confidence? Something else?
And what fears or doubts might they be experiencing right now?

Spend some time thinking about these questions (or even better, ask your prospective customers directly, if you can) and address them in your content. This will allow you to create sales-enablement content that does its job of helping you convert leads into sales while also being helpful and not pushy.

Related content: How to increase your sales using objection-led content and How to Make Content Part of Your Sales Process (so you get more sales, faster!)

4. Retaining more customers

The last goal you might have (and one that completes the sales cycle quite nicely) is retaining customers.

You’ve done all the work to attract people into your world, wow them into becoming your customers, and now you want them to be loyal and stay. You want them to be so happy with the results they get from working with you that they buy from you again and again.

You can retain customers by producing customer service content

What is customer service content?

This is content that helps your audience achieve their goals by using your product or being part of your service.

Remember you’re addressing your customers now – not just leads and prospects. These people have already bought your product or service – they already know you’re brilliant!

But they still have questions about how to use your product or what to do next. So think about what type of content you can create that helps you serve your existing customers.

Ultimately, your aim with this content is to make your current customers reach their goals faster and more efficiently – which is good for both you and your customer!

The benefits of customer service content

The good thing about sharing customer service content is that it helps both you and your customers. How?

For one, it saves you time in answering questions. If one customer has a question about how to use your product or service, chances are that others will too. So answer these questions at scale and through your content – you do it once, and you don’t have to keep repeating yourself.

And when it comes to your current customers, it keeps them super happy. Have you ever been in a position yourself where you’re not sure about asking a question about a product or service you bought? You may feel embarrassed or think it’s a silly question. But if the business owner has already pre-emptied and answered that question, you don’t even have to put your hand up and ask!

One of our SEO content writing clients recently told us that their customer service team shares our content with customers every single day, and it has saved them hours every week in admin time!

Isn’t that brilliant when you can just find all the information you need? That’s exactly what customer service content can do for you.

Examples of customer service content

An example of customer service content we wrote back when we were web designers is How To Write Your Website About Page.

We used to create the design and graphics for our website design clients, but they’d need to write their own copy. So we served them with content that helped them make the most of the service they were buying from us.

Another example we think is brilliant is this blog post from ScoreApp – 29 Simple Ways to Launch Your Quiz Lead Magnet.

Once you’ve set up your quiz, ScoreApp also produces content that helps you launch it, so you can take the next step. That’s customer service for you!

What makes for ‘bad’ customer service content?

The only thing that makes customer service content ‘bad’ is the lack of it! We don’t see many businesses regularly producing this type of content. And ‘product updates’ don’t quite count, especially if they sound technical and boring. This isn’t customer service.

Customer service content still needs to be helpful, engaging, informative, educational, and in your own voice. The only difference from the other types of content we talked about is that it’s aimed at your existing customers rather than your prospects.

You’ll often find that customer service content is all helpful for non-customers too. They’ll find it, learn more about you and your business and become a lead. So there are no excuses!

Would you like our help to achieve your business goals for 2023?

In this blog post, we discussed four different types of goals. You may have decided to focus on one or two as priorities for 2023 or you may want to work towards all four. There’s no right or wrong answer here.

But whatever your goals, content marketing can play a big part in helping you achieve your objectives, as long as you produce content that aligns with your goals. If that sounds overwhelming and like too much work for the time you have available, we can help!

Our Blog Writing and SEO Agency is the ultimate time-saving solution for ambitious and time-poor businesses. So if you’d like us to help you research and write your content for you, get in touch!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post What content do you need to create to hit your business goals in 2023? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work?

Lyndsay Cambridge — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 19:05:14 +0000

You may have heard of SEO.

You might have even heard of content writing.

But how have those two things been mushed together, and what the heck is it?

In this article, I’ll explain exactly what an SEO content writing service is. And more importantly, how SEO content writing can be an absolute gamechanger for your business.

Firstly, what is an SEO content writing service?

An SEO content writing service is the process of creating content for your website that helps you rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).

The company or freelancer who offers this service will usually create content in the form of blog articles (just like this one).

Some companies can also create guest posts that are added to other websites (not just the client’s website). The aim of this is to increase the number of backlinks to your website, increasing your authority in the eyes of Google.

What does an SEO content writing service include?

At the heart of it, an SEO content writer should be able to produce compelling content written in your tone of voice and style.

The content should be highly engaging and get your reader to take action. This is the same for all content writers, whether they specialise in SEO writing or not.

So what’s the difference between an SEO content writer and a content writer?

The main difference is in the extra ‘stuff’ included within the SEO content writing service and the overall aim of the content.

An SEO content writer should have a deep understanding of SEO. They should know how to optimise your content for your chosen keywords and phrases (without it sounding like a repetitive mess!)

They should know how to get you ranked on Google and advise you on the best ways to do it.

What is the goal of SEO Content Writing?

Just like content writers, SEO content writers should create compelling, engaging content that users love to read.

If you use an SEO content writing service you should expect the overall goal of the content to focus on website traffic and search engine rankings.

Any good SEO content writing service should:

- Increase your search engine rankings for a variety of keywords
- Increase your website traffic
- Increase your backlinks from high-authority websites

As stated in Search Engine Journal, the main issue with SEO content writing services is often they focus too much on rankings but don’t know how to convert that traffic into customers.

Are you thinking of hiring a company or freelancer to help you with SEO content writing? It’s a good idea you look for a company that can create compelling copy that converts AND help you rank on search engines.

What are some key elements an SEO Content Writing Service could include?

Writing is just a part of what makes a successful, high-ranking blog. There’s actually a lot more that goes on behind the scenes.

Some SEO content writing services will include:

Keyword research

SEO content writing services may also include keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of finding out what topics and specific keywords and phrases people are searching for around your products and services.

If someone is doing this on your behalf, they will identify the topics you can realistically rank for that get a healthy number of searches each month. If they offer this as part of the SEO content writing service, then they’ll go ahead and write the content based on this research. Simple.

Content strategy

SEO content writing services are primarily focused on getting more traffic to your content via search engine rankings.

But good SEO content writing services should also focus on the entire buyer’s journey. It shouldn’t just be about getting people through the door (or finding you from Google), you also want to convert people too.

That’s why some SEO content writing services also offer content strategy as part of the service. They’ll help you form a strategy that guides people through the entire customer journey–from finding you to buying from you. This means they may create some content that isn’t designed to get website traffic, it’s designed to convert people into paying customers.

On-Page Optimisation

Some SEO content writing services will include on-page optimisation as part of the service. This means they’ll upload the content for you and ensure it’s optimised and formatted correctly for SEO. For example, they’ll optimise your URL, title tag, imagery, meta description and select your categories and tags.

This will increase your chances of ranking in search results. Optimising your content for your keywords is only part of what will help it rank, a lot of work also has to happen on your website itself too!

If you want to learn how to do this yourself, check out our article on how to optimise your blog post.

Measuring success

Some companies will track your search engine rankings as they continue to create content for you. They’ll also track things like the number of backlinks to your website, website traffic and leads coming through the site.

This is helpful as you can see what is working and what isn’t working so well and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Creating imagery

Some SEO writers or companies will even create bespoke imagery and optimise it for search engines. Some will also use stock image websites and ensure these are optimised for search engines too.

Who offers SEO content writing as a service?

There are a few types of freelancers or companies that offer SEO content writing as a service. And they all differ slightly in price, process and approach.

1. SEO Content Writers

These are typically freelance writers who have knowledge and experience in SEO. They are able to write blog articles and optimise them for search engines.

Some of them will offer keyword research as part of their service, which means they will research the topics, keywords and phrases that your audience is searching for.

Others won’t offer keyword research. They will ask you what keywords or phrases you’d like to rank for or what you think people are searching for. They’ll then optimise your blog post for these keywords and phrases.

Many don’t upload your content to your website and optimise your SEO settings. They will leave that part to you. But some will write things like the meta description for you, leaving you to add that to your website.

Some may upload the content to your website if it’s a platform (or content management system) they are already familiar with. There are a lot of different website platforms, and writers tend not to have knowledge of them all (nor should they need to!)

A quick overview of SEO Content Writers and what they do

Generally, this is what SEO content writers do and/or specialise in

They are professional writers, often with experience in writing for business
They have knowledge of SEO
They are able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
Some will offer keyword research as part of the service
Often they don’t upload your content to your website
Often they don’t create imagery

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Content Writer?

SEO Content Writers can typically charge anywhere between £250 – £1000+ per blog article. I know that’s wildly different amounts!

I also understand that this can sound expensive. But remember, both writing and SEO are highly-skilled work, and it’s likely that the SEO content writer has a lot of experience and expertise. Plus, it will take them time to research and write each article. Hence the price tag!

2. SEO Agencies

Many SEO agencies offer content writing as part of the service. This is often part of a broader service where they’ll also offer things like keyword research, an SEO audit, technical SEO, improving your website’s performance, and increasing backlinks to your website.

Some agencies will outsource the content writing they do for clients, as writing isn’t their specialism. Some will have in-house writers.

SEO agencies are highly focused on getting traffic to your website, and as many are not expert ‘writers’, you may find they place less emphasis on your brand voice and style. The content is merely a means to an end, and that end is website traffic.

They will usually upload your content to your website and optimise it for search engines, but may not have the skills required to create fancy graphics.

A quick overview of SEO Agencies and what they do

They are experts in SEO and focus on all aspects of SEO (such as technical SEO or increasing backlinks)
They may outsource content writing or have writers in-house
They are able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
They will offer keyword research
They will upload and optimise your content
Often they don’t create imagery

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Agency for this service?

They are usually more expensive than SEO content writers. A lot of SEO agencies have 6-month contracts and prices will vary from £1000 – £10,000+ per month (if they’re a pretty decent agency). And the more content they create generally the more expensive it is.

Remember that’s not just for creating content, that’s for an entire SEO service.

We know of a lot of great SEO agencies, but we also know that there are a lot of problems in the industry too. If you’re thinking of hiring an SEO agency, you might want to check out our article on the problems with SEO agencies.

3. Blog Management Agencies

This is where we sit.

Blog management agencies are less well known than content writers or SEO agencies, but they do similar things.

A blog management agency does exactly what it says, they manage every aspect of your blog. That means everything from keyword research and strategy, to content writing and creating imagery.

If they have a focus on SEO (like we do), they should hit the balance between creating compelling content and ranking on search engines.

Some of them will also be able to advise if there’s anything technically on your website that will hinder your rankings (like us!)

They may also write guest blog posts in order for you to build your backlinks to your website, building your authority with Google.

A quick overview of Blog Management Agencies and what they do

They are expert writers and can write in your tone of voice and style
They understand content strategy and should create content that helps people go through the entire buyer’s journey – from finding you to buying from you
They should do keyword research for you
They will upload your content to your website and optimise it for you
They are knowledgeable in SEO
Some (like us) should be able to create custom graphics for your blog posts
Many don’t understand technical SEO (such as website speed, mobile-friendliness, broken links etc) so they can’t advise on that

How much does it cost to hire a Blog Management Agency?

There aren’t that many blog management agencies out there, and the ones that do offer this service don’t give a price unless you get on a call with them (annoying).

But a blog management agency would usually sit between an SEO content writer and an SEO agency.

We charge a minimum of £1397 per month for our blog management service.

Is an SEO Content Writing Service right for you?

Whether you choose an SEO content writer, SEO agency or blog management agency, SEO content writing can have HUGE benefits for your business.

Not only can you use that content to rank on search engines and deliver traffic to your website, but you can also repurpose it across your social media channels too. In fact, I can get 4-8 LinkedIn posts just from one blog post! You can learn more about how to repurpose a blog post here.

So yes, it’s an investment, but for many businesses, you’ll certainly see a good ROI from it.

And don’t forget to check out our SEO blog writing service for more information.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

23 of the Best Business Blogging Tools that Increase Traffic and Conversions

Martin & Lyndsay — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 08:40:04 +0000

Writing a business blog takes forever right?

We know better than most just how time-intensive writing consistent and high-quality business blogs can be. We’ve been doing it pretty much every week (or more) since 2017.

Back when we kicked off our blog we were primarily web design and SEO specialists. And we’ll admit there were times when blog production dropped to the bottom of our to-do list due to lack of time. ⏰

But, we also know just how crucial a strong content strategy is for growing your business.

So over the years we’ve tried and tested a bunch of business blogging tools to help with SEO, improve the quality of writing and shave some precious hours off the process.

In this blog, we’ll share our best blogging tools to help you create blogs faster than ever before.

IMPORTANT! There are zero affiliate links in this blog post. We don’t earn any money out of recommending these companies, we’re here to just give you the best tools for your business.

And don’t worry, these tools aren’t going to set you back hundreds or thousands of pounds. They are all either completely FREE to use or pretty cheap – so they won’t break the bank.💰

There are some key areas that these blogging tools can help in, so we’ve split the blog post into these sections:

Evaluating Where You Are Right Now

First thing’s first, you’ll want to evaluate where you are now with your blog and how you can improve. That way, you’ll know exactly what you need to focus on moving forward (and what blogging tools you can use to help you do that).

Luckily, we created just the tool for you…

1. Business Blogging Quiz (FREE)

If you have ever wondered how “Good” your blog is, then check out the Business Blogging Quiz. We created this FREE tool that will automatically assess how well your blog is performing.

It will also tell you exactly how to improve your business blog so you can increase your website traffic, rankings and sales.

Click the link below and get your Business Blogging Score instantly.

The Best Blogging Tools for Generating Blog Post Ideas…

“I’ll run out of things to write about.”

Have you ever found yourself saying this? ⬆️

We know that coming up with amazing, traffic-generating ideas is one of the biggest barriers to getting started on your blogging journey.

But if you’re tearing your hair out trying to come up with blog ideas then stop. 🛑

We’ve been consistently blogging since 2017, and trust us when we say we’ve still got loads more to write about.

That’s because we employ a few different blogging tools that help us generate ideas. They hack into what our potential customers are actually searching for online.

Not only do these tools help create blog ideas, but they will allow you to see what terms and phrases people search for on Google. These are known as longtail keywords.

For example, if you bake cupcakes, it’s unlikely that people are just typing “cupcakes” into Google. They are probably searching for things like:

Where to buy cupcakes in Blackpool?

How much do cupcakes cost?

How to make my own cupcakes?

This is a crucial step for SEO, as you can sprinkle these phrases into your content. And this will allow you to be found by search engines.

Using these tools allows you to integrate topics your potential customers are actually searching for rather than guessing. So when they type their query into Google guess who’s blog will pop up first – that’s right, yours.

Related content: 5 FREE ways to check keyword rankings in Google

2. Answer The Public (Free)

Answer the Public is an amazing tool that helps you clearly visualise real questions that your potential customers have asked via an image known as a “search cloud”.

Simply enter your topic into the search bar, and Answer the Public will produce a “mind-map” of questions that have been searched for.

Remember people ask Google questions they would never ask someone else (or you). So it’s a great way to gain insight into the inner workings of potential customers’ minds.

It’s a useful tool to come up with blog titles, but also individual sub-headings and sub-sections.

The free version gives you up to three searches per day, which will be enough for most small businesses. But if you think you’ll be running multiple searches a day, then you can upgrade to the PRO version. Below, we’ve shown an example of when we put in the phrase, ‘book editor’.

3. Quora (Free)

People ask a lot of random questions on the internet…

How long would it take me to walk to the moon?

Which country in the world has the strangest shape?

If you’ve ever searched for something online then you’ve probably come across Quora.

It’s a free-to-use, search and answer website, that is completely user-generated. This means users generate the questions asked and the answers given.

It’s a really great insight into what people are searching for, and what the common answers (or potential misconceptions) around your industry are. All really juicy information when you are trying to come up with blog ideas.

Plus, you can follow specific topics and keep tabs on any new questions that are popping up. Below, I typed in the phrase ‘book editor’ and look at all the juicy questions that could easily make great content!

4. Keywords Everywhere (Free and Paid Version)

Keywords Everywhere is a free Chrome extension that helps you with keyword research, and SEO.

It allows you to do keyword research on the go, as you type queries into Google. Once installed it will pop up on the side whenever you do a search and will give you access to:

Trend data and search volumes for that keyword
Related keywords to the search term you selected
‘People also search for’ suggestions.

It’s free to use but a paid-for version is also available if you want more information on monthly searches and competitor analysis. However, most people will find the free version more than adequate for their needs.

Below, we’ve shown you an example of how this works by searching for the keyphrase ‘business book editor’. We do pay for this tool, but it’s incredibly cheap at just $10 for 100,000 credits (which is a lot!)

5. Semrush (Paid)

Semrush is the creme de la creme of keyword research tools, but with a price tag to match.

It’s is a full-service research tool and allows you to figure out what people are searching for in relation to a specific keyword using their content marketing topic research.

It is a paid tool with prices starting at around $119/month, however, you can sign up for a free trial to see if it would be worth it. This tool is something that we use to get really deep insights into keyword research, rankings, backlink data and more. Below is a screenshot of SEMRush, with us searching for the keyword ‘book editor’ – and this is just surface level stuff (yes, we do geek out over this!)

The Best Blogging Tools for Planning Blog Posts…

“Aghhh, I’ll just wing it, and see what happens.”

Does this sound like you?

We can almost guarantee that this is the easiest way to fall off the content bandwagon. We’ve seen it time and time again in the 90-day content challenge we run within our membership.

The people that fail to plan are always the ones that struggle to complete the challenge. Every👏 Single👏 Time👏.

Putting a little time aside upfront to plan out your content, and organise it into a schedule will give you a fighting chance.

Not only will you not have to worry about what you are writing about every week (especially if you use the brainstorming blogging tools above). But it will also help you plan and prioritise blogging as a task on your to-do list. If it’s written down in black and white it’s not as easy to push it to the bottom of the list.

Everyone plans in a different way, so we’ve got a couple of different blogging tools that will suit depending on your brain works.

Related content: How to plan 50 pieces of content in 30 minutes

6. Trello (Free and Paid Version)

Trello is an amazing visual planning tool if you have a logical and linear brain. It is a very simple visual planner that allows you to layout all your blog posts via boards and cards.

The cards allow you to add more detail in an unstructured way. This makes it easier to create content plans than something like Google Sheets/Spreadsheets.

You can create columns for each of your products and services so that you can manage what blogs are coming up, and what ones have been done.

Trello is a free tool, however, if you need more than ten boards or want a calendar view then you can upgrade to a paid plan (starting from $5/person/month). But we’ve found that for most small businesses, the free tool is more than powerful enough.

7. MindMeister (Free and Paid Version)

Did you know that mind maps are 30% more effective than linear documents when it comes to generating ideas?

MindMeister is a mind-mapping tool, and it’s a brilliant way to plan out content for people who love to inject some creativity into their planning process.

The free plan allows you to create up to three mind-maps, which should be enough for most businesses. However, if you have a team, or if you really want to get into creating mind maps, then you can upgrade to a paid plan. Below is an example of how we use MindMeister.

The Best Blogging Tools for Creating Blog Post Images…

Have you ever seen a blog post image and immediately known who wrote the blog at a glance?

This is definitely something we’ve managed to achieve throughout pop-art blog images (or so we’ve been told). And while we create a new blog post image for every single blog, there is a definite and distinct theme running through them all.

With over 4 million blogs published every day, and shared all over social media, you need a way to stand out from the crowd.

Creating an eye-catching image for every blog post is a great way to do this and to convey your unique brand personality in the process.

This might seem like a daunting process if you aren’t a graphic designer, but we use one great tool that is simple and effective.

8. Canva (Free and Paid Version)

You’ve probably heard of Canva, it’s got a bit of a love-hate relationship, especially among the graphic design community. We are definitely on the LOVE side for Canva, and it’s a tool we happily recommend to all our clients and MYMO members.

It’s much easier to use (and cheaper) than Photoshop. And it’s brilliant for creating consistent and beautiful images for your blog post.

The free version has tonnes of functionality and allows you to overlay text onto existing photos, or add graphics to your website.

There is also a paid-for version that offers a little more functionality and access to more images and graphics.

The Best Blogging Tools for Editing Your Blog Posts…

Ever hit publish and then realised there is a glaringly obvious, totally embarrassing error?

Oh no, you’ll never be able to show your face in public again😳

Not really, we’ve all been there. But it is a good idea to eliminate as many errors from your blogs as possible.

And we know the fear of errors is one thing that can hold people back from writing and publishing blog content -especially if they aren’t confident writers.

There are a couple of blogging tools that will help you write like you’ve got a team of editors and proofreaders on your team (well almost, they aren’t quite as good as trained humans).

9. Grammarly (Free and Paid Version)

Grammarly is an AI-powered tool that helps you write mistake-free content across loads of apps including Google Docs, Gmail, Facebook and Twiter.

Contrary to what the name would have you believe it’s about more than just grammar (although it certainly does help with that). It will also check spelling and punctuation, as well as ensure the content is clear and easy to read.

Basically, it’s an absolute life-saver if you are writing lots of content. It’s one of our favourite blogging tools!

And the best part is that it’s free, although you can upgrade to a premium version.

Yes, you‘ll still need to read over your work, as some slip-ups will bypass the super-smart AI. But it’s a quick and effective way to check your work for mistakes and make your writing better in seconds. Below, we’ve shown you an example of how it works using this blog post!

10. Power Thesaurus (Free)

If you’ve ever seen Friends then you might remember when Baby Kangaroo (a.k.a Joey) turned to a thesaurus to help him sound smarter.

And while running every single word through a thesaurus is not a good idea – it can certainly help.

Power Thesaurus is a free, community drive app that allows you to find synonyms or antonyms for over 80 million English language words.

Perfect for when your brain stops working after lunch and you just can’t think of a smart-sounding way to say nice.

Ps. amiable, charming and good-natured could all work.

The Best Blogging Tools for Optimising Your Blog Posts…

Despite what the latest marketing doomsday opinion piece will have you believe, Google is very much alive.

And paying homage to the Google Gods can really make or break the success of your blog.

You could craft the most informative, beautifully written blog post, and still have it flop if you don’t adhere to some of Google’s rules.

The algorithm is ever-changing, so appeasing the search engines is an ever-evolving task. We call this optimising content, and we’re taking what we’ve created and tweaked it to give it a better chance of being found online.

However, there are some blogging tools that remove the guesswork and help us adhere to the rules.

Related content: WordPress SEO For Blogging – How to Optimise Your WordPress Blog Posts

11. Yoast (Free and Paid Version – WordPress Blogging Tool Only)

Once you’ve written your blog it’s time to get it uploaded and hit publish.

Well, yes but there are some steps to take before hitting publish to make sure that everything SEO related is in ship-shape for Google (and other search engines).

Yoast is a WordPress specific plug-in that double-checks the soundness of your blog content, and give you practical suggestions for improvement, including:

Readability improvement (ie. sentences are too long)
Keyword distribution and density
Text length
As well as loads of other features…

It’s one of our favourite blogging tools. It’s great for issuing practical prompts and presenting them in a traffic light system. Perfect if you’re like us and like competing against the machines.

Ps. don’t worry if you can’t get all greens. It’s not always possible but it’s a good goal to have.

The basic version of Yoast is free, but you can also upgrade which gives you access to even more SEO based tools to improve your writing. It is a tool that every self-respecting blog writer should include in their repertoire. We’ve included an example below of how Yoast looks evaluating this blog post for the keyword ‘blogging tools’.

12. Tiny PNG (Free and Paid Version)

Have you ever tried to get on a website or a blog and it just takes forever to load?

Not only is it super frustrating (who has time to wait for a page to load).

But if people get tired of waiting and bounce off the page then this can negatively affect your Google stats. Which can cause them to rank you lower than they would if your website was super speedy.

One of the ways that you can stop this from happening is by compressing your images so that they take less time to load. You can use a free web-based app called Tiny PNG helps to compress the image size.

It’s a really simple thing that you can do to help improve your site speed and overall Google ranking.

This is us, showing you Tiny PNG by compressing this image of Tiny PNG (how meta!)

13. Pic Resize (Free)

Got the ideal image but it’s HUGE, or needing to be cropped down?

Having images that look good, and are appropriately sized for your blog is essential in making it look good.

And luckily Pic Resize helps you with just that. Allowing you to resize image dimensions, and crop out sections that are necessary quickly and easily.

Once you’ve done this you should still pop it through TinyPNG to compress the image size and make sure it loads.

The Best Blogging Tools to Make Your Blog Look Good…

While we’ve all been led to believe that looks don’t matter, that just isn’t the case for your blog posts (or websites in general).

Have you ever been on a website and left straight away because it’s a wall of text?

Of course, the content and what you are saying really matters, and there is no point in creating a beautiful blog with no substance.

However, creating a visually appealing blog post is arguably just as important as writing amazing content. And the last thing you want is for people to not read your super amazing blog because it doesn’t look good.

Getting people to click on your post and stay there requires a balance of content, SEO and visuals.

Especially when there are some really simple solutions…

15. Depositphotos (Paid)

We always recommend that you have professional images that you dot around your website and blog posts. This helps add personality and ensures people know what the person behind the site looks like.

However, we know that sometimes stock images are needed, and when that is the case we recommend Depositphotos. It’s a bank of royalty-free images, videos, vectors, illustrations, and music, that you can use on your website.

It is a paid tool (either on-demand or subscription-based), but we find that it’s much better quality than many of the free tools out there. And you can be confident that they are licensed to use for business.

Just be careful of those super cheesy stock photos. You know the ones, where everyone has a psychotic smile and are way too happy!

16. Death to Stock Photo (Paid)

Sick of cheesy stock images? Enter Death to Stock Photo. The clue is in the name really but this website provides the most amazing images that look, well, non-stock-photo-like!

There are no cheesy smiles or fake-happy looking people. Here’s an example of one of the images that came up when we typed in ‘office’.

17. Pixabay (Free)

If you’re on a budget, using a free stock image website like Pixabay can come to your rescue! They have literally millions of stock images you can choose from. And the best thing is, they are free. Although, it’s nice to ‘tip’ a cup of coffee sometimes to the photographers!

If you want to do even more than just create images, check out this blog post on how to make your blogs look good.

The Best Blogging Tools for Collecting Leads on Blog Posts…

Ultimately the aim of creating a blog post is to make sales. However, while we’d love for someone to pop on a blog page and buy straight away it’s not always realistic.

People need to come into contact with various touchpoints before they buy from you. And that’s why it’s important to drive people towards an email list so that you can stay in contact with them and nurture them towards the eventual sale.

We’ve recently launched our new SEO and blog management service, and this prompted us to look into who bought from us on launch, and whether they were already on our email list.

And guess what…they all were.

In fact, we found that:

they were on our email list for at least 12 months before investing in our 1-2-1 services
they are engaged, email subscribers (ie. they open, click or reply to emails)

So aiming to get people off your blog posts and onto an email list is a good one to have.

But how exactly do you do this? Well below is a good example using one of the tools we recommend. 😉

18. ScoreApp (Paid, with Free Trial)

One of the BEST ways of gaining leads from your blog post is by creating a quiz. Quizzes are fun, interactive and offer a ton of value. And our favourite quiz software has to be ScoreApp.

ScoreApp allows you to create beautiful quizzes easily. It’s so easy to create your quiz, and it comes with:

Beautiful landing page designs
Results page designs
Personalised feedback depending on the results your audience gets
Category scoring – so you can give people a score for different categories

19. OptinMonster (Paid)

OptinMonster is a very powerful, and intuitive lead generation tool that allows you to create beautiful and eye-catching opt-ins, pop-ups. Their ultimate goal is to help turn blog visitors into email subscribers.

Ideal!

You can integrate these into your blogs, and on other pages on your website to drive people towards your email list.

OptinMonster is a paid tool, however, the entry-level package is very affordable, and has all the essentials for building a lead generation campaign from your blogs.

20. Thrive Leads (Paid)

Another one that we love is Thrive Leads which focuses on driving uses from your blog onto your email list.

It allows you to create visually stunning opt-ins in the form of pop-ups, widgets, in-line forms, screen locks as well as others.

Thrive Leads is also a paid plugin, that you buy as a yearly subscription, however, it’s well worth it for those serious about making their blogs work for them.

The Best Blogging Tools for Measuring the Success of Blog Posts…

Before you kick things off with your blogging you need to know your starting point.

What pages or blog posts are the most read on your website?

Where do your visitors spend most of their time when on your website?

Knowing this is invaluable because it allows you to understand what is working, and more importantly what isn’t. From this, you can tweak and optimise your content to do more of what works. And if you’re struggling to see rankings, check out this blog post on why you’re not ranking in Google (and how to fix it).

So how do you measure your website traffic?

21. Google Analytics (Free)

Google Analytics is a brilliant free web analytics tool that helps you analyse your website traffic in pretty minute detail.

While the background workings are pretty technical (involving code, and tracking links), Google Analytics allows you to access easy-to-read reports that will give you insight into who has visited your website, how they found you, what content they consume and how they behave on your site.

If this sounds a little scary, then don’t worry Google has a free course to help you get started with Google Analytics. Below is a screenshot of our daily users from Google analytics. It’s good to know!

22. The Hoth Rank Checker (Free)

The Hoth Rank Checker is a free tool powered by Semrush that helps you identify your website’s top traffic driving keywords. Simply put, what are people typing into Google that is leading them to your website.

It’s a great way to figure out what is already working, and how to utilise these current top-performing keywords to boost you to page one.

Think of Hoth Rank Checker as a soft “quick-wins” identifier. It will still require some work to boost these rankings, but it’s a good place to start.

It’s completely free, and the same website can also give you access to other tools such as backlink checkers, and keywords planners – but the rank checker is our favourite.

23. Fat Rank Chrome Extension (Free)

Fat Rank Chrome Extension is as it sounds another Chrome extension tool to help with on-the-go keyword ranking research.

After installing the extension, simply visit a website and click the Fat Rank icon to find out where that website currently ranks in Google, and which page URLs are ranking.

Again it’s a great, free, way to figure out what pages and keywords your website is already ranking for and might help with some potential quick wins or areas to focus on.

Below is a screenshot of us using Fat Rank to determine where we’re ranking for the keyword ‘write blog post headline’. This shows us we’re number 12, so with some more tweaks to that blog post, we should be able to get to page one! Handy to know, right?

Does this sound like a little too much work?

Phew! That’s quite a lot of work and quite a lot of blogging tools to get your blogs in tip-top performing shape.

Loads of people think blogging is just banging out some words, uploading it to your website and hoping for the best.

But the reality is that in order to produce successful blogs, that actually drive traffic (and sales) there is a little more to it than that.

And while these blogging tools will help you shave hours off your blog writing sessions, they will still involve some time on your part.

If this all sounds like a little too much work then you might want to consider our SEO content writing and blog management service. It’s a full blog writing and SEO service, that could shave 10 hours off your to-do list every week.

Just think about what you could be doing with that time?

We take care of:

Generating search-drive blog ideas
Writing the blog content
Keyword research
Planning the content
Creating blog images
Edit the blog (using a professional proofreader)
Optimising the blog
Ensuring you can collect leads
Measuring the success
Uploading it to your website

Basically, everything that we’ve covered above is included in our SEO and blog management package.

Not sure if this service is right for you?

Don’t forget our free blogging tool!

Take our Blogging Superstar Quiz – a quiz that tests how well you’re doing in the 6 key areas that make a successful blog post to see if you’re all sorted or need some help.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post 23 of the Best Business Blogging Tools that Increase Traffic and Conversions appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

7 Ways To Write An Irresistible Blog Post Headline

Martin & Lyndsay — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:43:16 +0000

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but you definitely judge it by the title, right?

The same goes for your blog posts. People will only click if the title is tempting. Whether that’s from social media or in search results, your title is the thing that will grab your audience’s attention.

The problem is, writing a blog post title is HARD.

We personally find writing an entire blog post easier than writing a title.

But over the years (and after A LOT of testing) we’ve figured out what works and what doesn’t.

Read these 7 ways to write a blog post headline that’ll excite and entice your viewers to keep reading on.

1. Make Your Blog Post Headlines Specific

If people don’t ‘get’ what your blog post is about from the headline then they won’t click on the blog post.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a blog post about the best Keto Brownies you can order online.

Imagine if these were the headlines…

‘The day I got to try a load of brownies!’

‘Brownies for the win!’

‘Chocolatey goodness without the sugar – yum!’

They don’t tell the reader what the heck your article is about. Yes, they’ll know it’s about brownies, but you need to be more specific with things like…

‘The best keto brownie companies that deliver straight to your door.’

Now that is specific, and it tells the reader exactly what they’re going to get. This brings us nicely onto our next point…

2. Optimise your Headline for Keywords

If the aim of your blog post is to bring in website traffic, then you’ll want to optimise it for your keyword/phrase.

Think about the example above. No one is searching for ‘Brownies for the win!’ on Google.

But we bet there are people looking for ‘the best keto brownie companies that deliver’ or ‘the best keto brownie companies’ or even ‘keto brownie companies’.

If you do a little keyword research, then you’ll know exactly what your audience is typing into search engines.

Once you know that, you’ll know what words or phrases you need to include in your blog post title.

Does anyone else really fancy a brownie right now or is it just me?

3. Use numbers for list posts

Oh, we don’t half love numbers.

Numbers make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

When we see a number as part of a blog post title, we know three things:

This is going to be easy-peasy for my brain to consume
This is going to be specific and actionable
I’m going to be able to skim read this and get the main points

This is what makes articles that feature numbers way more appealing. In fact, in 2020, 41% of the top articles were listicles – i.e. list-based posts just like this one.

4. For Big, In-Depth Blog Posts, Make Them Sound Epic

We love to read epic articles that go into real depth on a topic.

I’m talking thousands and thousands of words here.

But sometimes they might get missed if they have such a lacklustre headline.

When you create an epic blog post, make sure your headline reflects that. Use phrases like…

The Ultimate Guide
The Beginners Guide
X 101 (for example, Puppy Training 101)

When you call your post the ultimate guide, your audience will understand that this is a chunky post that will go in-depth on one topic. It’s definitely an appealing post title, particularly for those who are ready to learn.

One caveat though–only use the phrase Ultimate Guide or Beginners Guide on blog posts that really do go in-depth.

Don’t use it for blog posts like this that are more of an overview. Even though this is 1200+ words long, we would never class it as an ultimate guide.

5. Sprinkle Your Blog Post Headline with Magic Words

Magic words are exactly like they sound…magic. They add that extra pizazz to a blog post headline, making it irresistible to clicks.

Take this blog post as an example, we could’ve said ‘7 Ways to Write a Blog Post Headline’ but we added in the word irresistible.

Notice it’s still search engine friendly (it contains my chosen keywords ). But just that one word makes the blog post more interesting, right?

Some other words you could use are…

Surprising
Unknown
Shocking
Skyrocket
Drastically
Latest
Awkward
Impact
Instantly
Under (give timeframe)
Steal
Ultimate
Secret

6. Go Niche on Your Blog Post Title

It may seem counter-intuitive to go super niche with your blog post title, but honing in on your audience can have much better results.

Let’s say, for example, you edit fantasy fiction for self-published authors. Which of these blog post headlines do you think would appeal to fantasy fiction writers the most?

8 Writing Tips
8 Writing Tips for Authors
8 Writing Tips for Fiction Authors
8 Writing Tips for Fantasy Fiction Authors (Bingo!)

You’re right, it’s the last one! Even if numbers 1, 2, or 3 received more readers, your target audience is far more likely to click on number 4.

7. Experiment with the positive and negative

Your blog post headline should make a promise to your reader. It should say, if you read this, this is what you’ll learn.

You knew before you read this article that you would leave knowing some ways to write better blog post headlines – and hopefully, we’ve done that!

But you should also experiment with ‘negative’ headlines and ‘positive’ headlines.

What we mean by this is headlines that point out what can happen if your audience doesn’t read your article (i.e. the bad stuff) vs headlines that point out what can happen if they do (i.e. the good stuff).

Take this blog post for example. We focused on the positives–learning how to write an irresistible blog post headline.

But we could’ve gone down a more negative route…

Positive focus: How to write an irresistible blog post headline

Negative focus: How to avoid writing blog post headlines that turn people off

It would’ve been the same article but with a slightly different angle.

It’s good to test out the positive and negative angles, to see what resonates with your audience.

Where to start?

It’s tempting to finalise your headline right at the beginning before you’ve even started on your blog post. But it’s often better to wait until the end of the post when you’re more clear and warmed up with lots of writing!

Make sure you test out a few headlines too and see which one feels best.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post 7 Ways To Write An Irresistible Blog Post Headline appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Publish This Easy Piece of Content Before You Raise Your Prices (And See Amazing Results!)

Martin & Lyndsay — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 16:46:31 +0000

Are you thinking of raising your prices right now?

Well, stop.

Step away from the keyboard.

And don’t you dare sneakily update your prices on your website (not yet anyway.)

Because there’s something we’d like you to do first.

Something that will help you both increase sales, AND build trust and loyalty with your audience.

We want you to create content around your price increase.

Before we begin, this is aimed at you if you want to raise your prices for brand new customers (i.e. people who aren’t your customers already). If you need help on how to raise your prices for current customers, have a read of our article here.

What is ‘Why I’m Raising My Prices’ content?

This piece of content goes into detail about why you’re raising your prices. It explains what your prices are now when they’re going to increase, and what the new price will be.

It’s an easy-peasy piece of content for you to create. But it’s also great for sales and delivers excellent customer service.

Why is this content so effective?

There are three main reasons why this piece of content works so well.

It’s sales content. It’s a piece of content that promotes the benefits of your products or services. It says ‘Hey, I’m raising my prices because I’m pretty awesome. Here’s why…’
It can act as a ‘heads-up’ to those who are on the fence about working with you, giving them an opportunity to buy from you at your lower prices. We did this with our blog post and earned 25K in a week.
It’s incredibly helpful and transparent and builds trust with your audience.

Why do I have to tell my audience why my prices are increasing?

You’ve received one of those emails right? The ‘get in now before the price goes up tomorrow!’ type thing. You probably get one at least once a week.

Hell, just walk past any furniture shop and there’s always a sale ending ‘soon’.

The problem is, we’re used to this fake scarcity sales tactic. It just looks to your audience like you’re raising your prices to pressure them into buying from you.

But the actual reasons behind you raising your prices are legitimate and justified. And when you sit down to think about it and consider why you’re raising your prices, you’ll probably come up with a whole host of great reasons.

Think about your customer when it comes to explaining your price increase

A lot of these reasons will relate to your customer and their experience. And when explaining a price increase, you should put your customer at the heart of it. Think about what will benefit them.

Ultimately, take the narrative away from you and your price increase and put your customer at the heart of the message.

For example, for web design, we explained that we were raising our prices because…

The projects became more time-intensive (because we spent more dedicated time with each client and took on fewer clients as a result)
We invested in more expensive tools and software (so the websites we created performed better and were more secure)
We invested more in our own learning (and passed that onto our customers to make them more effective websites)
We took on a more ‘consulting’ role during projects (so we could advise our clients on how to make their website a success, with help on content marketing to website copy)

The stuff in brackets above is what the customer cares about–the parts that actually benefit them. And that’s what led to us landing four new clients in one week from this one piece of content (earning us £25K).

But we would not have done that if we’d simply emailed our list and told them our prices were going up without explaining why and how our customers benefit.

Why does this content need to be public?

We hear you. Creating public content around your price increase is scary, to say the least. What if your competitors see it? What if you put people off? What if you’re on the fence about raising your prices?

Our favourite thing we like to say is ‘people don’t care what you say, they care what you publish.’

When something is published publicly it’s more trustworthy than something that is private. You can say anything privately or by email. But, public content is out there for the world to see, and when you’re talking about money, it’s instantly more trustworthy.

Do you have to give a deadline?

A big part of the success of when we did this was that we gave our audience the opportunity to buy from us at our current prices before they increased.

However, you don’t have to do this. If it’s important you raise your prices and not offer your current rates that’s okay. You can still create this kind of content. It’s still incredibly helpful for your audience to understand why you’ve increased your prices and the benefits of what you offer.

How do you promote your price increase content?

The thing about price increase content is…people love to see it!

Why? Because people love a good nosey that’s why. Our most popular blog post (in terms of social shares) is the one about why we’re increasing our web design prices.

So don’t just create this content and shy away from any promotion. You have to take full advantage of your price increase and share it everywhere for it to be effective.

Here are some ways you could promote it…

Send it to your email list
Post on LinkedIn (company and personal page)
Post on Facebook
Go live on Facebook or LinkedIn
Create Instagram stories or posts

Make Sure You Promote this Time-Sensitive Content

Remember, this is a time-sensitive piece of content because once your prices have gone up it becomes less interesting and relevant to your audience.

So you need to give yourself time to promote it, and if you have a deadline where people can buy from you at your current prices you need to give your audience time to take up that offer. The amount of time will depend on what you sell. When we did this with our web design service, we gave a month’s notice as the investment ran into the thousands. You might not have to give that much notice with a cheaper product.

What format should the content be in?

There’s no particular rule for what format your content should be in. Just that it’s public and shareable. We do everything via our blog.

What if don’t want to publish your prices publically?

Now, all of this is futile if you don’t actually publish your prices publicly. There’s no point saying your prices are going up if you don’t want to state how much they are now.

If you don’t currently do this (or at least, give an indicator on price) then seriously consider doing so. The benefits for your business are huge, as highlighted in this blog post about why you should publish your prices on your website.

The best question to ask yourself when it comes to publishing your prices is this, would you rather find out the price of something from a website. Or would you rather call someone and speak to them?

Most people prefer the first option, right? Even if it’s not an exact price, just an indicator. We’d prefer to have an idea before we speak to someone in advance.

Publishing your prices is just good customer service, as well as having a whole host of other benefits.

Need some extra help? Try our blog post templates!

If you’d like some extra support when it comes to writing your ‘price increase’ content, then check out our blog post template pack. This pack includes 10 blog post templates (including a raising your prices template) and saves you so much time when it comes to writing content. Check it out below.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post Publish This Easy Piece of Content Before You Raise Your Prices (And See Amazing Results!) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

The Ultimate Business Blogging Guide

Martin & Lyndsay — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 11:29:45 +0000

Is your website just a fancy online business card? Because, you know, your website can do a lot more for you and your business. If you have a business blog, it can act as your…

Best salesperson, bringing leads and sales to your business 24/7
Trusted customer service advisor, informing and building trust and loyalty with your customers
Knight-in-shining-armour, defending you against those crappy clients or customers who absorb all your time and cause you stress
Personal ‘Town-Crier’, someone who will pull in the crowd and get traffic to your business

Publishing content consistently could help you rank higher in the search engine results and drive more traffic to your website. More traffic from the right kind of people means more leads and, ultimately, more sales. Ka-ching!

But getting results from your business blog takes time, and you have to be doing ‘all the right things’. This is why we put together this guide for you – covering everything you need to know about running a successful business blog.

Ready to grab a brew, sit comfortably, and get stuck in?

How to create a successful business blog

The first thing you need to decide (before you even get started) is what you want to achieve with your blog. Maintaining a business blog requires time, focus, and consistency, so you don’t want to do it just for the sake of it, right? Like with anything you do in life and in business, you need to have a specific goal in mind. Otherwise, how do you know if it’s working or not?

For your blog to be successful, you need a goal for it first.

So what do we mean by goals? What can a business blog actually help you achieve?

Here are some examples…

1. Drive more traffic to your website using your blog

Publishing regular content on your business blog can help you drive more traffic to your website. How? Well, how many times in a day do you search for something on Google? Loads, right? Every time we need information, we head over to Google. And your ideal customers are exactly the same.

So if you publish content on your business blog that answers their questions, bingo! You immediately increase the chances of your website popping up in the search engine results (ideally super close to the top), which in turn means that more people might click on the link, go visit your website, and read your articles.

Want some tips on creating content that gets found on Google? Check out our SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

2. Attract more qualified customers with your business blog

Once you get people on your website, your amazing content is your chance to show them who you are, what you have to offer, and how you work. And your web pages (like your Homepage, your About page, your sales pages, etc.) can do that to an extent. But with the articles on your business, you can showcase who you are, what you stand for, and what you know in a lot more depth.

So what happens when people land on your website and find all your valuable content? They either feel they can relate to that (and find it interesting and relevant), or they don’t. And if they don’t, they’ll hit the back button, go back to Google, and move on to the next piece of content.

Now, that might seem like bad news for you. But it’s not, really. Because if someone can’t relate to you your content, they’re not the right people for you! You don’t want to work with them as much as they don’t want to work with you!

We’ve written loads about this, so if you want to find out more, check out How and Why You Should Create ‘Wrong-Fit’ Content, or How to Stop Customer Issues Before They Happen (Using Content Marketing).

What you really want is for the people who are the right fit for you and your business to stay on your website and engage with your content. Because these are the people you ultimately want to work with – the people who will buy from you and who will prove to be great clients. These are much better-qualified prospects. And you can attract them (like moths to a flame) simply by sharing awesome content on your business blog.

3. Increase your sales by blogging

Did you know your website can sell for you? That’s right. A lot of people treat their websites as fancy online marketing material. But if you play your cards right, your website can actually make sales for you.

How? Because people don’t care what you say – they care what you publish. And the content you share on your business blog can help your ideal customers get to know, like, and trust you. When you answer all their questions, reassure them you’re the right choice for them and the person who can solve their problem, the next logical step is for them to press the buy button and work with you.

And wouldn’t it be nice if instead of spending hours on a sales call with a prospective client, that call only lasted 15-30 minutes? If you publish enough of what we call decision-based content on your website, people will start to self-qualify, meaning that they’ll only go ahead and get in touch if they’re truly interested in working with you. So by the time they jump on that sales call with you, it’s only to finalise the details, sign on the dotted line, and ask when they can get started!

If you want to find more about that, here’s a handy blog post we wrote: How to Make Content Part of Your Sales Process (so you get more sales, faster!)

4. Grow your email list through your blog

Another goal you can achieve through your business blog is to grow your email list. When you give people something of value through a lead magnet (this could be a pdf guide, a quiz, an eBook, etc.) you can ask people to give you their email address in return. And with that, you get the privilege of landing straight into their inbox as often as you like.

Sure, you can advertise your lead magnet on your Homepage, but how well do people know you by then?

Probably not much.

But when they consume content on your business blog and learn about your views about a certain topic, it’s a lot easier for you to include what we refer to as content upgrades that people can download for free by entering their email address. Once they’re engaged with your content, your readers are more likely to want to grab the freebie you’re offering and land on your email list as a result.

So now that you know what you’re trying to achieve with your business blog, let’s try and work out how often you’ll need to share content.

Important! What to do if you have multiple goals...

You’ll probably have multiple goals for your blog.

In fact, our blog helps us achieve all the points above. We use it to get traffic, increase sales, deliver excellent customer service and to make sure we attract the right people to our business.

We know At some points in the year, we focus on sales – creating sales content for specific products or services we want to promote at that moment.

During non-sales-focused periods, we focus on creating content that will drive traffic to our website and grow our email list (this blog post is an example of that – notice it’s published in December, a particularly quiet month for us).

And then there’s the content we create that helps deliver excellent customer service and helps us attract only the right customers – this generally will come from the questions that people ask us.

How often will you blog for your business?

If you’ve decided to start a business blog, the worst thing you can do is to publish one blog post and then disappear from the face of the earth for months on end. (Seriously, don’t do that).

Unfortunately, as much as we all wish blogging was like waving a magic wand, it’s not. It’s a game won with showing up regularly and consistently. So if you’re going to start, make a solid commitment and stick to it!

Yes, we know it’s hard. And that’s why we run our 90-day Content Marketing Challenge a few times a year to help you produce consistently good content that gets ranked on search engines. We also help you get faster and more efficient at content creation and, ultimately, get more leads and sales from your website. The cherry on top? We give you accountability and feedback and break down all the technical stuff that’s holding you back so it becomes super easy and actionable.

You can find out more and join the next 90-day content marketing challenge here.

Decide on your blogging frequency

So, now you’ve made the decision you’re going to blog, you need to work out how often you’ll publish new content. We find that consistency is key, so whatever you go for, make sure you stick to the deadlines you’ve given yourself.

Ideally, if you could blog weekly, that would be amazing, especially if you’re just starting out and don’t have a library of content yet. Nothing stops you from blogging more though – you could publish content 2-3 times per week or even daily if you wanted.

Blogging frequently tells Google and the other search engines that your website is updated regularly, which must mean you have great content to share. So by publishing more content you’re not only giving yourself more chances of being found for more search terms that are relevant to your business, but you’re also telling Google that your website is the place to be to find new and relevant information.

Having said that, you need to strike a good balance between quality and quantity.

Publishing a piece a day of only 300-500 words might not give you as much as going really in-depth into a topic and writing a good 1,500-2,000+ word article. So if that means blogging every fortnight or every month, then that’s a great start. But be consistent. Because your audience will expect to see new content from you on a regular basis, and delivering on your promise helps you build trust with your readers.

Decide on your platform – where should you put your business blog?

We’ve seen some companies use various platforms for their business blog, including…

A separate website for their blog
A website they don’t own like Medium
Using LinkedIn articles to replace their blog
Housing their blog on their own website

We recommend you house your blog on your own website. That way your articles will rank and get found by people searching on Google. And then easily be able to find out about your products or services or sign up to your email list.

You can always repurpose your blog posts for Medium or LinkedIn articles, but it’s wise to publish on the platform you own first!

Blog Post Template Pack

What will you share on your business blog?

I know what you’re thinking now. “This is all well and good, but I don’t know what to write about!”

Well, we know that getting started with something new is always tricky. But once you get going, you’ll have so many ideas you’ll never run out again. Promise!

So let’s look at some content inspiration for you.

“How to” content

This is the most popular form of content you’ll find on the internet and business blogs in general. There’s a reason for it – it’s great for website traffic. Because when you don’t know how to do something, you head over to Google to find the answer, right? So your “How to” articles provide your audience with the know-how they’re looking for.

Although this blog post you’re reading doesn’t have “How to” in the title, it’s a “How to” piece of content. It tells you everything you need to know about the topic of starting and running your own successful business blog.

So think about the kind of things you’re an expert in. What do you teach in your business? What do you find yourself explaining to your customers or clients over and over? Sit down with a cuppa and make a list of topics – you’ll end up with an awesome starting list of potential articles for your business blog.

Here are a couple of examples from our own business blog:

“They Ask, You Answer” content

In a nutshell, this is about answering the questions that your existing customers or prospective clients ask you all the time. The term comes from the book They Ask You Answer, by Marcus Sheridan. You may have heard us talk about this book before (we love it!), and that’s because its teachings have literally transformed our business and the way we use content marketing to generate leads and sales.

If you want to find out more about the exact topics that Marcus Sheridan recommends you create content about and want more inspiration, head over to the blog post, How to Plan 50 Pieces of Content in 30 Minutes.

“Content Fortress” Content

If you’ve come across any of our content at all, you’ll probably be familiar with the phrase “Content Fortress”, which is the title of our book and online course.

So what does this phrase mean? Imagine your business is the ‘castle’ you’re trying to protect. To keep it safe, you might want to build a wall or some sort of structure around it. And for us, the way to build this ‘fortress’ is to create content. That’s it. Creating a content fortress means protecting yourself (as the most important asset in your business) with content.

With us so far?

“But protect yourself from what, exactly?”, you might ask.

Glad you asked.

From bad clients, for example. From people who aren’t right for you and your business – people who come with the wrong expectations or assumptions. Or people who might be after a product or service you don’t even offer!

See, the thing is – when you create the right type of content around your business (and publish it on your business blog), you start to attract more people who are right for you and repel those who would you might say yes to despite your gut telling you not to, and they turn out to be people who aren’t a great fit for you (or you for them).

Like we said earlier, repelling clients might sound like a bad thing, but it’s really not! Especially if it protects your mental health and ensures your business occupies a positive place in your life.

If you want to find out more about all this, head over to the blog post, What is a content fortress?

“Pillar” content

Pillar content is long-form content that goes really in-depth into a topic. We’re talking 2,500-4,000+ words here. Yes, it’s epic! But that’s what’s so good about it. It’s comprehensive, it goes into detail, it answers loads of questions that your ideal customers might have, and it’s great for SEO. It’s your typical “Everything you need to know about X” content.

Here’s an example we have on our website, SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

When you write this type of content you’re not just providing a great customer experience for your users, but you’re also increasing your chances of being found on Google. Why? Because when you write long-form content you’re probably going to use lots and lots of handy phrases that people might search for (a.k.a. keywords) and also link to other pieces of content you’ve created. And these are the kinds of things that the SEO gods absolutely love!

Plus, with articles of this length, you’re also telling the search engines that their users are more likely to find what they’re looking for in your piece, rather than in your competitors’, who may have written a short 500-word article on the same topic. So you’re winning all round!

News-related content

There’s a lot you can do here. You could share newsjacking content, which is all about creating a piece showcasing your thoughts and opinions based on trending news topics or breaking news stories. This could be anything you have an opinion on, but we’re talking about your business blog here, so ideally, stick to topics that relate to your industry, niche, or business.

For example, are there any changes coming up to rules and regulations that affect your industry? Could your readers benefit from you breaking down key information and explaining how the changes impact them? Say you’re an accountant. I’m sure you have loads of clients who could do with an easy explanation of what Making Tax Digital is all about and how it impacts them, right? (No, seriously, are you that accountant? Help!)

And finally, when it comes to news-related content, it could be something about your own company. Although, we always say to try and limit this because as much as this is your website and your business blog, the harsh truth is that your prospective customers don’t care about you – they care about how you can help them.

So whenever you’re sharing news about yourself and your business, make sure they’re relevant to your audience. An example of this may be talking about ‘your why’ (i.e. why you started your company and do what you do).

But how do you write one of these blog posts?

Once you know your topic, then you actually have to write them damn thing. And even if you’re a seasoned blogger, there’s always so much room for improvement. We know, we learn something new on every post we create.

You’ll want to make sure you hit the key points that make a great blog post. Including…

A killer headline that attracts attention (and helps you rank)
An opening paragraph that grips the reader and gets them to read on
A structure that is easy-to-understand and follow
A conclusion that gets your reader to take action

We’ve actually created an in-depth blog post on how to write a blog post.

Blog Post Template Pack

What will your blogging schedule look like?

Okay, so now that you know what you’re going to blog about, it’s time to look at how you’re going to do it. How will you distribute content across your business blog?

You have a few options here:

You could mix and match your topics, choosing from the different types of content we shared in this blog post. This gives your audience a good variety of topics and ensures you’re not only just creating the same kind of article week on week. This is exactly wa
Goal-focused approach. If you have a particular goal you’re trying to achieve (for example, increasing your website traffic), you could decide to create a lot of ‘How to’ or Pillar content to attract more visitors to your website from the search engines. Or, if you’re trying to rank for a particular keyword, you might decide to create a series of articles on that topic for a month or two or until you’ve said everything you wanted to say about that topic.
Campaign-driven approach. This is about choosing the one thing you want to sell and going to town with creating content around it. If you want to read more about this approach, head over to our piece, How to create a 90-day content strategy.
Awareness days content. You could also decide to create content around specific awareness days, such as Mental Health Week, Dry January, or whatever you choose. Again, you want this content to ideally be relevant to your industry and your business, as this gives you a chance to let your readers see what your take is on a particular issue and add value to them.

How will you optimise your blog posts?

So you now know how often you’re going to blog, what you’re going to blog about, and how you’ll distribute your content creation. What’s next?

You’ll notice we talk a lot about SEO and the fact that having a business blog where you publish regular and valuable content will help you be found on Google.

But the thing is – it doesn’t just happen by magic. There are things you need to do before, during, and after writing your blog posts to make sure they are picked up successfully by the search engines. This is called optimisation, and even if you don’t know the first thing about it, you don’t need to be a techie or hire an expensive SEO agency to be able to do it.

You can learn everything you need to know about optimising your blog posts in this handy guide, WordPress SEO For Blogging – How to Optimise Your WordPress Blog Posts.

And once you’ve done that, simply set aside an additional 20-30 minutes to optimise each of your blog posts, and you’ll be good to go!

How will you drive traffic to your business blog?

Now that you have the most amazing business blog, the last thing you need to do is to start driving traffic to it. You’ve got this incredible content you’ve spent all this time and effort creating, so of course, you now want to make sure people find it, right?

Definitely (and pleeeease) don’t fall at this last hurdle! We see so many business owners do this, but your job when it comes to business blogging doesn’t stop when you hit the publish button. You need to get eyeballs on your content. Because that’s the first step to generate leads and sales from it.

So what are some of the things you can do to promote your blog posts?

1. Repurpose your content

Optimisation is of course the first big step in making sure you’re ticking all the right boxes so that Google and the other search engines pick up your content. But you can’t just leave it at that. So the next thing you can do is to repurpose your blog posts into other pieces of content to get them in front of more people.

So, for example, you could repurpose your blog posts into:

LinkedIn articles.
Guest posts on more influential websites with a broader reach than yours.
YouTube videos.
A series of slides, a talk, or a presentation.

To get more ideas and information about what repurposing is (and find out how to do it), head over to the article, How to Repurpose a Blog Post (and Save Yourself So Much Time!)

2. Share on social media

Sharing your content on social media also gives you a chance to reach more people. However…

How many times have you seen a post from someone on your social media feed saying,

“Hey, here’s my latest blog post! Go and read it! Here’s the link.”

Do you honestly stop scrolling and go and read it? We’re willing to bet that most of the time you don’t. (Unless the title or the title image happens to jump at you as the thing you’ve been wanting to look into for a while).

So instead of just broadcasting and letting your social media audience know you’ve published something new, try repurposing that content (see above). You can do that by pulling out some of the key points you covered in your blog post and inviting people in that way. You’re more likely to grab their attention and have them click on your link to head to your website and read.

3. Share with your email list

If you have an email list (and if you don’t, why not?), it’s another great chance to let more people know about the new content you’ve published on your website. A brand new blog post gives you a nice excuse to email your list, but (again) don’t just drop the link and run. Make sure your email shares something of value that links nicely to your latest blog post. And then you can drop the link.

And if you’re looking for tips on how to grow your email list, head over to the article, The Ultimate Guide to Generating More Leads From Your Website.

4. Paid advertising

Another way to drive traffic to your website is through paid advertising. You could run paid ads via different social media platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) While this isn’t free (the clue being in the name), when done right, paid advertising gives you the chance to get in front of new audiences, especially if you don’t already have a large following on your social media channels.

You see, social media platforms hold lots of information about their users that you could never dream of getting direct access to – things like where people live, how old they are, what interests they have, etc. So by using social media advertising, you’re in a much better position to utilise that data and get your content in front of more of your ideal customers and clients.

How to generate leads and sales from your blog

So now that you’ve driven traffic to your website, what’s next? Well, the last thing you want is for people to just come and have a quick read and then click the back button and never come back. When that happens, you have no real visibility of who’s been on your website, which means you can’t interact with them and steer that relationship in any way.

Instead, you want to generate leads – i.e. capture your visitors’ details. You want people to give you their email address in exchange for some sort of freebie or giveaway. It could be someone booking a call with you or filling in your contact form.

As we explained earlier when talking about using your business blog to grow your email list, you can do this by offering:

A freebie or lead magnet. This is something you offer on your website to all your visitors.
Content upgrades. This could be, for example, a free checklist or PDF that expands on the content you covered in a specific blog post.
A paid product. Similar to a content upgrade, this product fits in with the content of your blog post, but instead of being something your audience can download for free in exchange for their email address, it’s a paid-for product.

You can learn more about how generate leads through your blog and website in general in our blog post, how to create a lead generating website.

Want to Cut Your Blogging Time in Half?

So there you have it. Everything you need to know about business blogging! As you can see, there’s A LOT that goes into blogging and creating a blog post can take a lot of time. This is why we’ve created our Blog Post Template pa ck. It includes 10+ fill-in-the-blanks blog post templates that will save you so much time and increase your traffic and rankings!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post The Ultimate Business Blogging Guide appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

WordPress SEO For Blogging – How to Optimise Your WordPress Blog Posts

Lyndsay Cambridge — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 15:45:33 +0000

Are you using WordPress for your website?

Do you blog?

If you’ve answered yes to both you’re in the right place. Because you’re probably wondering how on earth you can SEO your WordPress blog posts so you get higher search engine rankings.

We won’t lie to you, SEO is not a sexy topic to talk about. A lot of people zone out as soon as we mention those three letters – They try and hide it, but we can see it in their eyes!

That’s why we put together this handy guide to help you optimise your WordPress blog posts.

Don’t worry.

It doesn’t need to be technical.

It doesn’t need to be complicated.

And there’s a plugin (or two) for that.

Ready to get into it?

Firstly, why use WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular site builder and content management system out there. We love it because it’s completely customisable and super easy to use.

You don’t even need any knowledge of code or programming language at all because yes, it’s that easy to use! And when you come across something you can’t do, you have loads of people (other website owners or experts) and reputable forums you can go to for help. And even better, if there’s something you’re struggling with, there’s probably a trialled and tested plugin that will do the job for you.

But there are also some slightly more technical reasons why WordPress is always a great choice if you want your website to be found on Google. For example, WordPress offers a clean URL structure that allows you to create unique web addresses for each page. And it’s not built with lots of unnecessary code, which means it’s fairly lightweight and quicker than other platforms. And the search engines love that!

Ultimately, you can easily use SEO on your WordPress blog posts – even if you’re a beginner at SEO.

We have a whole long list of reasons why we love and always recommend WordPress. You can read them all in the blog post Why Do We ONLY Use WordPress To Build Your Website?

Different WordPress plugins you can use to optimise your content

One of the big reasons why we recommend WordPress to all our clients and members is that it gives you access to easy-to-install plugins that allow you to optimise your content easily. And here are some of our favourites:

Yoast SEO plugin. One of the most popular SEO plugins out there, it has a great free version, you can use it on multiple websites, and it comes with an extensive number of features to help you make your website more search-engine friendly.
SEOPress also has a free version and is another strong contender when it comes to WordPress plugins for SEO. It includes most of the key SEO tools you’re likely to need and it works fast.
Another WordPress SEO plugin worth checking out is All in One SEO (AIOSEO).

But how exactly can these plugins help you optimise your WordPress blog posts?

How to SEO your WordPress blog posts – longtail keywords

When it comes to search engine optimising your WordPress blog posts, there are a few things we recommend you do to the text (or the content) of your article. But first thing first, you need to decide on the longtail keyword (or phrase) you want your content to be found for.

So, for example, if you’ve written a fantastic piece on how to grow your Personal Training business, you might want to optimise it for the longtail keyword “promote fitness business”. That means you’re going to include that phrase in various key, strategic places inside your blog post in order to give yourself the best chances of ranking high in the search results when someone goes looking for that phrase.

So let’s have a look at where you need to include the focus keyphrase you’ve picked. We’ll look at the following places…

Adding your keyword to your main heading or title
Using your keyphrase naturally in your subheadings
Adding your keywords naturally through your main body text
Using your keywords with your blog post images
Optimising your internal links
Using outbound links in your article

Let’s get started!

1. Adding your keyword to your main heading or title

The very first place to add your keyword to (in our example, “promote fitness business”) is your blog post title. This is right at the top of your screen when you write your blog post.

So using the same example as above, your blog post title might be something like:

“10 Easy Steps to Promote your Fitness Business”.
Or “How to Promote your Fitness Business in 2022”.
Or even “The Best Marketing Strategies to Promote your Fitness Business”

How to assign a blog post title in WordPress

When you first create a post, simply type in your title, and WordPress will automatically assign it a Heading 1 tag (or Title Tag). That’s the only Heading 1 you’re going to use throughout your blog post.

Google will understand that this is a ‘H1 tag’, and the words you use in within this summarise exactly what your article is about. It’s hugely important for SEO, so try to make your title clear (and of course, include your keyword!)

Top tip! The sooner your keyword phrase appears in the title, the better for SEO purposes.

2. Using your keyphrase naturally in your subheadings

Your subheadings are the Heading 2s, Heading 3s, Heading 4s etc. that you include in the body of your blog post to give it a nice structure and to make it easier for your readers to read through your content.

To SEO your WordPress blog posts for search, include the keyword phrase in some of your subheadings – not all of them, mind. You don’t want to sound too repetitive and robotic. It needs to sound natural and read well. If it doesn’t fit in the context of that section of the text, don’t try and force it.

How to assign a subheading in WordPress

As you can see below, we’ve added a H2 tag to the example blog post. To do this in WordPress all you need to do is simply highlight the text you want as your subheading, and change the text from pargraph to Heading 2, 3 or 4 etc. You can see where we’ve done this in the red circle.

Make sure your subheadings make sense. Your heading 3 should come under your heading 2 etc. Don’t mix them randomly! Google (and your end-user) read these to understand what’s most important on the page. It’s good for SEO and user-experience if you keep them logical and consistent.

Top tip! Don’t worry about using variations of your keyword such as ‘promoting your fitness business’ or ‘promote your fitness and lifestyle business’ – Google is smart and will understands ‘user-intent’ i.e. the goal of the searcher (even if they use slightly different wording).

3. Adding your keywords naturally through your main body text

You’ll also want to include your focus keyword in the main text of your blog post and not just once. In fact, the longer the piece of content, the more time it’s recommended you use your focus keyword. Aim for 2 or 3 times at least, but if you’re writing a longer piece, your SEO plugins might suggest you sprinkle your keyword around the main body of the blog post a few more times.

When doing this though, always make sure the keyword phrase fits in the text naturally and organically. Don’t try to shoehorn it afterwards and out of context because your readers will be able to see through that. And they’ll quickly get fed up with reading and hit the back button. And that’s definitely not good for you or your SEO efforts!

How to add your keyword or phrase through your main body copy in WordPress

This part is simple. All your need to do is write as normal and include your keywords/phrases. There’s an example below highlighted in red (just please don’t highlight all your keywords and phrases 😂).

Top tip! In all honesty, we don’t focus overally on keywords within our main copy. Yes, we may mention them. But it’s important you write for your users first. Write naturally, use personality. Don’t worry too much about keywords otherwise you’ll sound like a robot!

4. Using your keywords with your blog post images

No one wants to read a blog post that looks like a wall of text without breaks or images, do they? That’s not very easy on the eyes, so always make sure you include some relevant images with your blog posts.

The thing is though, Google and the other search engines cannot ‘see’ images as you and I do. To them, an image is a collection of pixels. It’s just a bunch of data. So in order to tell Google what your image is all about, include your focus keyword in two key places:

The name of the file. Wherever you can, just rename the file and make sure you include your focus keyword in there.
The Alt Description. This is a bit of text that you can populate when you edit the image. The Alt Description is normally used to describe to Google (in words) what the image is all about, and it’s the perfect place for you to add your focus keyword.

How to add an Alt Description in WordPress

Firstly, you’ll need to add your image. To do this, go to ‘insert’ at the top of your page.

Then go down to ‘add media’ and upload your file (the tab on the left).

Once you’ve done this on the right hand side you will see a section where you can add your ALT text.

Top tip! There’s no need to add the phrase ‘image of’ or ‘picture of’ when adding your ALT text, just go straight into it.

5. Optimising your internal links

Another important factor for SEO on your WordPress blog is including internal links in your content. These are contextual links to your own website – the same website where you’re publishing the blog post you’re writing. The reason why they’re important for SEO is that they tell Google how various pieces of your own content are related to each other.

It’s a bit like giving Google the ‘map’ for your website. Internal links tell the search engine that piece A is linked to piece B, piece B is linked to piece C, etc. Plus, they help your readers delve deeper into your content and get to know you and your work better. When you think about it, adding internal links is a great piece of customer service.

Don’t add these in at random though! Make sure you include internal links wherever they’re relevant. For example, if you briefly mention a topic that you’ve covered in more detail in another piece, add the link to that piece of content. You don’t have to have loads – 2-5 is plenty!

How to add an Internal Links in WordPress

All you need to do is highlight your text and click on the ‘insert link button’ (picture below) to link internally.

Top tip! Don’t link the words ‘click here’ actually link your keyword or phrase instead, as then Google will understand more about the article you are linking too.

6. Using outbound links in your article

For similar reasons, outbound links are also important. These tell the search engines that your piece of content doesn’t just exist in isolation. So always try to add relevant outbound links to authoritative websites. This could be the BBC, national newspapers and other news outlets, or authority websites in your niche or industry.

You can actually see how ‘authoritive’ a website is by checking a website’s domain authority. This is where you can see how trustworthy a website is. Sidenote, do you see what we did there with linking out? 😉

Again, remember to only include links that are relevant and organic – you want to add value to your readers and give more authority to your content.

Top tip! This is a controversial one but for outbound links, we set them to open up in a new tab. This is because we still want people to remain on our website and not visit BBC then get distracted by something else – forgetting to come back to us! This is just for outbound links we do this.

How to add an External Links in WordPress

You follow the exact same process as above (for internal links). However, you may want to set your link to open in a new tab. To do this, simply click on the gear icon when you’ve inserted your link. And then select ‘open in new tab’.

How to use the Yoast SEO plugin to optimise your WordPress blog posts

So now you’ve sprinkled your keyword of choice in all the right places and done all the right things to give you brownie points with Google, you’ll want to use the additional features in your SEO plugin of choice and populate a few more entries. And here we’re going to give you an example of how to use the Yoast SEO plugin.

The Yoast plugin allows you to use search engine optimise your blog posts easily. There’s a free version too, so it’s well worth installing!

When you install and activate Yoast SEO on your WordPress website, if you scroll down to the end of your blog posts, you’ll see two separate tabs – one called ‘SEO’ and one called ‘Readability’. When you click on the ‘SEO’ tab, this shows you a few fields:

Focus keyphrase
SEO title
Slug
Meta Description.

So let’s get through each one in a bit more detail.

1. Focus keyphrase

This is easy. Remember when you decided on the phrase you wanted to optimise your blog post for before you even started writing it? We used the example “promote fitness business” earlier, so in this case, that’s what we’d type into the ‘Focus keyphrase’ field.

This won’t impact your rankings in any way, but it does tell Yoast what you would like to rank for. The plugin will scan your post (or page) for this keyword/phrase and tell you how well you’ve optimised your page for it.

How to insert your focus keyphrase into Yoast

Just scroll to the bottom of your blog post to find your Yoast information. You’ll see the words, ‘Focus Keyphrase’, just go ahead and add your keyphrase into that section. Easy-peasy!

Top tip – don’t worry about including words like “a”, “the”, “your” in the keyphrase. People don’t always type that kind of stuff when doing searches, so you don’t need to include it.

2. SEO title

Also known as the ‘Title Tag’, this is the title of your blog post that Google and the search engines will display when people run a search. If you look just above the ‘SEO title’ entry under the Yoast SEO plugin, you’ll see a section called ‘Google Preview’, which shows you (in blue) what your title looks like. In order to optimise your blog post, you want to make sure you include your longtail keyword in there.

If you don’t do this manually, WordPress will automatically take the title of your blog post and add this here, but you may find this is too long. It may also add other unnecessary details like your website name, which is fine if you have room but best to leave out if you don’t!

How to write your Title Tag using Yoast

Under the ‘SEO title’ section, you may need to delete anything prepopulated here (depending on how it looks under the ‘Google preview’ section). Once you’ve done that you can type in a more appropriate title that contains your keyword/phrase.

Top tip – the earlier your focus keyword appears in the title, the better!

3. Meta Description

This is the bit in the search results that appears underneath the blog post title (the one in blue). This short bit of text gives the readers a little preview of what the content is all about.

When an exact match of your search term appears in the Meta Description, it’s highlighted in bold. This tells a user that your content is relevant to their search, so always make sure you populate the ‘Meta Description’ entry in the Yoast SEO plugin and stick to the length recommended by the plugin. You’ll see the traffic light go red if you’re over the maximum character length.

How to write your Meta Description using Yoast

Just head to the ‘meta description’ section and add an enticing description of your blog post that encourages people to click. Use the green and red marker to make sure you don’t go over your word count (where Google will cut off your words!)

Top tip – the meta description doesn’t impact the SEO for your WordPress blog post, however, it does encourage people to click on your website once you appear in search results. So make sure it’s enticing!

4. Slug

Also known as the ‘URL permalink, this is the unique web address allocated to your piece of content. Say you went for the blog title “How to Promote your Fitness Business”, your URL might look something like this:

www.yourwebsitname.com/promote-fitness-business

As you can see, there’s no need to use the full title there. In fact, the shorter your URL, the better! What matters for optimisation purposes is that your focus keyword is in there.

How to create your URL using Yoast

Head over to the section that says ‘slug’ and add your slug here, using hyphens to separate each word. You don’t need to add the www.yourwebsitname.com/, just everything that comes after that.

Top tip – Keep your URL slug short (2-3 words if you can) and remove all unneccary words like ‘the’ ‘and’ or ‘of’.

The SEO Analysis for Your WordPress Blog Post

Once you’ve written and optimised your blog post and added your focus keyword in all the relevant places, you can check the section called ‘SEO Analysis’ under your Yoast SEO plugin. Hopefully, the traffic light against it will be green, which means you’re good to go. If it’s amber or red, you can use the drop-down arrow on the right-hand side, and the plugin will tell you what you need to fix.

It could be that you haven’t added or optimised any images, or that you haven’t included any inbound or outbound links. Or even that you’ve used the keyword phrase but just not enough times. But if you follow the instructions in this blog post, you’ll know exactly what to do to remedy any of these points.

And if you want more cool tips on SEO, head over to the blog post, SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

Having said all that… Please know that the traffic light system isn’t the end all be all of SEO! Because obsessing over the traffic light system is something we see people do all the time, and it’s a waste of your time.

Further Elements that Impact Your SEO for Your WordPress Blog

Although not WordPress specific, here are a few further elements that can impact your SEO results…

1. Wordcount

Word count (i.e. the length of your blog post) is also a big factor for SEO. Why? Because the type of content that’s published on the internet has changed over the years. Gone are the days when a short piece of 500 words would have ranked at the top of the search results. And that’s because people publish much longer content, which is why we always recommend you choose a specific topic and then go really in-depth when writing about it.

Ideally, you’re looking at creating blog posts over 1,000 words. But don’t be afraid to hit the 1,500-2,000 word mark (or even longer!) This will really help when it comes to your SEO for your WordPress Blog. Some of our top ranking articles are 2000+ words in length, and more importantly, they actually convert!

2. Include a Call to Action (CTA)

A Call to Action (or CTA) is your way of telling your readers what you want them to do once they’ve read your blog post. Do you want them to go read another piece of content? Check out your course or membership? Or maybe download your lead magnet and sign up to your email list?

Ideally, with your CTA you want to keep your audience on your website because this improves your bounce rate. Simply put, you want to stop your readers from hitting the back button and going back to Google to check out another piece of content. The longer they spend on your page, blog post, or website, the more Google takes this as a signal that your content is relevant, interesting, and trustworthy. And that means in the future when it comes to similar searches, they’ll rank your content higher than someone else’s who has a higher bounce rate than yours.

For example, here’s our call-to-action you’ve probably seen throughout our blog post – look at us getting it in here again 😉

3. Related content

And finally, you can add a section at the end of your blog post with ‘Related Content’. If it’s content you’ve published, this gives you the opportunity to add more internal links to your piece, which is great for SEO.

But you could also link to videos on your YouTube channel, for example. Or even better, embed those videos inside your blog posts. This increases the time that your audience spends on the page, which, again, tells Google that your content is relevant, interesting, and trustworthy.

Common Mistakes with your WordPress SEO for Blog Posts

Please please please don’t spend way too long trying to keep the Yoast SEO traffic light system happy. The plugin is there to help you and remind you of the things you could improve when it comes to SEO. But if you follow the tips in this blog post and have them at the back of your mind while you’re structuring and writing your blog post, optimising it shouldn’t take you more than 20-30 minutes.

And on that note, here are a couple of other SEO for your WordPress Blog mistakes that are worth calling out.

Spending too long on keyword research. This doesn’t have to be complicated! Use handy tools like KWFinder, Answer the public, or Keywords Everywhere to help you.
Focusing on search rather than users. We mentioned this quite a few times throughout this blog post, but this is important. You don’t want to stick words in for the sake of it because your readers will see through it and will disengage from your content and, as a result, from you as a brand. So always make sure your keywords are included organically and naturally in the text – they need to sound like they belong there. And if you’ve chosen your keyword and your topic right, they will!

If you want to find out more about all this, head over to our blog post, The Biggest SEO Mistakes You’re Making (And What to Do Instead).

Ready to take your SEO to the Next Level?

The benefits of good SEO are clear – it helps you get more leads and sales organically, without having to spend so much time on social media or fork out a load of money for ads.

But often, business owners find SEO a bit too complicated, which is why we’ve created our SEO Starter Pack. This pack is aimed at complete beginners and will teach you exactly how to optimise your website for better search engine rankings.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post WordPress SEO For Blogging – How to Optimise Your WordPress Blog Posts appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

5 Must-Have Blog Post Ideas That Work Hard For Your Business

Lyndsay Cambridge — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 16:46:33 +0000

Each blog post on your blog should do a job. Think of your blog as your team and each blog post as a team member. Do it right and your blog post can act as your…

‍Best salesperson – that will deliver you actual direct sales (as well as be helpful)

‍Knowledgeable customer service advisor – to help your potential customers make the right buying decision

Knight in shining armour – to protect your time from those who are the wrong fit

Advertiser – encouraging lots of footfall (i.e. web traffic) to your business

But we’ve noticed that some of our blog posts are the ‘shining stars’ – they work really hard for us (and other businesses too). They pull their weight by saving us time, increasing sales, and getting lots of traffic to our website.

And the best thing is, you can create content like this too. And if you’re not sure where to start with blogging or need some help, then read our ultimate guide: how to write a blog post.

So in this blog post, we’re going to tell you about 5 key killer blog post ideas that will work hard for your business.

1. Blog Post Idea One: How much does it cost…

What’s the one thing you Google?

How much does it cost.

How much does it cost to hire a marketing coach/personal trainer/book editor?

How much does a shark hoover cost?

How much does a swimming pool cost?

How much does a mansion cost in London? (I already know this one – way out of my budget)

You get the picture.

And better yet, creating a ‘how much does it cost’ piece of content is easy because you already know the answer inside out. You’ll know and understand the variables that can make the cost of your product or service go up or down. And you’ll know and understand the market and what the minimum/maximum price might be for your product or service.

How Will This Content Work For You?

One of the biggest benefits of this content is that it ranks – especially if your competitors shy away from this topic. This is something we learnt from Content Marketing master, Marcus Sheridan in his book, They Ask, You Answer.

The reason we recommend you also include your costs is because…

It’s just good customer service if you do this
It saves you time -it prevents people from getting in touch with you when they don’t have the right budget. This can save you hours on emails, calls and writing proposals.

Key advantages of ‘how much does it cost’ article:

Rankability
Time saver – you can send it to new prospects once they get in touch, providing help and advice and preventing you from spending time with people who don’t have the right budget

Example of this blog post idea in action!

Fit Roots Martial Arts School do a great job at this with their article, How Much Does Martial Arts Cost? And it shows how this can work not just for B2B business but also a B2C business.

2. Blog Post Idea Two: Everything you need to know about x service/product

I personally follow a lot of people because they deliver thought-provoking, helpful content.

They give and give and give.

And…I don’t have a clue what they do. Not specifically.

Their website might be unclear. Or I just soak up their content on social media and never actually visit their site.

This is the danger when you only give helpful content. There’s got to be a point where you ask for the sale and explain what it is you do.

This is where a piece of content can help. We love ‘everything you need to know about my x product/service’ or ‘how to work with me’ type content.

This is a very specific piece of content that walks the reader through the key features and benefits of your product or service in a simple way. It’s a great way to get eyeballs on your products and services. You can share it on social media and email it to your list.

It grabs the attention of those who love you but may not have considered working with you before. Or it gives those people who have been considering you a little nudge in the right direction.

How Will This Content Work For You?

This isn’t content that ranks on Google. And that’s okay. Not everything has to rank. This is something very much aimed at people at the ‘decision stage’ of buying from you – where your potential customer is looking at different companies to buy from and weighing up which one suits them best.

This content delivers good customer service and it fills in any gaps missing from your sales pages. It also shines a light on your products and services as you can share this on social media and in your email.

Key Advantages of an ‘Everything You Need to Know’ Post

Sales generator
Customer service

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

I love Adele’s blog post all about her Greek Retreat. It tells you everything you would need to know without being salesy or overly promotional. It’s frank and informative. Exactly what’s supposed to be.

We also published an Everything You Need to Know post about our 90-day content marketing challenge. In exactly the same way, this is an unbiased overview of the product – the exact opposite of the sales page!

3. Blog Post Idea Three: ‘How to find the right x’

We all hate making a bad buying decision. We fear wasting money and time. We fear looking silly. We fear getting ‘ripped off’. And that’s also why we do a lot of research before we invest in things. I can’t buy a bloody toaster without doing a deep dive on reviews.

That’s why it’s a good idea to hold your audience’s hand when it comes to buying the products or services you sell (even if they don’t directly buy from you). This is where the ‘How to find the right x for you’ content comes in.

This is content that helps guide people to find the right person for them. It could be how to find the right editor, coffee machine, graphic designer, estate agent, personal trainer, content writer, social media expert, recruitment agency etc.

Whatever it is you sell, people need help buying it. Your job is to help them.

How Will This Content Work For You?

You can deliver excellent customer service and rank on google too. People often search for ‘how to find the right x’ and similar key phrases, so it’s a good one to go after.

It also builds a huge amount of trust with your audience. Imagine struggling to find the right personal trainer. Then you come across a helpful blog post that tells you exactly how to find the right personal trainer for you.

Who are you going to remember? And who are you more likely to use as your personal trainer? The person who helped you, of course!

Key Advantages of a ‘How to Find the Right X‘ Post

Rankability
Customer service
Trust Builder

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

I love this example from Denise, who actually published a podcast on how to find the right editor for you. It’s great content that really does help the audience. There are so many different factors that go into hiring an editor, and in one piece of content, Denise clears everything up!

4. Blog Post Idea Four: Reasons you shouldn’t work with me

This is the juiciest piece of content you will ever create, and it’s fun and highly therapeutic! But most importantly, it’s the best kind of content for attracting the right people to your business and repelling the ones you don’t want.

This content is a simple list of reasons why someone shouldn’t work with you. It could be something you don’t do – for example, a fiction editor might say, ‘I don’t edit non-fiction’.

Or it could be something more specific to your service, such as ‘I don’t work with people who have a budget of less than £5,000.’

It could even be something to do with mindset or attitude, for example, when we wrote our repelling content (that’s what we call it!), we stated that we didn’t want to work with people who were searching for a ‘yes-man/woman web designer.’ Essentially, we didn’t want to be told what to do and treated as an employee.

How will this content work for you?

Creating this kind of content works well for two reasons:

You don’t waste your time communicating with the wrong people
You increase your trust with your ideal clients as they understand you’re exclusive. And you’re not out to make a quick buck from everybody out there. It shows pride and confidence. And people like that.

We use this in our sales process quite often, particularly if someone gets in touch and they’re already bossing us around! But that’s rare now. Just having the content there really does prevent the ‘wrong fits’ from getting in touch.

Key Advantages of a ‘Why You’re Not the Right Fit For Me’ Post

Customer service
Prevents bad clients
Saves time

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

I love this piece of repelling content from the content writer, Debbie Ekins. It’s confident and respectful and hits the perfect tone of repelling content.

If you’d like help creating this kind of content, check out our blog post on how to create repelling content.

5. Blog Post Idea Five: What’s the Process of Working with Me?

How does it work? What’s the process? What’s the next step?

Ever asked yourself those questions when you’re thinking of working with someone?

I have. All the time. And I hate it. I personally hate not knowing what’s going to happen. It makes me suspicious.

I’m not interested in mystery and in the secret formula you promise to show me (once I hand over my cash, of course).

Nope. I (like many other people) want to understand the EXACT process.

And this is where process content comes in.

Process content is extremely simple. It outlines the step by step process of working with you.

There’s an argument to suggest that your prospects don’t need to understand the exact ins and outs of how you work. But in our experience, people do want to know your step-by-step process, even if it’s just a basic overview. And of course, it really does depend on the level of investment. You’re going to want to know more if you’re spending thousands.

How will this content work for you?

Process content can work in many different ways. Firstly, it can actually be a way of generating sales because if someone sees your process they understand you know what you’re doing.

You can also use it at various stages of working with someone. We add our process to every proposal we send and we also send it to each client at the start of them working with us. This means no one has that horrible ‘I’ve just paid money and don’t know what happens next’ feeling!

Key Advantages of a ‘What’s the Process of Working With Me’ Post

Customer service
Saves time
Can lead to sales!

Example of this Blog Post Idea in Action:

This is one of our oldest blog posts but it still pulls its weight 4 years on! This is the blog post where we listed our web design process step by step.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post 5 Must-Have Blog Post Ideas That Work Hard For Your Business appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

How to Repurpose a Blog Post (and Save Yourself So Much Time!)

Martin & Lyndsay — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 16:41:10 +0000

Let’s be honest. Coming up with new ideas for content week on week is hard.

We’ve all heard that we need to produce valuable, in-depth content and that ‘content is king’.

And that’s absolutely true. But if you tried it in practice, you also know how time-consuming content creation and can be. Plus, let’s not forget that your prospective customers and clients are busy. Just because you’ve shared a piece of your awesome content once, it doesn’t mean they’ve seen it!

So here’s something a content strategy you may have not considered – content repurposing.

In this blog post, we are going to share 6 different ways for you to repurpose a blog post (and save yourself a hell of a lot of time in the process!).

But first thing first…

What is Content Repurposing?

Content repurposing means taking a piece of content that you’ve previously created and turning it into something that you can reuse and re-share somewhere else. Easy, right?

Repurposing can take many forms. You can record a YouTube video or a podcast episode and turn that into a blog post. Or you can take sections from a blog post and share them as a series of social media posts. You can even pull out interesting quotes from a piece of content and create beautiful graphics, memes, or infographics out of them. That’s repurposing too!

When it comes to content repurposing, you have plenty of options, but we always recommend that you start with a blog post first.

And here’s why…

Why Repurpose a Blog Post?

We tell all our clients and members to have a ‘website first’ mentality.

Are you now wondering what that even is? Well, fair enough.

It’s simple, really. It means you create content for your website first and then slice and dice it however you like and repurpose it into different pieces. And once you have repurposed it, you can share it in different formats and on other platforms, like your email list or social media, for example.

But why start with your website?

Because the more content you share on your website, the more chances you give yourself to rank on Google for different keywords. And that gives you opportunities of being found by your ideal customers or clients.

Pretty cool, right?

We think so.

Because if you don’t publish content for your website first, you’ll miss out on all those search engine searches that could easily land more and more people on your website. If you want to read more about how creating content helps you drive traffic to your website, head over to our article, SEO For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide.

But the blog post is the foundation of your content strategy – it’s where it all starts.

So now that you’ve got some amazing blog posts, what can you do with them?

1. How to repurpose a blog post onto LinkedIn

The great thing about creating a longer piece of written content first (and that’s your blog post!) is that you can then easily take sections of it and create 5-10 individual posts that you can share on social media.

We use this method from Content Writer Sara Bussandri to repurpose our blog posts on LinkedIn, but it works for Facebook or your Instagram feed too.

All you need to do is to grab a section of your blog post (a teaching, a lesson, or a key point you want to share) and ‘dress it up’ for the social media platform you’re sharing it on.

Using Sara’s method, to put your post together, you need:

A ‘hook’ – an interesting line or question that will stop people in their tracks. You want them to quit scrolling and read your post.
A short introduction to your topic. Why are you talking about this today? Why does it matter to your audience?
The lesson or point you want to make. This can be taken directly from your blog post. If it works, copy and paste. If not, rephrase and summarise.
A conclusion or question to encourage your audience to engage with your post. You want people to comment on your post, as that tells LinkedIn that your content is interesting and popular. And in turn, it will be shown to more people.
And finally, some hashtags. These work as keywords. If someone searches for a particular term or follows the hashtags you’ve used, they will see your content pop up in their feed.

LinkedIn posts are limited to a maximum of 1,300 characters, so you’ll have to break your blogposts down and repurpose the content.

An Example of a Blog Post Repurposed into a LinkedIn Post

Below, is an example of how we turned a blog post about creating a lead generating website, into a LinkedIn post. The main part of the LinkedIn post (the 3 key steps to get leads on your website) comes from this blog post. Every time we write a blog post we also write up 5-8 LinkedIn posts too. This is because the blog post is fresh in our minds and it makes it a much faster process!

Repurposing Your Blog Post Into A LinkedIn Article

But nothing stops from you sharing longer articles on LinkedIn.

You can either create a LinkedIn article out of your entire blog posts or use parts of it and encourage your readers to go and read the full version on your website. Publishing articles on LinkedIn can help with your brand awareness and visibility. And it’s also a great way to build relationships with your connections.

If you want to find out more about creating LinkedIn articles, our awesome member Louise Brogan wrote this piece: How to Create LinkedIn Articles That People Will Read and Share.

Repurposing your blog post into a LinkedIn Carousels

We don’t ordinarily see LinkedIn as a visual platform. But this recent article from Content Repurposing Expert, Amy Woods at Content 10x, was really interesting! Amy talks about how you can repurpose your content into a ‘LinkedIn carousel’ which is multiple images that you need to swipe through. These images tell a story or explain something. And they work incredibly well on LinkedIn. This isn’t something we’ve tried before but it’s on our to-do list after reading the article!

2. How to repurpose a blog post on Instagram posts and Stories

Compared to LinkedIn, Instagram is a much more visual platform. So if you are going to repurpose your blog post content for Insta posts or Stories, you need images!

When we repurpose content for our Instagram account, we create graphics out of the content. We use templates from Viral Marketing Stars to help us, which can be customised with your brand colours and fonts in Canva. They’re designed to generate engagement and grow your following and have been working really well for us.

Obviously, if you’re posting on your Instagram feed, you also need some written content to go with your image. The graphic will capture your audience’s attention and stop them from scrolling, but the text in your post is your chance to encourage them to engage with your content and go and check your website.

So make sure you write a unique and engaging post to introduce your blog content. You don’t want to just tell them to click on the link in your bio! You can use the same tips we shared for creating LinkedIn posts to write your Insta posts too.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post to an Instagram Post…

Below was one of several graphics we made based on our blog post, what to put on your homepage. As you can see the image doesn’t just say, ‘hey we have a new blog post!’ It gives people some actual advice (such as the 8 things you should include on your homepage).

3. Repurposing your blog post into a Podcast

Your blog post can also be turned into a podcast. So once you’ve written your blog posts and organised all your thoughts on a particular topic, it’s easy enough to record a podcast episode out of it.

You can either record yourself as your read out your article like a script and then upload your audio file onto your podcasting platform, or you just use your blog post as a starting point and guideline. Instead of reading, you talk your audience through it naturally. And that will become your podcast episode.

Awesome, right?

If you don’t have a podcast show already, you may have a few other things to think about, including equipment, graphics, etc. To find out more about how to start your own podcast, check out this article from Colin Gray, a.k.a. The Podcast Host, How to Start a Podcast: Every Single Step for 2021.

And if you are a podcaster and your content creation machine starts with podcasting rather than with your website, you can fix that. Your podcast episodes can also be turned into blog posts that you can publish on your website to drive more traffic to it. For more information on how to do this, check out this blog post from Content Writer Sara Bussandri, How to turn your podcast episodes into blog posts.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post into a podcast episode…

We took a blog post on how to create the perfect website and transformed it into a podcast episode called: The 6 Elements That Make a Successful Website. Both contain the same 6 key elements that make a successful website. And both break these 6 elements down.

The podcast and blog post are both similar, only one is written and the other is spoken. So if you have blog posts and you’re planning to start a podcast, remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel! You have plenty of content on your blog that you can transform into podcast episodes.

4. Using your blog post within an email

Your blog posts can also be used to share content with your email list.

Again, we recommend that you don’t just send out an email that reads,

“Hey! I’ve written a blog post. Here’s the link. Go over and read it!”

Honestly? No.

You won’t get a lot of people who actually go and click on that link to read your awesome blog post.

Think about it – if someone’s trusted you enough to give you their email address it’s because they liked what they saw on your website, and they wanted more of it. So your email needs to deliver some value!

You want your lovely subscribers to learn something from your email, so don’t just ‘link drop’. When you put your email together, include at least some of the content from your blog post. Pull out the most important or interesting points, for example.

Obviously, you can still give them a link to it, but we’re talking about repurposing here. So ideally you want to use your blog content in the newsletter and give your audience the information they’re after.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post into an email newsletter

As we said, you can’t just link to your blog post in your emails. It’s good to actually give some content within the email itself. In this example, from our bi-weekly newsletter, The Jam Sandwich, we break down just one point from our blog post, The Ultimate Guide to SEO.

We go in-depth on this one point and ask people if they want to read the whole blog post. But the point is, they will have learnt something even if they don’t go on to read the whole post.

5. Create a lead magnet out of your blog post

Another way to repurpose your blog posts is to create content upgrades or lead magnets.

A content upgrade is a piece of content that you offer to your readers as a bonus or as additional information in exchange for their email address. It’s basically a lead magnet that goes with your blog posts.

Why add bonus content to your blog posts? Because that way you can capture email addresses and turn anonymous website users into subscribers. And once you have those people on your list, you can then nurture that relationship, offer value, and hopefully, one day turn that subscriber into a loyal customer.

Cheatsheets, checklists, or guides work really well as content upgrades, and you can create them yourself with very little effort using a free resource like Canva.

An example of how we repurposed a blog post into a lead magnet

You can find a content upgrade example in our blog post, The Ultimate Guide to Generating More Leads From Your Website. Right in the middle of our article, we have a call to action that invites our readers to download our 10-minute Lead-Gen Guide.

6. Use your blog post in a presentation

And last but not least, you could also repurpose a blog post into a presentation. Once you have a series of nicely designed slides, there’s a lot you can do with them.

For example, you could:

Upload the presentation as a Document on LinkedIn.
Give a talk at a networking meeting, an industry event, or inside a private membership.
Share your content during an online webinar on social media (for example, in a Facebook live).
Upload the slideshow onto your YouTube channel.
Talk through it and record a Loom video that you can then upload onto your website.
Use the content in a paid training session or workshop.

As you can see, there’s a lot you can do with your content, and it all starts from a blog post!

Want some help with consistent blogging?

Thinking up fresh new content for your website, social media, your newsletter, and any other marketing channels you might be active on is so difficult! But hopefully, you can see now why we advocate creating content for your website first. Repurposing your blog posts will make your life easier and save you time too.

And if you’d like some accountability, our next 90-day Content Challenge (or 90DC for the cool kids) kicks off on the 17th May 2021. We encourage you to create a fresh piece of content every week for 13 weeks. It can be any type of content you like, but if you create and publish blog posts, imagine how much you could get out of 13 pieces of content in terms of traffic to your website and repurposing opportunities!

When you join the 90DC you get:

Accountability.
A dedicated feedback channel.
A Private community group.
Weekly training.
SEO and Content Marketing courses.
Content Strategy Planning sessions.
And even Canva blog post image templates.

All for only $297 for the full 90 days! Or you can join our membership for just $59 per month and get access to the challenge and so much more You can sign up for the 90DC here. See you there!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post How to Repurpose a Blog Post (and Save Yourself So Much Time!) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

How to Increase Your Website Traffic in Just 10 Simple Steps

Martin & Lyndsay — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 20:03:13 +0000

Do you have the sneaking suspicion that the only people who visit your website are you and your mum?

Or does it feel like you’re getting okay amounts of website traffic, but you want to do much better?

You’re not alone. Many business owners struggle to get traffic to their website, and it can be hugely deflating.

You’ve got stuff to sell, after all. Amazing stuff. Stuff that people want to buy, you just need those people to pay attention.

Luckily, there’s an easy way for you to get more website traffic.

In fact, there are 10 easy ways (because we’re generous like that).

In this blog post, we’re going to go through 10 ways you can increase your website traffic. By the end of the post, you’ll have all the information you need to boost your traffic and search engine rankings.

Sound good? Read on…

First things first, what impacts website traffic?

There are so many things that impact website traffic (either negatively or positively). For ease, we’ve grouped these into four categories…

Content Marketing
Website Copy
Technical issues related to your website
Social shares

In this blog post, we’re going to break down each of these categories, telling you exactly how you can improve in each.

Let’s get crackin’

How To Use Content Marketing To Improve Website Traffic

Using content marketing, and particularly blogging, is a great way to rank on search engines and deliver more website traffic.

But, how many business owners start a blog and don’t see results? A lot, unfortunately. So below, we’re going through some ways you can get more traffic from your blog posts.

1. Make Sure Your Blog Post Titles Are Optimised

Do you know that super creative blog post title you came up with?

The one you’re really proud of?

Yeah, you might need to get rid of it.

Business owners often fail to optimise their blog post titles. Instead, they opt for quirky or creative titles (that no one on the planet searches for).

Imagine if I called this blog post, ‘Get more eyeballs on your website.’ Now, that’s nice and everything, but no one will search for that.

And, it could be confusing to the reader too. It may take them a second or two to grasp what you mean, and it doesn’t really sell the benefits of reading the blog post. It actually brings up the mental image of just some eyeballs, floating mid-air staring at a computer screen…weird.

How to optimise blog post titles

Choose a blog post title that people actually search for.

You have to make sure your blog post title tells the reader (and search engines) what the post is about. It’s also advisable you include your keywords. In the case of this article, the keyword is ‘How to increase website traffic’.

This way you’re more likely to get search engine rankings, and therefore, more website traffic. Simple.

If you want to read more about optimising your blog post, check out our SEO Checklist for Blog Posts

2. Make Your Blog Post Titles Interesting

Yeah we know, we just told you to make it clear to the reader and search engines what your blog post is about via the title. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make it interesting.

When your blog post is shared across social media you want people to click on it.

So as long as you can include your keywords in there, and you explain what the article is about, the rest is up to you to make it enticing.

How to make your blog post titles interesting

We could’ve called this blog post ‘How to Improve Your Website Traffic’ but we added ‘in just 10 simple steps.’

The word ‘simple’ is a ‘power word’ that grabs people’s attention. Using power words like ‘simple’ or ‘now’ or ‘instantly’ really do work.

We go into more details about this in our blog post, ‘How to Write Blog Posts People Actually Want to Read’.

We guarantee if you nail the title, you’ll get way more clicks from social media.

Stop using just bland imagery or stock photos for your blog post images

Imagine, you’re scrolling on Twitter or Facebook. You move pretty fast, right? And you see the images below…

Would any make you stop?

Not really.

I actually think our brains have an automatic blocker for these sorts of images.

But what about these images…

You’re more likely to stop right?

That’s because these images are so much more eye-catching. And when they’re done consistently in the same style every single time, your audience will come to recognise these images. They’ll form part of your brand.

They also include the blog post title in the image too. This is good because the person on social media can easily spot the title and what the post is all about.

How to create the main image for your blog post

Now, we know that not everyone is a photoshop whizz.

But even using a simple image in Canva with some text overlaid and your logo can make a huge difference. And try to keep the same style and consistency for every single blog post image – one that reflects your brand.

3. If you’re not creating content already, do it!

It’s difficult to get search engine rankings if you don’t produce regular content. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s difficult.

But the more content you create (and the right kind of content) the more keywords you’ll rank for and the more traffic you’ll get to your website.

How to start with a business blog

A lot of business owners say they struggle for content ideas. Here’s one easy way to fix that – answer a question. What are the most common questions you get about your business?

Write these down and use them as ideas for your content. Chances are if your customers or prospects are asking those questions, lots of people are Googling them too!

Or you can download our content planner which will give you a ton of ideas for traffic-generating content!

How to Improve Your Website Copy For More Website Visitors

Website copy is often considered an after-thought by business owners who prefer to focus on what their website looks like. But NEWSFLASH! Google doesn’t care how pretty your website is! It cares about user-experience and, the words on the page.

That’s why your website copy is vital for higher rankings and, you guessed it, more website traffic. We’re going to go through some reasons

4. Make sure you have enough copy on your web pages

It’s not as simple as more words = higher search engine rankings. After all, if those words are complete gobbledygook that’s not going to rank.

However, business websites often have a lack of actual information. Ever been on a website and just can’t find the info you need? Yeah, we all have. This is not good for search engines or for your readers either. Both need a lot of information.

I’ve even seen a business owner trying to sell a 3K coaching package with just a paragraph of information. That’s not enough to rank on search (especially in a competitive market) and certainly not enough to give the reader the information they need to know about that service.

How to write an informative service page that ranks

Every service you offer should have its own dedicated web page. If you think you couldn’t possibly write that much about one service then break it down and talk about…

the features and benefits of your service
who it’s aimed at
the process and how it works
an FAQ
testimonials/case studies.

You can begin to see how one service can easily take up an entire page.

The more quality, in-depth content you write about your services the more likely they’ll rank on Google.

A lot of people ask here ‘yes, but how many words do I need?’ Unfortunately, there isn’t that one special number. Just make sure you cover everything your reader will need to know. But for service-based businesses, in particular, I would expect to see 1000+ words on a page.

5. Your copy isn’t optimised

Just like your blog posts, your copy also has to be optimised. A lot of people use the phrase ‘you should write for your reader first and not search engines’.

But actually, search engines and your readers want the exact same thing – good, clear, in-depth copy that provides the reader with everything they need.

By optimising your copy, we’re not saying talk like a robot or stuff keywords everywhere, quite the opposite! Google is now sophisticated enough to see past that.

So we always advise, ‘write for your reader, but be mindful of search engines.’

How to optimise your website copy

To optimise your website copy, you should use your keywords NATURALLY throughout your copy. And don’t just use the same keyword, mix up the phrases that people search for. I.e. if you run a cleaning company in Manchester you could use ‘Cleaner in Manchester’, ‘Spring Cleaning’, ‘One-off clean’, ‘Weekly cleaner around Manchester’ etc.

It’s best if you do some keyword research to find out what people are searching for. We like to use a tool called SEM Rush. We pay for this monthly, but they do let you do a couple of searches for free, which is handy.

If you want to know more about keyword research (and how to check your rankings for free), check out this blog post: 5 Ways to Check Your Keyword Rankings

Finally, make sure you use clear language and make things obvious. As a book editor, if the title of one of your pages was ‘the pro plan’ that’s difficult to rank. But if you named it, ‘Book Editing for Non-Fiction Authors – The Pro Package ’ see the difference? Now you’ve got some keywords in there. Plus, it’s better for the reader too!

Technical Stuff that Impacts Rankings and Website Traffic

Sometimes it’s just some annoying technical stuff that can impact your website traffic. Luckily, we’ve gone through the most common traffic-halting technical issues, and we tell you how to fix them…

6. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly

This is one huge traffic stopper! You have to have a mobile-friendly website. Ever visited a website from your mobile and had to pinch at the corners of the screen to see everything. Ugh, it’s awful, isn’t it? And if your users don’t like it. Google certainly won’t like it either!

A whopping 60% of Google searches now take place on mobile. And if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, Google may penalise you in their search results.

How to do make sure your site is mobile-friendly

Firstly, to understand if your website is mobile-friendly across all devices, visit Google’s mobile-friendly checker. What you want to see is a big a-okay from Google that your site is mobile friendly. Like this…

If it isn’t mobile-friendly, you’ll need to fix it. How to fix it depends on how your website is set up. You’ll either need to contact your web developer. Or if you’ve built your site yourself, you’ll need to fix it through the backend of your site. If you use a page builder such as Elementor, click on the little mobile icon in your editor and it will show you the mobile version of your site that you can edit.

7. Make sure your website loads quickly

If your website loads too slowly, then it will impact your search engine rankings. Google wants to give its users the best experience possible, so if your website won’t load quickly, they’re not going to show you in their search results.

In 2018, Google conducted some research which revealed that 53% of users will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load.

So even if people do find your snail-like website, they’re probably going to leave it before it even loads on their screen!

How to speed up your website…

Firstly, you can check how fast your website loads using a website like GT Metrix. It will also give you a more detailed overview of what is impacting your website speed. Now, for non-techies, this can look a bit like gobbledygook. So it may be best to send this info to your web developer if your page load speed is poor.

But there are things you can do, for example, every time you upload an image to your website make sure it’s compressed (i.e. no humongous!) You can use a website like Tiny PNG to do this – your image quality will remain the same but it will load much quicker.

If you’re really stuck and you’ve DIY’d your website – you can use a speed up service from somewhere like WP Fix It, to speed up your site.

8. Make your meta description and title tags irresistible

Title tags and meta descriptions aren’t visible on your website, but they are displayed in Google’s search results. The image below shows you exactly what I mean.

The problem is, people often let their content management system (CMS) automatically fill the title tag and meta description for them. The CMS will pull details from your page or blog post to create this information.

But that’s not the best way to do this. What you need to do is write something from scratch (it’ll take you five minutes) that entices the person using search engines. After all, you’re competing with the entire page for clicks, and you want people to choose you.

How to make your title tags and meta description enticing

Firstly, make sure your title tag includes your keywords (just don’t stuff them in, it looks spammy!) Keep it natural, and summarise what the page or article is about. In this instance, we’ve gone for…

Increase Your Website Traffic in Just 10 Simple Steps | Web Traffic

It’s best to separate any phrases with a pipe (|) as it looks neater.

For the meta description, this is where you need to appeal to the user. You want them to click on your website, so you need to think of a way to get them to do that. What are the main benefits if they click on that page and read the contents? What outcome will they receive? I’ve shown an example below from one of our blog posts.

How to Use Social Media to Get More Website Traffic

Using social media is a great way of getting traffic to your website. But you’ve got to do it right. You can’t just share a link to a page or post and expect people to visit your website. Find out how you can use social media to increase your website traffic below…

9. Promote Your Content (Properly!)

You create content and yet…you do very little in the way of promotion of your content. Maybe you share a basic link to your latest blog post or podcast episode over your social media channels. Unfortunately, that ain’t going to cut it.

If you want to get more eyeballs on your content (and by default, your website) then you have to promote that content. Some people even suggest spending as much time promoting the content as you do creating it. Eeeek!

How to promote your content to get more website traffic

Have you emailed your content to your email subscribers? Have you shared not just a link on social media but actual engaging posts about the content? Have you reached out to influencers who may want to share it with their followers?

There’s a big bunch of stuff you can do! A great article to look at is one by one of our members, Sara Bussandri, who helps business owners repurpose blog content into Linkedin posts and articles.

10. Don’t forget about your website in favour of social media

It’s safe to say that if you neglect your website in favour of social media, it’s unlikely to get much traffic. You can’t have ‘build it and they will come’ mentality to your website. You have to actively focus on getting more traffic and higher search engine rankings.

How to get more traffic to your website?

That sounds like a lot of work. But actually, if you dedicate some time to it, it can pay dividends for a long time. We generate traffic, leads and sales from articles we published years ago! And all we had to do was write it once and optimise it well. One of our MYMO members Janine, now gets more enquiries through her website, when she previously relied on LinkedIn to generate sales.

Where On Earth Do You Start?

Okay, so this may seem a little overwhelming. And we get that.

First things first, if you’re not producing blog content, do it. Commit to it. Because this will make THE biggest difference to your website traffic and rankings.

If you’re already blogging, are your posts gaining much traffic? Are you producing the right type of blog post? Are you getting in front of people who are searching?

Our Content Marketing Planner will help you with this. It’ll help you plan an entire year’s worth of content in 30 minutes or less! And it’s the right kind of content that will deliver website traffic.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post How to Increase Your Website Traffic in Just 10 Simple Steps appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

How to Write a Blog Post That People Will Actually Read

Lyndsay Cambridge — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 20:10:53 +0000

70 million.

That’s how many blog posts are published EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH.

So the big question is…how do you write a blog post that people actually want to read?

Now you might think to yourself, ‘No worries here. What I write about is unique. No one else is writing about it.’

Are you sure about that?

Even the topic ‘underwater basket weaving’ generates 1,200,000 results on Google.

The chances of you writing something original are slim. And that means we have to compete for both search rankings AND our readers’ attention.

To do that we have to write compelling blog posts that connect with our readers from the title, all the way to the conclusion.

I’m going to tell you how to do exactly that. In this blog post, you’ll learn…

How to write a headline that both readers and search engines love
How to write an introduction that excites the reader
How to structure a blog post so people get it
How to write a lead-generating, inspiring conclusion

Ultimately, you are going to learn everything you need to know about how to write a blog post.

Ready? Let’s get started…

1. First Things First: Your Blog Post Topic

The Biggest Mistake You’re Making With Your Blog Post Topic

One of the biggest issues with blog posts is that they go wide on topic and thin on detail. We like to call these ‘pancake posts’.

For example, let’s say we wrote a blog post called, ‘Ten things you can do to improve your website’. Point number one might say, ‘Make it mobile-friendly.’ And point number two might say, ‘Make sure you choose the right font’ and so on.

The problem with these kinds of posts is that they only provide surface-level information about a wide variety of topics. This means that…

You won’t get as much search traffic
Most people won’t search for ‘how to improve my website’. But people do search for ‘How to make my website mobile-friendly.’ or ‘What font should I use on my website?’ People want specific answers to specific questions.
You’ll provide little value to the reader
Because you try to cover so much ground in these blog posts, it means you can’t go into much detail. You merely skim the surface of many different topics. Whereas if you can focus on one thing, and go in-depth, you’re going to provide much more value to the reader.
Your Lead Gen won’t work
Want to use your blog posts to capture leads? That’s much more difficult if your blog posts cover a wide variety of topics. This blog post is all about blogging. And that’s why I feature our 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge as our lead capture just below 😉

When your blog posts cover a wide range of topics, it’s difficult to find a lead magnet that will get your users to click – because you don’t actually know what they need help with specifically.

What Should You Do Instead?

You don’t want to waste time and energy on something that doesn’t give you any results. The best thing you can do when creating any piece of content is to pick one question and go in-depth with the answer.

2. The Dreaded Headline: How to Write a Blog Post Title

In all honesty, I write the headline to my blog post right at the end. I start with the idea and general topic. So for this blog post, I wrote the words, ‘Blog Post Structure’ at the top of the page. But I didn’t actually finalise it until the end.

Why?

Because you’re the clearest on your blog post right after you’ve finished writing it. Trying to do this before you’ve completed it can feel like a lot of pressure. And sometimes when we start writing our focus changes, which is why you see blog titles that don’t quite match the main content.

The Biggest Mistake You’re Making with Your Blog Post Title

Not saying what the actual article is about!

One of the biggest things to remember (before you get clever with your copy or try to make your heading SEO friendly) is to actually say what the article is about.

Imagine I’d called this article, ‘Writing Blog Posts’ – that actually doesn’t tell anyone what this blog post is about. But for some unknown reason, a lot of people do this with their titles.

How to Write a Title That Conveys What The Post Is All About…

The easiest way to do this is to tell the reader what you’re teaching, and what the outcome your reader will get if they read your article. This is why we’ve called this article…

How to Write a Blog Post [what we teach] That People Will Actually Read [the outcome your reader will get if they read your article].

You don’t have to follow this exact format but do make sure you make it clear what your post is about. This is the most important bit – more so than clever copy or SEO.

SEO vs Fun – Which Should You Choose For Your Blog Post Title?

The main title of a blog post is hugely important for SEO. If you want to rank on Google, you want to make sure that your title contains your keywords or phrases. (If you want to know more about how to optimise your blog post for search engines, have a look at our SEO Checklist for Blog Posts article.)

Sometimes, this means there’s a battle between SEO and fun copy. Martin and I have this ~~argument~~ discussion quite a lot. I want the fun headline, he wants the SEO friendly one.

But there is a way to compromise. Yay!

The Blog Post Title Formula: Combine What People Search For + Make It Intriguing!

Let’s take a hypothetical blog post about ‘The Problems with WordPress.’

If I wasn’t thinking about search results, I would want to call this ‘Things that make us angry about WordPress (from two WordPress Web Designers).’

Because that will get people to click, right? Ooooh, these guys are angry about something! And why are they insulting the platform they use? Oh, this sounds interesting!

The problem is, no one searches for ‘things that make me angry about WordPress.’ They search for ‘common problems with WordPress’ or ‘problems with WordPress.’

Now for the exciting part…

In the title of your blog post, we always recommend combining what people search for and potentially adding on a twist that can get people to click. This could be, ‘Annoying Problems with WordPress and the Easy Ways to Fix them.’

We added the word ‘annoying’ to intrigue people. We still included the keyword ‘Problems with WordPress’ and we added the outcome that the reader will get (an easy way to fix these problems).

And that’s not to say we couldn’t use ‘things that make us angry about WordPress.’ We’d certainly lead with that on social media, but just not in our main title.

This is one of the reasons why our blog post ‘11 Reasons Why You’re Not Ranking On Google and How to Fix It,’ brings us in over 1000 visitors to our website every month. It’s a specific problem that people search for (‘why am I not ranking on Google?’) and it promises a solution. Although, if I were to rewrite this I would add the word ‘Easy’ by putting ‘…and easy ways to fix it.’

Why? This brings me on to my next point…

Use Your Power Words in Your Title

Power words in your titles are irresistible words that people can’t ignore. They make us feel something – like the example I gave above, ‘Annoying Problems with WordPress and the Easy Ways to Fix them.’ The words annoying and easy are power words that will pique someone’s interest. The word annoying gets people feeling an emotion, and the word easy attracts people because…well, we all want the easy solution!

Unfortunately, there are plenty of websites that overuse power words, and it makes us wary about using these words in our own marketing (I’m looking at you, Buzzfeed).

We don’t want to get a bad reputation for being clickbaity. But remember content is only ‘clickbait’ if the title fails to deliver what it promises.

I remember Laura Robinson, a copywriting coach, gave a good tip about using power words. She said to use them sparingly. Pepper them in your content. Think of them as a seasoning!

Some examples of power words are:

Easy
Free
Instant
Results
Shocking
Unknown
Ultimate
Proven

You get the picture. If you use these words and combine them with what people search for and you’ll have a search engine friendly, compelling blog post title that gets people to click!

3. How to Write Your Blog Post Introduction Without Boring the Reader

Like the title, I always write the introduction to a blog post at the end as that’s when I’m most clear on the topic.

You don’t have long to grab your reader’s attention. Mere seconds, in fact. So you have to make those seconds count.

The biggest mistake people make with blog post introductions

What’s the biggest mistake people make with blog post intros?

They tell the reader something that they already know.

For example, imagine we started this blog post saying, ‘blogging is a good way to connect with your audience and build trust.’

Well…duh. Yes. That’s why you’re here. You know that. You know the benefits of blogging. If you thought blogging was a load of crap that didn’t get you results then you wouldn’t be here learning more about how to do it.

But this is something people do ALL.THE.TIME!

Bloggers tell the reader something that they already know. And that’s usually because bloggers start with the intro first. They treat the introduction as their warm-up writing. The-writing-before-you-get-into-the-writing, writing.

But no one should treat the introduction this way.

The introduction is the make it or break it zone. You have to stop someone from hitting that backspace button. You have to hook them in.

The question is…how?

The Easy-Peasy Question and Empathy Introduction

Martin openly states that he is not the best writer. But he has consistently blogged since 2017. In that time, he’s found little ways to engage readers quickly, and one of the simplest ways to introduce a blog post is to ask your reader a series of empathetic questions and confirm you understand their problem.

For example, I could’ve started this blog post like this:

Are you getting crap results from blogging?

Getting frustrated when you squeeze in writing in the evenings and at weekends and see nothing in return?

Are you beginning to feel like blogging just doesn’t work for your business?

I get it.

A few years ago, I would spend 12-15 hours a week writing a blog post. I’d publish it with high hopes – imagining a flurry of web traffic, a surge in search rankings and lots more leads and sales…only…

Nothing.

I got nothing back. And I began to think, ‘is blogging just a waste of time?’

But actually, it wasn’t that blogging was a bad strategy.

I was just doing it wrong…

This is the easiest way to engage your reader. To have them nodding along. It’s even better if you can use their phrases and language back to them. Rebound their frustrations in their words and you’ll have them hooked.

The Story Introduction

This is a personal favourite of mine. I love the use of stories in blog introductions, but they have to be used carefully. You may be the protagonist of the story, but the reader should imagine themselves in the scenario you describe.

For example, I could’ve started this blog post like this:

A few years ago, I sat down to bash out yet another blog post, until I stopped and thought…’wait, how many hours have I spent blogging without seeing anything in return?’

I did a rough calculation…

184 hours.

Wow.

At my hourly rate, that’s £150 x 184 hours.

That’s £27,600 I could have earned.

What the hell?

How could this happen?

It was like I was autopilot, churning out these blog articles with no real reason or purpose.

All because I thought it was something I had to do.

I knew other business owners blogged successfully. And if I did it long enough, I could be successful too right?

Wrong.

In fact, my entire approach to blogging was wrong.

And if you’re reading this too, I’m guessing you can relate. But don’t worry, I’m about to tell you how to create the perfect blog post so you can…

Get found on Google
Get more loyal followers
Get more leads

If you’re going down this route just remember not to take too long on your story. No one wants to read your memoir (sorry).

Finally, loop it back to the reader at the end by stating that you’re guessing they’ve felt/experienced the same thing.

The great thing about doing these is that you can also use them in social media and over email. This story can easily be repurposed elsewhere.

The Stat Introduction

This is usually my least favourite option as introducing anything with a statistic automatically sounds snooze-worthy.

Often people use a statistic with a stuffy reference right at the beginning, like ‘According to the Institute of Things That Are Utterly Boring, if you start a blog post like this, people will press that backspace button within 0.00000002 seconds.’

That’s why I hate statistical introductions. But, if you do it right, it can have a big impact. And it’s the method I’ve used in this blog post.

You’ve just gotta make sure that the stat is something that’s shocking and impactful, and is used to really hammer home your point.

One-Liners Work Every Time

The opening line of your introduction should act as your chat-up line (one that doesn’t make the recipient want to throw up).

Ideally, you want just one sentence. Even better if you can get it all on one line.

Why? Because people don’t want to run into a wall of text when they land on your blog post.

Take our blog post.

We could have opened it like this…

According to WordPress, there are 70 million new blog posts published every single month. For us bloggers, this is a frightening statistic. How on earth can we compete when so many other businesses are doing the same thing?

But we opened it like this…

70 million.

Now, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with the first version, but the second definitely gets your attention!

The purpose of the opening sentence is to get your reader to the next one. And that’s why a quick, snappy line works really well.

Sell Them On the Blog Post

It’s a good idea to tell people what they’re going to get out of the blog post in the introduction. But again, don’t do this to such a degree that it bores people.

People don’t want to read a long introduction. They really want to get to the meaty part of the content.

So don’t do as your English teacher always told you and write a 500-word intro telling your reader what they’re about to learn.

Instead, write a quick sentence or some short bullet points that highlight the main benefits the reader will get from reading your post.

4. How to Structure the Main Body Of Your Blog Post

Ugh. The structure of the blog post is the part that always trips people up. Me included.

I’ve reviewed a lot of blog posts in my lifetime. And one of the most common problems with blog posts is that they lack consistency. They feel convoluted and confusing to read. They hop from one subject to another.

And this is usually down to one simple thing…

The Biggest Mistake People Make With Their Blog Post Structure…

Zero planning.

That’s it.

There are two types of fiction writers – planners and pantsers. A pantser is someone who flies by the seat of their pants and just writes.

Steven King is probably the most famous pantser.

And most of us (me included) cannot write like Steven King.

We have to plan. If we don’t plan, we ramble in many different directions.

Whereas when you take five or ten minutes to plan before you sit down to write, it creates a much more cohesive and focused piece of content.

I start planning by bullet-pointing the main things I want to cover in the post (you can see this in the two pictures below).

Essentially these become my main headings.

Then I break that down into further points.

If I hadn’t completed that task, I bet you anything I’d have gone on to talk about SEO for blog posts, or tone of voice or how to make your blog posts look pretty. And it would turn into this mammoth mess of a post.

Your plan keeps you on track and on topic.

Keep the structure the same!

Our brains love patterns. And they love to know what’s going to happen next.

In this blog post you’ll notice I follow a similar structure.

I have five main headings in this blog post – ‘Topic, Title, Introduction, Structure and Ending’.

I break each of these down by giving each a small introduction. Followed the biggest mistake people make with each. And then finally, I follow it up with some tips on how to do it well.

This structure is repeated five times.

Each main heading has the same style. Each subheading has the same style.

It’s clean, structured and easy to understand.

Repetition is so helpful in blog posts as it helps our brains predict what will happen next. This means that we don’t have to work as hard to understand the blog post.

The easier you make it for your end reader, the better!

Use Headings and Subheadings

Use plenty of headings and subheadings in your blog posts.

Readers skim. I’m sure you’ve skimmed through some of the points in this post. And what makes that easier is having headings and subheadings which tell the reader exactly what’s coming next, so they can decide whether they want to read it.

It also helps to break up the text and give the illusion of more white space on the page. Remember you don’t want your reader to feel overwhelmed by so much text. They’re much more likely to read your posts if you give them lots of breathing space.

5. How to Write a Blog Post Conclusion

The ending is just as important as the beginning, as this is your opportunity to get the reader to take action. You managed to keep them hooked the entire blog post, and now is your time to get a little reward.

The Biggest Mistake People Make With Blog Post Endings

Not giving a crap about the ending.

Sometimes I think we’re either just so relieved to finish the blog post or excited to get it out there that we forget to actually…well, finish it.

We sort of run out the door, shouting a vague ‘hope you enjoyed this blog post! Please comment below with your thoughts!’ Which, obviously, no one ever comments on.

But we really need to take our time with the ending. Just as much as we would any other part of the post.

Should You Reiterate What The Reader’s Learned?

Ugh. We’re back to English class again. This is the last thing you should do…

And now you have read said-blog-post, you’ll have learnt the following…[goes into massive list]

No. Don’t do this.

What you should do instead is give the reader one key takeaway from the blog post that they can remember and use straight away.

Will you remember everything in this blog post? No. Of course not. But if I can have a small impact on you then that’s enough. If I can change your thinking in a little way. If I can make your life that bit easier then I’ve achieved something.

That’s what you need to do.

At the end of Your Blog Post Get Your Reader to do Something

Oh, what’s this? You’d like to get leads and sales from your content?

Well, if so you’re going to have to get your reader to do something.

Instead of getting your reader to comment, ask them to take that next step with you. This could be…

Downloading a free guide/cheatsheet/video series from you – it doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s helpful and a similar topic to the blog
Booking a call with you – this should be used sparingly and more with content that talks about your products or services
Actually asking them to purchase a product

This is your opportunity to get direct with your reader and tell them what you’d like them to do. Don’t waste it on getting them to comment!

Want to Know More About How To Make Your Blog Posts Awesome?

Here is some further reading!

How to optimise your blog posts

How to make your blog posts look good

How to create your tone of voice

Your Next Blog Post

So I hope you enjoyed this blog post, please comment with your thoughts below.

(Haha, joking).

As we already know, this would be a CRAP way to end my blog post.

The biggest thing to remember when it comes to writing blog posts is, don’t overcomplicate it. Keep the topic simple. Make sure the headline is clear. And keep the structure clean and easy to follow. As time goes on, you’ll get better at the creative stuff. But get the foundations right first.

What’s next for you?

If you want to gain more leads and sales from your content, then check out our 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge. In this challenge, you submit one piece of content every week for 13 weeks. WE hold you accountable, give you feedback and give you access to so much training to help you.

Check it out below…

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post How to Write a Blog Post That People Will Actually Read appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

How to Plan 50 Pieces of Content in 30 Minutes

Martin & Lyndsay — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 11:25:29 +0000

Do you regularly create content for your business? Or maybe you’d love to, but you get stuck on ideas? If you find your content marketing efforts aren’t paying off and would like to convert more web visitors into sales, you need to start building trust and authority with your audience. To help you do that, we’ve created a resource that allows you to plan 50 pieces of content in 30 minutes! It’s the exact method we followed to increase our website traffic by 10 times.

If you want to access our 30-minute Content Marketing Planner, you can download it here.

Have you downloaded it yet?

Are you ready to get planning?

Then let’s go.

Step 1 – list all your services

First things first, start by listing all the services you offer. Don’t miss this step because it will give you a structured way to come up with lots of content ideas. Once you’ve got this list, you can then think of content ideas for each of your services.

Step 2 – put yourself in your ideal customers’ shoes

Let me ask you a question. What’s the one thing you did before you made your last big purchase?

I bet you searched for whatever it was on Google.

As savvy consumers, we always do our own research before we buy anything. A study from Google found that 70% of buying decisions are made before the customer even contacts the business for the first time! And that’s because people research before buying – we all want to make informed decisions and avoid wasting our time and money.

So if you put your business owner’s cap back on, how can you help your ideal clients to make informed choices?

Step 3 – use content marketing to educate your clients about your business

Our advice? Stop sharing ‘fluff’ content about your latest awards or office move, and, instead, create a good combination of these two types of content.

Traffic content. This is content that drives traffic to your website. It’s what people directly search for on Google. It’s content that answers a particular problem, question or need that your ideal customers or clients might be having. And in providing the best answer to their question, you’re attracting visitors to your website. They may not be ready to buy just yet, but they could be in the future.
Conversion content. This is not necessarily content that people would search for on Google. But it’s something that your ideal customers or clients would pay attention to it if they were already on your website or interested in working with you. Think about people who follow you on social media and regularly visit your blog, previous clients, or subscribers on your email list, for example.

With these definitions in mind, you should then plan your content ideas around 6 key topics:

Price.
Problems.
Comparisons.
‘The best’ content.
Reviews.
‘How to’ content.

These topics come from the book They Ask You Answer, by Marcus Sheridan. You may have heard us talk about this book before (especially if you’re in our membership or listen to our podcast), and that’s because his teachings have literally transformed our business and the way we use content marketing to generate leads and sales. To read more about that, head over to our post: How to 10x Your Website Traffic.

So let’s get into the 6 topics.

1. Price

Price is the one thing we all want to know about when we do our research. We want to find out how much something costs before we commit to buying it – no matter how big or small the purchase is!

So how can you relate this back to your business?

Write about the price of your products and services.
Talk about the costs related to your industry and where you sit within it.
Discuss what can make the price of your service go up and down.

Here are a few examples of the price-related content we’ve created over time:

2. Problems

No product or service, company, or industry is perfect. So instead of burying your head in the sand and denying that there are any problems in your area of work, tackle your customers’ problems (or ‘perceived problems’) head-on. Being honest and upfront about this helps you build trust and authority with your audience. And ultimately, that’s what helps you convert your audience into buyers!

How do you do this?

Talk about a problem in your industry and specify how you’re different.
Create content around something that’s personal to you and your business. For example, we’re a small web design agency, and some big companies might be worried about working with us. So we pre-emptied our prospective clients’ concerns by writing the piece: Why Are We So Cheap? Working with us vs a Larger Agency.

Acknowledge your clients’ objections, show them that you understand them, and advise them on the best course of action. What’s there not to love?

3. Comparisons

This type of content helps your prospective clients decide whether they should buy a certain product or service or another one. Or whether they should buy from this company or that company. It’s all about comparing two products or services (or two companies) directly against one another.

Here’s an example of how we did this in our business: Janet Murray’s 2020 Social Media Diary & Planner vs Jammy Digital’s 90 Day Challenge Workbook.

The reason why you need to create this type of content is that your clients always have a choice! And while doing their research, they’ll come across your competitors too. So why not be the person who acknowledges this choice and helps them make an informed decision? They’ll certainly appreciate you for it!

Of course, directly comparing your products or services against someone else’s can be one of the scariest and most difficult things you’ll ever have to do in your content marketing. But the key is to approach the topic in an unbiased way. Take yourself out of your business and think about what will benefit your customer or client. Put yourself in their shoes, look at the products or services as objectively as you can, and use your knowledge and experience to guide your audience towards making the best possible decision.

So here’s what you could compare:

Similar products or services.
Different industry methodologies or tools.
Companies or businesses (including yours).

Don’t miss the opportunity to be the creator of this type of content – it’s a genuinely helpful thing to do for your audience!

4. ‘The best’ content

When we invest in anything, we want the best for our needs, don’t we? That’s the reason why we do all this research in the first place!

The trouble is that this type of content is often published by independent websites, which means your products or services (or your company) may not be mentioned (and simply because the creators of the content don’t know you!). So why don’t you produce this type of content yourself?

This might mean that you have to mention the competition, but it’ll work in your favour because people will find you on Google!

Want to know how we know? Because we did this! We wrote the article Top 10 Best Web Design Companies in Manchester in 2017. And years later, we still rank on the first page of Google and have received a lot of business directly from this post over time!

So how can you do this?

Evaluate other people’s work – their products and services. Talk about what they do, but also about what you do and how you are different.
Go into detail about why you’ve picked the companies you’ve chosen and what criteria you used to rate them.

This type of content is also incredibly helpful if you ever need to recommend another company to someone who isn’t the right fit for you, or in case you’re fully booked and can’t take on any extra clients at the moment. (Great position to be in, right?).

5. Reviews

Just like product or service comparisons, reviews are often done by independent websites. But you can be the business who reviews products and services in your industry and help your customers and clients make informed buying decisions.

You can review:

Other companies in your industry.
Specific products.
Industry-specific tools.

The key here is to be honest and helpful to your reader. Not every single product or service you sell is suitable for everyone. So focus on the fact that you only need to attract your ideal audience. As for everyone else, they’re not your target audience – and that’s fine!

When you think about it, all you’re doing here is offering great customer service. If you were to walk into a shop, you probably wouldn’t want the help of the salesy or pushy member of staff. You just want the salesperson who comes across as helpful, unbiased, shows a deep understanding of the products or services they sell, and has your best interests at heart. And that’s what content marketing should do for you – it should act as the best customer service person for your business!

6. ‘How To’ content

Although Marcus Sheridan (who came up with these topics) talks about the Big Five, he also says that the sixth type of content that business owners should consider creating is ‘How To’ content, which is ideal for generating traffic to your website.

Think about it from a user perspective. We type ‘how to’ into Google all the time! Creating this type of content is good for showcasing your knowledge and expertise and providing your reader with something useful at the same time – teach people how to do what you do or how to find the right products or services in your industry.

But at the same time, don’t shy away from letting them know that if they need any help, you can be the person who makes their to-do list a little lighter.

Join our community and take part in the 90-day Content Marketing Challenge

So there you have it – the exact steps you need to follow to plan lots of ideas for content in 30 minutes! And if you’d like some accountability or help when it comes to creating that content, we are running a 90-day content marketing challenge in our community – Make Your Mark Online.

Our members produce one piece of content each week, and we provide tailored feedback. We run the challenge 3 times a year, so if this sounds like something you’d want to find out more about, head over to Make Your Mark Online and sign up!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post How to Plan 50 Pieces of Content in 30 Minutes appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Why referrals are bad for business (and what you should do instead)

Martin & Lyndsay — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 10:08:00 +0000

Does your business rely on referrals from previous customers and clients? There’s no doubt that being recommended to others feels great. But did you know referrals can be ‘bad’ for your business? Let’s find out why and what you can do to grow your business in 2020 and beyond.

1. You don’t know anything about the clients you are attracting

One of the major issues with relying on referrals to build and grow your business is that you don’t know much about your prospective customers or clients.

We like to use a blind date analogy when explaining this. Picture this situation – your mum sets you up on a blind date with someone. Of course, you have no idea who they are. The date might work out, and that person might be just perfect for you. Or they might not! And your blind date might turn into an experience you’d rather forget. But that’s the point – you just don’t know, do you?!

In a way, business referrals aren’t that different. Your existing customers and clients may have recommended you to their friends or colleagues, but you don’t know anything about them. And they might be a perfect fit for your business. Or they might not. And if they aren’t, you might both run into problems when you start working together. That’s not ideal, is it?

2. Your prospective clients don’t know anything about your business

When someone recommends you to a prospective customer or client, you don’t know anything about them, but they don’t know anything about you either. Sure, you came recommended, but they’re not aware of the way you work or don’t know what to expect from you.

By the time you’ve explained it all, they might realise you don’t offer the right service for them. Or they might not be willing to pay your fees. And what happens then? You don’t know how your prospective customers or clients are going to react when they find out all the details. And again, it might work out (and the referral might pay off), or it might not (and you might end up in an awkward situation!).

3. Your business cannot grow

Before 2017, our business was relying solely on referrals. Money was coming in, and month-on-month our business wasn’t getting worse. But it wasn’t growing either. It was stagnant. We were offering the same services at the same prices.

Truth is, we had no idea where our next client might be coming from. We had no leads in our pipeline and had our referrals dried up, we would have been in trouble with no other prospective clients to contact.

Looking back, the reason is obvious. We were getting little traffic to our website, and we weren’t building our email list! We had no active way of increasing our leads or sales, and that’s because we weren’t in control of our own sales process. Plus, seeing that our previous or existing clients were kindly referring us to others, we couldn’t easily increase our prices either, as we felt obliged to offer the same prices to our newest clients.

In a nutshell, we weren’t building our personal brand, and our business wasn’t growing.

How to use content marketing to grow your business

If all this sounds familiar, what can you do to attract the right customers or clients, build a pipeline of leads, and increase sales to grow your business?

You can start content marketing.

In 2017, we made the life-changing decision to start blogging on our website. Before then, we had published little content and hardly had a presence on social media. And while referrals were great, things didn’t always work out. So to change all this, we started writing and sharing regular content on our website.

1. Use your content to attract the right customers

We started off by answering questions from our prospective or existing clients, who’d want to know how much we charged or how we worked, for example. And as a result, we created posts including:

And many more!

Over time, writing and sharing blog posts regularly meant that we were able to build a library of content on our website that allows our prospective clients to find all the information they need to decide whether or not we’re the right fit for them.

The people who do get in touch with us tend to have read our content beforehand. And more often than not, they’ve already made a decision to work with us based on what they’ve learnt on our website.

2. Use content to create a pipeline of leads

Content marketing also allowed us to grow our business by attracting more traffic to our website. This, in turn, meant we could increase our email list. And over time, we created an engaged community of subscribers and a pipeline of leads that we could tap into when we had something to sell.

3. Use content to increase your prices or pivot

Sharing content was also key to pivoting our business. By investing in our email list, we were able to build a base of people who already knew us, either through working with us or through our content. They had trust in us – they liked working with us – and they were ready to buy any other products or services we might offer.

Content is what allowed us to introduce our membership in 2018. Make Your Mark Online is aimed at people who want to build their website but are struggling to drive sales through it. And the reason we were able to successfully launch our membership is that we had worked on building a strong community – mainly through content.

So if you want your business to look any different in 6-12 months’ time, you need a pipeline of leads who are invested in you, know that you know what you’re talking about, and who trust you. And the best way to do that is to share content regularly and become an authority and a leader in your industry.

4. Share content with your referrals

So can content help with referrals too? It certainly can. Whenever someone recommends us to a new prospective client, we send them 3-4 key pieces of content to read. Once they’ve gone through our blog posts, we jump on a call with them to answer any questions they might have and find out more about their business and the project.

We often share our Website Buyer’s Guide too, which is an unbiased piece of content that teaches people how to buy a website. This gives them an opportunity to learn more about us and how we work and decide whether they feel we’re the right fit for them. By the time we speak to people on the phone or via video, they are already committed! There are no surprises about prices or processes. And often this means they’ll become our clients. Hurray!

So when a referral comes through your business, rather than diving into the working relationship straight away, invite them to read your content. You don’t need to turn referrals down. But do use your content to educate and inform people about the way you work. And if they like it, they’ll come to you.

Would you like some help with planning your content?

So there you have it – the reasons why referrals aren’t always ideal for your business and how you can use content to attract the right customers or clients. You can think of referrals as an added bonus for your business. But they shouldn’t be your lifeline.

As you can see, content marketing can help you grow your business in a different way. So if you want to know more about planning the type of content that will help people make informed decisions about working with you before even getting in touch, we’ve created a content marketing planner that does just that. Our 90-day challenge workbook helps you create the type of content you should be producing in order to educate and inform your prospective clients and to increase leads and sales in your business.

Some of our lovely Make Your Mark Online (or MYMO) members are already using the workbook to produce weekly content for our 90-day challenge. The idea is simple – you create one piece of content every week for 90 days, and we provide personalised feedback to you, so you can improve your content and use it to attract better clients into your business.

If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, head over to Make Your Mark Online to find out more. Our first 90-day challenge has already started, but if you missed it, don’t worry. We’re running two more this year, so you can join us for the next one, starting in May 2020. Just head over to Make Your Mark Online or give us a shout if you have any questions.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post Why referrals are bad for business (and what you should do instead) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

How to 10x Your Website Traffic

Martin & Lyndsay — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 09:51:50 +0000

Are you looking to increase your enquiries and make more sales from your website in 2020? If you want your website to work harder for your business, the first step you need to take is to increase your website traffic. More eyes on your content can mean more enquiries from prospective customers and clients, and, ultimately, more money in the bank.

But how do you get more people to visit your website? In this post, we share how we increased our website traffic by 10 times in 12 months in 2017 and give you some tips to help you do the same.

Using your website to sell

Before 2017, we used to get approximately 250-300 visitors to our website per month. At the time, our business was going well – we were getting plenty of referrals from our existing and previous clients, and we had enough projects to pay the bills. But while we were busy working on our clients’ websites, we were neglecting our own.

We might be professional web designers, but we were suffering from what we call ‘website shame’. Just like a lot of our clients do before they start working with us, we were using our website like an online business card – a glorified billboard for our business that we’d send people to when they wanted to get in touch with us.

But that’s now how you should use your website! Your website should act as an ‘unpaid salesperson’ for your business – it should help you generate leads and sales. Sell your products or services.

Also, because we weren’t creating any blog content for our website, we didn’t have anything to share on social media or with our email list. And as a result, we weren’t building our brand, and our business was growing excruciatingly slowly.

But in 2017, we started producing regular content for our website, and everything changed.

Publishing regular content on your website

Fast-forward to 2018, and we were regularly getting 2,500-3,000 visits to our website per month. Considering there’s a lot of competition in our market, those stats aren’t bad for a web design agency. But what’s key is that we increased our website traffic by 10 times compared to where we were a year earlier. And that’s something!

So what did we do differently?

At the start of 2017, we joined a 90-day content marketing challenge with a group of like-minded business owners through the former Content Marketing Academy (CMA) led by Chris Marr. By signing up for the challenge, we made a decision and a commitment to create a new piece of blog content every week and to practise what we preached.

We started using our website to:

Build a personal brand.
Get more traffic.
Drive more enquiries.
Make more sales.

But how did we do it? And how can you commit to creating regular content on your website?

1. Measure your benchmark

Do you know how much traffic you’re currently getting on your website every month? In our experience, most website owners don’t. So if you haven’t already, use your Google Analytics to find out.

2. Use your time efficiently

Prior to 2017, we had probably published 2 or 3 blog posts in a year. We used the excuse that we were too busy with client work to find the time to write. If you don’t make time to market your business, your business will stay still. And maybe that’s okay for now, but what about in 6 months or a year?

As a result of publishing regular content, we got more work. But more importantly, we attracted clients that were better suited to our business and who paid more. We did this and still found time to write weekly. This just goes to show that if you put your mind to it and prioritise working on your own business and website, you can make it happen. All we needed to do was to plan ahead and be more efficient with our time.

So what can you do to make better use of your time? Could you set aside a couple of hours a week to create content? Could you maybe take yourself out for half a day every fortnight to work on your website? What worked for us was planning out our content in advance, that way, we knew exactly what to write. We did this using a content planner, that we’re now giving away free to you. Just click to download below!

3. Create accountability

What worked really well for us was taking part in a content creation challenge with other business owners. This gave us the motivation and accountability we needed to keep going when the going got tough and always meet our deadlines. It wasn’t always easy, and it involved a lot of last-minute work on a Sunday night. But we had a group of people supporting us and cheering us on. And that made all the difference in helping us meet our deadlines.

Plus, we got feedback too, and this helped us get better and faster at producing content.

4. Answer your clients’ questions

During the 90-day challenge, we followed the principles from the book They Ask You Answer, by Marcus Sheridan. We learnt that when people are thinking about buying from you, they’ll do their own research first. And typically, they’ll look for information around price, read reviews and comparisons, etc.

Just ask yourself, what did you do the last time you made a purchase? Before you bought the product/service? Research, right? We can’t even buy a toaster without researching!

Using Marcus Sheridan’s method, we came up with a huge number of ideas. We wrote blog posts around our prices, we created industry-related comparisons and reviews, and we generally tried to answer any question our existing or prospective clients would ask us. Essentially, our content was a customer service tool.

Some of the blog posts we wrote back in 2017 still attract the largest number of visitors to our website. To give you an idea, here are some examples of content we wrote in answer to our clients’ questions:

The last blog post, for example, is one of the many posts that has attracted paying clients into our business. So creating content that answers people’s questions isn’t only great for increasing traffic, it should be used to deliver leads and sales too.

If you want to start publishing regular content, record all the questions that your clients ask you. Whether it’s over the phone, on email, during a face-to-face conversation, a coaching call or a consultation, make a note of them. If one client (existing or prospective) asks you something, chances are that others will do too. And if you’re just starting out and don’t have many clients yet, Facebook groups and conversations on social media can be a great place to start to find ideas.

To help you plan all this content, you can download the content matrix, which is the exact framework we use to plan our content for the entire year.

5. Optimise your content for search

Once we gathered ideas for content from our clients, we then used keyword research tools to articulate those questions in a way that would help our ideal clients find our content on Google. ‘Optimising your content for search’ effectively means using words and phrases that people will use when searching for your business or for related information online.

So use keyword research tools to make intelligent decisions about the titles and the sub-headings you use in your blog posts. And once you’ve identified the relevant keywords, make sure you include them in:

Title tags.
Meta descriptions.
Image names.
And the Alt text on your images.

If you want to find out more about how to do this, head over to our blog post: 11 Reasons You’re NOT Ranking in Google & How To Fix It. (We wrote it at the back of a real question, and it’s still one of the best-performing blog posts on our website!).

You can also download our checklist of the exact ways to optimise your blog posts.

While we always recommend optimising your content for search, by creating content centered around our clients’ questions, we didn’t always target high-traffic keywords. And yet, some of the blog posts we wrote following this approach still attract the majority of the traffic to our website, like this post: Why are we so expensive?

6. Delve deep into the topic

If you look at some of the blog posts we linked to, you’ll notice that our content is always quite in-depth. Generally speaking, the higher the word count, the more traffic you can expect to receive to your blog post. There’s enough data out there to prove that the more effort you put into your writing, the more opportunities you have to include:

additional keywords,
internal links,
and optimised images.

All of this encourages Google to rank you higher on the search results. So aim to create the best piece of content on a certain topic, and you’ll be rewarded by Google sending more traffic your way.

And if you’re worried about not being able to create long-form content, don’t! As a business owner, you confidently answer the questions your clients ask you day in and day out without thinking twice about it. So look at writing blog posts as an efficient way to share the knowledge that’s in your head. Focus on how you’re making life easier for your readers – you’re educating, informing, and entertaining. You’re being of service.

Be honest and transparent. Don’t be afraid of giving away your knowledge – it pays back, as you can expect an increase in traffic and in enquiries. Just be mindful of the fact that longer content doesn’t mean boring. So keep your end-users (the people consuming your content) in mind, and make your content interesting and relevant.

7. Rinse and repeat

Once you’ve followed these steps once, rinse and repeat. Do this weekly for a year, and you’ll see huge results, much like we did. It’s by creating 25-30 blog posts in 2017 that we managed to increase our website traffic by 10 times. It’s hard work, but as long as you commit to it and find a way to keep yourself accountable to the process, you can make it happen!

Sure, we found it challenging at times. When we first started, we second-guessed ourselves, and we weren’t sure anyone was even reading. But as time went on, people started noticing our content, sharing it, and giving us praise. Our audience started to see us differently because we had this wealth of knowledge that was now available on our website for the world to see.

Publishing regular content changed our positioning in the market. And it changed the type of discussions we’d have during sales calls. We found that people would read our articles before jumping on a call with us. And by the time we spoke to them, they already had trust in us. This made our sales process much quicker and easier.

In 2017, our website started doing some of the selling for us.

And if you commit to publishing regular content on your website, you can get these results for your business too. You can start this whole process by downloading the content matrix which will help you create your entire content for the year. But it’s not just any content, this content will actually help deliver you sales and leads.

Would you like to join our 90-day challenge?

In 2020, we are running three 90-day content marketing challenges inside our membership, Make Your Mark Online. Our challenges will start on the 13th of January, the 11th of May, and the 7th of September 2020, and we’ll ask all our members taking part to produce one piece of content every week. We’ll support them with weekly calls, training videos, and a private Slack group, giving them the support, motivation, and accountability to use content to increase website traffic and make a difference to the bottom line of their business. If you’d like to find out more and join us for the next 90-day challenge, head over to Make Your Mark Online, or give us a shout if you have any questions!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post How to 10x Your Website Traffic appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

If Your Content Doesn’t Scare You It Won’t Work

Lyndsay Cambridge — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 08:00:43 +0000

When I sat down to write the blog post about why we increased our web design prices by 28% I cringed.

That kind of content, the kind that’s honest and transparent, takes me far longer to write and publish than anything else.

Why? Because it scares the crap out of me.

Scary thoughts run through my mind. Things like…

What if we never see any enquiries ever again?
What if we’re so honest that no one wants to work with us?
Isn’t it best to get people on a call first to convince them what we’re worth before we reveal our prices or processes?

But you know what? None of my worst fears have ever come true.

We’ve published blog posts like, Why Are We So Expensive, How Much Money Have We Made From Free Website Critiques?, Why We Don’t Do Ad-Hoc Amendments, Top 10 Best Web Design Companies in Manchester and Why You Shouldn’t Work With Us.

On the face of it, it looks like we’re majorly shooting ourselves in the foot, doesn’t it? But in fact, by being brutally honest through our content we’ve managed to attract MORE of our ideal clients.

Still not convinced? Here are some reasons why you need to bring some brutal honesty to your business.

1. You’ll get found on Google

I distinctly remember when Martin told me he was going to write an article about the top 10 web design agencies in Manchester…and not include us.

‘Are you feeling alright?’ was my first response. ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ was my second. There was probably a swear word or two in there as well.

But Martin, being Martin, stubbornly went ahead and has been smug about it ever since.

Back then, we were getting a lot of enquiries from people who just weren’t the right fit for us. They weren’t bad potential clients, it’s just they didn’t have the right budget or they needed a much larger agency. In the interest of good customer service, Martin wrote a blog post about other web design agencies in Manchester who he thought were great and would be happy to recommend.

Essentially this blog post was all about saving us time when responding to enquiries and delivering good customer service. BUT, this one article actually had another, more profitable side-effect.

What Were Our Results?

We received (and still do receive!) a lot of traffic to this blog post. We are ranked on the first page of Google for ‘Best Web Design Manchester’/ ‘Best Web Designer Manchester’/‘Best Web Design Agencies in Manchester’ and all associated keywords.

In fact, four days after we published this post, we received a phone call from a completely cold lead. Someone asked us to design their website on the spot, and they’ve been a loyal client ever since. That’s about 6K from one blog post (that we can account for directly).

They found us from typing into Google ‘Best Web Design Agencies in Manchester’. And they wanted to work with us because they valued our honesty.

You can see why Martin was smug.

How Can You Do This?

Think about what your audience will type into Google about your products and services and answer that question.

It’s that simple.

Yes, it might make you squirm a little. Yes, it’s scary. But if you’re answering that question and delivering the best customer service, people will find you on Google and you’ll blow the competition out of the water.

Of course, there are things you can do to enhance your chances of getting found, check out this blog post on how to optimise your blog posts.

2. You won’t waste time with people who aren’t right for your business

Before 2017, we were spending A LOT of time talking to people who just weren’t right for our business. This ranged from people who wanted a cheap web designer for a few hundred quid to people who wanted a full-service agency with £50,000+ to spend.

But it’s not just about money. We also spoke to people who wanted a ‘yes-man’ to do exactly what they asked or people who wanted an agency to update their website daily without doing anything themselves.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with these particular clients. At all. They’re just not the right clients for us. But we were spending hours and hours each week talking to these kinds of people. They booked calls with us and sometimes we’d even get to the proposal stage before it became clear we were the wrong company for them.

That’s why we write articles like ‘Why You Shouldn’t Work With Us’, that’s why we talk about our pricing and that’s why we joke that we’ll never, ever wear a suit. We’re just not that kind of agency.

At first, writing this kind of content is scary. You’re putting yourselves into a corner. You’re drawing a line in the sand – this is who I do work with, this is who I don’t work with.

What Were Our Results?

Now we attract our ideal clients, and by that, we mean people who are the right fit for us, but equally, we’re the right fit for them.

How Can You Do This?

Firstly, you need to think about who you’re ideal clients are and who your crappy clients are. And I’m not just talking about clients with the right budget, I’m talking about clients you want to work with.

For us, that’s people who are quite happy to get their hands dirty with updating their website themselves, and people who want to hire an agency for their expertise (they don’t just see us as designers to boss around).

You need to establish the type of people you want to work with then use your content and your web pages to make it clear who you’re suitable for and who you’re not.

3. You tackle people’s objections

You know those little niggles you have when you’re purchasing something…‘It seems a little expensive’, ‘will this deliver a ROI?’, ‘will this really help me to x,y,z?’

Every time a potential customer visits your website, they have these same ‘niggles’.

You can do one of three things to tackle this:

Completely ignore them in the hopes that the potential customer just decides to invest in you anyway
Invest in ‘soft’ strategies that help give you social proof, essentially proving to the potential customer you are reliable and trustworthy. You can do this by showing reviews and testimonials, case studies and awards etc.
Tackle the issues head on through your content.

A lot of business go with option one. Some do two. Very few go with option three.

And yes it’s scary. Why is it scary, I don’t know? Maybe it feels like we’re shining a light on the perceived downsides of our products and services?

That’s what it felt like when we wrote the post ‘Why are We So Expensive?” Aren’t we just reaffirming a bad point to our potential customers???

Nope.

We knew our customers were asking themselves why we cost more than other web designers. It’s not as if by writing this content we were putting those thoughts in their heads. They were already there.

So, if those thoughts were already there, what did we have to lose by explaining why we charged more?

What Were Our Results?

When people question why we charge what we do, we simply send them that article. It essentially explains the difference between us and other agencies. And you know what? It does really well at converting those potential customers into paying customers! Just because we tackle their concerns head-on.

How Can You Do This?

Think about the main concerns people have about working with you. Think about…

What are your customer objections?
What are the reasons you’ve been turned down in the past?

Now, this can be difficult as often people don’t want to admit why they don’t want to work with you, either out of politeness or embarrassment (if they can’t afford it, for example).

This is where it’s good to ask your peers and other business owners what their objections might be for working with you. Once you have these objections, you can start writing content around that.

4. You’ll build trust and loyalty

This is possibly the biggest benefit we’ve seen in producing ‘scary’ content. Scary content is usually honest content. It’s saying something that others in your industry don’t talk about, or even hide from their customers.

Scary content is about delivering the best possible customer service, and in doing this, you will build trust and loyalty.

One of our scariest pieces of content was – Why new business owners shouldn’t spend thousands on a website.

This was based on our experience. We’d designed websites for excited new business owners only to find that a year or so later their business had changed direction. This meant they had to come back to us to tweak their website or even redesign it.

It occurred to us that this was a huge waste of time and money for new business owners. So we made the decision not to accept clients who were brand new business owners and recommend they invest their time building a website themselves first.

What Were Our Results?

Did we lose money? Yes.

BUT, this was only a short-term loss.

We’ve had several clients who originally took this advice and spent their time building their business and website only to come back to us when they were in a better position to invest.

Our advice meant that when they were ready, they came back to us at a better time for them to spend money. There was no chance they were going to go anywhere else.

How Can You Do This?

This is about taking the decision to be better.

We know so many wonderful web designers but we also know the industry is rife with money-grabbing, crap-bags too.

We constantly strive to be better and make the right recommendations to our audience. Sometimes, this is tough, as it can feel like you’re losing money. But in the long-term, it works out better for both the client and you.

5. You’ll get traffic

Do you know what happens when you’re the only one in your industry talking about something? You get traffic. And tons of it!

One thing that people hate talking about is money (I think it’s a British thing). But, we all have a secret interest in it, don’t we?

We decided to share how much we’d made from delivering free website critiques in our Facebook group. The point of this article was to show people how they can make actual money from giving away free content. We used us as an example because we could see a direct correlation between our free website critiques and our sales.

What Were Our Results

This blog post received a lot of traffic and was shared a lot across social media. Other people said they were going to do something similar, even other web designers!

How Can You Do This?

My biggest fear was that I was going to come across as braggy. I didn’t want that.

So, instead of just saying this is what we did, look at how much money we made and aren’t we just ace, we broke it down. We said how we did this and why it worked, and we talked about how our audience could do something similar.

Just come at it as if you’re sharing something that works, and you’re wanting to help your reader do the same.

6. You actually sell

We’ve made a commitment to being open and clear with our pricing, which is why we have a pricing page on our website.

But this year, Martin and I sat down at the kitchen table and made the decision to increase our prices. Now, we could’ve just edited our pricing page and had done with it, but we wanted to explain why we’re increasing our prices.

In an effort to be transparent, what actually happened was we outlined how we deliver value and a healthy return on investment for our clients.

What were our results?

As a result of that blog post, three people confirmed they wanted us to design their website for them, resulting in over £15,000 worth of sales.

How can you do the same?

If there are changes within your business – such as price increases, don’t shy away from telling people about them. Tell them, but explain why these changes are happening, what value you are giving and how it’s a benefit to your clients and customers.

But, even if your prices are going up from external factors outside of your control, such as the price of goods, explain why clearly. People get that costs go up and if you’re upfront about it, you will gain (most) people’s respect and understanding.

To Sum Up

Scary content is exactly that, scary. Of course, there are massive benefits to you, as I’ve listed above. But ultimately, this is about your audience and what will be hugely helpful to them. If you put them front and centre of everything you do, you can’t go wrong.

We didn’t think of this ourselves (I wish we did). This all comes from the teachings of Marcus Sheridan and Chris Marr from Content Marketing Academy. It’s all about producing content that helps your audience make a better buying decision.

Your thoughts?

Have you ever produced a piece of scary content? What was it? And what were your results? We’d love to know!

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post If Your Content Doesn’t Scare You It Won’t Work appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Ep 27 – How we increased our traffic by 10X

Lyndsay Cambridge — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 15:50:10 +0000

Before 2017 we neglected our website.

Yep, we’re web designers who abandoned our site. But it’s easy done, isn’t it? You’ve got better stuff to do than keep faffing about with your website, stuff that brings in actual money – client work, invoicing, admin.

We thought the same. We were so busy with client work that we didn’t touch our website. Problem was, client work dried up, and we had nothing in the pipeline to sustain us. We hadn’t put any effort into our website and we found ourselves stuck.

In this podcast episode, we discuss how we managed to increase our website traffic by 10-fold, so we could continue to bring in leads and sales to our business.

In this episode I tell you how we increased our website visitors by 10x within 12 months.

We discuss:

– What we were doing before 2017
– How many visitors we were getting per month
– Why we decided to change things
– What we did to increase our traffic
– How we did it step by step
– Traffic number after 2017

Resources

Make Your Mark Online Membership

Facebook Group

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post Ep 27 – How we increased our traffic by 10X appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

15 tips to make your WordPress blog posts less boring

Martin Huntbach — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 20:52:33 +0000

There’s no doubt about it.

WordPress makes everything easier.

Within seconds you can copy and paste your content into the editor and publish a brand new blog post for the world to see.

There’s only one problem, how can you make it look good?

Design is important

Good quality content is one thing, but DESIGN is important too. Especially if you want people to read your articles properly and share your content online.

The standard WordPress editor is easy to use but VERY basic. You can barely change the font size without knowing a bit of code. This makes it very difficult to create something visually appealing for your readers.

So what can you do about it?

Realistically, you’re not going to learn how to code; even the basics would take months to learn.

You don’t want to rely on your web designer for every little change. That could cost a fortune.

You may be tempted to add some drag and drop software to make things easier, but that’s going to affect your page load speed.

Good news

Luckily, all is not lost. WordPress allows you to make lots of visual changes to your articles within their editing system and you won’t need ten different plugins either.

All you need is one handy little plugin, and you’re all set.

Within a few steps, you’ll have everything you need to make your blog posts look amazing without spending a penny.

Install Tiny MCE advanced

Before reading the rest of this post, you’ll need to install this plugin. I always try to avoid adding more plugins where possible, but this one is going to be worth it. It will make your entire blogging life easier.

As you can see, it comes with so many extra options, and I now install this plugin on every website we build.

WordPress Blogging Tips

Now you’ve installed the plugin you can follow along with these 15 steps to make your blog post look epic. And if you want to understand what to actually cover in your blog post, have a look at our article on how to write a blog post.

1. Never create content within WordPress

Never. Ever create your content in WordPress.

Never.

You could spend hours writing a post, and if something goes wrong with your internet, you’ve lost it. I learnt this the hard way and so have many others.

I create all my content using Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Whatever you use, save it often until you’re 100% finished.

How to add content

Once you’ve written your blog post and you’re happy with it, don’t just copy and paste it into WordPress. It sometimes transfers over some messy code from the text editor you’ve used.

Instead, you want to right click in the white space of the blog post and select “paste and match style.”

This will clear all of the previous formattings and give you a clean post to work with.

2. Use Headings and Subheadings

The headings and subheadings on your post will help your reader consume your content easier. They will also allow you to break up your content with little milestones.

Headings are usually much bigger than the normal text, and your readers will often skim your headings before reading the content fully.

Adding headings is the first thing I do after adding the content.

How to add proper headings/subheadings

Highlight the text you want to use as a heading or subheading and use the drop down list in your editor (pictured below) to choose the relevant heading style.

For more information on how to choose the correct WordPress headings, read this article here.

Depending on the theme you’re using, each heading will have its own style. This means that it might not look how you want it to, but don’t worry, you can change this without knowing any code.

Once you’ve chosen the appropriate heading, simply highlight the text again and use the editor to change the size, colour and style of the font.

3. Create a main featured image

WordPress allows you to add a “featured image” to each blog post. This is a dedicated image that often gets shown when your article is shared online. I always upload a unique image for every new blog post and ensure it’s included within the blog post article too.

These big images are the visual representation of your article and, like it or not, people still judge a book by its cover. The better the image, the more people will take notice and share it online.

I also include this same image within the post too, usually right at the top, above the entire article. Just like this one.

How to add a featured image to WordPress

When editing your blog post scroll down to the featured image section on the bottom right of your sidebar.

Click the “set featured image” link and add the image via your media library.

4. Use short paragraphs (My English teacher would kill me)

I love short paragraphs.

Just like the one above.

And this one.

They make it easy for people to read and it doesn’t feel like a novel.

It’s more important earlier on in the post. It’s about easing your reader into your blog post with short, snappy paragraphs to keep them engaged.

I very rarely use paragraphs over 2-3 lines of text and instead, I choose to show more white-space on the page.

It makes the process of writing easier too.

Give it a go and see how you like it.

5. Use a larger text size

The size of your text is very important. If it’s too small, it makes it very difficult to read, and this may cause the reader to lose focus.

I use size 20px (15pts) text for my blog post, and it works well and allows most people to read it clearly.

Anything below size 16px (12pts) is probably too small, and you might want to increase it.

How to change the font size

As you can see below, the new WordPress editor will allow you change the font size for each blog post. Simply highlight the text you want to edit and select your font size.

Note:

Ideally, you would change the text size within the theme code for your website. This way, you wouldn’t have to manually do it every time you created a new post/page. However, if you don’t know how to do this, this can be a good backup option.

6. Use dark coloured font on a white background

My best advice when it comes to text colour is to make it stand out. Using black or a very dark grey will allow your text to be read easily on a white background.

Many websites use a lighter grey colour for the main content, but it’s more difficult to read and will require more concentration from your visitor.

Make things easy and keep your text as dark as possible.

How to change the colour of your text

Highlight the text you want to change and select the colour from the colour swatch like in the image below.

7. Use a clear font style

Always try and use a clear font style for your blog posts. This will make it easier for your readers and will keep them around for longer.

The font will be set by your theme, but you can change this for each post using the WordPress editor.

How to change the font style

Simply highlight the text and change the font style as you can see in the image below.

8. Use images throughout your post

Using images within your blog post is an excellent way to keep your visitor engaged while they’re reading your blog post. It will help you communicate your point on a more visual level.

Try to avoid using cheesy stock photos where possible and opt for more helpful images like I’ve used on this post.

How to add images to your post

Place your cursor where you’d like to add your image and click “add media.”

You can then select the image from your computer or image library.

Once you’ve selected the image, you can use the image align tool to make it centred or left/right aligned.

9. Use links throughout your post

Where relevant, try to include internal links to the other pages or posts on your website.

Helpful links will allow your user to navigate through your website easily and consume more of your content.

The hyperlinked text is usually a different colour too which makes it stand out.

How to add links to your blog posts

Highlight the word or phrase you want to hyperlink and use the link icon in the editor and insert the destination page

I always try to hyperlink a related word such as SEO for Blog posts rather than use the words “click here” or “find out more.”

You could also list recent blog posts and hyperlink to the relevant page as I’ve done below.

The Ultimate SEO Checklist for your Blog Posts

7 mistakes you’re making on your homepage and how to fix them

Web Design & SEO Jargon Buster

10. Embed videos within your blog posts

Adding videos to your article will dramatically increase the value of your content.

By including video, you can keep people on your post for longer and engage more of your audience.

How to add a video

The most common way to include a video within your post is to upload it to a video hosting platform first, like YouTube.

You can then get a snippet of code from YouTube and paste it onto your website.

11. Use Bullet points

Adding bullets or numbered lists is a great way break up your content in a different way.

How could you use bullets?

Listing pros and cons
Giving step by step instructions
Listing product features
Listing benefits of a service
Making a list of items
And many more

How to make a bulleted list in WordPress

Add the list of items, one line per item
Click at the start of the line
Click the bullet or number button in the editor
Do the same for each item

12. Include Tweetables

A Tweetable is a shareable link which you can insert into your blog post.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Tweetables look good and make it easier for your audience to spread your message on Twitter.”]

You can ask your readers to tweet a sentence from your post which helps it reach more people online.

It looks good and makes it easier for your audience to spread your message on Twitter.

How to add tweetable links within your website

I’ll be honest; I use a plugin for this. It comes as part of my social media sharing plugin, however, there are many other plugins that will allow you to add “Tweetables” to your posts.

Click To Tweet is a popular choice and it’s free.

If you’d rather not use a plugin, there is a free online service you can use by the same company.

Simply authorise your Twitter account and add the text to field like in the image below.

It will give you a short snippet of code, and you just need to add it to the HTML of your post.

13. Add coloured boxes

Placing a box around sections of text is a great way to highlight it and change things up for the reader.

You can add a simple thin border or you can add a full coloured box like this one.

How to add a coloured text box

To add a simple text box within the WordPress editor, you can select the “Table” option and choose 1 cell.

You can then type in your text within the table.

Then click “table properties” and select advanced.

Using the field at the bottom, you can assign a background colour

Select the “Table” option and choose 1 cell.
Type your text into the table
Then click Table properties and select advanced.
Using the field at the bottom, you can assign a background colour
At this point, you can get creative with the font colour and background colour to make you box look how you want it too.

14. Use horizontal lines to separate paragraphs

Adding a simple line in between your content is another way to break up your text in an interesting but subtle way.

How to add a line between paragraphs

Press enter after you’ve finished writing a paragraph and click “insert” on the editor menu and select horizontal line.

15. Lead captures

One of the more interesting ways to bring your blog posts to life is to include some kind of lead capture.

This could be an email signup form like the one below, which is used to capture your reader’s contact information in exchange for a free giveaway.

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_1]

How to create lead captures in WordPress

To be able to collect your prospects email addresses on your website, you’ll need an email marketing tool such as Aweber, Convertkit or MailChimp.

These are 3rd party tools that allow you to easily add a signup form to your website.

Simply create a new form within your chosen tool, and they will give you the code to copy and paste onto your website.

Most of these tools do have a WordPress plugin you can install to make the process easier, but it’s up to you if you’d prefer to copy and paste some code.

You may have to switch to the text editor to paste the form code, but you don’t have to do anything.

What’s Next?

Making your website and your content look attractive is the best way to keep your readers interested and willing to share it online. Now you have 15 tips to make your blog posts look fantastic.

But, you also have to write a blog post that’s engaging too! Have a look at our article on how to write a blog post that people will actually read.

Over to you

Do you have any tips of your own that make your blog posts look better? Share your thoughts and comments below.

Martin Huntbach

Web designer & marketer for small businesses. Martin is an experienced search engine and web design specialist, with over a decade of experience working with large corporations to small businesses.

jammydigital.com

The post 15 tips to make your WordPress blog posts less boring appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

SEO for Blog Posts – The Ultimate Checklist

Martin Huntbach — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 15:39:31 +0000

Writing content is hard work.

It takes a long time to draft, re-write, edit, create images and then publish it.

And after all of that, you have to think about SEO too?

It’s enough to make you want to cry.

We’d like to think that producing great content is enough, but in reality, if you want to get found online, SEO is essential.

But with all the advice out there, how do you begin to know where to start?

This is why I created this checklist. I wanted you to have a go-to resource that you could use over and over again.

After all, if you’ve spent so long writing a great blog post, you want to make sure you have as many readers as possible.

1. Keyword research for your blog post

Keyword research is used to gather a list of common words and phrases that people type into search engines and it’s still an important part of SEO. Understanding the popularity of certain words and phrases is an excellent way to reach more people.

It’s also a good idea to use a keyword research tool to validate your ideas for future articles.

Ideally, you would do your research before you begin writing, that way you can plan the structure of your piece with keywords in mind.

However, even if you’ve already written your post, you may want to go back and confirm that you’ve at least considered the best keywords. You might have missed some key opportunities.

How to do keyword research so you know what keywords to target.

Keyword research tools allow you to search for words and phrases and tell you the average number of monthly searches.

You can use a number of online tools for this and most of them come with a free trial of some kind. Here are a few for you to try out.

KWFinder
SEO Book
Serps
Wordstream
Keyword.io

Here’s an example of what KWFinder looks like when using their keyword tool. You can read this very helpful review of KWFinder right here.

Basic keyword research tips

Write down a few words and phrases related to your blog post
Use one of the tools above to gather a list of relevant keywords & keep them to one side
Put them in order of most relevant to your article
Take note of the most popular keywords

2. Choosing a blog post title for first page rankings

What is the name or title of your blog post? This is usually the first thing people will see when they visit your post for the first time.

The name you choose will also be the main heading for the post which makes it very important for search engines. For instance, my main heading at the top of this page is “SEO checklist to optimise your blog posts” This is also what will appear when you share your content on social media.

Search engines will take note of the keywords you use in your main heading and use it to rank your blog post. This is why it’s important you take your time with it.

It’s tempting to try to be funny or clever with your heading but I encourage you to tread carefully. I could have chosen something like “10 steps to search engine success” or “10 secrets to get more eyeballs on your blog” but the reality is, that kind of title doesn’t work as well as you think.

“Buzzfeed” type blog titles are only good for one thing: getting low-value traffic from content junkies.

You really don’t want your blog post being treated this way. They might get a couple more shares but you’re missing out on lots of organic search traffic. You also want to position your article as a valuable resource for your target market.

Blog post title tips

Include your main keyword
Use sentence form e.g. SEO Checklist to optimise your blog posts
Try to keep it short. I usually aim for less than 60 characters in length
Avoid keyword stuffing

Here are some examples:

Why do we ONLY use WordPress to build your website?

How we build your website from start to finish

How good is your website? Grade it yourself

3. Optimise your blog post URLs for better SEO

Not to be confused with your domain, URLs are the unique pages on your website. For example, the URL for this page is jammydigital.com/seo-checklist-blog-post. URLs are an extremely important part of SEO. Search engines take note of the URLs you have chosen for your blog posts and will rank you accordingly.

URLs can also be called a page “slug” and depending on which content management system you’re using you should be able to change them easily. Below I’ve shown an example of how it looks in WordPress.

How to choose the best URL or slug for your blog post?

Try to keep it as short as possible e.g. /seo-checklist-blog-post
Include your target keyword
Avoid using any strange characters (%&$£%**&)
Use hyphens to separate words (not underscores)
Don’t use stop words such as AND,A,TO,IN,AN
Avoid using additional elements such as .html or .php

You don’t want an extremely long and messy URL such as jammydigital.com/an-seo-checklist-for-optimising-your-blog-post-for-better-google-rankings.

An extremely long URL doesn’t look very appealing to your users and less people will click through to your website and share it on social media.

4. Structuring your headings and subheadings (H1-H6) for better rankings

The headings you use within your blog posts will help decide what keywords you rank for.

Search engines want you to use heading tags to break up your content, making it easy for their robots to understand.

Headings also have the added benefit of breaking up your content, making it easy for your readers to consume.

Your headings and subheadings should be used in a specific order as shown below. I often see people use H1-H6 tags randomly. They use the different H tags to style their article rather than use them in the correct order.

How to use headings for SEO

Heading 1 (H1) is the main heading on your page (this is usually the blog post title)
Heading 2 (H2) is used for your subheadings and is this is usually the most commonly used headings on a page
Heading 3 (H3) is used for subheadings within your sub headings
Heading 4 (H4) is used for a subheading within your H3
Heading 5 (H5) is used for a subheading within your H4
Heading 6 (H6) is used for a subheading within your H5

Here’s an example of how you use them correctly as a blog post.

Top tips for headings and subheadings

Outline the main sub-sections of your blog post
Try to include your keywords where possible
Try to use sentence form rather than one word (This is harder than you think)
Only use one H1 Tag
Don’t forget about H3 to H6

5. Optimising your content so it ranks highly in search results

These days, high quality content is absolutely vital if you want to rank on the first page of search results.

I’ve seen this for myself over the past few years. It’s pretty much impossible to rank highly online with thin, low quality articles. It might have worked in the past but search engines can spot low quality a mile off.

Unfortunately, Google don’t have an individual person reading your article from top to bottom to see how good it is. They use a number of ranking factors to determine the quality and it’s easy for them to spot the weak from the strong such as:

How does Google determine the quality of your content?

Topic of the post
Number of words on the page
Number of backlinks
Number of shares on social media
Time spent on site
Bounce rate

All of these factors will determine how good your content is and will count towards your rankings.

Here are a few tips to help you content rank higher

Write at least 1000 words for your article (most of my articles are over 2000 words)
Try to include your main keyword in the first paragraph
Include your other keywords naturally throughout the post
Include images and videos within your blog post
Link out to other trusted websites online to strengthen your article e.g. Wikipedia

6. Optimising your images for search engines

Most websites use images to brighten up an article or break it up so it’s easier to read. Whilst that is a good thing, it’s also possible to use your images to rank your article higher in search results.

Search engine robots can’t see your images, they can only scan the information that you attach, which is why you need to take care when optimising them.

Image file name

When you save an image onto your computer you have the option to give the file a name. Most images taken with a smartphone or digital camera are saved like this “IMG_00001.jpg”

To save time, people often leave this as it is and upload it to their website. The problem, is that you’re essentially telling Google that “IMG_0001” is what you’re hoping to rank for.

You need to use this opportunity to describe the image so that it fits in nicely with your article.

Take this image of my cat, Muggles for example. The file name is “black-cat-shelf.jpg”

Image size

The file size of your images can also impact your rankings. Make them too big and your website will load slower and create a bad user experience for your visitors.

A standard image size for a picture taken on an iPhone 7 is around 1500 kb (1.5 mb) and 3000px x 4000px in dimensions.

The average laptop screen is around 1200px wide. So that means if you upload an image from your iPhone it’s approximately 3 times larger than it needs to be.

As you can see from this ruler, the width of this blog post is around 750 pixels. There is absolutely no reason for me to upload an image bigger than this.

Even if you re-size the image once it’s on your website, it’s still been uploaded as a big file and this will have repercussions.

Use a website such as Picresize to reduce the size of your images. Keep them as small as possible without losing the quality.

The image of my cat measures 400px wide by 533px tall and the size of the file is 160kb. This is tiny compared to a standard iPhone photo and could easily be reduced even more.

Always, always, always reduce the image size before uploading it to your website!!

Image alt tags

Once your images have been uploaded to your website, you can add some Alternative text or alt text to explain what the image is. This is how Google rank your images in their image search tool.

Using alt text will also enable you to rank your blog post higher as you are likely using similar keywords throughout the post. I have described the image above using the alt text “Black cat climbing white shelf”

I suppose I could have also used “Muggles destroying my office like she always does” as the alt text. Sigh!

Most content management systems such as WordPress will allow you add alt text without needing to access code.

Tips for optimising images

Use hyphens (not underscores) in your file names to separate the words
Use short file names i.e. 2–3 words in length is good
Include your keywords in the file name e.g. black-cat-shelf.jpg
Use a tool like www.picresize.com to resize your images BEFORE uploading them
Use the batch feature on the same website to upload multiple images
Use sentence form in your alt tags
Include your keywords in your alt tags e.g. black cat
Describe the image “Black cat climbing white shelf”

7. Use internal links

If you want to rank highly, your website should act as a valuable resource within your niche. Your articles are certainly going to help with this but you need to make the most of them. An internal link is where you create a hyperlink from one post to another relevant post.

You can use a number of internal links within your blog posts to help your visitors navigate through your website seamlessly and allow them to consume more of your content.

The more pages your visitor views will show Google that your website is valuable and they’ll likely send you more relevant traffic.

Links can also be used to show search engines that your content is trustworthy. Each link pointed to an article counts as a little “vote”. It’s a good idea to try and link to each post on your website at least once.

Another way to help Google rank your articles is to use keywords within your hyperlink when linking to a page. This is called anchor text. For instance, if I’m linking to a page talking about “SEO Jargon”, I would want to hyperlink the words SEO Jargon and not words like “click here” or “find out more”. This is a common mistake that lots of people make but it’s quite easy to fix.

Include a few internal links to other relevant articles on your website
Use keywords within your anchor text
Don’t use too many links as this will affect visitor experience and look messy

8. Search engine title (Title Tag) (this appears in search results)

Not to be confused with the blog post title in step 2. Title tags are not visible on your website. They are mainly used by search engines to determine what your page is about.

Title tags are another important aspect of SEO. Each page on your website will need to have its own title. The same goes for each of your blog posts. Although the title tag is mainly for search engines your users will still be able to see it within search results, so it’s important to take care when choosing your title tags.

The title will be display on the search engine results page. As you can see it’s displayed in big blue text.

You can edit your Title in your website dashboard. Here is what it looks like in WordPress.

How to choose the best title tags for your blog posts

Stick within 55 characters in length – If not, it may get automatically cut off and…
Make sure you include your main keyword
Use short sentences e.g. “SEO checklist for Optimising Blog Post”
Avoid stuffing titles with too many keywords e.g “SEO Checklist. Best SEO checklist Blog Post, SEO”
Use hyphens (-) or pipes (|) to separate sentences. It looks neater.

9. Make the most of your meta description (Google shows this before someone visits your website)

Each blog post you publish will have its own meta description. It’s the small grey text beneath the URL on the Google results listings.

As you can see, it’s longer than the title tag so there’s more room to include more information. Unlike the Title tag, Meta Descriptions are no longer classed as a strong ranking factor. However, they are still extremely important.

The words you use here will determine how many people click on your listing rather than the other results on Google. A compelling description will dramatically increase your click through rate.

A lot of businesses don’t spend the time producing quality meta descriptions and miss out on visitors.

You can edit your Meta Description in your website dashboard and it’s usually right next to your search engine title (title tag)

Top tips for meta descriptions

Use 130–150 characters in your description
Ask a question e.g. Are you writing blog posts that nobody reads?…
Include a call to action where possible

10. Categories and Tags

Categories and tags are used to structure the content on your website. You can group certain content together by assigning a number of categories and/or tags. Although they don’t have a massive SEO benefit, this will make things easier for your visitors when browsing your website.

There are no hard and fast rules about categories and tags but I like to follow a certain system that makes sense for users and search engines.

Using categories

A category is usually used as the MAIN topic of the post. For this post I’ve used “SEO”. I only tend to use one category per post but you could use more if you really needed to.

Using tags

Tags are used as extra topics that you speak about throughout the post. I usually use 5 per blog post and for this one, I used SEO, Blog, Blogging, Content and Content Marketing.

As you can see, I’ve used SEO for the category and also a tag.

I’ve found that by structuring each post this way, it allows me find my own content easier and has a nice clean pattern for my visitors to follow too.

Top tips for using categories and tags

Try to use one category
Use a number of tags for any sub-categories
Try to keep a similar process for all future posts

11. Social media signals help rankings

Social media plays an important role in how Google views your content. Blog posts that get lots of likes and shares show search engines that your content is interesting and/or valuable. On the flip side, if your content doesn’t have as many, Google may favour other content on the web and show them higher up in search results.

Most SEO software such as Moz now includes social media counters to encourage you to focus on increasing these social signals.

There are a number of things you can do with your blog articles to encourage people to like and share them.

Include a social sharing bar like we have on the left of this article
Include tweetables to make tweeting your content easier
Ask for shares as your call to action
Include links to online influencers and brands. They’ll likely share it too.

What next?

So now you have a list of things you can do before, during and after you’ve written a blog post. Even if you aren’t able to do every single one, you’ll still put yourself in a very strong position to rank well in search engines.

If all that seems a little overwhelming or time-consuming, then check out our SEO content writing service. This is a full blog management service where we do all of your content creation for you, from keyword research and content strategy, to writing the content and optimising it! This saves you up to 10 hours a week doing it all yourself! Good eh?

Or if you want to up your SEO-game yourself, check out our SEO quiz! It takes just two minutes to do, and when you’re finished you’ll find out your SEO score and get a personalised report which tells you exactly how to improve your site for SEO!

Martin Huntbach

Web designer & marketer for small businesses. Martin is an experienced search engine and web design specialist, with over a decade of experience working with large corporations to small businesses.

jammydigital.com

The post SEO for Blog Posts – The Ultimate Checklist appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

13 Ways to Find New Content Ideas

Lyndsay Cambridge — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 13:16:14 +0000

Does your cursor blink on a blank page, demanding words while you’ve got nothing?

We’ve all been there. Creating content is hard. But coming up with content ideas? That can be a killer.

It’s best to create content when you follow a proper strategy, because that’s the best way of using content to reach your business goals. However, we get that sometimes you just need inspiration!

So here are some of the best ways to find brilliant content ideas…

1. Write Down Every Question a Customer or Client Has Ever Asked You

Go do it now.

Done?

Good.

Now answer them!

And yep, even those awkward ones like, ‘how much do you charge?’ or ‘why are you more expensive than your competitors‘?

It doesn’t matter how you answer them. On your blog, video, vlogging from your bubble bath (if that’s your thing). Just answer them.

And there you have it, lots of lovely new content marketing ideas. Ones that users will search for and find informative and helpful.

2. Involve your team

Great things happen when you get people in a room and talking. You come up with the most brilliant ideas.

Make sure you regularly make time with your team to think of content ideas – your team could’ve been asked an interesting question from a customer, or come across an insightful article, or even spotted a trend on social media.

Remember, every team member, whether they’re in sales, tech support, or design, offers a unique perspective that can add immense value to your content strategy.

3. Keep a Pen and Paper Handy

Did you know J.K. thought of her amazing, beyond amazing idea about a boy wizard on the train when she didn’t have a pen and paper? Avoid that mistake. Ideas hit us at the most inconvenient of times. So, make sure you have something with you in order to jot them down.

4. Jump on the Trend Horse

Create content based on what’s happening in the news and or trends. If you have expertise in a domain that’s making the rounds, it’s your cue to weigh in and share insights!

Stay relevant. Stay vocal.

5. Join Forums and Groups

Hang out where your audience hangs out and watch out for the questions they ask – this is a treasure trove of content ideas. Also, make sure you keep an eye on the language they use too – this can tell you how to word your content so it reflects exactly what your audience is asking and needs help with.

6. Quora

Quora is an addictive Q&A site that gives you an idea of what information people are after. So type in the kinds of questions your audience might be asking, and away you go! In a short space of time, you’ll know what topics people are interested in surrounding your business.

7. Explore Analytics

The data doesn’t lie! Look into your website or social media analytics to see what posts or topics have gained the most traction. This can give you an indication of what your audience likes and wants more of.

8. Podcasts and Webinars

Tune in to popular podcasts or webinars in your industry. They’re a goldmine for relevant topics and discussions. Plus, they might inspire a different angle or a deeper dive into subjects that are merely brushed upon.

9. Conduct Surveys

Your audience is your best source of information. Send out surveys or polls asking them directly what they’d like to read or learn about. Their feedback can be the birthplace of your next big content piece.

10. Bookshelf and Magazines

Don’t just stick to online. The old-school route of scanning books or magazines in your niche can offer insights or even just inspire a fresh take on a recurring theme.

11. Mind-mapping Sessions

Set aside time for brainstorming. Start with a core idea and expand outward, jotting down every related topic or subtopic that comes to mind. This can help you visualize a multitude of potential content avenues.

12. Competitor Watch

It’s not about copying, but observing. See what topics your competitors are covering. Can you offer a different perspective or go more in-depth? Or did they miss out on a crucial point that you can highlight?

13. You Don’t Have to be Unique, but Try to be Better

Try not to spend time coming up with brand-new, completely original content. It’s the internet. Your idea has probably been thought up before.

But what you can do is make your content better, more informed, funnier, more opinionated etc. And that’s how you can differentiate yourself.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post 13 Ways to Find New Content Ideas appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

9 most ‘clickbait’ headline techniques – we like number 5 the best! (Oh, the irony!)

Lyndsay Cambridge — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 16:21:05 +0000

‘Clickbait’ gets a lot of bad rap, and sometimes, it’s for good reason. If you click on something and find yourself on a slow-loading page, rammed with ads and content completely unrelated to what you expected, then you’re going to be pretty annoyed.

However, clickbait has been prevalent for centuries, just in different forms. From the summary at the back of a book, to the Oliver Twist look-a-like kid shouting ‘extra, extra read all about it!’ – these are all ways to get you to engage with the author’s content.

There’s no problem at all with readers being lured into clicking on your article but only if they’re rewarded for their curiosity with good quality, engaging content.

But how do you get them to click? Below, I’ve listed the most common ‘clickbait’ techniques, with the ones I think you should be using and ones you should definitely steer clear of!

1. Lists posts

Yep, we know, we’re guilty! But lists are a great way of gaining visitors to your content.

The user knows the article or video is going to be in easily digestible, bite-sized pieces and that’s always more appealing than big chunks of text. It’s also more likely to be actionable content, with facts instead of opinion pieces.

2. Boobs

I can’t believe I have to say this. But please don’t use women in bikinis unless your article/content is directly related to bikinis! The amount of times I see articles that have nothing to do with the female anatomy, using a picture of a woman dressed in barely anything is scary. And it’s not just prevalent in content marketing but advertising in general.

Don’t get me wrong, for some companies it may work where that kind of thing is part of your brand – just look at ads for gambling and gaming, but for most it just makes you look desperate and kind of confused about what you’re selling. Plus, you’re potentially putting off 50% of your market.

3. Being mean/horrible/bitchy

I know it sounds cheesy but I treat people how I like to be treated, so causing unnecessary hurt or anger would be something I’d certainly steer clear of.

I’ve seen articles with headlines such as ‘Celebrities with ugly partners’ and ‘Stars who have piled on the baby weight.’ Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure these ‘articles’ – if you can call them that – gain a lot of traffic, but it’s not something I’m into. We’re all human, including celebrities, and I would hate to think I’d hurt someone purposefully over something I’d written.

4. Sarcastic headline

16 reasons you shouldn’t wear sunscreen, 12 reasons not to visit New York, four reasons you should put a fork in the plug socket.

This particular one is a real Buzzfeed favourite and although a little annoying at first, it does have that punch to the stomach value.

For example, what’s a more powerful message…

Neglecting to wear suncream over long periods of time could cause skin cancer

Don’t bother wearing suncream, who cares about skin cancer anyways!

The second one certainly has the shock factor.

I’m not a big fan of this method but I do see its benefits. I’d advise to use with caution.

5. We like number 5 the best!

Which one do you like the best

Yep, we’ve gone and done it again in the article headline! By stating which one out of your list is your preference/the most shocking/made you laugh etc. your intriguing web users. They want to know what number five is and they want to see if they agree.

Overall, it’s not the most advanced strategy but it does work!

6. Humour

Sometimes, you don’t want to learn anything or digest a load of information. You just want to laugh and be entertained – hence the sheer popularity of cat videos.

So inject some humour into your headlines (if applicable to your brand, if you’re a funeral director maybe not – although it would make me laugh!)

7. Controversial headline

This can be tricky.

Firstly, I see a lot of people use a controversial headline to lure people in, and then backtrack the headline in their article.

Someone did this recently using the headline ‘SEO is dead.’ I clicked on it and the guy went through all the benefits of SEO. What he actually meant was some methods of SEO have been phased out – but of course, that’s not as exciting as ‘SEO is dead.’

I think controversy is good, if you truly believe in your opinion and you have stats and facts to back yourself up. Healthy debate is what keeps us up-to-date. However, using controversy to gain links should be avoided, because essentially, you’re just going to annoy people. See example above!

8. Stupidity

Again, like the boobs, I’m not really sure why I have to say this but some people think that being purposefully stupid will attract web hits. And it will, but from people who want to tell you that you’re an idiot.

Please don’t resort to stupidity to gain links, instead be an expert on your chosen topic and earn respect for your knowledge.

9. What happens next will make you cry…

Tearful content

This is actually one of my pet peeves! But I understand why they work so well.

You can usually spot these on Facebook; it’ll link to a video featuring puppies and sad music and annoyingly, you may start to get a tear to your eye!

I hate them because I don’t like feeling manipulated but some people do enjoy them and overall, they seem to receive positive comments. I suppose this one is down to preference!

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post 9 most ‘clickbait’ headline techniques – we like number 5 the best! (Oh, the irony!) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Build trust, become an authority and increase your rankings with blogging

Content Marketing for SaaS: 25 Types of Blog Content to Increase MRR (with examples!)

How did we help increase paying customers by 187% for a SaaS Client?

What business goal are you focused on?

Focus on the most pressing goals first!

Goal 1: Blog content to help SaaS businesses get found on search engines

1. How-to articles and tutorials

2. X vs. Y articles

3. Review articles

4. ‘Alternatives to’ articles

Goal 2: Getting customers signed up for a free trial or ‘Freemium’ version of your SaaS product

‘How to find the right [type of SaaS product]’

2. Buyer’s guides

3. Industry reports

4. ‘Why’ content

Goal 3: Get someone onto a paid plan after their free trial

‘How to set up [your product name]’

2. FAQs about your SaaS product

3. Case studies

4. ‘How to get the most out of [your SaaS product]’

Goal 4: Helping new customers transfer from your competitor to your software

‘How to/how long does it take to switch from [competitor name] to [your name]’

2. ‘Is it really worth moving from [competitor name] to [your name]?’

3. ‘How do we support your moving from [competitor name] to [your name]?’

Goal 5: Make your customers successful by using your SaaS

‘So, you’ve successfully set up [your name], now what?’

2. Learning more tricks

3. How-to articles to teach customers how to be successful

4. Templates to make your customers’ lives easier

Goal 6: Attract Enterprise customers (i.e. the big players!)

Industry reports as lead magnets

2. Original research that supports investment in your SaaS

3. ‘What is our Enterprise plan, and is it right for you?’

4. Use cases

Goal 7: Getting affiliates

‘How does our affiliate scheme work?’

2. Content that makes it easier to be an affiliate

We can create all that stand-out content for your SaaS company blog

What content do you need to create to hit your business goals in 2023?

1. Growing your audience/email list

You can grow your audience by producing more SEO content.

What is SEO content?

The benefits of SEO content

Examples of SEO content

What makes for ‘bad’ SEO content?

2. Increasing brand awareness

You can increase brand awareness by creating thought leadership content

What is thought-leadership content?

The benefits of thought-leadership content

Examples of thought-leadership content

What makes for ‘bad’ thought-leadership content?

3. Converting more leads

You can increase conversions by creating sales-enablement content.

What is sales-enablement content?

The benefits of sales-enablement content

Examples of sales-enablement content

What makes for ‘bad’ sales-enablement content?

4. Retaining more customers

You can retain customers by producing customer service content

What is customer service content?

The benefits of customer service content

Examples of customer service content

What makes for ‘bad’ customer service content?

Would you like our help to achieve your business goals for 2023?

What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work?

Firstly, what is an SEO content writing service?

What does an SEO content writing service include?

So what’s the difference between an SEO content writer and a content writer?

What is the goal of SEO Content Writing?

What are some key elements an SEO Content Writing Service could include?

Keyword research

Content strategy

On-Page Optimisation

Measuring success

Creating imagery

Who offers SEO content writing as a service?

1. SEO Content Writers

A quick overview of SEO Content Writers and what they do

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Content Writer?

2. SEO Agencies

**2. ‘Is it really worth moving from [competitor name] to [your name]?’**