Here at Vision, I write a lot of blogs. I’ve written… I can confidently say “hundreds” for both B2B and B2C clients and for this website. And more than just writing them, we’ve looked their impact on the back end: from engagement when we share them on social media to the percent of web traffic that is brought in by having blogs on our (and our clients’) websites. When done right, blogs for your business can be a way of drawing in massive amounts of organic traffic to your website, as well as a tool to engage users via third parties (social media, blogging sites, etc.). If you’re looking to start (or restart) blogs to be a tool for lead generation and SEO ranking, use the following tips to maximize your blogs’ reach.

1. Create Original Content

Blogs are one of the most basic forms of “content marketing.” This term is used to describe creating new content that draws in users and can start them down a sales funnel. However, for this content to grab people’s attention, it has to meet the following criteria:

• Original: If you’re literally copying another blog – well first that’s plagiarism, which I wouldn’t recommend, but that’s also amplifying their message, not yours. Original topics, insights, or information is what will draw users to you over the competition.
• Interesting: Is this topic of interest to anyone? Stay on topics that show off your expert knowledge. Your business blog should show things that are interesting, and more importantly interesting to the people who would use your products.
• Informative: What is the substance of your blog? People search blogs to get questions answered. Sometimes this is direct, and sometimes your information is a small part of something larger. Curiosity is what drives the habits of online users.

2. SEO Boxes Your Content Should Check

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about understanding the algorithms search engines use (and by “search engines” we mean Google because it has over 81% of the market share). And for that, it helps to understand the goal of these algorithms: to get people good content. Here are the two big ones:

Blog Length

Information is words, and therefore more words are more information. Most SEO experts believe the threshold between “bad” and “good” is 300 words. That’s pretty short, a bit more than half a page single-spaced, even with headers. While there is no technical limit, it’s important to factor in attention spans. If a reader stops reading at 800 words, the rest you write are a waste of time.

Keyword Use

We’ve talked about keywords before. They are what makes search engines run: small turns of phrase that are the most commonly searched for, from “cheap contractors near me” to “how to get ahead in blog writing.” When writing a blog, think of a keyword: try forming your idea into a question or statement. Then use that keyword (and variations) throughout your blog, from the first paragraph to the last header.

3. Handling Media for Your Blog

Images are important, anyone in social media can tell you that. Try to find an image (which you have the legal rights to use) that captures some essence of your blog. When you’re getting ready to upload it to your blog, two things to think about. One: what resolution do you need? Depending on your blog format, you may need a small 300-pixel wide image or a monitor-spanning 1024. Resize the image before upload to avoid longer load times for image larger than they need to be. Two: make sure to insert alt-text after you upload. Use it as it’s intended – to provide the visually impaired with a caption describing the image.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of other factors that can separate good blogs from the bad in terms of usefulness to your SEO and overall brand, but these are a good start. Need a hand with your blogs? Make sure to read my other blog called Four Things Needed to Outsource Blogs for Your Company: it covers many of the pitfalls to avoid. If you’re interested in learning more about the blogging services of myself and others at our company, contact Vision Advertising.