Do you want to get more web traffic to your blog? Of course you do! After all, more traffic means more readers. And, if you’re blogging for business, more potential customers!
In order to attract more readers, you first need to make sure that you’re not making one of these 3 major SEO mistakes:
#1: No keyword research – This is an essential step! It’s important to use the keywords your readers are using to search for your blog article topic. This will ensure your blog article shows up in the search results. You don’t have to do keyword research each time you write an article. If your blog focuses on a particular subject area, do some keyword research every two weeks or at least once a month. This way you can stay current on the most popular searches. Then you can use those phrases in your article.
Remember – don’t go overboard by using the same keyword phrase a half dozen times or more in the article. That’s keyword stuffing and is a “No-No” in Google’s eyes. Your keyword phrase should be used in the following manner:
- Article Title
- Article Body (2-3 times is sufficient)
- Meta Description Tag
- Tags
#2: Not optimizing images – Any time you include an image in your blog post, you should make sure it’s optimized with a keyword that describes what the image is all about. That may mean renaming the file name before uploading it to your website. For instance, one of my clients sends me pictures for her blog. The file name is usually something like: IMG_5015. I rename that file to represent what is in the picture, such as a 100-year-old house. When you upload the image to your website, you should have an option to add an “alt title” to the image. This is another opportunity for you to add a keyword.
#3: Failing to publish articles consistently – One of the worst mistakes a blogger can make is to be inconsistent in their publishing schedule. If you’re going to commit to posting one article a week, do it! And preferably, on the same day each week. People will forget about you if you don’t publish on a regular basis. And worse, they may start reading articles from your competition. And guess who they’re going to call when they need the product or service you sell? Probably not you.
Here are a few statistics to show you why frequent blogging is good for business!
- Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average 1,200 new leads per month. (stateofinbound.com)
- Companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that do not blog (NeilSchaffer.com)
- Business blogging generates leads that cost an average of 62 percent less than leads generated by outbound methods (Hubspot)
If you’d like help setting up a blog for your business, or need help optimizing your articles, contact me today for a no-obligation quote.
