Web Content | SEO Writing

Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post

Blogging sounds like a simple solution for getting more website traffic, for continuous keyword optimization, and for strategic authority and relationship building. But not all blog posts are great. Great blog posts have quite a few good attributes. Get as many of those attributes into each and every blog post you write and your blog could become a great source of success for you.

• You have to appeal to search engines and people.
• You might have to appeal to many different kinds of people.
• Your blog should be interesting, smart, engaging, and strategic.

It’s a lot of work. That’s why you might want to hire a freelance blog writer. But anyway…here are some of the things you’ll want to integrate into your blog posts to make them work effectively — for all your audiences.

Title, body, conclusion…

The title should grab readers’ attention and make the urge to click irresistible. It should also be written in a way that helps search engine spiders associate that title with your subject matter, thereby making your page easy to index. Once readers get to the page, the body of the content must deliver on that title promise. Grab the reader in the first paragraph, hold them through the body of the article, and then come to the same conclusion. It’s a bit like seduction  with a mutually beneficial conclusion. Don’t forget to optimize your meta description, too, so that readers finding your blog post in search engine results will know what the post is about.

Brains, Brawn, Beauty…

Is your blog awesomely written but on a drab site? Is it weak and does it lack substance? Or does it kick ass with brains, brawn, and beauty? If your blog post encompasses brains, brawn, and beauty, you’ve got a better chance of getting people on board with what you’re trying to say and sell.

Brains – Write intelligently. Give value.

Brawn – Be confident and demonstrate that you are a source of valuable information.

Beauty – Deliver information in an eye-friendly manner with a great blog design. Choose a design for readers and for conversion.

Pique, Grab, Convert…

It’s not always easy to attract people and hold onto their attention before online attention deficit disorder kicks in. You need to pique their interest, grab their attention, and hang on long enough to convert them from a visitor to a buyer (or at least a subscriber). Every page of your blog should pique, grab, and convert — even if it doesn’t always try to sell something. You can convert a post so that it becomes link bait, or a great source of new subscriptions, for example. Regularly analyze your bounce rate so you can fine tune your strategies and reduce that bounce rate.

Keywords, Images, Links…

Each blog post will have the potential to do good things for you if you optimize each and every one. Every page on your site has the potential to bring in a customer so don’t make the mistake of focusing all your SEO attention on the main page alone. Don’t think of your blog as just working in the background of your static website, for example. If every blog post integrates useful keywords, this will bode well for your organic traffic levels.  If each blog post has an optimized image, it will help add further weight to the page from a keyword perspective. If each page links to another page within your site, you increase the chance of the reader staying longer and clicking deeper within your site (which could increase the conversion rate of your site).

Quality, Quantity, Consistency…

Quality posts and good quantities of posts will contribute to your success. The more often you post, the more traffic you’ll get. But don’t skimp on quality for quantity. Each blog post has to be able to stand alone as well as to fit into the puzzle that is your value added proposition.

Need help succeeding with blogging to promote your business? Contact Dana Prince, SEO blogger.