Blogging is one of the few marketing strategies that can hit all points of your sales funnel. A blog can earn you new prospects, convert those prospects into leads, and drive conversions and sales! Another perk? A blog can be inexpensive or even free for your business.

Setting up a blog is simple: websites like WordPress, Weebly, Wix and Squarespace are intuitive website builders and can be linked to your pre-existing site if you have one. You can also create a new page on your website or have your web developer do it for you! Once you learn the software, you can write and publish blogs whenever you want or hire a copywriter to do it for you.

Like any digital marketing tactic, there are important best practices to follow in order for it to work. Optimizing your blog for search engines is the most effective way to create a blog that becomes a lead generating machine.

Let’s dive into SEO for blogs and all the benefits you can expect from high performing content!

1. An Optimized Blog Can Increase Your Website’s Traffic and Search Ranking

When online users visit a search engine, they typically have a predefined goal of what they hope to find with their query. Creating content around popular searches and keywords related to your business can not only help boost your site’s search engine ranking, but also increase the number of users who visit your site.

This type of SEO is called organic SEO. There’s no initial monetary investment; it’s simply creating content that pleases search engine algorithms. Organic SEO is in many ways the bedrock of an effective digital marketing strategy. Blogging helps your business’s website meet many of the algorithm’s standards while offering value to online users.

If your blog’s content is optimized and offers the best answer to their search query, you just earned a click and a prospect!

Here are a few SEO best practices to keep in mind when you’re writing a blog:

• Keyword and search query research: Focus on high volume and low competition keywords that are related to what your business offers. Google’s Keyword Planner and NP Digital’s Answer the Public are great places to start. You can also search keywords in various search engines to see what other queries and keywords pop up!
• Write truly helpful content: Google’s Helpful Content update is meant to weed out keyword stuffed and unoriginal content from search results. 
• Write for featured snippets or zero-click searches. A featured snippet is typically within the first three Google search results and answers the search query directly within the search results. Here’s an example:
  
  
  Google favors these snippets which means your website and business can get more eyes on your content! To learn more about writing your blog for SEO, check out this blog.

• Add data rich media to your content: Data rich media are images, videos, audio files and graphics. Adding these elements to your content helps to make the read more engaging for online users and pleases search engine algorithms.
• Use strategic headlines and titles: Giving your blog a headline with high volume keywords and a unique take on a topic can increase clicks and establish your business as an authority in its industry!

Search engines favor websites that consistently publish high-quality, helpful content. Having an active blog is a simple way to meet this criteria and boost your business’s online presence in the eyes of individual users.

2. A Blog Can Warm Cold Leads and Drive Them Deeper Into Your Sales Funnel

A blog is immensely helpful for users who are researching your services or your industry in general. If your blog consistently offers valuable information and becomes a user’s go-to resource, you’re building trust with a potential customer. Offering an option for users to subscribe to the blog can build your email list and create new avenues for you to advertise to and connect with leads.

When you have multiple touchpoints for a lead, conversions increase and so does the potential for earning a lifelong customer!

3. Blog Content Can Be Repurposed for Other Channels

Good blogs take time and effort, and you should plan to leverage the content you create in multiple ways. Blog content can be repurposed into content for:

• Social media
• Video
• Email
• Paid ads

We don’t recommend copying and pasting sentences word-for-word. Instead, rephrase but use the same general concepts when you repurpose.

Don’t forget to link back to your website or the original blog wherever you use the content! This important step drives traffic to your site and moves individuals through your business’s sales funnel.  

Final Thoughts

Writing and publishing blogs consistently can create new leads for your business and boost its search result ranking. Writing your blog with SEO best practices in mind is the most effective way to ensure a high performing blog!

Organic SEO can be tricky, but RevLocal handles it all for you! Every small business and multi-location brand needs a foolproof organic SEO strategy in place to be competitive in today’s digital world. To learn more about our organic SEO plans, or any other of our personalized digital marketing solutions, contact us today!