- Are you writing blog posts
that just don't get any traffic from Google
or have you decided to write blog posts for your website
and you want to make sure that they're SEO-friendly?
Hey, I'm Tim Cameron-Kitchen,
founder of digital marketing agency Exposure Ninja.
And in this video,
I'm gonna tell you how to write SEO-friendly blog posts
using the same process that we use
for our award-winning client campaigns.
Let's go!
(intense music)
So step one is to choose your subject.
Your blog post should be focused
on the questions your ideal customer
or client has before they convert.
So before searching for "boiler installation near me",
they'll probably have searched for something
like "Which type of boiler is most efficient?"
Or "How much does boiler installation cost?"
Your job is to write the blog post
that answers those questions.
Step two is to research your keyword.
Each blog post you write should focus on
only one or two keyword phrases.
The question or subject that you've picked
to write about should be that phrase.
In this case, we'll pick "most efficient boiler"
as our keyword focus.
Next we'll search Google for that keyword phrase
and open up every page on the first page of Google.
What type of content is ranking?
Is it short form?
Is it long form?
Is it informative content?
Is it more like a category page on an eCommerce site?
You need to know what type
of content Google is ranking
so that your content matches
and is also likely to rank at the top.
You should also take notes
on how each piece of content is structured.
So are the same headings being used in every piece?
Then your content probably needs to include them too.
Are the same types of photos, graphics,
and videos being used on each ranking page too?
If so, you should probably think about including them too
as they're probably helping Google to get a better grasp
of what each page is about.
Step three, research your competition.
Your core focus should be the pages ranking
on the first page of Google
as they're your direct traffic competitors.
But it's also important to know
if your business competitors
are covering the same subject too.
So you can use site: search operator in Google
to find your competitor's content.
For example, to do this type site:competitordomain.com
all one word, and your keyword phrase in inverted commas,
then repeat the process of taking notes
on the structure, headings, and the media
that they've used in their posts.
Step four is to research citable content.
Depending on the complexity of your subject,
you might need to cite related content in your blog post.
We highly recommend doing this
as it helps Google to understand
the context of your content.
You can link to related questions
or any surveys and data that supports your blog post.
Think of it in the same way
as if you're writing a university paper, right?
You'd need to cite your sources
to back up what you're claiming.
Step five is to choose a catchy title.
Before writing anything,
you need to know what you're writing about.
You might already have your title drafted
from your initial subject research,
but it's quite possible that it's a little dry.
You need to improve it
so it sounds like something you'd actually want to read.
When writing blog post titles,
I like to think about the days
when BuzzFeed was still relevant.
Oh!
You've seen their click bait titles though.
You know what I mean.
Your title needs to be highly clickable too.
Now it doesn't need to be deceptively clickable
like BuzzFeed's titles are/were,
but it does need to be irresistible to your reader.
So in our example, we could use a title
like, "The Most Eco-Efficient Boilers in 2022
(Tried and tested)".
Now who wouldn't want to click on that
if they were interested in that topic.
So you can add what we call power words too
such as approved, best selling,
compared, guaranteed, endorsed, proven,
I could go on.
You could go another way entirely and use
"how to choose the most efficient boiler for your home".
Okay, if you're enjoying this video, click like.
If you're new here, hit subscribe.
And if you want to learn more
about getting to the top of Google,
then get a free copy of our book
via the link in the description below.
Ping!
Okay, step six, set out your structure and start writing.
Now you need to decide how to structure your blog post.
So start by writing a bullet point list
of the things that you want to say.
These should include the headings that you noted
whilst doing your research earlier.
They should also be informed
by how well you know your subject too.
Don't be afraid to add your expertise
and your unique opinions on this.
Then expand those bullet points into sentences.
Then from sentences into paragraphs,
then from paragraphs into multiple paragraphs.
Before you know it,
you'll have a blog post that can rival
any of those ranking at the top of Google.
By the way, it's exactly the same approach
when you're writing a book.
It's important to make sure
that you are using the right heading tags in your content.
You title should have an H1 tag.
Then the rest of your headings should use an H2 tag.
You can use H3 tags
for any smaller headings that you might have
within a section that already has an H2 tag.
Where possible, mix up the format of your text,
use quotes where you can,
and bullet points too.
This makes your piece look more interesting.
You should also add in the media that you found
or created here as well.
We like to include a mixture
of things like embedded content from other websites
plus graphics or videos that we've created for our clients.
Step seven is to choose a call to action.
This is where most businesses go wrong.
They don't include a call to action,
they just write a blog post and they leave it there.
Sure, this is about making a blog post SEO-friendly,
but it's also about making your blog post revenue friendly.
So if your call to action is a link
to another page on your website
such as a related service page,
adding your call to action can also help your SEO.
Adding links to your most important pages,
your commercial pages,
your products and service pages
from related blog posts and guides
can help the links to page rank better.
So in our example, adding a link from our
"which is the most efficient boiler" page
to our "boiler installation service" page
is going to help that page rank,
and it's gonna help get more people onto that page
which will hopefully convert.
That is ninja.
Step number eight is to optimise your metadata.
So we've got a whole video
about writing perfect asterisk metadata
that you can watch here,
but why does it need to be perfect?
Well, because your metadata and your page
is gonna be competing against 10 other pages
for reader's attention.
A search user is gonna scan the search results
and click the one that best matches their query.
But they're also going to be drawn
to the one that looks most interesting and intriguing.
This takes us back to choosing
a catchy title for your blog.
Now your page title and description need to be catchy
and use some good old fashioned psychology
to get someone to click your result and visit your page.
The better your metadata,
the higher your click through rate
from search will be.
Now a simple trick that's often forgotten
is that you can use Google search console
to see what your blog post click through rate is
and then revise it
until it reaches a percentage that you're happy with.
Hit publish now and your SEO-friendly blog post
has every chance to rank at the top of Google,
but I'm gonna give you two bonus tips
to help your blog post to rank.
Bonus tip one, add internal links.
Your blog post needs to link out to related content,
but what people often forget
is that your blog post needs linking to too.
Search your website for related blog posts
that could link to your newly published post.
So in our example, we could link our related
"how much does a boiler installation cost" blog post
to our new "which is the most efficient boiler post".
Now the more contextual your links are,
the easier it'll be for Google
to understand what your post is about
and rank it accordingly.
Bonus tip number two is to build external links.
So this is links from other websites into yours
into your new blog post.
So tip two is to build external links to your blog post.
Links are still one of
the most important parts of Google's algorithms.
So your blog post needs them.
There are lots of ways you can build links to your website
but one of our favourite ways is to publish blog posts
on other websites and include a link back
to our blog post within it.
You wanna keep the content on that other site
contextually related to help Google understand it
and you should see your blog posts climb up
the search results as a result.
So, if you wanna learn more about
doing keyword research for your blog post
then watch this video here.
If you want to learn more about how to earn back links
for your content, then watch this video here.
And if you haven't already,
hit like and subscribe.
Laters.
(intense music)