It’s the age-old adventure, routing traffic to your site and blog. You’ve already crossed the first step off of the to-do list – you’ve created the content. You’ve spent hours and hours (we assume, maybe you’re a wizard and very fast at this part) designing and drafting and editing and uploading and coding and finally… your site and your blog are complete. But now the next part of the hard work begins, gaining followers and further- ensuring that they remain on your site. Our team at Yarra Web knows that content strategy and SEO are both important parts of the strategies we put together for clients. Today, we’re sharing five tips that will help you keep your readers on your blog, as well as improve your rankings:
Maximize the Power of Your Headlines
They’re the first thing that your readers will see, and they can be the lever that keeps your readers on the blog or pushes them away. Get creative – try different formats to gauge which your readers respond to best. You may be writing about the most boring topics, but if your headline is engaging, they’ll stick around that much longer.
Make sure that you incorporate your keywords so that sites like Google still help you maximize the best SEO for your site. Have a strategy for your headers as well. Both your readers and search engines need to know what that section is about. Headers are also important because they help orient your readers if they get lost on a page. Take advantage of an h1 tag in your first piece of content and think of it as the chapter in a book. H1 tags let search engines know what the primary focus on the article is.
Be Strategic with Your UX
If someone is searching for your site, chances are good that they’re searching with a question or a need. An example would be, “how do I clean my gutters?” Make sure that the flow of your blog is answering the challenges that your product or business solves.
Look at your keywords and ensure that the top third of your blog always contains content with these keywords integrated. It’s also important to note that we can no longer think of a UX journey as linear. It used to be the case that 100% of viewers started at the homepage and continued their journey from there. Now, only 50% begin their journey on your homepage, with search engines pointing your readers to multiple different pages on your site.
Ensure That the Content of Your Blog Is Evergreen
Evergreen means that it will always be accurate and applicable, there is no need to go back and update it. Avoid news and statistics. Focus on information that’s valuable to your readers and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future like tips and tricks instead. You would need to avoid plagiarism so that your provided content can be a great value addition for your readers. Evergreen content serves as a great anchor for your blog and your readership base.
You provide value to your customers because this information remains accurate, it stands the test of time. Make sure that your evergreen content is able to pass the long click test. The longer that a reader spends on your blog, the better the content looks to Google, giving them a reason to move it up in searches.
Write so That Your Audience Will Share
Creating better content sounds like a no brainer, but it’s often missed by companies. You’ve probably heard the phrase “content is king” and it’s true. But it’s not just about the quality of writing, it’s being strategic with the information shared, and writing for your target audience. Write content that meets a need. What does your audience love? What are they passionate about? Ask yourself if your content falls into the buckets of cool, funny, or useful. If it doesn’t, rethink it. Audiences today want to share what they read, so incorporate graphics, videos or statistics.
Be Thoughtful About Keyword Density
If you’re unfamiliar, keyword density is the percentage of times that one of your keywords appears on your blog or site, compared to the total number of words on the page. While it’s important to include your keywords, don’t oversaturate your content with them. The magic number is 1-3% to maximize your SEO and keep readers on your blog. Keep in mind that if you’re using your keywords much more than that, it can come off as spamming, so you want to be strategic.
Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be well on your way to improving your SEO and your blog readership. Questions? Comments? Let us know. The Yarra Web team would love to hear from you.