Missed Part 1 and Part 2? Click on the links to catch up. In Part 3 we pick up with tricks 11-15 on how to add value to your blog site. Blogging is not a waste of time. Effective blogs give their company’s website 434% more indexed pages—that’s a good thing.
Moving right along.
11. Current Events & Pop Culture
Get your creative juices flowing. Talk about a current event or a pop culture reference and relate it to what your company offers. Use these to illustrate a point you're trying to make or a problem your company can help with. And besides, what sounds more interesting: “5 Leadership Tips You Can Use” or “5 Leadership Tips You Can Learn from Yoda”?
12. Keep it Short
Short means not taking up a lot of your time, right? Yes, and the same is true for readers who don’t have much time to read super long posts. Oh yeah, and posts that are 300-600 words perform better in searches. BUT, this is only a general rule. My series of posts exceed this, but that’s because I don’t want the content to be so short that it fails to be valuable. Short and sweet is good, but don’t skimp on content.
13. Optimize in the “Write” Places
I’ve already mentioned a few spots where you can optimize outside of the actual post, but one key area is in the meta description and meta keywords for a post. This is what Google searches on, so add all the related keywords (remember the tagging strategy?), and write a brief summary of the post using the most important keywords. Some blog platforms also have a space to write an SEO title using keywords. When Google pulls up search results, this title and the meta description are what you see in the listed summaries. Keep these titles under 70 characters and the description under 160 characters. This is typically how much text shows in those list results. (Some blog platforms vary, so check to see if you have these features and if not, how to get them.)
14. Build a Series
Caught on to this one? A good series will keep people coming back provided the content is all useable. Announce you’re doing a series to set an expectation.
15. Pictures Worth 1,000 Keywords
Every post should include an interesting, eye-catching photo. When you’re loading it up, make sure to tag it with keywords and give it a description using the best keywords. Go a step further. Can you convey in one picture what would’ve been a 500-word post? What about an Infographic? Readers love eye candy.
Notice how Yoda works for this post? He's short. He's giving the "write" advice. He's from a popular movie series. A picture can be worth 1,000-word blog post. Can this work for your blog? Give it a try. Have questions? Let us know in the comments. You can also continue on to Part 4.
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