So you want to write your own SEO blog posts?

This blog post is designed to give you all the dirty little SEO secrets the pros use to generate traffic and convert hot leads into paying customers by ranking for relevant keywords in Google.

When writing blog posts there are two main items to focus on and they should be very well balanced

  • SEO (the science)
    • Keywords
    • Traffic
    • The Technical Stuff
  • PROSPECTS (the art)
    • Educating them
    • Selling them
    • Keeping them entertained
    • Instilling a trust factor
    • Inviting them to work with you
  • OVERLAP

[MAKE THIS INTO OVERLAPPING CIRCLE CHART THING]

The art of great SEO Blog Post Writing is to merge these two pillars into one very cohesive piece without annoying the visitor with your SEO tactics or CTA’s (Calls to Action).

Preparation – What you’ll need to know before diving into this
All of the elements below contribute to the best SEO practices for your blog writing – please read and consider them all – use the worksheet at the end to simplify your SEO blog writing process

Keyword research
Starting with keyword research is the most important part of this entire process.

Using Yoast for SEO
We use Yoast for our SEO friendly content – it simplifies the most important on page factors for ranking

Main photo – and where to get photos
A picture is worth a thousand words – there’s a great deal of psychology and association between your photo and the rest of your content

The Psychology of Sales and Marketing – and understanding your target market
When writing your post you’ll want to inform, entertain, and guide your reader – but don’t forget they’re also a hot lead and you’ll want to use certain words and phrases that trigger their desire to work specifically with you.

Writing your title
Your title will hold a lot of weight in the SEO game but it must also catch your prospect’s eye – clickbait is incredibly powerful – guides/year/top are great words to incorporate

Opening paragraph
Your opening paragraph should include your main keyword and give a very concise overview of what the visitor is about to read

Video
If a picture is worth a thousand words – a video is worth a million – this is an opportunity to give the prospect a powerful insight into what it would be like to work with you and it also helps your post rank well if the video is also optimized for your keyword

Headlines within the post
You should use a lot of headlines to break up and organize the text in the post – you’ll want about 50% of your headlines to use the keyword (or one very similar) – but don’t over-do it

Images throughout the page – file size and loading time
It’s a great idea to have at least one, but ideally several images within your post – images work amazingly well to break up content, refresh your eyes from straining on words, and can also contribute to your SEO strength – be aware of titles, alt text, displayed file size, and loading time

Formatting – Bullet points – Sub Headlines – Graphs – Diagrams
All of these items should be used whenever possible – these elements break up big boring blocks of text and are so much easier for the human brain to process – plus Google will sometimes take your lists and use them as a snippet in search results

Linking – internal and outbound
When writing your post it’s a great idea to link to your other posts and your other pages that are relevant – plus linking to outbound sources that contain content similar and relevant to the content of your post will help Google understand what your post is about, which means better ranking results

Conclusion and Call to action + CTA within post
It’s always great to end with a very concise conclusion to summarize the entire post (similar to the opening paragraph) – this is also the perfect opportunity to provide a call to action – if your reader has made his or her way all the way to the end of your post they’re far more likely to click through to more content or convert into a customer

Word Count
Over 2000 words is the goal – this may seem excessive but the highest raking pages average close to 2,000 words – and higher word count posts statistically get more social shares which is also a ranking factor

Social Sharing – on and off page
Ideally you would have a social share button automatically embedded in every posts (at the top or bottom or both) – and once your post is published you’ll want to share it across as many social media accounts as you have – the more social linking, the better

Blog Outreach
Among one of the more important ranking factors – if another blog writes about the same content as you and then links to your post Google considers that link a powerful trust factor and it gives your post a lot of weight in search results – but it’s a fine line and you must do it well

Summary with Concise checklist – consider making a very conclusive worksheet/template/outline – also link to Mass Persuasion worksheet

  • Keyword research
  • Using Yoast for SEO
  • Main photo – and where to get them
  • The Psychology of Sales and Marketing  and understanding your target market
  • Writing your title
  • Opening paragraph
  • Video
  • Headlines
  • Images throughout the page – file size and loading time
  • Bullet points – Sub Headlines – Graphs – Diagrams – all visual elements to break up the text
  • Linking – internal and outbound
  • Conclusion and Call to action + CTA within post
  • Word Count
  • Social Sharing – on and off page
  • Blog Outreach