The Anatomy of the Post [Ideal Outline of a Blog]
You may have heard that blogging is essential for content marketing success, but did you know that blogging helps to position you as an expert in your field, presents a valuable resource for your site visitors, and creates new opportunities for your site to rank on Google results? So what is the ideal outline of a blog for SEO?
Businesses that blog acquire 126% more leads than those who do not.
Do I really need a blog?
It’s critical to have a blog on your site so that you can help answer your visitors’ questions. Sharing your expertise, assisting the visitors to solve issues that they are encountering, and improving your overall site experience with your blog is what helps to get your rankings on Google up.
Don’t be confused, though. Blogging for SEO requires more than simply stuffing keywords into your posts and waiting for traffic to pour in. Bloggers should focus on writing content about subjects surrounding target keywords so that they can provide a breadth of knowledge on a given topic with the intent to help visitors rather than merely trying to drive traffic to sell more stuff.
Blogging on topics is great for user experience, helps people answer their questions, and will keep people returning to Google (and hopefully your blog) to solve future issues, the reason Google created the ranking algorithm after all.
However, there is a formula that works for creating individual blogs well for SEO. And, yes, it does involve ensuring that your target keywords are included in specific sections in the post to squeeze the most out of each article.
Blogging for SEO
So how can you ensure that people see your posts and that you blog yields traffic? We encourage our clients to use this method:
Keyword Research
Use multiple tools such as SEMRush, Keywordtool.io, and Answerthepublic.com to find long-tail keywords that surround your area of expertise and your industry.
Long-tail keywords are phrases that are more specific to your niche. They will usually have a lower number of monthly searches, but also fewer people competing for top results.
Look for words that have high traffic with relatively low competition.
Let’s consider one of HARNESS’s areas of expertise: video marketing.
The search term “video marketing” has 4400 searches per month, which is relatively high.
However, it also has a keyword difficulty (a score between 0-100 rating how difficult it is to rank on the first page for that keyword) score of around 68.58.
That search volume means it’s a popular keyword and one for which we want to rank. On the other hand, it has a high keyword difficulty (KD), so it will likely require many blog posts to hit that front page with this search.
What if we modified that keyword to find a long-tail search on the same topic?
Let’s try this one: video marketing services.
The term “video marketing services” has 480 searches per month with a keyword difficulty score of 41.01. The search volume level is lower compared to “video marketing,” but we can rank for this keyword with only a few blog posts.
Further, even if the 480 people are searching for this term, we want to talk to all of them as they are likely to be qualified traffic to our website. Heck, if only one person is searching for one of our high-value keywords, I want them to hit my site rather than my competition’s page.
We consider these low-competition keywords the low-hanging fruit, so we advise clients to start there. Higher difficulty keywords will have more traffic but require more work. Those are long-term goals, so work on those over time.
Titles - Use Your Keywords
Use your keyword to create a title that makes sense to your reader. Note: you must use the exact phrasing of the keyword in the title; otherwise, the keyword difficulty and volume will be different.
Your title should read naturally and help to start the process of the blog to educate, solve a problem, answer a question, and/or entertain. Creating titles can be one of the most challenging parts of the process.
You want a title that will grab attention and make people want to jump in. However, do not use clickbait titles unless you want to aggravate your readers. While clickbait titles will generate more traffic on the front end, if it’s all flashy title and no substance, you will send your readers to the next site looking for better, more informative content.
Title Generators
There are many title generators out there that can help with ideas. Hubspot offers one, but it tends to be pretty superficial in the ideas it generates. Portents is another option.
Let’s use our example of “video marketing services” in these title generators.
First, let’s plug it into the Hubspot Blog Idea Generator:
- Video Marketing Services: Expectations vs. Reality
- Will Video Marketing Services Ever Rule the World?\
- The Next Big Thing in Video Marketing Services
- Video Marketing Services Explained in 140 Characters or Less
- This Week’s Top Stories About Video Marketing Services
Mostly garbage, right? It does, however, illustrate the way we work to include the phrase in the title.
Next, let’s try the Portent title generator:
- The Hunger Games Guide to Video Marketing Services
- 8 Freaky Reasons Video Marketing Services Could Get You Fired
- How Video Marketing Services Aren’t as Bad as You Think
- True Facts About Justin Bieber’s Love of Video Marketing Services
- Where Video Marketing Services are Headed in the Next Five Years
These are also pretty rough, but they are unique at the very least. Number five is not terrible, but will this compel our users to click? That’s the question you have to ask yourself.
Do you need a title generator? No, not at all. You can quickly brainstorm 50 ideas with your keywords. Answer the Public (referenced above) provides some great ways to phrase questions around your keywords.
Some of your phrases will require more creativity than others to arrive at a compelling, natural sounding title, but that’s part of the fun.
A Note on Title Length
Let me make it slightly more complicated :)
- The perfect blog post title is 60 characters
- Titles with 8 to 12 words are shared more often on Twitter
- Titles with 12 to 14 words are shared and liked most often on Facebook
Keep those additional thoughts in mind as you work on your list of title ideas.
The Outline
Note: there are many ways to write a blog. The following is just one example format, but it tends to be very successful because it is the same format that many successful public speakers use to present information on a massive scale. It also brings the keyword in at appropriate times for SEO.
Check out our other posts for other templates such as the How To Post, the List-based Post, and Curated Content.
Now onto the layout -
Killer Title (H1 Tag)
- Use your keyword as discussed above
- Beautiful Picture or Graphic
- Ensure that your keyword is in the title of your photo and your alt text in a natural way
Introduction
- Keep it concise and punchy. Perhaps you can present a common opinion or idea and then disagree or agree with it. Ask a question. Tell them what you are going to say. Anything that will help to excite the reader and warm them up for the main content.
- Important: Be sure to use your keyword in the first sentence of your first body paragraph.
Main Content
- The main body is where you support your thesis from your intro. Why do you disagree with the argument? What is the answer to the question? What are the top five reasons that dogs can’t drive? Present the meat of your article here.
- Use synonyms of your keyword in these supporting paragraphs. You can reuse your keyword if it reads naturally. Don’t force it.
- Use subheaders to divide up content into easily scannable heading
Conclusion
- Don’t write your conclusion like an essay in high school but do bring it all together for the reader. Summarize what you said in a clear, concise way and present your commentary as needed.
Feedback/CTA
- Invite interaction and engagement by providing a space to comment or create a call to action to take users to the next stage of your sales funnel. You can link to a content offer here as well.
Meta Description
- The meta tag is not part of the post that your users will see, but will be the text that will display on Google search results. This description should be helpful to users in deciding whether or not it solves their query. Include your keyword in the meta info.
Important SEO Areas
These are the areas to ensure you use your keyword to maximize your chances of ranking.*
- Title (H1 tag)
- First Paragraph
- Image Alt Text
- URL
- Meta Description
*Remember that your main goal should be to create content that is inherently valuable to readers and then focus on SEO and rankings.
Just creating content based on keywords and stuffing them in as many places as possible can get you penalized by Google. The intent of your content should be to present information with practical value.
Avoid fluff content. Don’t waste your users’ time by presenting superficial garbage. Your blog must be high quality, comprehensively answer questions with relevant info, and it must be easy to read across devices.
Conclusion
So is blogging for SEO easy? Yes, once you get the hang of it, but it takes some planning and practice just like most things worth doing. This type of formatting becomes second nature after you write a few posts.
Does this seem like too much trouble?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. HARNESS is an inbound marketing agency that specializes in creating content for each stage of your unique sales funnel. We can help to get you in front of your target customers, taking them from a new visitor to brand evangelist.
LEARN MORE
Why You Need An Inbound Marketing Agency
With inbound marketing being the most effective strategy for growing your brand online, it is crucial that your business is focusing on and adequately executing each of the incoming components to achieve optimal results. They must be fully operating to reap the rewards of generating quality traffic, leads, and sales for your business.
However, this can prove challenging for some brands. Not having the time to create ongoing content, overwhelmed by all the different strategies and how to manage them, and unsure where to begin in online marketing are all common obstacles that some businesses face with implementing inbound marketing. If any of these hurdles hit home, hiring an inbound marketing agency is your solution.
In fact, check out these four reasons why your brand should strongly consider an inbound marketing agency to help improve your online strategy:
Leverage the Experts
Online marketing techniques are always changing. What works today in SEO, for example, may not work tomorrow. Instead of trying to keep up with the trends, leverage the expertise of an inbound agency that knows of the latest marketing techniques. They know what’s working in online marketing and what’s not. Use their knowledge to your advantage so you can focus on what you do best in your business.
Enhance Your Content Strategy
The key to a solid content marketing strategy is aligning your content with your ultimate business goals. If you consistently find your team struggling with content ideas an inbound marketing agency will help you get a clear picture of the brand's goals and target audience so that you’ll never run out of ideas of what content to share.
Eliminate Paralysis by Analysis
Because there are so much information and plenty of internet marketing strategies you can implement, some companies get stuck in trying to decide which techniques to use, what to do next, or what tools to deploy and so forth. Your inbound marketing agency will know which online tactics and marketing automation tools that are best for your unique business goals and objectives.
Bottom Line, Get Results!
You've spent a lot of money on your websites, yet your pages are not generating any traffic or leads. You're not even showing up on the organic searches in Google! It’s simply time for you to get results. Every day that you wait in trying to figure it out, you miss opportunities for leads, sales, and new customers. Contact us today for a consultation on how you can get to your next level and create the results you deserve!
Inbound Marketing: Defining How it Can Work in the B2B Industry
At one time, the B2B industry seemed to treat inbound marketing almost like it was a foreign concept that only applied to B2C. While it is partly true, it doesn't discount the possibilities of using this technique with those selling to other businesses.
There is abundant evidence that inbound marketing works for both the B2B and B2C industries. Marketing to businesses is no different from marketing to a consumer.
In both instances, marketing supports the sales of a solution or commodity that can address a market problem or demand. Even if the resolution or the end product varies, pain points are the same.
With a well-crafted inbound marketing plan, clients will come to you rather than you to them.
Creating Valuable Marketing Content
Statistics show that B2B businesses that blog bring in 67% more leads than those who don't. But the blog won't matter if you don't target the content to the right demographic. Create personas first, to get an idea of what the customers may want to read, see, or hear.
The more compelling your content is to help solve pain points, the more apt businesses are going to find you when searching for information. Using proper SEO to aid you in Google placement, it is worth remembering quality content never gets ignored.
Even if you curate some blog content, make sure it's up to industry standards.
Using Email to Reach Customer Leads
Even with marketing automation becoming more and more popular, far too many B2B companies don't use it enough. Sending automated marketing emails to leads is a perfect way to combine reaching out to people while still attracting them with the content you provide.
The key is to entice them first so they'll visit your website to see more. Using video in your marketing emails with some element of storytelling helps considerably. Try to wrap a narrative around a problem and how your business products bring solutions.
Using Social Media to Attract Businesses
Using hashtags on social media as you post content works well to attract more business on a daily basis. Try to find out what keywords the industry use. Incorporate those regularly and apply as hashtags on Twitter.
One way to do quick research is looking for those keywords on Twitter or Facebook to see what conversations are taking place. Starting conversations on social media to prove your expertise is a technique you can use.
Contact us to learn more about how inbound marketing can work to make your B2B company grow.
Why Inbound Marketing
This blog will walk you through you to the culture of inbound, and provide you with a big picture view of everything you need for a successful inbound strategy. So what of the first question that you may be asking yourself is why INBOUND?
To put things into perspective let’s look at traditional marketing and what it offers for a business:
In traditional marketing, companies focus on finding customers: Generally, they use techniques that are interruptive. These techniques could be anything from cold-calling, print advertising, TV commercials, and junk mail.
Technology is making these techniques less effective, impossible to track conversion, and more expensive. Caller ID blocks cold calls, DVR makes TV advertising less effective, and spam filters block mass emails. It's still possible to get a message out using these channels, but it costs a lot more. So, Traditional marketing is interruptive and marketer-centric. The traditional way of doing things is convenient for the marketer because they can push content in people’s faces whenever they want, and even when those potential customers don’t want it. But it’s not an ideal experience for the user – the potential customer. Inbound marketing is the mirror version that. How? Keep on reading.
Inbound is a fundamental shift in the way we do marketing. An inbound methodology is not an interruption- based message where the marketer or salesperson had all the control, instead it’s about EMPOWERING potential customers.
The way it works:
- Instead of interrupting people day with television ads, they might create videos that potential customers want to see. Remember that one time you were looking for a quick solution to a problem like how to remove a stain from a brand new silk shirt? Or how to replace the battery in your mac yourself? Well, the inbound strategy will help you get placed on top search based on those queries.
- Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they could create a business blog that people would look forward to reading.
- instead of cold calling, they create useful content so that prospects can contact them when they want more information.
Inbound marketing focuses on placing you as the expert in your field, where the customer can find you when they need advice or information. It’s like having an expert by your side and you call them when you need them.