Many businesses reap the benefits of posting regular blogs to their website in order to keep a library of relevant brand content available online for their customers; both potential and existing. Routine blogging is also important to support SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) rankings and website performance as well as position a business as a thought leader, providing valuable resources for those looking for related information and data.

Yet posting blogs regularly can quickly become something done ‘just for the sake of it’ and this attitude can rapidly deteriorate the quality and usability of the content as the focus wanders and it’s no longer deemed a top business priority. However, there are some easy steps that can be followed with blogging to ensure the copy is of high quality, it’s useful for those reading it and that there will be benefit to the organisation from it being posted.

Follow our recommended tips below to ensure you’re applying a blog structure for success, every time.

1. Establish Your Goals

It’s important to keep a blogging schedule regular so that readers are able to return to up-to-date appropriate content.

Establish what is to be achieved through the publication of the blog and what benefit it presents to the reader. Who are the audience? What’s important to them? What question or problem does this blog answer or resolve for them? Once a piece’s purpose has been identified, it can be written in a way that encompasses its derived value.

2. Create a Catchy Title

The targeted SEO keyword or phrase should be included in the title for SEO purposes – and the title itself should be descriptive and catchy. No one likes a purely clickbait title that bears no resemblance to the content within (and indeed, search engines will only punish a website for it) but the title should give the reader a reason to click through.

Keep a title short and direct – and don’t be afraid to us it to post a question. You can revisit the answer to that question and others related to it within the body text.

3. Hook Readers in with a Great Introduction

Once the title has achieved the click through, content has a very limited time to capture the reader enough to encourage full readership – so the introduction must hook readers in, fast. A short introduction to let users know what the blog will cover reinforces that what they’ve clicked through to is in fact what was advertised, and that they have value to gain from reading it.

Ideally, sentence structure in an introduction should be short and concise; encouraging the desire for more information to be gleaned from further interaction.

4. Break the Blog Structure into Sections

A huge block text is unappealing to the eye and will immediately put a potential reader off as too wieldy and difficult to absorb. Instead, blogs should be broken into smaller sections with relevant sub-headings; allowing for skim-reading as well as easier comprehension of the piece in its entirety.

Sub-headings provide further SEO benefits and should include keywords or phrases where possible.

Each section should be no more than a few paragraphs so if it does require longer or more technical explanations, create further sub-sections to make the article even further comprehensive. Don’t allow blog sections to run so long they lose focus on the topic – this will just encourage the reader to stop and leave.

5. Include Internal and External Links

There are benefits to including both internal and external linking within blogs, with both playing a role in SEO. Internal links to other resources on the same domain encourage further browsing and more time on the organisation’s website; and can be optimised to best include a desired call to action or user journey.

External links are often avoided as people don’t wish to direct readers away from their site – yet they hold powerful SEO value. Linking to reputable sources with a high Domain Authority (DA) is positive as it demonstrates to search engines that the business is dedicated to providing quality content for its users.

Always designate external links to open in a new tab or window, keeping the original website open elsewhere on the browser, and as not to encourage readers away from the original blog.

6. Draw a Strong Conclusion

No blog should finish abruptly and instead should draw a proper conclusion that summarises the main points of the article. If there is no clear ‘one way or another’ conclusion, businesses may wish to mention the topic’s questionable or controversial nature, or end with a bullet-pointed list of relevant considerations.

7. Mention your Business

Blogs on a business’ website are not only read by existing site users or those who are already familiar with the organisation, and this should be taken into account.

A small paragraph about the business should, therefore, be included – ideally with internal links around the site for further information. Ideally this should be included organically within the content or as a standalone explanatory portion after the conclusion.

8. Add Sharing Buttons

Giving readers the opportunity to share blog content with friends, colleagues and social media connections is a simple but valuable addition.

Adding sharing buttons at the top or the bottom of the pages can be done through the inclusion of a basic widget or coding – and the more content is shared, the higher the traffic will be, the more value will be demonstrated to search engines and the more likely the content is to ‘go viral’.

9. Add an Image

Including photos, infographics or other imagery throughout blog text content not only helps break up the aesthetic of a chunky piece to read but also holds SEO benefits. Research shows that social media users are much more likely to click through on a post with an image than one that is text only, and indeed, social media algorithms are more likely to display it.

Contrary to what some may think, blogging is still a powerful and very important part of any business marketing and growth strategy.  At Woya Digital we can help with all your digital marketing needs, including setting up a blogging strategy that really works to boost your business. Contact us today to chat through your content and digital marketing strategy.