If you’ve been blogging for some time on a business website but aren’t seeing the results you thought you would, this quick list is for you:
Fourteen ways to improve your blogs for better rankings and results over time.
Blogging is a longer-term play, but it shouldn’t take years to see an ROI from it.
Your blogs should result in:
1) Actual valid leads coming through your website: Client calls or contact forms filled out.
2) Increased organic search traffic.
If that’s not happening—not overnight, but over time—try this.
(Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools will help you see which of these you should focus on most.)
1. Write less. Get to the point quickly. Make answers obvious.
Readers are looking for simple and accurate answers quickly. Articles that are too short can affect your ability to rank in search engines, but the opposite is also an error. The best blogs:
- Get right to the point
- Are around 350-700 words long
- Are divided into easily-digestible sections with subheadings.
- Use graphics to call attention to key points and direct answers to headlines.
2. Add call-to-actions after your answers.
Words are rarely the solution to a problem—they just explain what the solution is.
When you’ve explained the solution, tell readers that you provide it!
And that you’re the best at it.
And that you’re available 24/7.
With zero-down financing.
Etc, etc., etc.
Don’t save your call-to-actions for the end of a 1,000 word article.
Answer readers’ questions fast, then tell them that’s the exact service you offer.
Someone searching for “how long does it take mold to grow after a storm” is the perfect candidate for your Dy-Out or Mold Inspection / Mold Removal services.
3. Connect with and capitalize on readers’ concerns.
Better blogs don’t just mean better writing, but better psychology. Better human connection.
Write as well as you can, but more importantly, don’t forget your reader is a real person with a real concern or problem.
Show them you get their concerns, and that you have the perfect service, solution, or tool for them, and that you’re ready to deliver it.
Obviously, avoid scare tactics, but understand your subject enough to know it’s actually important and that if you (reader) don’t “do X” mold is more than likely to grow (and impact you and your family).
4. Write conversationally.
Write like you talk. Some of the best articles are written as though they were a video script—they talk directly to a single person, and explain things conversationally: Simple, fluid, and flowing one paragraph into the next.
5. Format for a faster world.
Some of the best writing hides in the worst formatting.
That not only turns readers away.
It sends bad signals to search engines.
If readers can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll hit the back button and click on another result.
That’s “Pogo-Sticking” and it’s one of the worst signals you can send a search engine.
Large walls of text are hard to read, easy to skip.
Break up your content into whatever short and simple pieces your words are best suited for.
Bullet points make things:
- Easier to read
- Easier to scroll through
- More palatable
Numbers are a great way to:
- Break up walls of text
- Suggest the sequence or order of things
- Suggest rank or priorities
Pull quotes, graphics, illustrations and images also add great value.
6. ‘Predigest’ content: Break it up, Explain Whys and What Matters Most.
Your readers are so busy.
So short on time.
So new to your subject.
Break things down into simple facts, actions, warnings.
Provide summaries and make the most important parts stand out.
Answers to the headline are the most important, since that’s why readers arrived at that page to begin with.
7. Tell a great (short) story.
Stories of what your remediation techs encounter in the field are some of the best content you can write.
Rather than dryly answering questions, include stories or anecdotes.
This works so well because it is:
- 100% original content, very hard to reproduce or rip off.
- Speaks to readers through others just like them in the same situation.
- Shows you know what you’re talking about.
8. Have multiple calls to action.
Place calls to action throughout your blogs. At least once right after your short and complete answer to the question or problem, and again at or near the end of your blog.
9. Use original graphics, images, pictures.
Original pictures, images, and graphics are the best thing you can use to illustrate your content. Not only do they provide signals or metadata to Google that can include location info and the fact the photograph is real and unique, but they again also show users what you do, what you’re referring to, etc.
10. Cover case studies.
Case studies are hard to get but are some of the best content you can publish.
That’s assuming they show the Problem — Situation — Solution scenario that many of your ideal clients are in.
For mold removal, a great case study covers:
- Problem: What problem your client was trying to solve.
- Situation: How it impacted their life or family.
- Solution: How you were able to solve it for them or help them solve it.
- Result: What your solution resulted in, how the client’s life or home is better or different now.
11. Quote clients and customers.
Quoting your clients and customers improves your blogs because it makes them more readable, relatable, and engaging. As mentioned earlier, you want to connect with your readers in ways that show them you understand their problems, have dealt with exactly that problem previously, and that you’re the perfect solution to it.
Quoting clients and customers is a great way to:
- Provide “social proof” that you’re as good as you claim to be.
- Convey your education and experience.
- Workaround some of the more contentious topics that surround your field. I.e., it’s one thing for you to claim mold is dangerous, and quite another for a client to share their personal experience of how mold affected them.
12. Transcribe podcast excerpts and videos clips.
Podcasts, videos, and social media posts are a gold mine of great anecdotes and original quotes.
Some of your social media posts can be turned into full blog posts, others can be combined into one blog, or used in a blog to add original anecdotes and quotes.
13. Refresh and interlink blogs.
Publishing new content is great and important.
Revising and interlinking older content is also.
Revisions don’t have to be major—and if there’s nothing to revise, leave it alone.
But interlinking between the pages and blogs on your website copiously helps both readers and search engines.
14. Turn your blogs into YouTube videos.
YouTube is a search engine of its own, the 2nd most popular on Earth.
And search engines will surface both videos and articles in response to readers.
Recording your blogs as short videos will help you turn up more often and for more search queries.