Blogging for SEO: 5 Tips for Beginners

Blogging remains a key aspect of any successful content marketing strategy. Businesses that have an active blog experience increased traffic to their sites, with 55 percent more site visits, and are indexed 434 percent more often than those that do not have active blogs. Additionally, about 92 percent of businesses that update their blog several times each day will acquire a new customer, compared to 43 percent of those who blog less than once per month, according to Business 2 Community.

Businesses that have an active blog experience increased traffic to their sites, with 55 percent more site visits, and are indexed 434 percent more often than those that do not have active blogs.

To get the most out of this powerful content marketing channel as a beginner, there are a few basic blogging tips that are good to know. Even if you are a seasoned pro, it may be beneficial to review some of the basics of blogging to ensure that the foundation of your program remains strong.

Start with WordPress

According to Search Engine Watch, Matt Cutts of Google has stated that WordPress is the optimal platform for optimizing your blog. In addition to being easy and free to use, you do not need to know much about SEO, since WordPress will help with 80-90 percent of your SEO issues. Additionally, it creates URLs that include the actual name of the blog rather than a stream of numbers, which is more appealing not only to potential customers but also to Google’s algorithm.

Update Your Content

The incredible statistics listed above from Business 2 Community are for active blogs, which are more appealing to search engines. This means that you need to update your blog regularly. Although blogs that update several times a day had the highest possibility of converting leads, those that updated daily had a 78 percent chance and those that blogged two to three times a week had a 70 percent chance of acquiring a new customer.

Quality

Although it is important to continually update your site, it is just as important to do so with high-quality content. Google’s course on making a great site includes five components of great content: useful and informative, more valuable than other sites, credible and includes citations, unique and well-written, and engaging. Content should also avoid errors, including incorrect information, broken links, and grammar and usage mistakes.

Consider It a Long-Term Strategy

Blogging rarely has overnight success; it is something that takes time to cultivate. It may take months before you start to see a return on your effort, so it is important to view your blog as a long-term strategy. After a period of time, if you see no growth, then it may be time to re-evaluate your content strategy and ensure that you are creating quality content of value to your target audience.

Be Careful with Links

Once upon a time, SEO was about using links to manipulate search engine rankings, but now Google punishes sites that appear to have any sort of link manipulation or be part of link schemes, such as:

• Selling or buying links
• Excessive exchanging of links simply to create cross-linking
• Large-scale keyword rich guest posting campaigns
• Automated programs that create links

This does not mean avoid linking entirely; it just means that you need to select links carefully and focus on doing so when there is a relevant editorial purpose, such as a citation.

These blogging tips will help you to develop the foundation of your blog so that it remains relevant for years to come. It is always important to continually make adjustments so your blog remains relevant and continues to provide value to your audience.

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