What are the Benefits of Blogging on Your Website?
A great blog is really a great of capturing what is new with your business. Had any great wins recently? Have you completed any projects of note?
The blog can serve as the foundational aspect of your content marketing strategy, fuel lead generation as well as the ranking of your website.
If you don’t have a blog, it may be helpful to go back to the basics and make sure your blog is established.
Before you start putting together your news posts, it is best to understand exactly what you want those posts to accomplish.
For most organisations, the primary goal of a blog is to rank better from search engines. The blog or news pages also provide content for the benefit of social media, email marketing campaigns and drive visitors to landing pages.
Understand the Message You wish to Communicate
Strengthen Website Ranking
Blog posts can also serve to strengthen your SEO programs by updating your website with fresh content. “Fresh Content” is one of the most important factors taken into consideration when search engines rank your website.
There are other goals that a solid blog can help you accomplish. For example, it can help solidify your credibility by showcasing your expertise, which can build trust with potential clients and existing customers alike. It’s also a great tool for branding, as you can establish your own unique voice to distinguish yourself in the marketplace. So let’s dive into some ways you can improve your manufacturing blog.
Basic SEO Principles
Look, we’ll be honest: search engine optimization is an incredibly technical discipline with tons of nuances and constantly changing guidelines. There’s also a lot of mystery — many SEO “experts” spend their time trying to determine if Google has updated their algorithm and, if so, what the heck its impact will actually be.
We don’t expect you to keep up with all of the changes and become an SEO expert — after all, you’ve got a lot of other things to do. However, there are some core SEO best practices that have stood the test of time and will likely have a positive impact on your blogs. We review some of them in the rest of our other tips to improve your manufacturing blog, so keep reading!
Ensure Your Blogs Have A Strong Word Count
If you believe you can write out a couple of quick paragraphs and publish as blog posts, you are wrong.
Posts under 300 words are poor for SEO, and may subject your site to ranking penalties for “thin content.” Yes you may end up with the horrific “Google slap.”
To have weight to rank in search engines, blog posts should be at around 700 words in length. However, making your posts even longer is highly recommended; longer content is not only better for your rankings, it can actually be better for lead generation as well.
A recent study of search results showed that the average word count for top-ranked pages is over 2,000 words. That is a lot of copy, and it very much determined how competitive your niche is.
You need to strike a balance between managing your resources and optimizing your content. Regular blog posts of about 1,000 words (with occasional longer posts) should help you rank without burning you out.
“While the length of your post matters. Quality of your post matters even more.”
The time people spend on page reading the article plays a huge role in your rankings, and if your content is awful — whether it’s 2,500 words of awful or 25 words of awful — people won’t read it, and Google takes note of that.
Implement Keywords Your Target Audience Relates To
When your prospects sit down at their computers and begin sourcing for new suppliers, what terms do they use? Those are the keywords that you want to rank for.
Each blog post should be written with a focus on one of these terms while making use of up to three other related keywords. SME Design can provide research in this area. You should know what search terms you potential clients are using to find the goods or services you offer.
When writing posts, keep in mind the first priority is to engage your readers. Write as naturally as possible, and work keywords in where they make sense. Don’t overdo it.
Take The Time To Write Clear Blog Titles And Headings
Your title is the first thing people see when landing on your blog post. It’s also the first thing search engines crawl to get an idea of what’s on the page.
Thus, the title of your post is the single most important text element for SEO purposes. Try to work your keywords into your title (without letting it get awkwardly long or distracting).
Depending on your blogging platform, your title and your first heading may be one and the same.