Growing your business requires investment - whether it’s a huge amount of money or your own time.
Today I’m here to tell you that you yourself have the skills to reach more people and connect with them.
You don’t need to be tech-savvy nor consider yourself the best writer in the world.
It’s a matter of being organized and applying certain language and copywriting tips and techniques.
In today’s post you’ll discover how to increase your chances of being found online and have your readers devour your content to the end.
1. Writing a blog requires organization
Create a blog posting calendar where you log the details for each blog post: topic, target, goal, keywords, publishing date and any other relevant information.
At the beginning you might think you’ll run out of topics to talk about on your blog. Nothing could be further from the truth! Once you get organized, you’ll have so many ideas that you won’t be able to stop.
Brainstorm blog post ideas: as well as specific topics to touch on in each blog post, I suggest keeping a small notebook with you (if you’re old-school) or using an app to jot down any ideas that come to mind during the day.
I use Trello and find it very visual and useful for keeping track of everything. On my blog dashboard, I have sections for blog ideas, blogs in progress, blogs that are finished and need to be proofread, others that need to be translated, blog collaborations, etc.
Now that you’ve got a plan, let’s narrow it down to writing a specific post.
Before starting, think about the subject of the post and prepare an outline about the topics you would like to talk about and how you will organize them into sections. This might seem obvious, but I was guilty of starting to write without an outline for a long time. Breaking the topic down into subtopics and having the sections laid out before starting makes writing so much easier and efficient.
Regarding the topics, I suggest finding common ground between what you want to talk about and what your audience is interested in. Always do your research. Answer the public is a tool that can help you with that.
2. Try different writing techniques in your blog posts
Once someone has found you, your content needs to be appealing so that they stay and keep reading. The title and the introduction play a key role in this.
So how can you make your blog content more enticing?
If you’re thinking you’re not a good writer, get that out of your head. There are so many writing techniques that you can use starting today, and the most important thing is that they can be learned by anyone.
I’m sure you’re familiar with storytelling. Why not start a blog telling a story, as if you were in your readers’ shoes? Instead of saying ‘If you want to learn how to write content…’, tell them a short story about how you (and they) feel when you don’t know how to start writing your blog posts. For example:
You sit staring at a blank piece of paper and don’t know where to start. It becomes frustrating and you end up putting it off…
Another technique is Problem-Agitate-Solve. You mention the problem your reader has, you stir it up to the point of discomfort, and you reveal the solution that will make things better.
For example:
One of the main problems entrepreneurs face is keeping their readers’ attention so that they don’t leave their website. (Problem)
Have you thought about how many potential clients you could lose just because your language doesn’t connect with them? (Agitate)
If you want them to read to the end and not get bored in the process, we’ll teach you 3 copywriting techniques that will guarantee your success. (Solve)
This is just one example. You’ll find hundreds of copywriting techniques online. Try them out and have fun writing!
3. Merge creative writing and SEO in your blog posts
Get familiar with keywords: they are your friend
I know. When you get creative, the last thing you want to think about is keywords. And I must say that they will appear naturally in your writing. So that’s already in your favor.
However, if you want to go that extra mile and increase the chances of being found, you just need to use the selected keywords in strategic places such as titles and subtitles. It’s easier than it sounds!
Google Keyword Planner is a great tool that you can use for free. If you are willing to invest, there are other amazing ones available such as SEMrush. Do your research and choose the one that suits you best.
Where should you use keywords in a blog post to impact SEO?
As I said, you’ll naturally use words related to your topic throughout the post. So, I suggest not focusing on that too much during the writing phase. Once you’re done and you come to proofread your post, pay attention to keywords and try including them in the following places:
- Heading and subheadings:
Have you ever seen a blog post where the text is just a big chunk of words, with no sections at all? Almost in the form of a novel. Well, that doesn’t attract readers. Make your post reader-friendly using sections, subheadings and lists.
Use keywords in subheadings. Here’s an example of one of my blog posts called ‘Professional proofreading as a guarantee of success’. Since I’m already talking about proofreading in the post (title and intro), I could have just said ‘A link between writer and reader’ in the first subheading, but adding the keyword helps the blog rank better. But wait! Don’t force it if it wouldn’t sound natural (see subheadings 2 and 4). Mix it up a bit and keep experimenting to see what works.
- Images:
Fill in the ALT text and use a keyword when you upload an image to the post.
- Links:
Use links to external sites and links to pages within your website. But don’t just link the text ‘click here’. Instead, think of something more natural where you can include a keyword. For example: ‘If you’re interested in this topic, check out our blog post about how to improve your writing techniques’.
- The SEO snippet:
The image below shows an example of a SEO snippet for one of my blog posts. Write your title, meta description and slug, and then see if you can naturally include the main keyword in each of these items.
4. Your blog posts are not static: play around with them
Blogs are not static. You can edit them and try new things. I recommend that you check your rankings and improve each post. You can make them longer, add new keywords, add images, etc. A blog requires maintenance. The fact that it’s published doesn’t mean that it can’t be changed.
5. Consistency is key: post blogs regularly
Why is posting regularly so important? Regardless of what Google “thinks” about the frequency of blog posting, for me it is important because:
It helps keep you in people’s minds so that your name comes to mind when they need what you offer.
The more often you post, the sooner you’ll see results. SEO requires patience but posting regularly speeds the process up a bit. I have been posting twice a week (because I publish articles in two languages, sometimes three) since I started the blog about the power of languages. Do you know when I started getting clients that found me on Google through a blog post? After 2-3 months.
And remember, practice is the key. I encourage you to try some of these tips and see how your blog reaches more people! And if you think this post could be helpful to someone else, don’t keep it to yourself but share it. Happy writing!
A team of professional copywriters
Would you like to post blogs more often but don’t have the time? At Núria Masdeu Translations we have a team of professional copywriters specializing in SEO copywriting for blogs. We not only write posts optimized for SEO, but also provide additional services, such as:
creation of a content calendar
keyword analysis
search for royalty-free images
SEO snippet optimization
addition of blog posts in WordPress
Let's talk!
Núria Masdeu Translations - Founder and Project Manager
Núria Masdeu is a certified Spanish translator and copywriter committed to promoting the power of language.
She started learning her first foreign language at the age of 8, and ten years later she received her first award for a language research project.
Since 2011, she has helped entrepreneurs and companies overcome their fear of a blank page, find their voice and connect with a wider audience, regardless of the language they speak.
Born and raised in Barcelona, Núria is now a digital nomad who has lived in 6 countries while growing her business, based on collaboration with other driven professionals.