8 Quick Blogger SEO Tips

When it comes to internet search engines, Google is by far the most popular choice.

Understandably, Google would like to keep it that way.

To make sure it stays on top, Google's primary objective is to provide a great user experience every time a person uses its search engine.

Which means it must deliver the best answers possible whenever someone does a query on Google Search.

You may have noticed that in the past few years, Google has been getting better and better at finding the best results for what users are searching for in the hope they will continue to use it when looking for answers.

As bloggers, we want to ensure we are providing valuable information in the hopes our content will figure on the first page of Google results and bring visitors to our website.

In this article, I will give you 8 quick blogger SEO tips that can help your blog posts climb Google's search engine ranking positions and help you reach your audience.

Blogger SEO Tip #1: Write for Your Audience

Do you want visitors to your website? Write with your audience in mind. If your blog is about vegan recipes, it might not interest your audience to hear about your shoe collections. Finding topics related to your niche that will please your reader is super important.  Especially at the beginning when you are trying to gain visibility online.

By staying on topics related to your niche, your audience will know what to expect when visiting your site and will visit regularly to see what's new on your blog.

Blogger SEO Tip #2: Use Long Tail Keywords

The best way to find subjects your readers will love is to do a keyword research (or search intent research).

It will help you find topics your audience is actually searching for.

In return, it will increase your chance of being found on Google because you know what type of information your audience is looking for and you are providing them with answers within your blog posts or articles.

Using long tail keywords with low competition will also help you get more visitors to your blog since fewer people are competing for those keywords.

For example, there is less competition for 'healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole' than 'chicken and broccoli recipe'.

Even though fewer people are searching for 'healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole', there is also less competition which will increase your chance of ranking higher on Google search results.

Blogger SEO Tip #3: Optimize Your Blog Post Images

Optimizing your images will help Google understand what your blog post is about.

To do so, make sure to include your keyword(s) in the:

Image file name (healthy-chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole.jpg)

Alt text (healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole)

Title tag (healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole)

Also, reduce the images size.

It can significantly improve your blog loading page speed which is an important Google ranking factor. I use TinyPNG to quickly reduce the size of all my blog post image files.

Blogger SEO Tip #4: Add Related Links to Your Blog Post

Whenever possible, link to other articles on your blog that are relevant to your blog posts. It will provide more information to your audience and keep them longer on your site which signals Google that you have good relevant information on your blog.

Blogger SEO Tip #5: Add Your Keyword to the Url, Page Title and Meta Description

The most important tip is to write content that is relevant to your audience.

Secondly, is to let Google know what your blog post is all about. We already talked about optimizing your images, but there are other places you can add keyword(s) to help Google understand the information that is included in your post.

These relevant places are:

URL (www.yourdomainname.com/healthy-chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole)

Page title (Best healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole recipe)

Meta Description (Try our easy to make healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole recipe tonight, your family will love it!)

Blogger SEO Tip #6: Insert Keyword(S) Throughout Your Content

You should also sprinkle your keyword(s) throughout your content as well.

But be careful to only insert them in a natural easy to read way.

Remember that you are writing first and foremost for your audience, not Google and that's the way Google wants it as well.

Keep your keyword density to no more than 3-5% of your total blog post content.

Blogger SEO Tip #7: Add External Links

It's always a good idea to add a few relevant links to authority sites related to your topic. It signals Google that your post must contain great information and give again a good idea about your topic.

Blogger SEO Tip #8: Blog Consistently

Google wants to see activity on your blog and website to ensure that it's giving info to its users that is relevant.

If you decided to blog once a week, try as much as possible to keep up your weekly blogging to show Google that you are active and update your website regularly.

If you wrote a great blog post that is relevant to a Google query, but you haven't written an article for the past six months or haven't been active on your website, Google might decide to rank someone's blog post that has been blogging more regularly than you.

That you choose to blog once a week or twice a month, make sure that you keep up with your scheduling plan.

Ranking high on Google first page of result takes works and doesn't happen overnight.  

Especially if you are new to blogging, you can expect it to take six months to a year to rank high on Google with a well-optimized blog post.

But don't get discouraged! If you published regularly and follow the tips above you will eventually start seeing your blog posts on Google's first page top results!

Thank you to our newest team member, Nicole Pilon of Pilon VA Solutions for providing her SEO expertise with us! If you’re in need of a little blog support - just give us a call! 

Creating Content That Connects

Do you ever feel frustrated with the task of creating your social media content? If you answered yes, you’re not alone! I hear this time and time again when speaking to people about their social media - that they just don’t know what to post - and, if they are posting, that their posts are just not getting any traction.

I’d like to share a few content secrets with you over the next few weeks in hopes to help you not only create great content that generates conversations for you online, but also helps keep you focused, on track and organized.

Secret No 1

Know Your Audience

Knowing who your ideal client is, is paramount in your online space. You need to know who you are targeting so your messaging can relate to them - and, you need to know them intimately! You need to know what resonates with them. What are they looking for in terms of value? Once you create content that resonates with them, they will like, comment and share that content with other like-minded people who may very likely also become your follower online as well.

You will find that once you create this resonance with your following - your ideal clients - you will create that ‘know like and trust’ factor. Then, when the time comes to sell a product, service or program, creating those marketing messages your ideal clients respond to won’t be as much of a struggle. You will be creating solutions that help solve their problems!

How do I determine who my Ideal Client is?

• Ask your clients

• Send out a survey

• Create a client avatar

Clarity comes from engagement, not from thought - Marie Forleo

Here’s how to craft awesome content:

Let’s do a little more digging to find out more about our ideal client:

1. What is their biggest challenge as it pertains to your product, service or program?

2. What is your ideal solution to overcome those challenges?

3. How can your biz solve that problem?

4. What topics about your industry are they interested in learning more about?

5. How are they currently using social media?

6. What age, occupation and gender are they?

Answering these questions will help guide your social media content strategy.

Why should I care about this and how will I implement this in the real world?

When you have a crystal clear client profile, you will notice patterns in your content and responses to posts. You can then make any necessary small changes in your content as needed so that your ideal client will resonate with them.

Here’s an example: Your Ideal Client is a high level entrepreneur or executive with no time to spare. By creating small bite-size pieces of content this person can consume on the fly will be content they can really resonate with.

Another example: If you’re targeting moms of younger children you will likely need to post your social content in the early mornings or later in the evenings when you know the mom will more likely be online and not with her kids as she would be during the day.

Do you have an Ideal Client Profile? It really is the foundation of building a solid online presence. If you’re like me and love templates and guides, here is an Ideal Client worksheet you can print off and fill in to help you get clear. Your overall social strategy will thank you.

Next week I’ll share secret #2 with you - ‘Awesome Content Ideas Won’t Just Come to You’

5 Tips to Build Brand Authenticity in Social Media

Authenticity simply means to be real, genuine, reliable, credible and trustworthy. As we increasingly live and work in the virtual world with less and less person-to-person contact it’s all too easy for people and companies to fake it to achieve their end goals. Is this the way of the future – not at all! If you really want your brand to shine you must be authentic, the real you in yourself and your brand must shine through.

Being authentic online is more important than ever to build relationships, gain customers and to develop their trust – this above all else is key to success in whatever it is you do.

Here are some tips to help you to develop your brand authenticity.

Use Images and Graphics

Using images in your social media is very important. Firstly, people are more inclined to look at an image over reading a lot of content. They not only catch someone’s eye but they also convey a message to your audience. To that end you must be careful to ensure that the image you use reinforces your message. Stock photos have their usefulness but candid real images are far more effective. They bring your audience directly into your brand; they are more authentic which in turn increases your credibility.

Be Social and Engaging

No one likes stuffy posts that don’t say much of anything and just try to sell. Social media gives businesses unique opportunities to really speak to their audience. Engage with your audience the same way you would with a friend on a personal social platform, keeping the conversation casual and real lets your audience see your brand in a subtler more effective manner. You want your audience to see that there’s a real person behind your business posts.

Showcase your Team

Interviewing your staff from the president to the newly hired gives your audience a glimpse into what makes your business great. Interviews with the thought leaders of your company can help to establish authority and credibility while an interview with the new kid on the block shows that your business is transparent and approachable.

Real Time Posts

While social media scheduling solutions abound and are extremely convenient it’s important to intersperse scheduled posts with posts in real time. Your audience will notice if your posts come out at the same time every day with relatively the same content. That kind of strategy gets old really quickly and your audience will sense that it’s contrived. When there’s a breaking news item, throw out a quick comment or tweet. If you’re doing something cool or different snap a pic and post it. Engaging in the here and now with your audience adds to your authenticity and quite frankly your likability!

How do you Really Feel about That?

Expressing an opinion in a business social platform is often viewed as a no-no. Really though this isn’t the case at all as long as the opinion expressed is done so in a respectful manner. Well-presented controversial opinions can and do win people over even if they don’t agree because it shows them that the people behind the brand are real and act with integrity in the face of differing opinions. Stand true and tall but remember to be sensitive and respectful.

These tips will help you establish brand authenticity, authority in your industry and most importantly the trust of your target audience which will keep them coming back for more. Measuring authenticity isn’t really possible but when you see your followers rising and engaging you’ll know you’ve succeeded.

The Real Deal Regarding Authenticity

Authenticity – It’s a buzz word in the online marketing world these days but really, what is it all about and why is it so vitally important in your business?

When you are perceived as being authentic both personally and in your business you are building trustworthiness among your audience, your postulations are “worthy of acceptance” because they are true and are “not false or imitation” and your audience comes to regard you or your business as “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character is sincere and authentic with no pretensions”.  When your audience feels that you are genuine they begin to trust you and trust goes a long way in establishing and nurturing a relationship. (I got those big fancy words from Merriam-Webster's definition of authentic)

Many people and businesses struggle with the concept of authenticity, finding their voice, using it consistently, and being transparent. They simply don’t fully understand what it means or how to go about being that way online. We all know we should be authentic and for some, efforts at keeping it real have had disastrous results primarily because they understood “authentic” to mean they must expose every aspect of themselves in order to be considered authentic when this isn’t the case at all. Business owners must take great care in how they represent themselves online.  Bombarding your audience with pictures of your last family vacation, weekly meal plans and bad jokes your sister sends you, with your next flash sale and awesome service, won’t win you any loyalty, nor will it generate conversions from your followers because your messaging is inconsistent, sometimes irrelevant and disorganized.

Like so much in life and in business it’s about balance. Giving your audience a glimpse of who you are while showcasing your honesty and delivering your mission driven and value related messaging using a consistent voice will help you achieve the online marketing results that you are striving for.

Values are our belief systems and when values are misrepresented or misconstrued your audience will not trust you. Successful relationships are built on shared values; this holds true for both business brands and personally.

To help you to determine your values ask yourself the following questions:

• Why do you value what you do?

• How are you exhibiting the values to your followers?

• What do you value about your customers, clients and employees?

Within the answers to the above questions you will discover the nuggets of what your audience wants to see and hear from you in your online messaging. Your followers want to know what the business stands for, what the shared values are. Who you are is best represented by the sharing of your values with your audience. Through this you will develop a genuine, authentic voice, one which will facilitate trust and trust is what you want to achieve, trust will increase conversions and will help you to establish your brand as an authority.