Did you know that the majority of blogs become inactive within 100 days after creation?
I believe this is because the owners don’t realize what makes a blog successful. In fact, I had a client who believed it would be easy to make money on the Internet, and all she needed to do, was to quickly whip up a website. After four years of throwing money to freelancers to help her, she finally admitted defeat.
I’m not sure what happened to her, but I know of many people like her. I’ve also analyzed the content of a stack of small business websites, and the following fatal blogging tips are rampant.
Blogging is not easy, contrary to a common misconception.
Here you can see what most bloggers struggle with.
Image Credit: SocialMediaB2B
Don’t be amongst those blogs who close shop 100 days after starting because they didn’t know what blogging entailed. And please never listen to the “experts” who advise you to do these four things to get more blog traffic:
#1: Just add lots of content, often
When I first started dabbling in online marketing several years ago, I was told that in order to get traffic to my website, I would need to add content. Often.
Which is what I did.
But to my shame, the content was of no real value. I don’t know what I was thinking! Somehow, whoever it was who dispensed the “just add content” recipe to me, neglected to mention that it needed to add some kind of value for my readers.
It’s no wonder it never got shared or commented on, and my website’s bounce rate was high.
I see the same trend today, specifically with small businesses who go online. They add content – any content – to try get more traffic, not realizing that not only is their brand at stake, but so are their search rankings, because search engines look for quality, value-add content to match to user’s searches.
And trust me, search engines have algorithms in place to determine whether content is crap or not.
Brian Dean from Backlinko, expert blogger, says that, “Blogging today is 110% about quality…not quantity.”
Just adding content – any content – will not get your blog more traffic, or result in more business.
#2: Stuff in keywords wherever you can
In days gone by, when search engines were still collecting themselves, website owners cottoned on to stuffing keywords in wherever they could. And then search engines got clever and wiped those websites far into the abyss of no return.
Yes, your blog needs keywords to rank higher in search engines and therefore get more traffic, but keywords need to be included in content in a natural way, making it easy for people to read.
My suggestion would be to use SEOChat’s free related keywords tool and then go on over to Google Keyword Planner to find the best keywords that have low competition, but high search volume.
Add a keyword naturally into:
The title of your post
The URL of the post
H1 header tags
In the first 100 words of your content
Sprinkled throughout your content, every 150 or so words
In the category of the post
In links to other authority sites
In image descriptions
When you stuff keywords in content, search engines will not promote your blog. And visitors will click away pronto.
#3: Hire cheap writers to churn out more content, fast
There is great demand on freelance writing websites like Upwork, but you get what you pay for, and since getting more blog traffic is not about churning out content just for the sake of content, when you hire cheap writers for your blog, you’re going to get not only badly written content, but it won’t be SEO optimized, or provide value to your readers.
All the top websites understand this, and pay about $266 or more for one blog post. When you consider that writers on sites like Upwork, charge from about $10 for a blog post, you can start to understand why the quality would be so poor.
So. Perhaps you pay $10 for someone to write you a blog post. But that post can actually damage your search engine ranking because of bounce rate (people come to your site, see crap content, and immediately leave). It will also damage your reputation, and most users will not convert. And so I ask you: why are you wasting money on bad writing? What is it benefiting you?
If you’re not a good writer, for goodness sake, hire a decent one who understands your target audience and optimizes the content, or just stop blogging.
And read Neil Patel’s step by step guide to creating a money-making blog. His advice is sound, and since he is the master of online marketing, he knows a thing or two on this subject.
By the way, while we’re on the subject of Neil Patel, when you check out his post, have a look at the quality of it, and how it’s all laid out. It’s popular because he only writes content that is helpful to his audience. Do your best to emulate the style he uses, but adapt it for your niche.
#4: Add stock photos to attract attention
Somewhere, you heard that images in blog posts attract attention. That would be right.
But. And it’s a very big “but”: stock photos just don’t cut it anymore. They’re boring, fake and your readers can’t relate to them. It’s a psychological thing.
A cheesy, fake and ineffective stock image…what business people do you know who do this?!
Image Credit: WebMeUp
To do justice to your blog by attracting attention and leading to higher conversions, images need to:
Be of high quality.
If your blog centers around an online store, make sure your product images are clear and show enough detail and offer as many views as possible.
Images must be relevant to the content. They should support the text and not simply be added for the sake of adding an image.
Add image descriptions that titillate, because people’s eyes draw to images first. If the description creates curiosity, they are more likely to keep reading, and this is good for SEO, and conversions.
Be sure to compress images so that they don’t slow down your site.
Fatal advice summed up
If you’re going to blog, you may as well do it right. Unfortunately, doing it right means it’s going to take time.
But if you don’t do it right, you’ll lose business and opportunities.
To sum up, let’s reverse the four most common and destructive blogging tips:
Add blogging content that rocks. Help people want to share it because it resonates with them.
Use keywords naturally, and strategically.
Hire writers who may charge more, but will get your blog better results.
Add images that are relevant and support the point you’re trying to get across in your content.
The post 4 Of the Most Destructive (And Common) Blogging Tips You’ve Ever Heard appeared first on SEO Chat.
Source: SEO Chat
Link: 4 Of the Most Destructive (And Common) Blogging Tips You’ve Ever Heard
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