Writing blogs to boost your company’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes with similar preparation like what comes with preparing for other large tasks, such as climbing a mountain. An experienced climber approaches a mountain with a plan. They follow steps like the ones below:

1. They become familiar with the terrain.
2. They train consistently.
3. They use the latest  gear
4. They take their time.

Just like how mountain climbers wish to be the first to reach the top, companies all strive to be on the top of the search engine page when people search for their services/products on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Below are blogging fundamentals, following the four steps above, that will help you train to make it to the top. With time, practice, and the proper training, you will be able to reach the top of your industry specific mountain and be an SEO leader!

Know Your Terrain

Mountain climbers first become familiar with the terrain they are about to climb before they actually climb it. For example, they need to become familiar with the terrain to wear the proper gear. For example, they wouldn’t wear heavy layers on a mountain in Arizona in the middle of July.

The same method should apply to you when preparing your blog. You should identify your target audience and determine the best ways to reach them. For example, if you have a gift shop and you usually sell to women ages 40 to 60, you will want to use language in your blog that attracts this audience. You wouldn’t use slang or include hashtags in your blog, because that language wouldn’t fit the target audience.

Train Consistently

Mountain climbers have daily, weekly, or monthly training schedules regimented by their defined goals. Blogging is built upon the same concept, but the regiment is to understand your audience/s and to create content around them. Staying up-to-date on trending topics in your target audience’s areas of interest will help you to define your digital strategy and plan your blogs.

Twitter is a great tool to use to accomplish this. You can utilize Twitter by listening to what your audience is tweeting about and favoriting. This will help you train and identify what value your product or service can provide to your target audience. From there, you can base your blog topics around this value. If you understood your market and what you can offer them, it would give you the advantage to produce the proper content to align your company’s offerings with your target audience and the result will be increased SEO.

Once you establish a daily, weekly or monthly regiment, the hardest part will be being consistent. If you understand your target audience, follow your posting regiment, and are consistent, you will see results!

Utilize the Latest Tools

Would you climb a mountain with an old knotted rope when you could have stronger cables secured around your waist? The answer is no. Why use old gear when newer and safer materials are available?

This is the same for blogging. It is important to do your research on blogging platforms, as new platforms are always being introduced. Platforms such as WordPress provide metrics and tools to help see what posts or popular and unpopular, who is engaging with your posts, and the best times to share posts. There are many plugins for WordPress that help you to score your SEO. We use Yoast SEO, which contributes to optimizing our page content, images, and metadata description. Yoast will calculate the keyword density give you a score. We also recommend utilizing tools such as Google Alerts, Google Trends, and Advanced Twitter Searches. If you are equipped with the relevant tools and platforms, you will climb the mountain of SEO.

Practice Patience

Climbing a large mountain doesn’t take one hour. It can sometimes last as long as one day, or even a couple of days with an overnight stay included. Experienced climbers know this and they understand that if they are familiar enough with the terrain, train consistently, and utilize the latest tools, they will reach the top of the mountain.

The same goes for blogging. It may be possible that you find yourself blogging on a consistent basis, targeting the proper audience, and using the proper tools, but you’re still stranded on the same page of the search engine. Don’t worry! Take a deep breath, go over your regiment again, and try an alternate route up the mountain. Platforms such as Medium and Quora can help you take alternate paths up the mountain by giving your blogs more exposure on their sites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climbing SEO requires quality content and patience. Even if you can’t see the top while you’re climbing, if you are consistent with your regiment, you will make it to the top to see great results.  Give us a shout if you need help starting your blog.