Mary Smith

Nurtured properly, a blog can be an incredible help to an SEO campaign. It takes a lot of hard work, but the end result should be something that grows the site well beyond the effort involved.

Note the words ‘should be’. As with anything connected with search engine optimization, what should be isn’t what always occurs. Things can go very easily wrong with a blog, even when it’s overlooked by an SEO agency as part of their search engine optimization services. Blogs are a very particular form of communication, and unless the site owner has a firm grasp of what running a blog involves, things can easily go off the rails.

Here are some of the basic mistakes that hard-boiled bloggers warn newcomers about:

*Write for the long-term. Many bloggers make the mistake of writing just for today. This means that their articles are lightly amusing to the casual reader, but when they go into the archive they are never read again. Your blog content should be an investment that continues to pay dividends.

How to write for the future? Most bloggers find that instructive articles are good for drawing traffic, as long as the information stays current. Similarly, factual and explanatory articles tend to be popular in the long term.

Writing with the longevity of your post in mind is a great SEO tactic. When internet users seek out your old posts, they drive up the value of that post page, increasing its worth to your site as a whole and supporting your SEO structure.

*Copycatting. There are a lot of copycats in the blogosphere. Believe it or not, internet users notice when you steal a post idea from your neighbours. When you’re trying to stand out in the search results, originality is an asset.

*Write what you know, not what you don’t know. A major mistake made by the majority of blogs is that they don’t know what they’re talking about. If you’re not sure of your subject, don’t write on it. Consulting your SEO agency for content can be a good option, and you can discuss this with us at SEO Consult.

*Find your readers’ level. When writing on technical subjects, you really do need to behave like Goldilocks. Not too patronising, but not too technical. People tend to warm to writers that can reach them on their own level, but judging what that could be is incredibly difficult from the outside. Read user comments on other blogs and in forums to gather some clues about what questions your target users have, and what level of knowledge they possess. Finding the right level can be the key to a successful blog.

*Have fun. The one thing that all successful bloggers have in common is that they genuinely enjoy what they do. If you’re not connected with what you’re writing, your readers will tell. If you find your subject boring, it’s a good idea to look for an angle that interests you. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it adds that spark.