With all our clients, we strongly recommend that their new website includes a blog. Fresh and relevant content regularly posted on a blog is a vital part of attracting visitors to your website, as well as helping your chances of improving your positioning in search results.
Many of us think that the hard work is done once a blog post is published, but there is still a little bit more to be done to complete the job.
What steps do you need to take?
So you’ve got an idea for your next blog post and you’re certain it’s going to be your best yet! You’ve drafted the article, tweaked it and proofread it… it’s bang on! Before you press publish, ensure you’re blog post includes these vital features:
- An engaging title
- Intriguing introduction that explains what your post is about in the first few sentences
- Eye-catching images and/or videos
- Informative content that’s optimised for the search engines
- Strong calls to actions
- Social share buttons
Tick, tick, tick… you’ve got it!
What to do after you press ‘Publish’
Many bloggers assume that after pressing the Publish button, large amounts of website traffic floods in, but ask yourself this – How will people know that your blog post exists? Does your colleague sitting next to you know what you’ve just done? Do your customers know that the answer to their problems are currently sitting on your blog? The most likely answer to these questions is No.
The thing is, how will people know that your blog has just been updated unless you let them know about it? You might be the best writer in the world but if people aren’t aware of your article, nobody it going to read it, so you need to drive traffic to your site and maximise the amount of people who see your post. And the best way to do this is by using social media.
Here are the steps you need to take after publishing your blog post.
Facebook – Share it on your business page and ensure your post description is engaging. Include a link to your latest blog post as well as an eye-catching image.
Twitter – Share a link to your article with the use of relevant hashtags. Think of the keywords that are used in your post and these will help you to generate effective hashtags. Remember, you’re limited to 140 characters so make your tweet punchy!
LinkedIn – Utilise LinkedIn groups, share your article link and explain to people why your latest blog post is a must read. Make sure you share in a group that you engage with regularly and think about what you’re posting. Remember, most people will only read articles that are relevant to them.
Pinterest – If your blog post include an eye-catching image or you’ve designed an amazing infographic, Pinterest is the best place to share your blog post. Pinterest is well known for generating high levels of traffic from images, so another reason for finding high impact images! Remember to include a short description too.
YouTube – If your blog post includes an engaging video that you’ve produced, your best bet is to share it on YouTube. Include a link to your blog post with your video upload so that if people discover you on YouTube, this gives them an avenue for them to visit your site.
Instagram – Instagram is another good platform so share eye-catching images. As with Twitter, make sure you utilise effective hashtags and a short description about your image. Play about with filters and give your blog post image that extra wow!
Use these tips to help increase your posts awareness and regularly check your Google Analytics to see if your efforts have paid off.
The moral of the story is that you can’t expect people to know about your article if they don’t know it’s there. Don’t let your blog writing efforts and all that hard work go to waste! Make sure that your article is informative and engaging and make the best use of social media to spread your blog post far and wide.
Want some more advice on optimising your blog posts for search engines? Check out our article 5 Reasons Why Blogging Is Vital For SEO Results.