Have you been struggling to boost traffic on your eCommerce or SaaS website?
Data from HubSpot reveals that blogging is so important to inbound link generation that companies that blog have 97 percent more inbound links than companies that don’t.
A team manager had a team of 40 hardworking people who were excelling individually but refusing to share information aid the team’s growth. To solve this problem, he invited them to a room and asked them to blow a balloon each and write their names on it. After they did this, he asked them to leave the room.
The manager then added balloons without names written on them, mixed them with the other balloons, and invited the team members back in. He then gave them 15 minutes to find their balloons without popping any balloon. After 15 minutes, no one could find their balloon.
He then instructed that any team member that found a balloon with another person’s name on it should give it to the rightful owner. They did this, and in a couple of minutes, everyone had their balloon. The manager went ahead to explain how that’s the power of teamwork.
This story is pretty much how SEO and blogging work. They are great when used individually, but are more valuable when used together.
To unveil ways that blogging helps SEO for eCommerce and SaaS websites, we’ll be looking at the following areas:
- Blogging and SEO
- How does blogging help SEO?
- Blogging vs. Guest Blogging
- How to Write A Guest Blog Post
- Extra Tip: Things To Avoid When Guest Blogging
Read on to learn more.
Blogging and SEO
The value of SEO in inbound marketing strategy cannot be overemphasized. Optimizing your web pages and blog posts increases the visibility of your website to people searching for your products or services through Google or other search engines.
Blogging boosts the quality of your SEO by placing your site right where customers need them. Blog posts that use on-page SEO factors will increase opportunities for your site to rank higher in search engines, thereby attracting more customers to your site.
Your inbound marketing strategy could use these SEO and blogging tips:
- Use 1 to 2 relevant long-tail keywords
- Add up to 2 keywords to particular aspects of your blog post
- Update your content
- Make the blog post responsive
- Optimize the meta description
- Use image alt text to optimize your images
- Make use of Google’s Search Console
- Use internal links
How Does Blogging Help SEO
Many eCommerce and SaaS companies are beginning to see the need to have blog posts on their sites. However, not all of them are getting the most out of their blogs so they are not getting noticed in search engines.
Is there any way to remedy this situation?
Yes! Perhaps blogging can help with search engine optimization (SEO). Since SEO enhancement has a lot to do with connecting with your audience for engagement and interaction, you will find blogging very advantageous.
Here are 6 good reasons that are worth considering:
- You’ll get visitors to stay longer on your website: Google is looking for new ways to improve user experience. So, Google recognizes when users search for stuff, visit your website, and then immediately go to SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Google will assume your page may not be so relevant after all.
If, however, someone visits your website from a search engine suggestion, it is very likely that they will spend some time reading your blog post.
- Brand mentions: This off-page SEO strategy is a great way to get your brand noticed online. Through blogging, you can create many ways for your brand to be mentioned both online and offline in places you have never visited. You will get a lot of social media engagements and site traffic as well.
- More opportunities for link building: Are you looking for a way to increase your site authority? You can do that by maintaining high-quality content on your blog. Most bloggers are likely to notice the quality of your content and create direct links to it.
- Your site will stay updated: We all like sites we visit to be updated from time to time, otherwise, we move on. Leaving your site out of date gives the impression that you either have no business maintaining it or you’re no longer in business.
Blogging regularly will keep your site updated and show your audience that you are still in the business of providing them with relevant, quality information.
- You’ll get to target more keywords: Another benefit of blogging for SEO is that you will be better equipped to target more keywords. You would also be able to target keywords that would not sound quite natural on your landing pages. Although you may have some optimized landing pages, blogging allows you to add long-tail keywords that rank easier, will draw more attention from new users, and include new search terms continually.
- Create your internal links: SEO has a lot to do with link building. One of the easiest ways to add links to your site is by creating internal links. Since you can create links internally, blogging can increase opportunities for growing more internal links to related topics.
Then with your anchor text, you can build a stronger connection by letting Google know details about the linked page.
Blogging vs. Guest Posting
Do you feel like your eCommerce or SaaS website is not getting the rate of traffic you need?
You should give blogging a try. You would be assured of an increase in traffic to your website.
But what can guest blogging SEO achieve for you?
Guest blogging is one of the best tools for growing your business. In addition to the SEO benefits, it boosts your brand profile and attracts direct traffic.
When blogging, you may be caught in between needing to write for your website and writing a guest blog for another site. However, these essential online marketing strategies are highly recommended.
Which would you go for and why?
How do you create a perfect balance?
a. Consider what your audience wants
How do you decide which content to publish on your site or another site?
It all depends on what your audience wants.
On your site, you can focus on the particular audience that is more likely to patronize your products or services. However, as a guest blogger, you have no control over the audience so you have to work with the audience of those other websites.
b. The brainstorming process
How do you figure out what you should write about?
Well, if you are dealing with your blog, it is easier to just contact your customers directly through call or email, especially if you have 10 or 30. If, however, you have over 1,000 customers, you can find out what they need through a survey.
With guest posting, you can go through the website’s archives, check the popular posts, and read the comments on them. You can also ask the owner of the blog or the editor with access to the analytics for information on what the readers want.
Find out what the readers care about and find areas the site hasn’t covered yet. It just takes some brainstorming.
c. How often should you post content?
As a general rule, you should create more blog posts for your site. Maybe for every 10 blog posts on your site, you can post 1 on the guest post. Some people even post 100 to 1.
Whatever you choose, just be consistent.
You can control how often you post on your blog. The more you post, the more traffic you get.
You could get your blogs rejected on blog sites. So you need to channel most of your energy on the things you can control.
How To Write a Guest Blog Post
Guest blog posting has grown in significance over the years as a major part of digital promotion. Guest posting can pose a problem to new writers, especially when writing to contribute to building self-authority or writing for link building.
Have you tried sticking to the rules of writing yet your guest blog posts still got rejected? Do you feel discouraged and frustrated?
This article is for you. Follow these proven tips on how to write a guest blog post and some of the things you should stop doing if you want your guest blog post to be accepted.
Extra Tip: Things To Avoid When Guest Blogging
While it is important to increase your brand awareness through guest blogging, it is more important to get it right!
But how?
Avoid these 3 common mistakes:
- Do Not Mention the Name of your Company, your Products, or your Services
When you focus on mentioning your brand in your guest blog, you are telling your readers, editor, and even Google that the article is self-promotional. Hence, you are serving yourself instead of your readers.
So, at what point can you talk about your brand in your guest post without sounding self-serving?
Only mention your brand if you are asked to do so; otherwise, only include your company info in your bio section.
- Avoid Bragging
Bragging in your content is unnecessary as the publisher on the site will do all the bragging for you if your content is top-notch.
If you are aiming at building trust, you won’t do it by bragging. Guest blogging is about getting people to trust your brand, the site you are writing for, and the readers on the site.
- Do not Add Irrelevant Links to your Website
Links that appear unnatural can lead Google to think that you are engaging in link scheming, and this could get you penalized. Linking to great resources on your website that add value to the reader and relates to the topic is a good thing.
5 Crucial Steps for Writing a Winning Guest Blog Post
Are you ready to generate backlinks for your brand?
If you are, here are 5 crucial steps to guide you into writing a winning guest blog post:
- Match the Writing Style of the Website
Whether you are writing for an eCommerce website or a Saas website, you must review the website first.
Why?
You cannot expect your guest post to be accepted if your writing style does not match the voice of the website. You have to flow naturally with the company, especially if the admins of the site prefer their guest writers to use a particular writing tone for uniformity.
To effectively do this, you need to review your targeted website first; know the kind of content they are currently posting, identify their target audience, and address them accordingly. It will be wrong of you to write a promotional post when the site is dealing with resourceful or educational content.
So, if you want your guest post to be accepted, your work needs to fit in seamlessly with other blogs on the targeted website.
- Add Value
You must add value to any content you submit as a guest post. Go through other blog posts on the site and find gaps in them so you can see how to add value. With your content, you can build links that will gain you a lot of popularity online and also help to build the SEO of their blog.
So, when submitting a post, drop hints on the kind of value the website will gain from your content in terms of shares on social media, backlinks, and other benefits. Also, include links to authority sites to improve the blog post’s SEO and add more value to the article.
Your content also has to add value to your readers too. Hence, you need to peruse old blog posts and check the comment section for readers’ questions and suggestions. Put these together and address them in your guest blog post. The moderator of the guest blog post will be happy to know that you recognize gaps and are resourceful enough to add value to the site.
- Use Anchor Text in a Standard Manner
One of the best ways to get your guest post published and get more backlinks from it is by using standard anchor text. Focus more on your anchor text and try to avoid texts that are not relevant to the post. Make sure it contains keywords, instead of just one word, and let it flow naturally with the writing.
Be smart about adding links to your content so it does not start looking like keyword stuffing. Note that backlinks to non-competitive yet authorized sites will appear very natural within your content. The way you place your backlinks will also determine whether Google will recognize it as a quality link or not.
Your readers also need to visit your backlinks so you need to insert them smartly with user-friendly anchor texts that will increase the number of clicks to your page. For instance, try inserting your keyword anchor text within examples without making it look clumsy.
- Visually Optimize the Content
Most guest bloggers have been known to present content made up of only text. This makes their content bland and too regular.
Do you want your blog post to stand out so that you can generate more backlinks for your brand?
Then you need to do something differently. Since you aim at following the voice of the site you want to write for, you should also endeavor to make your content more appealing to both the owner of the site and the readers.
“How?” You may ask.
By adding relevant images, videos, and/or infographics to your content. This reduces the work of the moderators as they do not have to search for images for your content. Readers also benefit and tend to engage more with visually optimized content.
- Go That Extra Mile
With thousands of content posted online every day, people are looking for something out of the ordinary. Why not go a step further than you would normally do by providing statistical data to back up your information. Add relevant up-to-date information that will impress the moderator and get your guest post approved for publication.
Other pieces of information you can add as a way of going the extra mile include current research, interviews with experts in the field you are writing on, technological trends, effective solutions to long-lasting issues, data, and lots more.
Another idea you should also consider when going the extra mile should be content optimization for SEO. As mentioned earlier, add internal links to your post, use focus keywords, include proper headings, and incorporate synonyms of the keywords you are using. This will benefit the site you are guest-writing for and attract traffic on your site through backlinks.
The moderator of the site you are guest-writing for will appreciate internal links to other content on their website. You can also try conducting some surveys and including the results in your post.
It pays to go the extra mile. It could be stressful but it is always worth it.
What’s the Takeaway?
SEO and blogging work together in an inbound marketing strategy to attract new customers to your website for conversion. Our team at FlyingVGroup has the skills and tools available to get you noticed online.
Contact us so we can get to work creating resourceful blogging and SEO content that will increase traffic to your eCommerce and SaaS websites.
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