Most businesses now know that in order to improve their businesses SEO they have to be add blog posts to their website on a regular basis. Most businesses also know that the work must be high-quality, that’s to say “white hat”.

Yet, what a lot of businesses sometimes do not know is what to write about. That’s to say some businesses can face “writers block”, that’s when trying to come up with what they should be writing about on their company blog.

So, as we write blog posts for businesses on a daily basis, we thought we would share some ideas of what to write about.

Do your customers frequently ask you the same questions?

Whether you install UPVC windows, or you run a solicitor’s practice most businesses get asked the same questions frequently.

And this presents your business with a good opportunity, and that opportunity is if you use your knowledge and put it to good use when writing a blog post, well, you could help improve your businesses seo.

That’s to say GoogleBot, which is used by Google will crawl and index your website, and if you are talking about a subject, such as how to look after your car through waxing and also polishing the car, and how to remove scratches, well your website may become an authority on that subject.

Sure, this wont happen overnight, that’s to say one blog post on how to remove a dent from your car’s door panel wont mean you start selling a lot of car cleaning products, yet over time, as you obtain more visitors, as you obtain more backlinks, and as the content marketing is added your businesses website, you may see more customers purchasing from your website.

Okay, so what are the benefits of writing content marketing?

Content marketing if done right takes up a great deal of time, that’s to say your marketing agency shouldn’t just write say 500 words, and only upload an article say once a month, or every blue moon.

No, instead the work needs to be of a consistent high-standard, and it must answer a question that customers commonly ask your business about the products the services that you sell.

The content marketing should also include:

·        A title

·        Meta titles

·        Meta descriptions

·        Alt text

·        Internal backlinks

·        External backlinks

·        Over 500 words

·        Must be written in a white hat way

·        Adhere to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines

·        Not overuse the same words that you wish to rank for, so for example if you’re a builder, you should write “builder + name of city” too much

Okay, so back to the frequently asked questions, how should I answer FAQ’s that my business gets asked:

So for example if you run a UPVC business, you may well get asked how many days does it take on average to fit new windows for the front of a house.

So, this then presents your business with an opportunity, you could write a blog post explaining how long it takes to fit windows, and what can make the process longer, for example the home having two bay windows.

If the work is of good quality then your business could benefit from the following:

·        Visitors to your website may stay there for longer

·        The bounce rate may reduce

·        Other websites may link to this work

·        The work answers questions that the customer was looking for, so they contact your business

And here’s the thing, most seo agencies will agree about, that is if you answer FAQ questions correctly then this makes your business more relevant for other queries.

So for example, lets say that your business sells flooring, you sell hardwood flooring, block flooring and also wool carpets.

Now, if you regularly post blog posts, for example, how to lay a hardwood floor, well your website may start to  become more relevant for any query that’s asked about flooring in Cardiff.

Yet, for that to happen, the work must be high-quality, and you must write a lot. Also, if the work is not high-quality, for example its duplicated, then your business could incur an algorithmic or a manual penalty, so all work must be white hat, and your business, or your seo company must follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Why you should keep an eye on your competitors

Sometimes a business will just solely focus on improving the businesses seo without keeping an eye on the competition.

However, we think its really important for your marketing agency to keep an eye on your competitors as well, for example the seo company should be asking questions like what are your competitors talking about on their company blog?

Your digital marketing agency should also evaluate:

·        How many backlinks your competitors have, and if these are of a good quality?

·        How often the business adds a new blog post, and is the work of good quality?

·        How has the business implemented it’s technical seo?

If you are unsure what we mean by technical seo, we mean the following:

·        Is the company’s website fast, or is it slow to load on your phone

·        Is the website easy to use, i.e does the menu work well

·        What meta titles have they used

·        What meta descriptions have they used

·        What alt text have they used

·        How many words have they written for each blog post?

·        Do they use H1-H6 tags?

These are just some of the things that your seo company should consider.

So how often should our business be adding blog posts?

We always advise businesses its not about quantity, it’s all about quality.

The reason we say this is a business could add 100 blog posts over the year, but if the seo is implemented incorrectly, i.e it’s not white hat, well this could mean the businesses rankings drop.

So, for example, another business may have only added say 10 blog posts, but all of these blog posts may have been of really good quality, so this would be a better approach to adding blog posts.

The main focus of your blog posts should be to make the work useful, that is to offer really good information so that visitors to that business feel as though their question has been answered.

So let’s give you another example, let’s say that your business sells cordless drills, now a really rubbish seo agency may state that you should write blog posts, and mention cordless drills over and over again- sound like a good idea?

Well, its not, its called “keyword stuffing”- and it’s a sure fire way of your business incurring a penalty.

However, a more experienced seo company, like Top Space will say this, offer really useful DIY tips, mention for example, things you need to think about when putting kitchen units together, or when your building a set of steps, then mention in the article about which drill pieces to use, and even which model drill you use.

If the article is good quality, so white hat, written over 1000 words, then if its written to a high standard it should help to improve the businesses seo.

Must be white hat

Some businesses spot that a competitor has over 200 hundred articles on their website, when in comparison their business only has say 30 blog posts.

So, a quick dash to the coffee machine and then that person thinks that the more blog posts they add to the website the better.

Here’s the thing, and it applies to whatever seo you do, the work must be white hat. If the work isn’t white hat then your business could incur a penalty.

For example, some businesses simply write words and phrases they want the business to rank for too much within their blog posts.

So, for example, let’s say you run an accountancy practice, the business may write “Accountants + name of city” to an excessive degree within their written work.

However, the algorithms will detect that the business is mentioning this phrase too much and that it    looks like spam, and because the business has used rubbish seo methods, the business is likely to incur a penalty.

So, in a nutshell, only use white hat methods.

So, by adding blog posts to my website, this is all that is needed to improve my company’s seo?

No, this is the mistake that so many businesses make, that is over focusing on just one method of seo, and then ignoring all the other methods of seo.

However, in reality the businesses that rank at the top of Google will have been placed there because the business will have optimised many seo signals.

That’s to say the businesses seo company may have built backlinks, worked on the businesses technical seo and improved the businesses local seo by building business citations for example.

So, in a nutshell often many forms of seo are required for a business to reach the top.