Learn why your website’s blog is still its most valuable marketing feature—and how it can improve your SEO, without your spending a dime
as we transition into 2018, many optical business owners are looking at their financial forecast for the new year, which makes a conversation regarding online marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) inevitable.
After all, Google has dominated the online world for at least a decade now—and no business has been immune to the changes that Google has brought to the world of Internet search and advertising.
In this article, we’ll outline why your blog is still the most powerful SEO tool to influence your ranking (and one of the best cost-free options today).
If you aren’t already blogging, it’s time to start. A blog allows you to leverage your expertise. Google wants to show the most relevant results it can to its users, and the search engine has gotten quite good at determining which type of content is valuable. In particular, Google loves to show its users informative content anchored with quality information.
TIP: Find your blog platform.
Blogging has become a default inclusion in most modern SEO strategies. In fact, many websites today have a blog platform that is built in. If your website has been made in the past few years, chances are that it already has blogging functionality. If not, check with your webmaster.
TIP: Use your blog + leverage its capabilities.
More than ever before, people look for answers online. By providing these answers in the form of blog content, you could grow organic traffic (traffic that comes from a search engine) and put your brand and business in front of potential customers.
TIP: Ensure your posts provide value.
Google works hard to showcase websites that bring genuine value to their readers. That blog post you wrote about how to tell if your floaters are a problem can bring real value to the reader assuming it:
Blogging for the sake of blogging is ineffective. You need to provide content and an experience that matters. Create great content that’s helpful and accessible and Google will reward you with increased organic traffic and website visibility.
What Makes a Blog Post “Great”?
Great content is about more than the words you used, or the images you chose. It’s a combination of:
Blogging Cheat Sheet
- Ensure each blog post has a strong featured image. This image should be related to the topic, eye-catching, and legally licensed for use.
- Focus on topics that begin with “What…” “Why…” or “How…” Such as “What Are Floaters and Why Do We Have Them?” “How to Tell if Your Corrective Lens Prescription Needs Updating,” or “Why Our Eyes Get Tired After Using a Computer All Day.”
- Break content down into sections. This article is a good example of how to do that.
- Link to other content on your website that’s related to the topic you’re writing about. In a post about floaters, a link to your eye exam page makes perfect sense.
- Link to other authority websites where appropriate. Citing where you found statistics helps ground the content and tells both Google and the reader that this information is authentic and legitimate.
- Use videos, animations, and images to reinforce important points. This is important: Be sure to credit the original creators.
—Kevin Wilhelm
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