Blogging has multiple benefits for a variety of companies. Blogs increase your site’s SEO, start a conversation with your current and potential customers, and support your overall brand. Blogs cannot reach their full potential unless they are being read! Optimizing your blog goes beyond using keywords and links. Here are 12 steps you need to consider for every post:

1. An Audience
   
   Who is reading your blog and who do you want to be reading it? Your target audience will determine every other aspect of your blog and your company in general. Take into account their age, educational level, values, etc.
2. Salty Headline
   
   Give your blog a little bit of flavor. Your headline should give readers just enough of a taste that they can’t help but dig into the main course. Don’t forget that the body of your post needs to be just as delicious as the headline! Include cliff hangers and teasers to keep your readers interested, or get them on the hook for your next post.
3. Salty Image
   
   Outlets like Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post are popular because of their fun and relevant images. Images are an easy way to embed key words into your post, as well as keep readers scrolling down your page. A thumbnail image on your main page to promote a blog post can also increase your click-through rates.
4. KISS- Keep it Simple, Silly
   
   Big chunks of text can be intimidating! Break your message up into smaller, scan-able subheads so your reader doesn’t need to go hunting for what’s important. Use strategies like bullets and pull quotes to segment your post.
5. For You v. For Them
   
   Remember that these posts are meant to boost your company as well as help your customers. Successful blogs will always offer information to help their audience, whether that is best practice suggestions, industry trends or ways to save. Then will the customer be interested in your services and how they, too, can help!
6. Limited Focus
   
   Know your purpose. A blog that tries to cover too many bases will be confusing to both your customers and SEO algorithms. Make sure that your blog topic is concise and relevant.
7. Tell a Story
   
   Creating a narrative within your post is a great way to make sure you readers are invested and make it all the way to the end. Stories have a beginning, middle and end, as well as protagonists, antagonists, goals, morals, obstacles and adventure! Even simple “How To” posts follow a similar format where need to read the entire post to receive all the information.
8. Be Relatable!
   
   Be an authority on your product and your industry, but make sure to use a voice that your readers will relate to. A common mistake in blogging is using language that is too technical or too industry-specific. Remember that your potential customers could know very little about your products. This will all be dependent on your audience.
9. Call to action
   
   What should you readers do with the information you have just given them? Subscribe? Buy? Contact? Giving your readers next suggestions with leave them spending more time on your site and learning more about your products and services.
10. Brand your Blog
    
    Everything your company touches should be branded, including your blog. The images and design of the blog should include your company colors and logo. Similarly, each post you publish should support your brand. If your company is technical, creative, professional or casual, the voice you write in should match.
11. Keywords
    
    Similar to branding your blog, using keywords is the main way to boost your SEO. You company should have 5-10 keywords that are used in almost every social media and blog post. This way, if a potential customer searches any of those keywords, your company will appear. A blog is content, and content is key. The more content on your site, the more searchable it is and the more leads you can develop.
12. Categorize your Blog
    
    Many times you will have blogs about a variety of different topics. Because of this, it is important to categorize them into easily defined segments. This makes it easier for customers to find content they are interested, as well as acts as another set of keywords.

Blogging may be a little more complicated than you thought! At Orbit Design, we take the time to optimize each piece of content placed on your site in order to grow your business.