The Internet is a vast place.

Amongst such vastness, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by too much information.

SEO is a great example to illustrate this point.

Clients usually come to me very confused - they read this one thing on Backlinko and Moz said to do that other thing for better SEO, and should we call the page this or that…

Yes. These things do matter. Load speed, proper keyword injection, meta tags, alt text, backlinks, URL titles, etc. etc. etc. are all important SEO practices.

But what really gets a site noticed, beyond all of the little tactics, is this:

high-

Quality

Content.

Otherwise known as…

blogging.

When I started my niche website earlier this year, I didn’t spend a penny on any kind of advertising, yet that site now ranks not only on Google Page 1 but as the 2nd and 3rd result for a couple of my target keywords.
[Read: How I Got My Niche Website To Google Page 1].

I’m not a big company, I’m a single individual.
I didn’t get any viral media coverage or anything freakish like that.
And I didn’t spend a penny.

What I did do—and continue to do— is blog.

Modern-day blogging is not just typing about what you did last weekend or what’s on your mind.

When I use the word blogging, I mean: writing articles that preemptively anticipate what your target audience will be searching for, so that your target audience finds your article on Google, clicks to your website, signs up for your newsletter/buys your product/schedules a service/whatever your goal action is, actually resulting in conversions and growth of your business.

this process of blogging for seo involves 4 main steps:

1. THOROUGH KEYWORD RESEARCH: This is a crucial, vital, very important first step!
Well-researched keywords.
An understanding of your target audience and what they’ll be searching for.
And an understanding of commercial value keywords to really drive conversions and grow your bottom line.
This is the information you must have in your toolbelt in order to generate blog post topics.
Without this first fundamental step, it’s unlikely that your content marketing/blogging/SEO efforts will be effective.
If you don’t feel confident in your own ability to choose effective keywords, you might want to consider hiring a professional.
I offer a Squarespace SEO package for $600 which includes this very important keyword research.

2. OPTIMIZATION OF EACH BLOG POST: Creating high-quality content for SEO is a science and an art. There are key factors that must be present, but you can be creative within those parameters.
That said, there are certain components that each blog post needs to contain.
These include: proper formatting and use of white space, titling, URL, optimizing images, using multimedia, proper use of heading text, the design of your sidebar, call to actions, tags, and more. I’m going to write an in-depth post on this very topic, so check back soon, but until then, here are a couple of good resources for blogging for SEO:
How To Create SEO-Friendly Content For Google in 2018 and How To Use A Blog For Google SEO Benefits
Keep in mind: if you write thin content —articles with little value that aren’t optimized— this can harm your SEO, causing high bounce rates and resulting in Google ranking you lower and lower due to your site containing too many low-quality pages. Quality over quantity.

3. CONTENT PROMOTION: This step can be done without spending a penny.
Reddit is a great place to share content, just make sure your content adds value and then find the appropriate subReddit(s) where your target audience is hanging out.
You can also post content to your personal Reddit profile.
Pinterest is another great place to share content - just create a graphic (I prefer Canva) and use the Pinterest search engine to find the words and phrases your target audience is searching for.
You can try Instagram and Facebook, LinkedIn… these are all free platforms to promote your content.
This is all I did to get my niche website to Google Page 1 in just a matter of months. [Read more about that here]


4. CONSISTENCY: Now, simply be consistent with this process over time so that your site becomes a hub of great content for your target audience.
Blogging takes a lot of self-discipline, motivation and a big picture mindset, otherwise —because you likely aren’t going to get immediate payoffs— it can be easy to let things fall by the wayside.

CONCLUSION-

Getting your site to rank higher and higher with Google involves a multitude of tactics and techniques.

So, to keep things simple, focus on creating quality content and promoting that content. That’s it!

This one approach has worked for me even on websites that were slow and not SEO-optimized in other ways.

A quality blog post might take you many hours, even days, to create. But that high-quality content has the potential to pay off for years and years to come.

Google rewards quality and consistency, so if you want your site to rank on The First Page, thereby growing your business in a big way, write good well-researched content geared at your target audience, and do so regularly.

Okay, time to get busy! You’ve got work to do.

Let me know if I can help you in any way!

x
Tiffany

Welcome!

I'm Tiffany -
a Squarespace Web Designer & SEO Specialist. 
Here on the blog, I write about Squarespace tips, creative inspiration, art & design, and being self-employed. 
Let me know if there's any way I can help you!

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