How Exactly Blogging Increases Lead Generation by 67%

You’ve heard that blogging increases lead generation but you can’t get your head around how that page where you post your company news can do that?

Well, you’ve heard correctly.

It’s absolutely true that blogging generates more leads. However, your company news will not. 

Let me clarify this before we look at blogging as a lead generation strategy.

Why do you need a content marketing strategy to generate leads through your blog?

To generate leads through the blog on your business website you definitely need a content marketing strategy first.

That’s what sets apart successful and highly converting blog pages from egocentric company updates posted sporadically (#sorry): a strong content marketing strategy that focuses on the needs of your target audience, not on blowing your own trumpet.

To increase lead generation through your blog, you must write articles that cover relevant industry-related topics that can be interesting or useful to your target audience specifically. 

For example, if you sell candles, you could write blog posts about ‘The best candle scents for insomnia’ or ‘How do you decorate a room with candles?’

Now that we’re on the same page when it comes to blogging on your business website, the initial question still remains (how does blogging increase lead generation?), but we’re ready to tackle it without misunderstandings.

6 ways in which blogging increases lead generation

On average, websites with a blog generate 67% more leads than those that haven’t got one. 

Crazy, right?

One of my favourite things about blogging for business is that it’s such a versatile strategy and brings you lots of different benefits. 

As for lead generation, it also increases it in several ways.

1. Direct SEO: blog posts generate more traffic by targeting more keywords

Every blog post that you publish is also a new indexed page on your website. As such, it has the potential to rank on Google if you target a specific keyword and optimise the entire article for SEO.

Think about it! 

There are only ten organic spots in the coveted real estate that is the first page of the SERP (search engine results page).

With all the other competitors targeting the same keywords that you’ve used to optimise the four or five pages on your website, the chances of ranking for them are fairly low, especially if your business is still quite new.

However, if you blog twice a month, you have 24 different keywords that you can try and rank for by the end of the year.

Blogging once a week? 52.

Much higher chances to reach the first page of Google, right?

And this is not only because of the number of keywords: it’s also due to how targeted and specific they are.

With blog posts, you should aim for a different long-tail keyword every time, one that consists of three or more words. Like ‘benefits of succulents’ and ‘how to grow succulents’ instead of the overused ‘succulent’.

When a user who—this is important—is already interested in your industry notices your blog post after googling a question or a query, they’ll find themselves on your website.

Remember: they weren’t directly looking for it. They wouldn’t have googled your company name. But they’re on it now. 

And, after reading your article on the benefits of succulents, they’re going to realise that you actually sell succulents. Handy!

Perhaps you even have a newsletter where you offer tips on how to care for them? Sign me up!

2. A blog boosts the SEO of your entire website

Remember when I said that it’s harder to rank on the first page of Google for shorter and more popular keywords?

Good news: blogging regularly increases your chances of outranking your competitors when it comes to the rest of your website, too. 

There are several ways in which blogging helps your website’s SEO:

• It results in an average of 434% more indexed pages than websites that don’t blog, showing Google that you’ve got plenty of useful content for your audience

• It shows search engines that you update your website regularly and that you aren’t going to give outdated information to their users

• It allows you to add more internal links

• It helps you attract more inbound links

Basically, as well as by ranking for more long-term keywords, blogging increases lead generation by improving the overall SEO of your website and helping it rank higher.

3. It allows you to include more contextualised calls to action

Your blog posts shouldn’t be hard sales: they should genuinely focus on providing useful information or entertaining your readers. 

However, they still offer you plenty of opportunities to add internal links to your products and organic calls to actions to turn those readers into subscribers or followers.

Another great benefit of blogging on your business website is that you can target customers at every stage of the sales funnel. 

If someone is still dipping their toes into the world of sustainable fashion, a ‘buy now’ CTA at the end of your article introducing the problems with fast fashion would be completely out of place. Not likely to convert at all.

It would make a lot of sense in your blog post on ‘the best sustainable dresses for winter’, though, since it targets bottom-of-the-funnel leads.

In the first one, however, you could ask them to subscribe to your newsletter to receive more weekly tips on how to start making sustainable fashion choices. 

Which takes me to my next point...

4. It gives you more opportunities to generate leads by capturing email addresses

You most definitely don’t want users to find your website through a blog post and then leave empty-handed. 

Mind you, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to purchase a product immediately. Still, you should encourage them to do something, like following you on social media or subscribing to your newsletter.

You can either ask them to do it at the end of your blog posts or by having a pop-up banner that targets them before they leave.

Or, you know… both.

5. You get to reach even more people through social shares

To make your blog posts rank higher and reach more people, you shouldn’t just publish them and hope for the best. Nope. You’ve gotta promote them, my friend. 

One of the best tricks is to integrate them with your social media strategy and share them on your platforms.

By doing so, blogging increases lead generation by driving additional traffic to your website from social media:

• With your existing audience: they might not have googled the question that you’ve answered in your article just yet, but, when they see it on your feed, it tickles their curiosity, they click on it, and they find themselves on your website

• Through social shares: when someone who’s already following you shares your articles, their followers and friends get to see it, too. You do have some social share buttons on your blog page, right?

6. Blogging increases lead generation through backlinks, too

I’m going to say this as nicely as possible: nobody other than your supportive loved ones wants to link back to the blog post in which you brag about your latest award.

On the contrary, someone who’s writing about a popular topic in your industry might very well want to use you as a reference if your blog post features a juicy stat, infographic, unique angle, or interesting fact that they didn’t know about.

It’s not a coincidence that websites with blogs get up to 97% more inbound links than those without one. And backlinks help your SEO, too. 

As for how blogging increases lead generation through backlinks, it’s simple: if someone has mentioned you and linked to your website on theirs, their audience is much more likely to bump into you!

So, how does blogging generate leads?

Overall, blogging generates leads by increasing your website traffic, smoothening the funnel, and giving you more chances to convert these visits into subscribers or followers.

Hey, fellow female entrepreneur: need a hand generating leads through your blog?

Now that you understand how blogging increases lead generation, I bet you can’t wait to try this rewarding strategy yourself, right?

However, if you:

• don’t know where to start

• haven’t got time to write all that content yourself

• are not sure you can optimise it for search engines correctly and actually attract your audience

  I can take care of aaaaaaaall that for you with my blog writing services.

  I specialise in helping ambitious women entrepreneurs and female-founded businesses become THE go-to solution in their dream audience’s eyes.

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

What Is SEO Copywriting? How It'll Boost Your Female-Founded Brand

“Ok, seriously: what is SEO copywriting, and why do I even need to worry about it?”

Well, in a nutshell?

If you don’t incorporate SEO copywriting when filling your website with words, nobody is going to find it when they look for the type of products or services you offer.

Intrigued?

Thought so.

Let’s make sure you no longer have to miss out on this ripe opportunity to generate organic leads.

Understanding SEO copywriting for your female-founded brand

To get a good grasp of what SEO copywriting is, let’s first check out the two terms individually.

What is copywriting?

Copywriting consists of writing words with the aim to advertise, sell, or convince an audience to follow through with a specific call to action (for example, it could even include signing up to your newsletter).

Some types of copywriting are:

• Website pages

• Online and print ads

• Brochures

• Leaflets

• Billboards

• Product descriptions

If you’d like to find out more about it, check out my overview of what a copywriter does. 

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the practice of increasing the quantity⁠ but also the quality of your website traffic, making it easier for your audience to find it and have the best experience when navigating it.

Search engine optimisation involves both on-page and off-page tactics, including:

• Using keywords

• Attracting backlinks

• Mobile-friendliness

• Fast website speed

• Schema markup

…and much more. In fact, Google has over 200 ranking factors!

Is SEO important in copywriting?

Err, duh? It’s obviously not relevant for print ads, but SEO is super important in copywriting for the web.

From incorporating the right keywords to following the best practices to improve the experience of your website visitors (e.g. mobile-friendliness and speed), SEO allows your copy to help your website rank higher on Google and generate more organic traffic.

No more relying on paid ads alone to get leads!

So, what is SEO copywriting?

SEO copywriting is still the same as copywriting for the web but it also takes SEO strategies and best practices into consideration to help you attract your audience in the first place and then impress them with your website copy.

What SEO copywriting is not

Don’t get me wrong: even though SEO is involved, SEO copywriting is not about stuffing your web pages with robotic keywords or pushing your audience’s needs and UX into the background.

Your target customers must always be at the core of your website copy, and your copywriting should focus on converting these visits into leads or sales.

SEO is simply there to help you bring those people onto your website first.

Is SEO copywriting the same as SEO blogging?

Kinda, but not exactly.

Both SEO copywriting and SEO blogging rely on adding an element of search enchine optimisation to an existing strategy.

However, SEO copywriting is about conversions (selling or getting people to complete a CTA), whereas SEO blogging focuses on generating more traffic and smoothening the funnel by giving valuable content to your prospects.

All clear?

Now that you know what SEO copywriting is, you’ve probably already figured out why you need it, but let’s look at it properly.

How SEO copywriting will help your female-founded business grow

As an ambitious female entrepreneur, I’m sure you have an excellent offer for your target audience, but… not all of them have heard about you just yet, right?

Perhaps you’ve been relying on paid ads to drive traffic to your website and make yourself known.

Well, this is exactly where SEO copywriting comes into play!

By targeting the right SEO keywords, you’ll get to attract prospects who are looking for exactly the type of products or services that you offer but who don’t know your brand (yet).

Let me give you an example.

Imagine you’re a plumber in Liverpool, your business is named after yourself, and you’ve only recently started to trade.

Most people in your area don’t know your business name, but, once their sink starts to leak, they know one thing for sure: they need a plumber right now. 

So, what they’ll do is head to Google and type stuff like ‘plumbers in Liverpool’, ‘plumbing services in Liverpool’, or ‘plumber near me’.

If your website is correctly optimised for search engines and relies on excellent SEO copywriting, you’ll pop up right in front of their eyes. 

Now they’ve heard about your business, and… guess what? They’re on your website!

While the SEO side of things helped you get there, your audience-oriented copywriting will show them why you’re the best possible option for them.

Basically, SEO copywriting helps you drive more QUALIFIED traffic to your website and then convert it into leads and sales.

Why on earth have you been missing out on this juicy lead generation opportunity so far?!

Grab some SEO copywriting to turn your business website into a lead-generating machine 🔥

Since you’ve learned what SEO copywriting is, are you ready to start unlocking its benefits? Like getting more people to discover your website and brand without you having to waste hundreds of £ on ads every single month?

I can write the kind of audience-oriented and SEO-friendly website copy that will help your female-founded brand become THE go-to solution in your dream audience’s eyes.

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

What the FAQ?! How FAQ Page SEO Will Boost Your Website

“Is FAQ page SEO really a thing?”

Yup. When done right, at least.

Implementing FAQ page SEO can give you a higher chance to attract your target audience by showing up on Google for relevant queries while also adding some extra SEO juice to your overall website.

Lemme show you how.

Audience first! Don’t just create a FAQ page for SEO

Before looking at FAQ page SEO, however, there’s something that I must clarify:

The main aim of your FAQ page should still be to answer your audience’s questions and smoothen the buyer’s journey. Not to rank on Google!

While FAQ page SEO is still important and you should totally make the most of it, it doesn’t mean sacrificing UX to please search engines.

So, plan this page with your audience in mind and then optimise it for SEO.

For example, some of the ways in which a successful FAQ page can benefit your audience and business are:

• Allowing your prospects to find a quick answer to their queries (duh)

• Tackling their doubts and fears when it comes to investing in your products or services

• Facilitating the buyer’s journey

• Building trust

• Standing out against your competitors

• Saving yourself a ton of time by not having to answer the same questions over and over again

• Showcasing your brand’s personality (a FAQ page doesn’t have to be boring!)

For all these reasons, you should start by gathering the right questions to answer. 

This will really depend on your industry, products or services, and whether you’re a fellow solopreneur or a business with a team:

• Check with your sales team, if you have one: what do prospects tend to ask them?

• Contact your previous or existing clients to ask them if there was anything that they weren’t crystal clear about before investing in your business

• Look at forums like Reddit and Quora: what are people asking about your industry?

• Google your main keywords, and check the ‘People Also Ask’ section 

How a FAQ page helps SEO, too

While they should always focus on providing value to your audience first, FAQ pages and SEO go hand in hand as well.

Overall, a FAQ page helps your website’s SEO by:

• Providing tons of opportunities to include internal links, which help search engines crawl your website more easily and fully understand what it’s about

• Giving you higher chances of showing up as Google’s main answer to some of your audience’s questions

• Allowing you to target an additional keyword (after all, we’re still talking about a new page! You can optimise it for SEO like you would with the others)

So, is a FAQ page good for SEO?

Yes, a FAQ page is pretty darn good for SEO because it gives you higher chances to attract your audience organically while also helping you add more internal links.

At the same time, though, its main focus should be your target audience. 

Don’t ever forget that!

FAQ page SEO: how to optimise it correctly

Right. Now that you’ve found the most relevant questions and answered them in a clear and concise way, here’s how to perform FAQ page SEO.

1. Prioritise UX

This is especially important for your actual audience: if your FAQ page is confusing or overwhelming, it’s going to do you more harm than good.

Plus, because it’ll put your prospects off and push them to click away from your website, it could increase your bounce rate, affecting your SEO negatively.

So, display your FAQs nicely.

Depending on how many you’ve got, you might even want to consider dividing them into sections and having a preview on which people can click.

This will prevent them from having to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find out if their question is even in there (imagine how disappointed they’d be if it’s not).

Finally, think outside the box! In some cases, the best possible answer to a question might actually be a video or picture rather than the usual text.

2. Include some ‘People Also Ask’ questions if relevant

Of course, some of your audience’s questions will be about how to do business with you specifically, from refunds to queries related to your process.

However, some other ones have probably got more to do with your overall industry and type of products or services. So, whenever that’s the case, find the wording that your prospects are actually typing on Google.

To do so, start with the most relevant keyword or the way you’ve personally worded that question, google them, and see what results come up.

For example, let’s say that you’re a graphic designer.

You might be writing a FAQ along the lines of ‘how to work with me’ to help your audience kickstart their project.

Here’s what they’re actually googling, though:

By approaching this FAQ with a more generic angle and then tying it into your own process, you’d have higher chances of showing up on Google for that question in the first place. 

3. Add relevant internal links

This is one of the juiciest benefits of FAQ page SEO.

Whenever your clear answer references something that appears on a different page, link to it!

For example, it could be that your FAQ has something to do with the eco-friendliness of your products. Answer it, of course, but don’t forget to include a link to your Sustainability page.

Or, in some cases, you might have already written a blog post that answers that specific question more in-depth.

Keep in mind that FAQ page SEO doesn’t mean ‘adding internal links just for the sake of SEO’, though. You should only do it when they’re relevant and can benefit your audience.

4. Use schema markup for your FAQ page SEO

Sorry, it’s gonna get slightly technical now, but bear with me: it’ll be worth it!

This won’t compromise your website’s UX. In fact, your FAQ page will look identical in the eyes of your readers.

Why bother then?

Because, if you implement the right schema markup for FAQ page SEO, Google will understand it even better.

Not only that: your questions and answers can even show up in a tidy preview and overview like in this example.

Here’s how to add schema markup to your FAQ page SEO:

Basically, when done correctly (and now you know all the steps!), FAQ page SEO can actively help you make a better impression on both your audience and Google.

Found this helpful?

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How to Make Your Blog Rank Higher... Before & After Posting It

The truth? Most companies say that they want to know how to make their blog rank higher on Google, but very few are willing to do everything it takes to facilitate this. 

Ok, now it sounds as if I’m implying something dodgy or drastic. 

I’m not. Pinky promise.

I’m just saying that ranking on page 1 of Google (which—spoiler alert—can NEVER be guaranteed, but more on that later) goes BEYOND writing the perfect SEO-friendly article and waiting for the magic to happen. 

Whether you’re writing these articles yourself or outsourcing them to a professional content writer, here’s how to make your blog rank higher and have better chances of reaching the coveted first page of Google… told by someone who’s been there multiple times.

Have realistic expectations when it comes to making your blog rank higher

First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page, though, which may or may not be the first one on Google. Pun intended. 

✅ Yes, I’m freakin’ badass at what I do

✅ Yes, lots of the blog posts that I’ve written for my clients or my own blog have reached the first page on Google

✅ Yes, some are even the very first result or featured snippet for a specific keyword

But can I guarantee that ranking? 

❌ No. Absolutely not

❌ Nobody can

If anyone’s promising you the first page of Google and charging you for it, you’re getting scammed, my friend.

This is because, no matter how good you are at SEO writing, your ranking will also be influenced by other factors.

For example?

• Your competition

• How you promote your blog post

• Your entire website

• Google’s +200 ranking factors

Now, some of these are beyond our control.

Your main competitor and arch enemy might wake up tomorrow deciding to target the same keyword. Because they’ve been in business for longer and have a higher EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness & Trustworthiness), they’ll probably rank higher for it.

You’ve got no control over it at this stage, so there’s no point in stressing about it, right?

Focus on what you can actually do to make your blog rank higher.

4 tips on how to make your blog rank higher on Google

And they include tricks that you should implement before, during, and after writing a new post.

1. An SEO-friendly blog post is still essential

Don’t get me wrong: while it might not be enough to guarantee a first-page ranking, a compelling article that is optimised for search engines (yep, just like the SEO-friendly blog posts that I write) is still vital.

This is the very basis of SEO blogging strategies. You ain’t going to rank without that!

There’s no point following my next tips if you’re not going to bother learning how to create SEO-friendly blog posts or commissioning them to someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

2. Promote your blog post

Just because you or your freelance blogger have hit the Publish button, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t touch that blog post anymore.

Tell your audience that you’ve got a new post for them!

Sure, some of them will eventually find out about it via search engines. However, in order for the blog post to rank higher, Google needs to be sure that its users are actually going to love it.

Basically, it helps if some of them have already engaged with it.

So, you could:

• Share your blog post on social media 

• Create a Pinterest-worthy image that introduces it and links to it

• Add it to your newsletter

This will result in higher traffic and engagement, showing Google that this blog post is absolutely amazeballs and, just like McDonald’s, people are lovin’ it. 

3. Make sure your ENTIRE website is optimised for search engines

Now, here’s the harsh truth.

Hopefully you’re prepared for it, but make sure you take a deep breath just in case.

Done? Ok.

If a Shakespeare-worthy blog post optimised by the king or queen of search engine optimisation is posted on a website with poor SEO? It still won’t rank.

Sorry to break this to you. Someone had to.

For a page on your website (in our case, a blog post) to rank high, you need to make sure that the whole thing is optimised.

For example:

• Is your website fast? Website speed is an extremely important ranking factor!

• Is it mobile-friendly, or is it one of those old static pages with tiny elements that are impossible to click on when browsing it on a phone?

• Has it got some relevant backlinks?

• Have you got lots of pages to show Google that, when it comes to your industry, you’ve got plenty of valuable content to offer? (If you blog regularly, you will!)

• Have you mostly got positive reviews associated with your business?

If you actually want to learn how to make your blog rank higher on Google, fix all these problems first before taking it out on the article itself!

4. Make your blog page user-friendly

“We tried blogging, but it was a waste of time and money,” they said…

and then it turns out that they’ve only been blogging about themselves instead of creating a successful company blogging strategy.

Or perhaps they had a blog page with a fancy grey font against a black background which made it a challenge to read the actual text, posted without any headings or paragraph breaks, too.

I can’t stress this enough: your blogs must be packed full of value AND easy to read! 

Certain stylistic choices might be great for the rest of your website or short pages, but be extra careful when it comes to your blog. 

• Writing in all caps? Hard to read

• Fancy font? Hard to read

• Weird colour scheme? Freakin’ hard to read

The design of your blog page should immediately make the reader feel at ease, NOT put them off from reading.

If they open your blog post because its fantastic title promised them the solution to their problem but they’re met with a huge block of text in a weird font… they aren’t going to bother.

Sorry.

They’ll just click away from it, increasing your bounce rate and drawing a knife through your SEO’s heart. 

If you’ve looked at your website so many times that you can’t objectively tell whether it’s easy to read or not, you could try and ask your most brutally honest friend.

So, now that you know how to make your blog rank higher on Google, make sure you promote each article properly, optimise the rest of the website for search engines, and make your blog pages as immediate and pleasant to read as possible. 

Like… right now. 

Go on. 

I’m watching you.

Start with the right blog posts for your badass female-founded brand 🔥

Maybe you’d love for your blog to rank higher and start generating leads, but…

• you haven’t got time to learn how to write these SEO-friendly blog posts or to do all the research and writing yourself EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?

• not sure how to craft them in a way that drives actual results?

Easy. I can write all the right blog posts for your target audience and optimise them for SEO.

You just focus on enjoying the juicy results that this strategy will bring, from higher lead generation to smoothening the sales funnel and establishing your female-founded brand as an expert in your field. Deal?

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

Content Marketing During Coronavirus: Yes, It’s Vital!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that some companies have pretty much stopped all content marketing during coronavirus.

My response? Three words: WHAT. THE. HECK.

Seriously, people!

This is an unprecedented (I really wanted to use this word myself after seeing it in 99% of the coronavirus-themed emails that I’ve received) and critical situation, but that’s exactly why you should concentrate on your content marketing efforts EVEN MORE than usual.

Not disappear from the back of your customers’ minds!

Do you usually put more effort when things are going smoothly or when they’re more challenging?

Exactly.

Let me tell you why it’s still vital to focus on content marketing during coronavirus, what not to do, and what types of content you could be focusing on.

Why it’s important to focus on content marketing during coronavirus

It all comes down to a question: when this crisis is over, do you still want to have an audience or not?

Unlike outbound or pushy and salesy strategies, content marketing is all about providing online material that fulfills the interests and needs of your specific target audience in order to hook them in, keep them engaged, build trust, and smoothen the sales funnel. 

Why should you stop offering all the high-quality content that they love you for? The fact that they have different priorities at the moment doesn’t mean that they no longer care about what they did before!

They might not be able to spend much money at the moment (or no money at all), but you can certainly keep the conversation going. 

Here’s why you should still focus on your content marketing strategy during the COVID-19 crisis.

1. Your target audience will remember about you when things get better

Are you planning on disappearing from your current audience’s life and reappear in a few months as if nothing had happened like that ex who ghosted you?

Sorry, but that ain’t gonna work.

If you lose their interest now, you’ll have to work even harder to regain it, once this crisis is over.

Instead, you can keep providing them with outstanding content across different channels so that they feel like they’re still part of your journey.

2. It shows that you still want to have a conversation with them

The fact that you used to engage with them but stopped as soon as they could no longer afford to spend money on you will show them that you were only interacting with them in order to sell.

Not to build a community and welcome it into your brand story.

A business that actually cares about its target audience will keep engaging with them and see what they can do to help during these tough times.

3. Blogging regularly means that you’ll rank higher when the coronavirus pandemic is over

Search engines are immune from COVID-19, so they couldn’t care less about it: if you used to blog every week and then stopped adding fresh content, your ranking could be penalised.

So, if you’ve already put a lot of effort into the SEO of your website, why compromise it now since it will be incredibly beneficial once your business is able to go back to normal?

4. Lots of people have more time on their hands

I couldn’t be more grateful to all the key workers—from our incredible NHS to cleaners and supermarket staff—who are helping the rest of the country every single day.

What about those who’re not working, though? Or those who’re now working remotely and have plenty more time because they’re no longer commuting? Or those who were already working remotely (it’s-ah-me!) but still have more time to kill since they can’t hang out with their mates?

These people are still using their social media, they’re still finding ways to spend time, and they’re still interested in finding out about cool stuff!

If anything, we could all do with something that distracts us for a bit.

So, engage with them on Instagram, offer them an outstanding and insightful article that clarifies that question they have on your industry, show them a video that will help them switch off from what’s happening even if just for a few minutes…

Basically, give them something to do!

5. Content marketing is more cost-effective than ads and traditional marketing

Are you worried about money? That’s totally fair. I certainly wouldn’t recommend wasting it on pushy ads given the current situation.

But let’s remember a couple of key stats: content marketing costs 62% less than ads or traditional marketing and yet it generates around THREE TIMES as many leads (1).

As for conversion rates? They’re nearly SIX TIMES HIGHER for businesses that implement content marketing strategies! (2)

So, if you can only afford to spend a little money on your business right now, make sure you get a good ROI!

Content marketing mistakes to avoid during coronavirus

Now, when I said that you should keep up your content marketing strategies, I didn’t mean that you should do so without tweaking them as if nothing were happening!

The only thing worse than interrupting your campaigns is going viral for all the wrong reasons. 

Based on the worst coronavirus marketing campaigns that I’ve seen over the past few weeks, here’s what I definitely do NOT recommend doing:

1. Pretending that nothing is happening

True, some people might be tired of hearing about coronavirus, but acting as if nothing bad were happening would just show that your company is completely detached from reality.

Make sure that you acknowledge it, at least. And is there anything that you can do to help, perhaps?

Right now, empathy is what we need the most.

2. Trying to sound clever by joking about it

You might get away with a cheeky toilet roll reference (people who haven’t lived through this crisis and will read this article in a few years will be extremely confused, I bet), but don’t push it.

Joking about how they’ll want this lockdown to last forever thanks to your product? That’s a big fat NO.

3. Playing on people’s fear to trick them into buying

That’s just mean, and people will call you out for it (rightfully)!

Some consumers can still afford to spend money on non-essential items, some others can’t: aim for the first category instead of triggering panic-buying attacks into the latter.

Content marketing done right during the COVID-19 pandemic

Now that we’ve established what not to do, here are my tips on how to tweak your content marketing strategy to match the current situation.

Disclaimer: I don’t have all the answers, and I’m also trying different things myself and learning as I go during this crisis, but I do happen to have the magical superpower of being both a business and the target audience of many others.

Oh, you’ve got it too, you say? Use it well, then!

1. Show empathy 

I’ve lost track of the number of emails that I’ve received from the CEOs of some companies that I hadn’t heard from in months telling me about how they understand my situation.

No, mate: you don’t!

That email has gone to people who’ve lost their jobs, who’re forced to be on the frontline, who’re wondering how on earth they’re going to pay rent next month.

This CEO, from the comfort of their massive house and with millions of pounds in their bank account, hasn’t got a BLOODY CLUE about these people’s situation!

You haven’t got a solution to this crisis, unfortunately, but, perhaps, you can let your customers know that your inbox is open for them and post content that actually takes your audience’s situation into account.

2. What can you do to help?

Other than letting them know that you’re there for them, is there anything else that you can do to make them feel a bit better?

A random 20% discount won’t cut it. Be specific and realistic!

This really depends on your industry, but perhaps you can put together a blog post on the best resources to find help during this crisis or tweak some services in order to match this new situation. Maybe you could even offer a free online course to those who want to spend this time improving their skills.

If you’re going to offer discounts, offer them on selected items that people could really use right now or that they wouldn’t feel bad about rewarding themselves with, such as a yoga mat to keep fit whilst staying indoors.

3. Refrain from using your old calls to action and slogans

Did you use to add the hashtag #Friyay or #TGIF? It would be highly inappropriate now that so many people are working remotely or... not working at all.

I’ve seen some travel companies churn out some of the best content during this crisis, and they are some of those that have been affected in the worst way!

Instead of pushing their usual ‘book now’, they’re planting the travel bug seed by writing dreamy blog posts about places that their target audience can visit once this is over.

The new call to action, you ask? ‘Bookmark it for later’.

Timely, practical, effective. And it helps people focus on the light at the end of the tunnel, rather than the tunnel itself.

4. Put EVERYTHING that you write under a coronavirus magnifying glass

You’re probably so used to including certain terms and sentences that you might not even realise that they could sound highly inappropriate during this crisis… not until a random internet troll points it out, at least.

By then, it’s too late.

I know it sounds time-consuming, but, unless you want to spend even more time doing damage control later on, it’s essential to re-read everything that you’re planning on putting out with this coronavirus situation in mind: is it giving a message that goes against the current lockdown measures? Is it glorifying this stay-at-home situation?

Types of content to focus on during coronavirus

The short answer is: whatever content you were focusing on before the pandemic! But, if you need some encouragement and inspiration, here’s how these different channels can help:

1. Social media

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook… all these are perfect for a direct and immediate communication with your audience.

People are home, bored, with nothing to do: engage with them on social media with stories, relevant posts, quizzes, or by going live.

And, as you probably know, algorithms (especially Instagram’s) are incredibly picky and tricky: if you disappear from the platform, they will make it pretty darn hard for your followers to see your posts once you come back. 

2. Blog posts

As I mentioned before, blog posts will keep your SEO juices flowing, but they’re also a fantastic type of content to keep your audience interested in what you do and what you have to offer and share.

Guess what? Now they’ve got even more time to read them!

While industry-related articles are still a good choice, make sure you add topical blog posts too, if you can.

For example, instead of the article on the best travel-friendly coffee makers that a roaster had scheduled to go live next week, they could replace it with the best ways to brew coffee at home.

3. Newsletter

Maybe you won’t need to send it as frequently as you did before, but it’s still good to pop into your subscribers’ inbox, especially if there’s anything that you can do to help them.

Psst: that way, they won’t forget about you during this crisis!

Why not use your email marketing to link to that useful article that you’ve written on your blog, too?

4. Podcasts

Were your listeners used to finding a new episode every week? Don’t let them down!

But, like you would with your social media and blog posts, make sure your new episodes show tactfulness and empathy. 

5. Webinars

Is there anything that you can teach them through a webinar?

Now it’s a great time, as lots of them are more flexible with their schedule, looking for things to do because they’ve already tracked down that old school friend to Facetime with, and even considering learning new skills.

The bottom line is simple: don’t stop your content marketing during coronavirus!

After all, you’ve worked so hard to generate all those leads and grow your following: why blow it now? Keep them engaged to make sure they’re all still there when this crisis is over! Because it will be 💪

More #crafty blog posts on this topic:

References

1. Patel, N. (n.d.). 38 Content Marketing Stats That Every Marketer Needs to Know. Retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/blog/38-content-marketing-stats-that-every-marketer-needs-to-know/

2. McCoy, J. (2017, October 22). 9 Stats That Will Make You Want to Invest in Content Marketing. Retrieved from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/10/stats-invest-content-marketing/

Guest on SEO On-Air: Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting

Have you considered guest posting to complement your existing content strategy?

No?!

Or maybe you did but aren’t sure where to start?

It’s your lucky day, then: that’s exactly what I talked about as a guest on this episode of SEO On-Air, a podcast by Stan Ventures.

Listen to my episode, Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting, or read the summary below.

Content Writer’s Guide to Guest Posting - Transcript

Haroon: How do you include guest posting in your overall content calendar?

Giada: Guest posting can sound like another task on top of all the other things that you do, but if you think how useful it can be, it only makes sense to include it in your content calendar. You can start by doing it once a month and then see how it fits in your existing content and SEO strategy. I think it would be a good start, to begin with.

Haroon: So, maybe you can contribute 80% of your work timing to your own content strategy and allocate the rest of the 20% to guest posting, to begin with. You can gradually increase when you start seeing positive results.

Well, my next question is, how do you get started with guest posting as a content writer?

Giada: First, you need to look for websites in your niche because that’s where your target audience is going to be. As you sort guest posting sites by niche, it takes away a lot of other guest posting websites from your list. Then you can reach out to the shortlisted website owners with your pitch.

Haroon: How do you suggest a topic to a webmaster for guest posting?

Giada: You have to go through their website to see what they have already published and then come up with topics that you think are unique to the site and will also interest the audience.

Haroon: Do you think it is necessary to focus on topics that are seasonal or in trend for guest posting?

Giada: I think it is a good idea to suggest trending or seasonal topics for guest posting because it sometimes helps to get the topics approved and is also timely. You can also focus on evergreen content that can make it sort of cornerstone content.

Haroon: Once the topic is shortlisted, is there any research that you go through?

Giada: Absolutely, I go through similar articles to see what is already out there and then try to add more information that is missing from those articles. I think that the “People Also Ask” section is also beneficial to create a content structure and understand what type of topics you should cover in your content. 

Haroon: What are your best practices to ensure that the readers found your content compelling?

Giada: You should write content like you’re explaining it to your best friend. You should avoid jargon and keep the content simple. The most important thing is to remember to write content that is easy to read for both humans and search engines. SEO content is not about using keywords in the content over and over again. Google crawlers and human readers want the same thing, a compelling piece of content that is understandable and easy to follow.

Haroon: Is reviewing a content copy necessary?

Giada: It is vital if you want to send a good pitch and an excellent article. I’ve seen articles that have a lot of spelling mistakes, and that can really undermine your whole strategy. So, I think you should ensure that your content is free from grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, and it should be able to deliver the information that the topic promises. You want to make sure that your structure follows the outline that you originally envisioned in order to answer all the answers that your target audience is looking for. 

Haroon: When it comes to publishing and promoting the content, what are the practices you follow for maximum exposure? 

Giada: I think the best way to get maximum exposure for a piece of content is to ensure that it complements your social media strategy. Make sure you are true to the medium and don’t post the same thing on various social media platforms just for the sake of getting clicks. So, make sure that your content is optimized for different social platforms so that people actually take an interest in reading them. 

What Is SEO Blogging? Here’s Why It’s So Bloody Helpful

You probably knew those terms separately but have now bumped into them being used together and are wondering “what is SEO blogging in practice?”

Fair question, and you should be super glad that you’re asking it. Why?

Because, once you discover the benefits of SEO blog writing for your business, you’ll be KICKING YOURSELF for not implementing this strategy sooner.

So, let’s not waste any more time.

Understanding SEO blogging for your business website

To fully get what SEO blogging is, let’s have a quick look at these two strategies individually.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimisation, and it’s the practice of increasing the quantity⁠—as well as the quality⁠—of your website traffic by improving its visibility on Google or other search engines. 

Basically, when you optimise a website for SEO, it means that you’re helping it rank higher on Google for specific keywords so that your target audience can find it more easily.

What is blogging?

Blogging is a content marketing strategy that consists of growing and retaining your target audience by writing insightful blog posts that are relevant to their pain points and interests when it comes to your industry.

It’s not about posting company news on your business website. Nobody wants to read boring corporate announcements!

You must write articles that bring actual value to your audience while building trust and helping smoothen the sales funnel.

So, what does SEO mean in blogging?

When it comes to blogging, SEO is about using the right keywords to give each article higher chances of ranking on Google.

Rather than just writing excellent articles and only ever sharing them via your newsletter and social media, SEO blogging also allows you to generate more organic traffic and new leads.

Lemme give you an example.

If your dream customer is googling ‘what is the difference between light, medium, and dark roast coffee’ and you’re a roaster who’s written an SEO blog post tackling that subject (and you’re ranking well), they’ll find themselves on your website.

Then, you can encourage them to stick around by moving on to another specific article that’s relevant to this topic, subscribing to your newsletter where you share similar tips, checking out those products, and so on.

Without SEO blogging, however, it’s extremely unlikely that they would have found out about your website in the first place.

And what is an SEO blog post?

An SEO blog post is simply an online article that’s been optimised for a specific keyword and that follows the best SEO practices.

Here’s my guide on how to write SEO blogs for beginners.

Still, SEO blogging shouldn’t start with SEO!

Even though they can be considered synonyms, I don’t usually talk about this strategy by saying ‘SEO blogging’. 

Content marketing? Yes.

Blogging? Yes.

SEO blogging? It’s fine, as long as you don’t make the mistake of only focusing on the SEO side of things.

Even though SEO is essential to generate new leads from Google, blogging should never be ‘writing for search engines’. You write for your target audience. ALWAYS. Then, you optimise for SEO.

So, now that you know what SEO blogging is, here’s why you need it for your business website.

Why you should start SEO blogging RIGHT NOW

When done right, blogging is some of the best SEO juice for your website.

Blogging boosts your website’s SEO

SEO blogging helps your SEO in different ways:

• As we’ve seen, it gives you much higher chances of ranking for many more keywords: if you blog once a week, you get to target 52 different keywords by the end of the year (that’s a lot more than what you can include on your main website pages!)

• It provides fresh content, showing Google that your website is still relevant and up to date

• It creates many more indexed pages, and search engines love chonki websites

• It allows you to interlink different blog posts and other pages, making it easier for Google to crawl and understand your website

• It helps you attract backlinks: businesses that invest in SEO blogging can expect up to 97% more inbound links than websites that don’t

But that’s not everything!

SEO blogging brings you A TON of other benefits, too

Those were just its advantages from an SEO perspective.

Some other benefits of SEO blog writing include:

• An average of 67% more leads

• Smoothening the sales funnel

• More in-depth content for your newsletter and social media

• Building trust

• Positioning yourself as an expert in your field

• Standing out against your competitors

So, even though you might have heard of SEO blogging for its search engine-related perks, there’s a whole package of juicy benefits that it will bring to your business, too.

SEO blog writing services to help your badass female-founded brand GROW

Now that you fully understand what SEO blogging is and how it can benefit you… what next?

• You can invest some time into learning how to write SEO blog posts with a strategy behind them and start crafting them regularly. Here’s how to create a successful company blog

• Use that time to do whatever it is that you do best with your business! Set yourself up for success by leaving your SEO blogging to someone who’s been doing this for years

  I specialise in helping female-founded brands become THE go-to solution in their dream audience’s eyes.

  Basically, I’ll do all the hard work, and you’ll get to enjoy the benefits of this rewarding content marketing strategy!

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Meta Descriptions & SEO: Yes, They Matter (Kinda)

Is the dress blue and black or white and gold? Were Ross and Rachel on a break? Are meta descriptions and SEO connected? 

Some questions seem to have been conceived just to spark a debate!

When it comes to the last one, though, the most widely-accepted answer appears to be... no, meta descriptions don’t make a difference for SEO because they’re not a ranking factor.

Well, I beg to differ: while not in a direct way, meta descriptions and SEO do go together.

Hear me out, because it’s gonna help you generate more traffic for your business website!

What is a meta description?

A meta description is an HTML tag including a snippet that’s meant to summarise the content of a specific page. 

When a page shows up on Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page), it usually includes this meta description right below the title.

Lots of website platforms (such as Squarespace and Shopify) or WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO have a function for writing meta descriptions without having to mess with the actual HTML codes.

Phew.

Technically, what you see on Google is not always the meta description

There’s a reason why I said that this meta description usually shows up on the SERP.

In some cases, Google might decide to pull a different snippet of text from the body copy of the actual page. It’s unpredictable like that.

So, if we want to be precise, the meta description itself is not necessarily what you see when you look at Google’s results, but it can be.

In most cases? It is.

Still with me?

Good. 

Let’s look at meta descriptions and SEO to see what their actual connection is.

Do meta descriptions affect SEO?

Technically, meta descriptions do not affect SEO because they’re not a direct ranking factor for Google, but they do so indirectly.

When you include your chosen keyword in your meta description and someone googles it, it will show up in bold on their end. This gives your result a higher chance of catching that person’s eye compared to those that do not include that keyword.

Because it grabs their attention, it’s more likely that they’ll want to click on your page, which basically sends Google a message that yours is the coolest kid on the block for that specific result.

So, following this logic, meta descriptions do affect SEO in their own way.

An example of how meta descriptions and SEO go together

Let’s say that, for example, a blog post was optimised for the keyword ‘succulent care tips’. 

If it’s also added to the meta description, it won’t help it rank any higher, BUT here’s what it’ll look like in the SERP:

If you’ve just searched ‘succulent care tips’ and got these two results, which one would your eyes be drawn to?

The meta description example with your exact query standing out in bold characters, right?

That’s why you should always include your keyword in the SEO meta description tag.

Writing a meta description for SEO and your audience

Right, now that you understand the unusual link between meta descriptions and SEO, lemme show you how to write them properly.

Aim for the correct meta description length

Have you ever noticed how some meta descriptions end abruptly with an ellipsis? 

That’s because there’s a meta description character limit that you must always keep in mind when writing them. 

So, your meta description should be between 70 and 160 characters: that’s long enough to describe the content of your page but not so long that it gets cropped by Google.

However, in reality, the ideal meta description length is about pixels rather than characters.

If you’d rather be safe than sorry, you can check your meta description length with a specific tool.  

Describe the content of your page and add a CTA

Sure, the aim of your meta description is to describe the content of your page, but it’s also to convince your readers to click on that result rather than any of your competitors’.

So, tease the content that they can expect to find, leave them wanting more, and include an unmissable call to action.

Check out this good meta description example:

It establishes an immediate connection with the reader, mentioning something that they’re extremely likely to relate to since they’ve searched that particular query. 

After stating the problem, this meta description offers a solution: the user will be able to overcome their pain point if they read that article that teaches them how to create a morning routine that makes them wake up ‘energetic, productive and happy.’

Include your keyword

Now that you know that meta descriptions and SEO are connected, don’t forget to include your main keyword in there, too.

As you’ve seen in those meta description examples, it will show up in bold.

So, what is a good meta description for SEO?

Overall, a good meta description for SEO:

• ranges between 70 and 160 characters

• describes or teases the content of the page

• ends with an attention-grabbing call to action

• includes the target keyword

Found this helpful? I send weekly tips, advice, and content prompts to help ambitious female entrepreneurs connect with their dream audience through their marketing copy.

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