Have any of you seen the old British show “Keeping up Appearances?” Does “Hyacinth Bucket or “the ‘bou-quet’ residence, lady of the house speaking!” trigger a smile? Poor Richard…. Hyacinth was the proverbial back seat driver. She almost never got behind the wheel, but she sure steered that vehicle - and that marriage!

What’s the vehicle moving your search ranking up on your website? Your content.

The content on your site is the number one thing that will help drive you up the front page of results.

And the content that Google loves is any sort of information in text form on your website.

This can be your homepage, your about page, or product/service descriptions. And I’ve covered ways to beef those up in previous posts. But…the easiest way to get your Google rankings up fast is to blog. Yep. Blogging is the backseat driver of the SEO world.

I can see you making this face right now :/ Don’t stress! Writing blog content not only pays dividends on your site, it’s going to create social media content for you too!!! Let’s do a quick review of why blogging is so beneficial and the checklist you need to do it right. We love efficiency, right?

Google loves long-form content with lots of text information supported by photos. Especially content that goes in-depth about a single topic, answers questions or solves problems. Ummm, I just described a blog, right? Plus, writing a blog post is more natural than writing product copy. It’s a great way to create connection with your customers.

Here’s your guidelines for an SEO effective blog post:

- 1000+ words

- Includes keywords, especially in headers (think of this as a short sentence summary of what the paragraph following it is about).

- Includes links to other posts or places in your site

- Is read-able. Use short paragraphs (3-5 sentences) with headers prior

- Includes photos with descriptions

But Kelsey, what do I write about?

Ask yourself "What are my clients trying to find answers to? How could I help them?" Post about topics that you care about, or that showcase your brand values or personality. If you are known for community involvement, post about local happenings or what your next project is. (Bonus - those local keywords are going to be flowing!)

Blogs can generate sales too. Choose topics that relate to the products and services you have. One of the blog posts that Content Club members have access to is “4 Ways to a Better Candle Burn”. It positions them as knowledgeable about candles, and lets them showcase the candle lines they have in store, without being overly advertising. Include links to purchase throughout the post or at the bottom as a call to action. Remember, we want our viewers to constantly be moving forward through our website.

Great blog topics are things that your audience is searching for online. Or use them to respond to questions you often hear in-store. For example, in my retail shop we are building a library of blog posts about different plants and their care. This drives search traffic of people looking for plants to our site. Plus we created links from each post to that plant for sale in our product catalog (yay sales). Last but not least; it saves us time!! Customers have a question about peace lily care? Here’s the link to our website post all about it. They are happy, and we aren’t spending 20 minutes talking "peace lilies" while the phone is ringing.

My favorite thing about blogging? You can use your blog post to create multiple pieces of social media or email marketing content. Think about it. How many words is your typical social media post….. 25-40? If you’ve written a blog post, assuming you’re at 1000 words, I’m willing to bet you can generate at least 5-8 different short social media posts out of that blog content.

Do you have a paragraph with a header and then 3-5 sentences of information? That’s a post. Boom. Link the social post to your blog (or a product) and you’ve got an immediate call to action that stops your customers’ scroll and moves them to spend time on your website, which is exactly where we want them to be :)

Do you have a blog on your site - or if not, could you see yourself adding one?

If you know you need more long-form content on your website but just don’t have the time or inclination for it, I feel you. What if I sent you 2 easy “plug and post” blogs every month? For blog posts that coordinate with your email marketing and your social media to form a cohesive marketing strategy for your business…. Get yourself over to The Content Club and see what the heck I’m talking about!