Creating SEO Rich Content for Your Blog Posts

Writing your first blog post is hard enough, but to also add the need to end up with “SEO Rich Content?” Easier said than done. And does it really matter for the first post?

Let’s imagine for a moment that you own a small shop on the side of a dirt road with no signs around. You never announced you were open, what you sell, and you neglected to put a name on your store. Because of this, even if you sell the best products ever made, no one will know you were there.

This same concept goes for your blog.

In the sea of millions of blogs out there and the high competitiveness, you need to stand out. You need to let people know you exist and that you are relevant. The best way to do that, especially for a new blog, is through both marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Both of those will help your topical authority in your industry.

First Blog Post – What to Write?

Before diving into SEO, let’s talk about your first post. Writing your first blog post can feel confusing because you may be on the fence on what to even write. Should you jump right in and start with your first niche topic, or should you just say hello and introduce yourself?

The reality is that you can write whatever you want when it comes to your first post. From a cornerstone post to a quick “hey, here I am” highlight, both will work.

However, if you decide on an intro post, which is what many bloggers do, then you do not have to worry about SEO as much for this one. What really matters is all the other posts after that. That is when you will want to understand SEO land so you can start gaining traffic as quickly as possible.

How to Make SEO Rich Blog Posts

This process can be a bit tricky, but if you keep at it, you will begin to see web traffic grow over time. Whether it be your first post, your cornerstone posts, or everything else in-between, SEO is the holy grail of blogging if you want to survive.

If you haven’t yet, do also check out the post on how SEO works in digital marketing. I also have a review of SEMrush, the best SEO tool in my opinion to give you the information to drive more traffic to your site, resulting in an increase of profits. SEMrush will give you the insights you need to create better content – SEO Rich Content – for Your Blog Posts.

But SEO is also not just about the content in your blog. Even if you have super awesome, SEO rich gold on your site, that doesn’t mean your job is done. If your page takes forever to load, is hard to navigate, or does not contain an “about me” page (yes, Google looks for that), then you are putting yourself at a disadvantage right out of the gates.

Yes, it’s a lot to keep in mind and do. I’ll be sure to get to all of it with more articles. But for this particular article, let’s assume you did all that and your site is ready for action.

Some SEO tips to make the perfect post include:

• Quality Keywords: This is how people are going to find you in searches. You need to have good, solid keywords or phrases implemented within your article. That will allow your blog to pop up in search engines. For example, this post is about creating SEO rich content for your new blog, so my keyword phrases are “what should my first blog post be about” and “how to write your first blog post.” This means that people who search this will find me because I used those keywords in this article – see what I just did? The best way to do this is to make it flow and not feel forced. The words have to make sense.
  
• Short and Easy to Read Paragraphs: Keep your paragraphs short and straightforward to read. The more engaging, easy, and informative, the better you will rank.
  
• Link to Your Own Articles: Many people think that SEO rich content is all about the words you’re writing, but that’s not true. It used to be that the more internal links (links to other posts on your website) you had in your blog, no matter the quality, the higher you would rank in Google. However, Google caught on and now only focuses on the quality of the links you use. Links to your own articles need to be relevant to the article at hand. Excellent and reliable links are prime for SEO, and you should consider using them within your articles when appropriate.
  
• Make A Captivating Title and Meta Description: This will be the first thing that a potential viewer will see when you show up in their searches. The more attractive your title and meta description is, the more likely you will get clicks and views.
  
• Add Images: When I say add images, I do not mean some grainy or blurry photo you took with your phone. Get outstanding quality ones that are clear and aesthetically pleasing. You don’t need to spend thousands with your own photo shoots. I share some free stock photo sites like Unsplash in my list of Blogging Tools and Resources. Be sure to fill out the titles, alt text and descriptions for your images. And remember when I said website speed matters with SEO? When uploading your photos, make sure they are on the smaller resolution side to reduce page loading time. To help you with that, I recommend the Smush WordPress Plugin, one 1 of the 11 essential plugins list from the design your blog post.
  
• Make It Meaty and Error Free: Google loves amazingly helpful, valuable, and meaty content that is error-free. Think about when you are looking up information. Don’t you want to read data that is packed with useful content that has logical error-free flow? Take your time writing your posts and put effort into making something that you would be proud to direct someone to for answers and insight. Meaty = SEO rich content. But Meaty =/= stuffing a bunch of words into the post to make it long to appear as some authoritative post. Google and especially your readers will know. Once they find out, you’ll lose Google’s algorithm and readers.
  
• Consistency is Key: Once you start blogging, make a blogging schedule. You want to show Google that you are still active and posting on a regular basis. Pick a day or two out of the week and make it a point to post on those days. Do this for about 3-6 months and Google will start to see that you are the real deal. Be prepared for Google to take about 6 months to start spreading it out in search engine results.
  

Additional Blogging Resources for Quality Outputs

Here is a little secret, even the best writers still utilize resources to double-check their work before posting or delivering. It is a smart move and investment to make your blog posts the best they can be. Some things you can use to your blogging advantage include:

• Grammarly: This will go through your entire article and help you discover any misspellings or grammar mistakes. This software also allows you to do plagiarism checks to make sure that everything you are writing is 100% original.
  
• Yoast SEO: Yes, you can look up SEO keywords for free on Google. But with Yoast, you can get much more in-depth data and statistics, so you can choose the best keywords or phrases that will give your post the ideal shot at being found. This is also 1 of the 11 essential WordPress plugins that laid out in the design your blog post.
  

Time to Start Writing Your First Blog Post

This is your blog, and you can do whatever you want with it. But if you want to give it the optimal chances at making it big, SEO must be something you adopt.

After reading through this post, you should have a better understanding on how to write your first blog post. If you’ve already written a “first blog post,” go back and implement the information into all your past posts.

Yes, it can feel daunting and a lot to take in at first, but trust me, you will get the hang of it in no time. The key is to keep practicing, writing and editing. As I write new blog posts, I’m also revisiting old ones to update and/or linking to new blog posts.

Happy Blogging!