Creating quality content for a digital brand can feel a bit like filling your gas tank. You know it needs to be done, but you just keep pushing it off until tomorrow.
Not only do you need to come up with interesting and original ideas, but you also have to format your posts in a way that is visually appealing and easy to read. In this blog post, we'll discuss some tips for formatting your posts so that they look their best and are super easy to read and digest for your audience. As an added bonus, strong and consistent formatting on your blogs will increase your Google rank.
First and foremost, the best way to write a blog post is to simply create content that’s helpful and valuable to your customers. Google will prioritize that content. That said, there are also a few things we can do to make it easier for Google and our readers.
Heading tags tell Google what’s in your content and helps your reader scan the post much easier. In WordPress, there are 6 heading tags (H1 through H6). Here’s an example of how you might use these tags.
See above where "Use Heading Tags" is bigger than the rest of the content below it? That's a heading tag (it's actually an H2).
Website visitors will scan your content, they won't read. Blogs aren't academic papers or novels. Short, simple sentences and bullet points are very effective for writing short blog posts. We're trying to capture attention. Not give a thesis. See what I just did there? Here's another example... three reasons bullets, numbered lists, and short paragraphs can help your blog:
Google likes when you create a “web” of content. You can do this through internal and external links throughout your post.Internal Links - Links to other pages or posts on your site. External Links - Links to pages or posts on someone else’s site.
So for example, if you wanted to read a blog post on our site about how to generate leads, you could click this internal link.
However, if you wanted to learn more about our favorite email marketing tool, ActiveCampaign, you could click this external link to be taken to the ActiveCampaign website.
If you have a lot of copy, the post can feel a little stale for your reader. Feel free to include images, graphics, embedded Instagram posts, and/or videos to keep your reader engaged. For example, below is a YouTube video about SEO from one of our favorite accounts, Ashlyn Writes:
It's very possible you scrolled through the rest of the blog and that video caught your eye. Now you're reading this sentence (Hey!). That's what media will help accomplish: more engagement with your blog.
At least once during the post, find an organic way to include a mention of your course or a product you have for sale (blogs are great for Amazon Affiliates!). Linking to your product is a great way to offer more value and move them deeper into your sales funnel. It will also help you feel less "sales-y" as the product will relate to your blog content the user is already interested in.
