Keywords in Content, or SEO 2019 Style

As search evolves to favor natural language, is it worth your time to select and incorporate keywords in your web content? 

That question came up in a blogging presentation I lead earlier this year. My short answer ("yes") was met, surprisingly, with some resistance from other marketing folks who suggested that the returns were hard to justify. For small businesses, and particularly small local businesses with equally small marketing budgets, I understand a reluctance to spend a lot of money on keyword research. But spending more than a few minutes on it in the content development process is still important - even in 2019.

We agreed to moved the presentation along with a factual and accurate compromise of sorts - "Writing for your readers (prospects) is more important than writing for search engines."  

But this is my blog so let me be clear: yes, keywords still matter in 2019.  Small businesses can and certainly should spend the time necessary to use keywords and phrases (naturally, and helpfully) in their marketing content.

Good Business Copywriting Helps Prospects and Customers

Auto Parts Warehouse provides an excellent example of how keywords (in this case, longtail keywords) can be used in truly useful blog content. Headlines like "Where to Buy Wiper Blades" and "Grinding Noise When Braking" get the attention of humans and search engines alike.

I'm willing to bet Auto Parts Warehouse puts more than a little bit of loose change into advertising, link building and other SEO endeavors, too. But let's focus on the humble human with squeaky breaks.

"Grinding Noise When Braking" strikes the right note with said human. In fact, it's probably exactly what he typed in to search. (Hello, keywords.) And when the reader clicks on that search result, guess what happens? That human with squeaky brakes is rewarded with a legitimate article (not an ad or a screaming landing page) chock-full of helpful information. The format is important, too. The article is easy to read with very scannable subheads, sprinkled with keywords, like:

"Worn out wheel bearing"
"Faulty brake pads"
"Rusty Rotors"

See what Auto Parts Warehouse did there? It's the perfect trick, because it's not a trick. The human gets what the human wants: information on the web. The search engines reward Auto Parts Warehouse because the click delivers on those keyword promises. It meets the EAT guidelines in Google's 2018 Q3 update, providing Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. 

Creating good content that's useful and establishes your business as an authority (thereby making people want to do business with you, and refer other customers to you) isn't rocket science, but it takes a little time and planning.

If you know a blog could help grow your business, but don't have time to do it yourself, step on the brakes long enough to get in touch. I'd love to help drive your business forward.
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Want to learn more about Semantic Search? Search Engine Journal's article is a good place to start. Really big on DIY projects? You can learn how to create a natural language search for arbitrary objects with deep learning (in 5 easy steps) on Towards Data Science. Just need a copywriter who can reach your customers? I'm right here.


Photo credit: Auto Parts Warehouse blog January 24, 2019

Blogging as More Than a Sales Tool

I recently spoke to a group of small business owners about blogging. The focus was that in addition to being a big-payback element of your content marketing mix, blogging can also help integrate customer service, operations, and other departments with sales and marketing to create a more effective, efficient organization.

Sure, that sounds a little bit pie-in-the-sky, but I'm telling you, I've seen it happen.

Turns out I'm not the only one.

Blogging for Sales & Marketing & Everything Else

Buried in some very good articles (like this one from Moz) are suggestions that blog content isn't "just" good for generating leads and turning prospects into customers.

Here's the key: while your blog content is developed for leads and prospects, it can also be useful to YOUR organization, from the inside out.

A blog post about what to do when your widget fails unexpectedly - directed at your prospects - can also be required reading inside your organization. Then, when a customer comes in complaining that a widget failed unexpectedly, no matter who handles that complaint, they'll be prepared.

Blog posts about services you provide, or high-end products that are new to your mix, are another good example.

Again, the content created with your prospects in mind should be required reading within your company. That will ensure that everyone in your organization is on the same page - so when a sales opportunity presents itself, whoever recognizes that opportunity is ready with a response that advances the sales process.

Make Your Blog Useful, Inside and Out

I'm a big proponent of cross-training and think silos are silly (except on farms). I've found that blogging about a problem is a great way to solve (or at least, productively address) that problem.

Look no further than your complaint box (or Twitter feed) and you'll see plenty of fodder for your next few (dozen) blog posts.

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Cross-training sometimes gets a bad reputation. In some cases, it can be used to train highly competent people to do the jobs of their less-productive co-workers. But when used as a tool to improve overall operations, it really rocks. 

For help creating a content mix that works for you and your customers and your employees, contact a writer who understands business. That's me. Get in touch.

So Maybe You Should Have a Blog

I've played devil's advocate and come up with some instances in which you may not want or need a blog for business. But for the most part, blogging is good for business - any kind of business.

Interestingly, GoDaddy has a lot of good stuff to say about blogging. I say interesting because GoDaddy isn't really big in supporting its users with blogging tools. Go figure.

Anyway, blogging is good for business. Seriously.  See what GoDaddy says about it here:
https://www.godaddy.com/garage/smallbusiness/launch/how-to-write-a-great-blog-post/

Here's another perspective on how blogging augments your PR efforts, too:
http://ducttapemarketingconsultant.com/blogging-is-public-relations-tool/

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Need help starting or updating your blog?
I can do that.








7/7/17 UPDATE: Yet another article with some good advice on making your blog more productive, from Mark Shaefer's Businesses Grow.

What to Blog about Now? Get personal

Corporate blogging is so much fun! Said very few people, ever. 

I am one of those people, however. I love to blog about and to business folks. Industrial flooring, medical procedures, business signage materials, camp administration, customer service, electronic test equipment - been there, done that. 

Having a product, a process or a promotion to talk about makes choosing a topic for your blog easy. But planning the occasional change-up post is smart; it will add interest to your blog. 

Why Get Personal in a Business Blog?

Because people run businesses. And people buy from people. 

Especially if your usual blog fodder is dry-as-toast business-to-business stuff, a personal story or anecdote can help bring your business to life for prospects and existing customers alike. 

Also, people are more apt to continue to do business with people they feel like they know, even if it's "just" an online relationship. (It's 2015. If you're still discounting online relationships, maybe you should review the science behind them.)

You might answer "what should I blog about next?" by asking yourself, what do I like to do when I'm not working? Do you coach basketball? Tie the most awesome fly-fishing knots? Volunteer at a pet shelter? It's OK to blog about it. It's even better if you can relate it to your business somehow. And, good news: that's not hard.

Consider why you do what you do (outside of work), and chances are you'll find it enhances your health and well-being, helps others, and/or boosts your creativity. Any and all of those notions are great nuggets to include in your blog.

Happy writing!

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Running out of blog ideas? Want help with your editorial calendar, or someone to ghost blog so you don't have to write at all? I can do that. 

Lessons from 2 Blogger Bloggers

I thoroughly enjoyed an article about two bloggers - a preteen and an octogenarian - and probably would've shared it regardless, but am especially happy to share and say, they're both Blogger bloggers.

Blogger, the former Blogspot picked up by Google a couple of years ago, doesn't get the love that Wordpress does, but I've always liked it.

Now, if you came to my Blogger blog to learn something about writing, click The Hoffman Agency's interview with a couple of pros, a self-described geek and a storyteller with about 80 years of experience.

Remember, happy reading leads to happy writing.                

  ~Diane Stresing

Not so happy writing, but want to give your customers blog posts worth reading? Don't have time to write a customer newsletter, but want to market your business to increase sales? I can do that! 

Ghostwriting, corporate blogging, I don't care what you call it - it's good for business. Contact me; I'll help you get the word out. 

What to Blog About Next, part 4

Look, you can't just jump into part 4 of something without at least a cursory click on parts 1, 2, and 3. (I'll wait.) OK. Thanks, and welcome back. Now, part 4 beckons...

And then, there are those magical moments -  the blog posts that write themselves. Two things to you have to do when that happens: 1- grin from ear to ear and 2- hit 'publish.'

This one's a content creator's dream: Nieman Storyboard's roundup of 150 - Iknowright?!! I nearly hyperventilated, ONEHUNDREDANDFIFTY!! -awesome tips and storytelling techniques. Blow off your next meeting, I'm telling you, reading this is gonna be way more productive. 

Ahem. Look I'm not usually one to recommend blowing off a meeting but if you do, it'll be your turn to grin (an evil grin), 'cus your fellow writers will be all, "Where'd you'd get all these great ideas?" and you'll be all, "I dunno, sometimes they just write themselves."

Happy blogging.

~Diane Stresing

What to Blog About Next, 3

 A picture really is worth a thousand words. 

With apologies to Pinterest and Tumblr, personally, I think the photo-blog thing is a bit over-done and less effective (in most cases) than most photo-bloggers would like to think. Darren Rowse's outstanding site DPS runs hundreds of obvious exceptions, but let's remember that DPS stands for digital-photography-school, OK? 

By the way, Rowse welcomes guest bloggers, so if you've got a post in mind that's built around some awesome images, by all means, click on over and create one of those exceptions. Brag about it and send me a link, and I'll probably blog about you.

Blog with Wrong Image = Bad Blog? 

When blogging, the right picture is worth more than a thousand words. Note the qualifier. The right picture adds so much to your (related) blog post, you can probably keep the post down to 100-200 words - regardless of topic!

The wrong picture isn't really much of a problem - if your blog is strong. That said, don't be that guy.

You know, the guy who sets up his blog template to have an image of a certain size in a certain spot and it's pretty obvious he didn't spend a lot of time thinking about how the image improves the message. Worse, it's so obvious that the image detracts from the message. Do that a few times and your credibility and readership will start to suffer. 

Now You've Got the Picture

Unless your blog format requires an image, it's better to not include one if the only one you can think to include is a distraction rather than an addition. 

Case in point? You get the picture - I couldn't think of one. 

Blog on, my friends.

Update 10/22/13-- hey, do you think Social Media Examiner is riffing off my stuff? Yeah, well, I don't really think so, either. But it's a sweet coincidence. 

~Diane Stresing

Did you miss part 1 or part 2? Well, click and read already ;]

What to Blog About Next? How 'bout Now? part 2

I heart evergreen posts. Now and always.

Blogging got off to a suspicious start. Even auspicious, maybe. But I'm not blogging about run-of-the-mill, run-off-the-mouth blogging. I'm blogging about corporate/business/ghost/marketing content blogging.

Which means your blogging efforts will probably require meetings. Schedules. A plan. 

Yeah, I know. Borrrrr-ing. But do it right and you'll be hearing ca-ching!

Here's the good news about planning your blog posts: it doesn't have to be hard, they don't have to be long, and variety is the spice of blogging.

In other words, sometimes you can blog about what you're doing right now.

We're having a sale! is a great way to start a blog post.
Hurry to renew your contract before the price increase! works too. 

Seasonal tips make for great blog content. Got a landscaping business? Why not blog about liability as it relates to snow plowing contracts?

But wait, it's not exactly snowplow season, you're thinking. And we're not having a sale this week. So what do you mean, blog about "now?"

I mean, time is of the essence. You will have to spend some time planning and writing and scheduling your posts to make sure they're always timely. Get it? Blog about now means now, AKA your publish date. You want your content to be very timely ... or very evergreen. And sometimes, in-between.

I'll address evergreen posts (I love evergreen posts!) later, and tweeners too. Meanwhile, if you're wondering what to blog about now, I suggest you plan now to blog about something that will feel like you wrote it just now when the reader reads it... later.

Later! 

~Diane Stresing