Top tips to make your blog more visible online

We all want more eyes on our websites. More than that, we want the right kind of eyes – those of our ideal clients. That’s why businesses blog. They want a quick, convenient way to keep their content fresh, up to date, and more discoverable by their target market.

For the most part, blogging is a great way to boost your visibility. But it’s not a magic wand. To see SEO benefits, you need to lay the foundations, do the prep work, and commit to creating consistent, high-quality blog content to see maximum SEO benefits.

Alternatively, you could work with someone like me – a professional copywriter – to write your blogs for you.

Something a lot of business owners forget (I’ve been there myself), is that once you’re blog’s written, uploaded, and published – the work isn’t finished. The next piece of the puzzle is promoting your blog posts and repurposing the content within them to ensure you get the most bang for your buck.

Read on for my top tips on making your content more visible and discoverable online.

Before pressing publish

Write a meaningful meta-description

Business owners spend hours creating content they know their audience wants to see. But they miss a trick by not optimising their meta-data for maximum impact.

Metadata is the snippet of text that appears on a search engine result underneath the page title. At around 100 characters in length, it’s a prime but often neglected piece of website real estate on the search engine results pages. Use that space wisely to share a snappy introduction to your post.

Top tip: Think, what’s the crucial piece of information I want a reader to get from this blog post? Then tell them, directly. They’ll thank you by visiting your site.

Add social sharing buttons

Making content sharable gives someone who found your content helpful an easy way to support your business and spread the love. When you think about it, it’s a no-brainer, right?

Another nice touch is offering the option to subscribe to your blog. They’ll be notified whenever another blog post is released.

After pressing publish

Request a site index from Google

Something that came as a shock to me when I first started my business was that Google wasn’t quite the all-seeing, all-knowing entity I thought it was. It turns out, you actually have to tell Google you exist before it begins indexing your website and adding your data to its database.

How do you do this? By adding your website to Google Search Console. My SEO specialist colleague, Chris McDowell at Bristechtonic wrote an excellent blog post recently about how to tell Google you exist. I’ll leave explaining the technical stuff to him, it’s what he does best.

Top Tip: Every time you publish a new blog – before doing anything else – submit a new site map to Google via Google Search Console. It will prompt Google to index your new content, and set you up for success in my next top tip to increase your blog’s online visibility.

Create introductory social posts

Something I learned early on as an entrepreneur was that quality content creation is time-consuming. Having several ready-made posts you can publish in a pinch, can be a real game-changer when you’re juggling multiple priorities. In fact, it’s a popular add-on for clients’ blog writing packages.

Top tip: As part of your blog writing process, brainstorm or write 5 social media posts you could use to introduce your blog. Think about things like:

Angles of interest – in what circumstances will your content be most useful?
Key takeaways from the blog – one post per takeaway
Examples of your main points in action.

Promote, promote, promote your blog post on social media

Many business owners post on socials about their blog posts once, maybe twice, and then leave them languishing in the ether forever. What a waste.

The content you create is an investment. After taking the time to write and publish your post, you owe it to yourself to make the most of it and maximise its ROI.

Get creative.

Post about your blog on social media, but also head to your Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Many have promo threads where you can share your latest creations. Talk to admins, moderators, and members. Contribute to discussions adding value where you can – offer to send your blog post to interested people by direct message if they’d like more information (always check the etiquette within groups on this – they have their own rules to follow).

Top tip: Google’s algorithm prioritises popular content. By asking Google to index your site and then sending social media referral traffic straight to it, you’re showing Google that your latest post is popular. In return, Google will see your content as trustworthy, and show it to more people in search.

Guest blogging and podcast appearances

I heard someone say the other day that ‘every man and his dog has a blog or a podcast’. It made me chuckle, but it’s true to an extent. Content creation has never been as accessible as it is today. Take advantage of that fact and get your content out there to a wider audience.

Top tip: Use your networks to find people whose ideal clients align well with yours and who experience the same pain points. Use guest blogging or podcasting appearances as a platform to generate interest in your own blog – tease and link back to your own content, offering as much value as you can.

Email your list

This one is super simple, but often forgotten. Send a quick heads up to your email list saying I wrote a thing, read it here. Those that click-through to read the blog post will add to your slowly building know-like-and-trust factor.

Add a link to your email signature

A nice touch I’ve seen a couple of times recently was the inclusion of links to relevant blog posts in a person’s email signature or out of office auto-reply. Seeing as you email your clients, suppliers, and prospects all the time – it’s a great opportunity to link to your most recent content that’s relevant to them!

Want to work together?

Writing perfectly purposeful copy for problem solvers, solution finders, and changemakers is what I do best. If you’re looking for a copywriter for a one-off project or on a retainer basis to take over your business blog writing, I’d love to help.

Get in touch today, and we’ll discuss your requirements.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash.