In our last installment of Minneapolis Web Design, we went over 4 quick on page optimization steps that will help you optimize your web pages quickly and efficiently and most important, the right way. If you missed it, be sure to read Minneapolis Web Design: 4 Quick on page optimization steps. 

In our 11th installment of our Minneapolis Web Design series, we will be going over our 5 best blogging practices and what we consider the fundamentals of blogging. Your blog is the best place to regularly publish and promote new content related to your business and industry. It can also help your business stand out as an expert in your industry and build trust so it is essential to know how to write effective blog posts. Enjoy and be sure to join the conversation by commenting on this blog below and don't forget to subscribe to our blog updates! 

5 Best Blogging Practices...in a nutshell

If you are blogging, you need to read these best practices. 

Today, it seems like everyone has a blog. Your friend, your cousin, your brother/sister. I was having a beer with a friend just the other day and he told me that his Grandma started a blog to share her experiences traveling the world. His GRANDMA! So that must mean that anyone can create a successful blog, right? WRONG! Creating a successful blog is not as easy as it may seem. It takes dedication, patience, and most of all, hard work. Whether you are new to blogging or are a blogging master, these 5 Blogging best practices will help you become a more efficient and successful blogger. 

1. Pick a topic and a title.

Starting is always the hardest part. You know deep down that you have all of this amazing information and knowledge right in your noggin but you can't figure out how to put it in writing. Don't try to write the entire blog post in your head before you actually start to write. Keep it simple and start with picking a topic and a title. 

Start with a topic that you think will resonate with your target audience and jot down a few ideas. Brainstorm a list of topics and use these 4 questions to help you come up with this list: 

1. What are your target audience's most frequently asked questions? 
2. What do your buyer personas need help with? 
3. What do you wish people knew about your industry? 
4. What are industry bloggers, social media and your competitors talking about? 

When picking a topic, be sure to do keyword research. Which keywords do your target audience use? Which are associated with your industry? Be sure to write about those topics to increase your exposure and start ranking higher in search results. 

Once you have chosen your topic, start by creating a working title. This will most likely change as your blog post takes shape but it is important to start with a working title. This will help give your blog post direction. One last thing to keep in mind when creating your working title; be sure to include a keyword in your title. Be sure that the keyword you choose to use fits the description of what the page is all about. 

2. Format and optimize the post.

Formatting your blog post is important as it can effect how SEO and reader friendly your post is. When you blog, white space is your friend. It allows the visitor to focus on the content, not the clutter. When a reader gets to your blog post, we want them to feel like your blog is easy to read and not too long. With all of the distractions that your readers deal with on a daily basis, it is important to keep your posts brief and to the point. Don't write a novel. 

Be sure to use section headers, bullet points and or numbered lists and remember to highlight or bold your points. All of these tools make your blogs easier to read and also helps readers quickly understand the key takeaways from the post. It is important to use images/visuals to visually break up your post. Also, place an image at the top of each post to entice your visitors/readers to read further. 

When optimizing your blog post, be sure to optimize it around the keyword that you selected in step 1: 

1. Is the keyword in the page title? 
2. Is it in the URL? 
3. Is it in the post title? 
4. Is it in the image alt-text? 
5. Is it used naturally in the body? 
6. Is it in the headers? 

Be sure to include relevant internal and external links within your post. Link building can help your SEO/optimization efforts and linking to external content for references purposes can help build rapport with your readers. 

3. Promote content offers and other blog posts to increase lead generation.

If you are going to take the time to blog on a regular basis, it essential that you get the most out of your blog and use it to strategically promote your business's current offers, sales, and special content. Use your blog posts to educate your readers and also increase lead generation. Be sure to insert a Call-To-Action (CTA) after the first few paragraphs as well at the end of each post. Have these CTAs link to lead generating offers such as free downloads, coupon codes, free consultations etc. 

Be sure to leverage your website and use your blog sidebar (if you one) to promote your recent or most popular posts and add your blog to the primary website navigation. Link internally to other relevant blog posts that may be of interest to the reader. Internal relevant content can help entice your reader to spend more time on your blog giving you more opportunities to turn them into a lead. 

4. Promote your blog posts.

Driving blog visits through social media can be a huge growth engine. Share your blog posts on social media. Promote them when you publish and include social sharing buttons at the top and bottom of each blog post. 

Don't forget about email. Promote your blog posts through email and don't forget to send your buyer personas/target audience relevant content including blog posts, newsletters, and content offers. One idea that is particularly effective is creating a blog digest email for your subscribers. It can really help you generate regular and consistent interactions from your subscribers making it more likely that they will share your posts with others. 

5. Analyze the performance of your blog posts. 

You can learn a lot from analyzing the performance of your blog posts. You can get insights on what topics resonate the most with your readers/target audience, what blogging format performs the best, what social media platform drives the most traffic to your blog, etc. 

Some blog metrics to analyze are: 

1. Look at the number of views for each blog post. 
2. Filter your most popular posts by topic, author or channel of promotion. 
3. Look at the number of clicks on the CTA at the end of individual post. 

You can learn a lot from analyzing the performance of your blog posts so make sure you take the time to look at the data. Take what you learn from analyzing your posts and apply it to the next one and make it your best yet. Continuous improvement is a big part of blogging and should always be at the forefront of your blogging efforts. Your next blog post should always be your best blog post and if it isn't, analyze it, learn from it and apply what you learned on your next one. 

Conclusion

I hope that these 5 best practices help you become a more efficient and skilled blogger as well as help you take your blog to new heights. One last piece of advice; the most important part of blogging is writing consistently and frequently. Writing blog posts consistently and frequently will help you build rapport with your audience as well as help you analyze a consistent data set. However many blog posts you decide to write a week, make sure to write that many blog posts each week. 

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