I got talking to a dear friend from digital marketing recently about blogging and how it can be so hard to know if you're doing it right. My main aim is to engage you lovely readers, and make sure you enjoy coming here. But there is also the fact that this is my day job and if i can improve then it would be a good idea to learn and would obviously be very advantageous to me and hopefully you. She suggested i have a chat with Robb who she deemed a Pro in this field.
So pick his brains I did (hopefully not too hard), and WOW, even after 5 and a half years in this game i have learned more in this 5 minute chat than I have in a long time.
Useful, informative and easy to retain information that is useful for all bloggers, that's what I'm all about.
So here's what i asked
Robb Frost, Technical Account Manager for Ingenuity
Digital.
How
important do you feel Social Media to blogging?
Social
Media is like marketing for your blog. If you are actively asking for
engagement you are likely to get it. Otherwise you are reliant on
people finding your blog through following a link back to you or
appearing in search.
Social
Media makes it easier for your followers to see your post, and for
new users to discover you. The more you are shared the better.
From
Googles perspective Social Media is not a significant ranking factor,
it is only very minor but it does get noticed. So, it can help your
blog as a whole.
Also,
if you share other people’s blogs and posts they are likely to
notice this and be more inclined to share your posts. This helps you
become part of a community that supports each other and in turn
naturally helps promote each other.
Which
do you find the most productive social media platform?
It
is different for every blog and person. It can depend on the time of
day your users view your blog, if they are long posts, if its
business or pleasure related.
If
you are unsure the best thing to do is start by using the one you
like. Don’t try and use all of them in one go or you will end up
struggling. Try to find out how the system works (Twitter shows every
single post, Facebook is selective, they are all different) and then
work out a strategy. Then monitor your statistics and insights. Do
you get more responses if you post a certain time of the day or day
of the week? Trial and error is the best approach
Once
you are happy with one (or unhappy!) start on a second. Remember
taking on too much at once will be harder and have less results than
showing a bit of patience and building a community on one media.
Do
you have any advice for increasing traffic flow? Keyword placement
etc?
Create
a calendar and stick to it! Plan when you are going to post, what
type of post it is going to be and keep it regular. Whether it is
something funny for a Monday morning, or a video on a Thursday
evening, make sure you keep posting. Google likes to see regular
fresh content, as do your users.
If
you have a mixture of long and short posts, videos and pictures and
try to understand when each one gets viewed the most. You will
probably find that different people react to the pictures than read
the posts. So, keep it varied and interesting.
Have
“cornerstone posts”. Once a month/quarter/week have a long detail
post on a particular subject that is linked to form other posts and
that you share more often and put more effort in to publicising. If
you can make it an evergreen piece that often refer back to Google
will see it as an important piece and this will help it rank. If you
have done keyword research make sure there is consistency through the
meta title, description and H1 tag and the appropriate phrases are
used approx. 3 times for every 400 words along with plenty of
synonyms.
If
you are an expert in your field (whether as a source of data or
information, as a thought leader or with valued opinions) people will
come back to you.
Do
you have any advice on someone hoping to make a wage from blogging?
Make
sure you are unique and writing about something you care about. This
always comes across in your writing and advertisers will notice this.
Don’t
sell out too soon! Keep your voice and the right type of advertiser
will find you. If you have a particular brand in mind learn how to
pitch to them and know how you can benefit them. Remember you may
want to make money, but the company has a need as well. If you can
service that need then they will pay you.
If
you do start advertising with anyone and everyone you will devalue
your blog. The bigger brands with the biggest budgets will want the
most specific and on-brand blogs so play the long game and keep the
blog true to your values.
Optimal
blog posts per week? Would you say less is more or optimum exposure
with more posts?
Everyone
is different. Avoid writing posts for the sake of it is important,
with advance planning you should always be able to find topics to
write about.
Some
sites produce multiple posts in a day, others 1 a week is fine.
Staying regular with high quality content is the target. If you are
able to do this 5 times a week then why not? But if your readers
don’t have the time to read that much then are you actually
servicing a need?
1
in depth post has more chance of ranking in Google, but shorter posts
are more likely to be read on Social Media. Keep a balance and stick
within the realms of what you know you can achieve.
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I hope you also found this useful! I'm also going to expand this interview type post out and hopefully bring more great topics from experts in their fields, whether that be blogging, Cruelty free beauty or Vegan food!
I'm super excited to bring this new content to you all!
Do you have any great blogging tips?
