11 Actionable Blogging Tips to Make Content Findable

Is Your Blog An Easter Egg Hunt For Quality Content?

Easter Egg Hunt for Findable Blog ContentDo you make blog content findable?

Or do visitors think your blog is an Easter egg hunt for quality content? 

Unlike colorfully dyed eggs, your best blog content may lack the appropriate brilliance to shine through the information available across channels.

To make your blog content findable, dress it up so it stands out.

Even better, offer your readers a digital Easter egg. That’s geek-speak for a digital surprise or bonus. On your blog, this can include additional ungated content.

To transform your blog posts from deary and dull to stellar, follow these 11 actionable blogging tips to make your blog content findable.

11 Actionable blogging tips to make blog content findable

Making blog content findable involves more than your posts’ text.

Don’t overlook non-text blog features or you may hinder prospects’ and customers’ ability to find the information they actively seek to take the actions you desire.Easter Egg Hunt for Findable Blog Content

 

1. Provide unique quality content consistently.

To attract and retain an audience, you have to provide more than the generic content readers can find elsewhere.

Before writing, check what others in your category wrote on your topic. Without copying existing information, ask yourself how you can add value to the conversation.

Avoid creating duplicate content since it hurts your blog’s search rankings. In terms of your blog content, update existing posts rather than creating duplicate content.

Think like a media entity to offer regular information servings to build a content expectation.

Actionable Blogging Tip:

  • Use an editorial calendar to plan your blog content.
  • Schedule evergreen and seasonal content in advance. Spotlight existing content and to keep it up-to-date.

 

2. Don’t bury useful information where readers can’t find it

You don’t want readers to abandon your posts because they can’t find the content they want, when they need it.

Blog readers are content grazers looking for easy-to-gather, snackable information. They don’t have the time or attention. If the information they want doesn’t stand out to them, they’re gone. 

Actionable Blogging Tips:

  • Put your best content up front. Tease potential readers with a great headline, opening, transition and thesis to pull them into your article.
  • Ensure body headings make sense without other information. Get skimmers to consume your post.
  • Include relevant information with images and other content. Readers read captions! Use them.
  • Display your best articles in the sidebar. Don’t make them think.

 

3. Use reader-friendly formatting

You can have the world’s best content but if it looks boring or difficult to read, it won’t get read.

Over 90% of readers leave your blog without reading one word

Actionable Blogging Tips:  

  • Break blog posts into bite size chunks. Don’t let readers think TH;DR (Too Hard; Didn’t Read!) Use maximum of 4 sentences per paragraph.
  • Make text easy-to-scan. Outline, bold and apply other techniques to entice readers through your information. (Here are 13 Ways to format your content for success.)

 

4. Be mobile

In today’s always-on media landscape, your blog must be available on any device whenever your audience is ready to use it.

Also check that your blog posts can be read via a feed reader and mobile email. 

Actionable Blogging Tips:

  • Ensure your blog content can be read on a mobile device. If you lack technical support, you can use a WordPress plug-in.
  • Optimize your blog emailings for mobile. Don’t assume that this will happen by itself.

 

5. Optimize content for search

While blogs support search optimization, it doesn’t happen magically.

Build your authority around your key topics by writing on these topics and interlinking related articles. Search expert Bruce Clay calls this content siloes. It’s useful to include these words in your navigation.

SEO Silos

Write for humans first, search engines second. If your content doesn’t sound like a real person wrote it, then it won’t rank well.

Actionable Blogging Tip:

  • Create each post around a keyword phrase. Crosslink and promote similar articles so search engines and readers understand your core topics.
  • Use magnetic headlines and images to attract readers. Only 20% of people read beyond the title. Also, include keywords in your title and post links. (For more information on search optimization, here’s what 15 experts recommend.)

 

6. Build an About Page

Readers want to know who’s behind your blog and your blog authors.

When I judged Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blogs of 2017, I was surprised there were candidates lacking an About page and author bios.

How can a reader judge your credibility if you’re absent from your blog? 

Actionable Blogging Tip:

  • Make your About Page easy-to-find and consume. Even better make it worth readers’ time to consume. Add images so readers know the people behind your blog are real. Entrepreneur on Fire is a great example of a quality About page.Make blog content findable with about page

 

7. Add your contact information

An online retail client of mine thought that, if they hid their contact information, they’d eliminate customer complaints. (That didn’t work!)

Make it super simple for readers to contact you. Use multiple entryways and options. Then have an employee respond to these inquiries in a timely basis.

Manage expectations on your contact form. Include your office hours and response time. Remember online—people think short turn around time.

Actionable Blogging Tip:

  • Provide visitors with a way to contact you. Even better, offer more than one option such as phone number, fax, chat, email and social media.

 

8. Link to your website product where relevant

Include posts to support Customer FAQ content. It’s classic Marcus Sheridan “They Ask, You Answer” blog posts. This information supports prospects during product research and post-purchase use.

Link to product in blog content. If your product is seasonal, schedule time to update blog posts and links to avoid poor user experiences.

Actionable Blogging Tip:

  • Link to the specific product page. Make it simple to buy your product. Take a page from King Arthur’s Flour. They link to their products in their recipes.
    Make blog content findable with product links

    King Arthur Flour Easter Recipe from archives includes links to product

    Make blog content findable with product links and photos

    King Arthur Flour recipe highlighting product links in blog post (also has photographs)

 

9. Provide links to related content

To support your blog’s search rankings, it’s key to link to relevant content on other people’s blogs or websites and your past guest posts.

This is particularly important for readers to verify quotes and data. In this case, link to the most relevant information available.

Link to your own content to show search engines that your content is valuable and how it’s associated with other content.

Actionable Blogging Tip:

  • Include links to your past blog posts. For example, Content Marketing Institute hired Jodi Harris to head their content curation efforts. They spotlight related articles in every article they publish.

    Make blog content findable with curated past posts

    Content Marketing Institute makes links to older related content stand out in the post.

 

10. Don’t allows blog content to languish without socializing

A blog should be at the center of your social media offering. Chris Brogan refers to a blog as your social media home base.

But just publishing content, even with an email list, won’t make your blog content findable.

Support your social media sharing. Ideally include social media share content tailored to your blog content creation to reduce creation costs. Also, batch share blog posts beyond the first week or month. Include social media advertising where relevant.

Align your blog post sharing options with your audience’s preferences. Two less obvious options are email and Pocket (so readers can read it when they have time.)

Actionable Blogging Tips: 

  • Share your blog content across relevant social media platforms. You don’t need all social media icons.
  • Include secondary social platforms like Pinterest, Reddit and Inbound.org to maximize your reach.
  • Add Click-to-Tweet, Pin This and other social media tools to extend you social reach.

 

11. Get influencers involved in your blog content creation and distribution

Influencer Marketing continues to mature and evolve based on recent research by Traackr and Top Rank Marketing. (Here’s our analysis of Influencer Marketing.)

Influencers help make your blog content findable by association. This includes:

  • Mentions and links to influencer content.
  • Tailored commentary to specific blog post points.
  • Shared content to their larger audiences.

For example, Orbit Media’s Andy Crestodina asks influencers for targeted input on specific blog post points. It makes it more likely they’ll distribute your post later.

Make Blog Content Findable with Influencers

How to include influencers in your blog content via Orbit Media

 

Don’t overlook micro-influencer power including customers, readers and peers.

Actionable Blogging Tips: 

  • Reference key influencers where appropriate in your content. Give credit where credit is due. Let influencers know you mentioned them but don’t expect them to promote your post.
  • Tap in customers and fans as micro-influencers. Illustrate blog points or provide mini-case studies with their photos. Ask for permission to publish user-generated content.
  • Share other people’s blog content. Work with bloggers to cross promote content to reach a broader audience.

 

How To Make Blog Content Findable Conclusion

Regardless when you publish your blog content, don’t create an Easter egg hunt for your readers.

Translation: Make your blog content findable and easy-to-consume.

To achieve these objectives, optimize your content for your audience, social media, search, influencers and your business.

Offer a mix of content formats and devices to allow your audience to read it when and where they wish.

Provide supporting information to support your blog and business. To this end, give readers what they want: answers to their questions, product information and behind the scenes.

Continue updating, curating and re-promoting existing blog content to keep it visible.

Where appropriate give readers more than they expected. This is a different type of Easter Egg.

What can you do with your blog content to exceed your readers’ expectations?

Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen

Heidi CohenHeidi Cohen is the President of Riverside Marketing Strategies.
You can find Heidi on FacebookTwitter and LinkedIn.

 

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Photo Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bright-colorful-colourful-decorate-356339/ CC Zero

Editor’s note: This post was originally published March 31, 2013. It was updated on April 13, 2017

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