Blog writing for SEO is the process of writing content that will rank on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) such as Google. This entails researching keywords, writing high-quality content that matches user intent, and optimizing your content, headers, and images for easy page crawling.
Identifying and setting goals is the first step in all marketing projects. It is no different with blog writing for SEO. I have outlined some common goals below for blog posts.
Knowing who you are writing to and for will help you when it comes time to plan your blog content. Developing personas of your target audience can help you to really understand the audience for your blog content. Important information to identify includes:
Understanding the keywords that searchers are using to find information is key to writing a blog post that will be found in SERPs. Also, knowing how competitive the keywords are will determine whether your content will have an opportunity to rank. Selecting keywords that will drive the right traffic and rank will determine the success of your blog article.
Free Keyword Research Tools
Planning blog content can get a little complicated with all these SEO guidelines. Remember that you are writing the content to answer the searcher’s questions and to provide value.
The best way for you to improve your chances of ranking is by writing high-quality blog posts with user intent in mind that offer a solution to the questions being asked.
What does that look like?
Remember the target audience profile you created. Keep your buyer personas, and their motivations, challenges, and interests in mind. Choosing topics that interest your target audience and that offer solutions to their questions make a successful blog post.
This is one of the most important steps in blog article writing. The keywords that you want to be found for should be used in the article and optimized for important sections of the content.
Refer to your target audience profile again. This will help you to determine where best to distribute your content.
Finally, you will want to measure the success of your blog article. The measurement strategy will be determined by the goal that you set. Google analytics is a great way to measure traffic that has reached your blog article.
https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/
Finding out your best performing blog posts will help you to determine what your readers are most drawn to and what they are engaging with. This will help you to determine what future blog posts will be useful to your audience.
Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)took effect on July 1, 2014. Under this law, individuals and businesses are required to gain Express or Implied consent from recipients prior to sending email, text, or social media messages, and keep proof of this consent.
Express Consent – A clear and voluntary indication of preference that is given specifically, either verbally or in writing.
Implied Consent – An assumption of permission which is not expressly granted, but rather inferred by actions.
When CASL was first implemented, the legislation provided Canadian’s with a transition period of July 1, 2014 – July 1, 2017. During the transition period, you were permitted to send messages to recipients who had “implied consent”, unless they unsubscribe. This is about to change. As we enter the final month of this transition period, what changes will take effect and what will this mean for your business?
After July 1, 2017, you can only contact someone if they have:
Prior to July, you will need to ensure your company has a process in place to evaluate your implied consent subscribers and remove them prior to the deadline.
It is crucial to understand the difference between implied consent and express consent. Follow these steps to ensure your marketing campaigns comply with CASL.
While the transition period for the CASL deadline has now passed, one key thing did not happen on
July 1, 2017. The Private Right of Action provisions under CASL have been delayed indefinitely by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
“Canadians deserve to be protected from spam and other electronic threats so that they can have confidence in digital technology. At the same time, businesses, charities, and other non-profit groups should have reasonable ways to communicate electronically with Canadians. We have listened to the concerns of stakeholders and are committed to striking the right balance.”
– Navdeep Bains, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
What does this mean for your business? Essentially, you should only be contacting those who you have Express Consent from. But, if you continue to contact your Implied Consent contacts, no legal action can be taken against your company.
Click here if you have any questions or concerns about the new CASL Rules 2017.
At Longevity Graphics, we regularly receive emails and messages from less than reputable sources. As convincing as these emails appear, there are some clear, tell-tale signs that the communication is a scam. In this blog post, we will discuss some common email scams that we have received and how you can avoid falling victim to them.
In order for these scammers to gather personal information quickly, they create a sense of urgency. In their message, they will say:
After they have your personal information, they can then use it as they please.
Here are some things to look out for when you receive an email or message from an unknown source.
A common scam that we have received are emails from internet marketing companies saying that we have inquired about their services. They structure the email in such a way that it appears as through we have contacted them and requested information about their services.
They will include re: in the subject line of the email. This makes the email appear as though it is a reply. When in fact, it is not.
In the body of the email, they will say:
The email will contain links to “further information”. Ultimately, they will make claims about their product or service that are just too good to be true.
Phishing scams are emails or messages from someone pretending to be from a reputable source with the goal to gain access to your personal information. The cyber criminal will attempt to trick you into giving them access to your account.
The most common information they are looking for are your passwords for:
In order to appear more convincing, these messages appear to be from a reputable source such as your bank or other financial institution.
Have you ever received an email or call claiming to be from Google Adwords? Google has made it very clear that they will “never send you an unsolicited message asking you to provide your password or other sensitive information by email or through a link.”
As the name suggests, a greeting card scam is an email you receive containing a link to an e-card. The email itself appears to be from a friend, but if you open the email and click on the link, malicious software will begin to download and install onto your computer.
Since the beginning of the twenty first century, technology continues to connect us to each other as never has before. Society has experienced many positive advancements from technology; however, it has also opened our lives to the threat of cyber criminals. By using your best judgement and following the tips above, you will be better equipped to navigate through the digital era.
Longevity Graphics is a leading web marketing agency that helps business owners grow their business. Since 2001, we have been been building successful web site designs and implementing internet marketing strategies, by providing across-the-board internet services to businesses looking to take advantage of their online marketing potential.
We used to do a ton of email marketing quite successfully for some our clients in specific markets certain times of the year.We have achieved great receive rates, open rates and click through rates for our clients.
We have noticed, however, that over the years businesses are experiencing less success with their email marketing. efforts. There are a couple of different reasons that can be directly associated with these decreases.
1. Spam filters are getting better
2. People are tired of being bombarded with marketing emails
3. Trust and credibility of email marketing is decreasing still
In order to run a successful email marketing campaign, here are a couple of tips that will help to improve results.
1. Choose a reliable list. It seems pretty straight forward but this is an area that I see businesses fail with frequently. Make sure the list is up to date. Sending emails to old email addresses that people do not check is pretty useless. Also, sending to emails like [email protected] and [email protected] are also a waste of time as they are not directed at specific people and may not even get read.
2. Choose a targeted list. Make sure the list you are using is targeted to your demographic. An in-house mailing list to your current customer list is the most effective. When you buy a list, make sure that the list is up to date and is specific to the audience that you are aiming to reach.
3. Run your email through multiple spam filters before you hit send. A lot of email programs now have spam filter checks built in. I suggest running your email through more than one. This will help to get your email through more spam filters.
4. Do a test run to multiple mail servers. We all have multiple email addresses from different email providers. I recommend sending the email to as many different mail servers that you have access to before sending the actual email. This will allow you to ensure your email is being delivered and not being caught by a spam filter.
5. The subject line is key. A great subject line will make the difference between a successful email marketing campaign and a dud! Super important. Make sure you take a look at this resource for spam trigger words when writing your subject line. Be creative! There are lots of ways to entice people without getting blocked by spam filters.
If you are really stuck, hire a professional!