Are you one of the people strongly committed to creating content that strikes a chord with the readers’ eye?
I am talking of Content that is simply irresistible, is spoken about, sets the pace for great conversations over tea and coffee, and grabs the attention of influencers, journalists and authors.
A blog is a perfect way to share strikingly irresistible Content, but an adequately crafted blogging campaign requires passion, focus, patience, and persistence.
Quality blogs attract SEO and remember! The higher the amount of quality content you share, the more search engines and readers will be able to identify you as an authoritative voice on your beat.
“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” Says Brian Clark, under of the pioneering content marketing website Copyblogger.
If you want to reap long term success from blogging, then you must start treating your blog as a long-term project.
Striking blogging is not easy because it entails enormous effort is to achieve quality content.
The blogging process involves a comprehensive SEO and content strategy, as well as disciplined writers with expertise in both traditional and online writing techniques.
Here are 20 tips that will help you blog smartly and drive traffic to your blog
 

Start with keyword search

Blogging smart requires identifying the key search words that will attract you a bigger audience.
Identify and use keyword research for each blog and single out one to three keywords for each blog.
 

Focus on Long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are key phrases that an internet user applies to search articles. Such keywords have low search volume, little competition, and conversion rates are typically high.
 

Use targeted keywords in the title

Place the target keyword in the heading close to the start and strive to keep your heading to 50 – 60 characters.
Search engines will truncate a heading that is longer than 60 characters.
 

Create amazing blog titles 

Create catchy and punchy headlines that

• Spark a sense of urgency
• Trigger curiosity
• Use numbers
• Use the “How and Why “strategy

Use a strong meta description 

The Meta description is simply a Meta tag that describes the Content on your page. This Meta description appears below the page title in the SERPs.
A sharp meta description is a persuasive yet brief overview of your page’s content, while a convincing Meta description can increase the organic search results’ click-through speed. It means that more people can click through and land on your blog.
 

Use Keywords in Image Alt Text

Adding alt text descriptions in any image you intend to use on your blog is essential because they help describe the appearance and function of the photos on your blog.
The alt text description should also contain critical words for easy accessibility.
 

Use Internal links

Whether you are launching a new blog, refreshing an existing one or even giving a new structure to your blog, using internal links will always be crucial for your SEO rankings.
Insert your links naturally, and the number of links in your blog would depend on the length of your blog. For example, you may use up to five internal links for a 1500 word blog.
 

Apply external links 

Attribute any information sourced elsewhere with an external link. Use solid text anchor and follow links that guide the reader to the source of your data.
Your external link needs to open in a new window.
 

Take advantage of active header tags

Use header tags to break your text. Header tags make sections of your blog more readable and indicate how vital some parts of your blog are.
Do not forget to add some keywords.
 

Optimize your blog for mobile devices 

The internet is evolving, and users can access the internet through mobile devices such as tablets, mobile phones, laptops, and gaming devices.
That’s why optimizing your blog for mobile Content will benefit you, by improving user experience, increasing the average time spent on the site, enhanced mobile SEO and faster website load speeds.
 

Use bullet points 

Use bullet points to break the text and create space making your Content easy to read and digest.
If used well, bullet points will

• Break up long paragraphs of text
• Add variety to your content style
• Ease reference
• Bold and italic text may also be used to identify essential parts of your Content.

Vary text with bold and italics 

Use bold and italics whenever needed.
Bold and italics not only attracts the reader’s attention, but they also show how vital the bold parts of your text are.
 

Think about the length of your blog

Statistically, longer blog posts are much better than shorter ones. The length of your blog will depend on several factors, including the type of Content, the demography of your target audience and the style.
Blogging about cooking recipes may take about 500 words while a blog about the art of writing great blogs may take up to 2,000 words and yet both contain important information.
But it is also good to know that the longer the content, the higher the chances you stand getting your blog recognized on Google. According to Backlinko, Google Page 1’s average word count is 1,890 words.
 

Use Yoast if your blog is on Word press 

Yoast is an essential tool for users of WordPress.
The free version allows you to customize your Meta description and title tag, generating XML sitemaps as well as to offer a ranking for the use of the target keyword.
The paid version is only getting better.
 

Post-well-researched Content

Research is one of the vital pillars you will always need to write great content on your blog. Read articles and other people’s work to understand the subject matter of your Content.
 

Structure your blog as an outline 

An outline blog structure eases the reading and is easy to write. Start with

• A subject topic
• Introduction
• Subheading
• Another subheader. ‘
• Conclusion

Do not plagiarize 

Plagiarism is a no go area if you want to rank as a great, respectable and authoritative blogger. Generate new subjects and try as much as possible to tackle your topics from a new perspective.
 

Punchy headline 

A punchy headline is one of the elements of your blog that will either attract or repel the reader’s attention. So you need a headline that grabs the reader’s attention and retain that attention right through the Content of your blog.
Keep your headline short, sweet and smart.
 

Use short paragraphs

Short paragraphs make information easy to digest, and that’s what the reader wants. One way of making your blog content memorable is to utilize small items and break down your Content into concise chunks that are easy to read and remember.
 

Use a story writing style

People love to read about people, and many readers love the conversational style. Adopt a conversational tone and style of writing which readers relate, and you will find it easy to attract readers to your blog.