Key Takeaways
Action - Steps
1.1 Primary Goals
1.2 Customer Acquisition Channels
Do you need a blog? - no
You can layer on blog SEO to expand reach and engagment for customers, increasing ROI and retention
1.3 Why most blogs fail
There's so many tactics for blogs - but, you need to create a solid strategy
(in GA)
'spike of hope'
'flatline of hope'
You should be seeing some passive growth over time - ROI on your blogs
There's a compounding effect of posting regularly and getting people to return.
2 -3 articles per month could be a sweet spot.
Growth = traffic doesn't fade over time.
Making sure each article hits hard and converts.
2.1 Spike of Hope
instant gratification, false feeling of security
You share with your existing audience.
If you're just starting out there's not going to be a large volume of new subscribers - you need to find ways to reach a new and bigger audience.
New channels are effective when starting out - but, organic channels will fatigue
You need to be reaching new audiences ALL THE TIME.
2.2 Strategies that work
Viral traffic vs. SEO traffic
Viral
SEO
Viral does not pick up over time, it decays
Some Tactics to try:
2.3 the 'publish more' myth
You need to focus on building articles that focus on SEO keywords
Viral traffic is a gamble - SEO traffic is data-driven and predictable.
Tricks/hacks:
3.1 - 3.5 Testing ideas for 'search demand'
Using Ahrefs for keyword research
Headlines - SEO keyword focused
Make sure blog post headlines contain keywords people are actually searching for; eg.
"games like... [Pokemon]"
Think about queries people are actually entering into search engines.
Researching Keywords
Search ranking data for a single keyword isn't accurate, you need to dig a layer deeper and look at the SERP for long terms and actual searches.
Backlinks
The more websites that link to your page, the better SERP rank you'll get.
If you have the same keywords and keyword density - google will use 'backlinks' as a top-trump to decide who gets the #1 position.
Although, this is not a linear correlation
You want to look for topics with high search traffic and low backlinks - so you can position yourself in the SERP
Keyword Difficulty
Use 'KD' to assess how difficult it would be to get backlinks to the blog content you're building.
eg.
To compete with
Ahrefs → Google keywords + clickstream
Resources:
4.1 - 4.5 Finding content ideas
Study your niche
If any of the above is missing - create your own and ensure your content is on there first.
Answer the Public -
Google Keyword Planner
Ahrefs
Clickstream
Competitor Analysis
study competitors,
find their best content,
beat them
Content Ideas
Use Ahrefs 'content explorer' to target: competitor pages and topics for content ideas.
Filter searches for domains with '0' backlinks to find places with high traffic, but low backlinks (opportunities/ low-hanging fruit)
Use the 'details' tab and find organic keywords that piece of content ranks for
Be careful of Domain Rating - you can only outrank these with strong backlinks.
Combine with:
SEMRush
Spyfu
5.1 - 5.4 Optimize for: target keyword and searcher's intent
When building a piece of content and finding keywords that fit the article, remember what the 'intent' of a searcher may be.
Don't just target the highest volume 'generic' keyword because you see that as low-hanging fruit, find areas with low competition but some search volume (100/mo gives 1200/year) so that you can build a niche for yourself.
After producing an article, ask your friends: "what is this about?"
If you don't have an article formed yet, ask yurself:
Optimising Search Traffic
80% of optimisation is making sure the 'searcher intent' matches the theme of your content.
10% of ranking is URL/title/headline/content
This is the last 10% (for pros)
Audit existing content
Go through all your content and catagorise them into three groups:
6.1 - 6.3 Creating great content that promotes itself
r/bigseo - Rethinking Long Tail Keywords: how to get tons of traffic from ‘unpopular’ search queries
Quality of content determines your success. Think:
Quality
Learn to write well:
Improve how your content looks:
(look at other good blogs and blogging sites)
Headlines:
The headline is what's going to be shared and lure people to click in.
Uniqueness
Be careful of the trap of replicating what you've already read.
Research what 'research' is being done
What are new ideas of the space
How can you find a new angle or relate the issues in a more digestible format
Information you own that others don't is worth sharing - we live in the 'information age'
Authority
Why should I read your piece vs. someone with more authority?
How can you create this authority?
Use great sources and quote/ link them in your article.
Be a great journalist
Reach out to people in the space, ask them questions and quote them directly.
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.