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Blogging for Business - Ahrefs

Morgan Schofield

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https://ahrefs.com/academy/blogging-for-business⁠

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Key Takeaways

Write based on what prospects are searching for - perform keyword research within topics of interest.

Always be targeting new audiences - it's the only way to expand your reach and capture new referrals

'viral' is a diminishing return

Your aim should be to build a hysteresis of residue traffic - your blogging efforts should return a background level of traffic that remains even when you stop blogging

Action - Steps

Create a list of themes you want to target in your niche

Create a spreadsheet of: 'keyword/topic' ; 'search volume' ; 'best articles' ; traffic ; linking domains

Discover Keyword ideas - use keyword research

competitor sites, reddit, forums etc.

Assess competitor content and performance

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1.1 Primary Goals

traffic is a vanity metric

the main KPI should be - making money! Number of sales/month

Think: customer acquisition not traffic acquisition

1.2 Customer Acquisition Channels

word of mouth

Ads

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'

you see a spike in traffic around blog release date, but no results.

'flatline of hope'

interest falls off, the content is stale

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.

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The Two Hedgehog Model, Perfect for Marketing Early Stage Startups⁠

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The Compounding Returns Of Content Marketing⁠

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2.1 Spike of Hope

Anatomy of '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

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The Anatomy of the “Spike of Hope” 2 1 - YouTube (1).png

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You need to be reaching new audiences ALL THE TIME.

2.2 Strategies that work

Viral traffic vs. SEO traffic

Viral

create 'sticky' content

pitch influencers

publish regularly

SEO

Create useful content

Get backlinks

publish regularly

Viral does not pick up over time, it decays

Some Tactics to try:

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https://ahrefs.com/blog/going-viral/⁠

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Add a decent quality infographic

Share in the right place (right channel eg. reddit)

an emotive and current topic

a little controversy

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.

build an audience (email list) to send content for word-of-mouth

Tricks/hacks:

pop-ups, slide-ins, welcome mats, hello-bars, content upgrades, lead magnets

attractive characters, social proof, personal stories

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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

Use Ahrefs 'keyword explorer' to enter and test new KW ideas

Brainstorm search queries → put them in 'keyword explorer'

Assess keyword volumes (US/UK) (just a guide - dig in deeper!)

Use the 'SERP' button to find exact search results and assess if there's opportunity for you to create content.

Assess 'traffic' (clicks per month - more accurate guide than volumes)

Check the top ranking articles for their monthly traffic - this is a better indicator. Generate more ideas from their content and be prepared to copy.

Click 'KW' column to see what keywords are in the search results - generate more ideas.

filter for '3' in 'position' to see what's getting the most traffic & clicks (top 3 SERP results)

be aware that the " quote marks mean this keyword is in a snippet on Google

Also, 'search volume' for a single keyword is not a good indicator, as most articles rank for multiple KWs - dig into the SERP → top ranking articles, to make sure you understand the depth of the keywords and what other keywords you'd need to include.

Look at 'top keyword'

dig into what people are actually searching for to find these articles - these are the real keywords you want to target

save the top articles into a doc. (see below - create a spreadsheet)

dissect what makes them good.

What KWs and topics are in there.

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.

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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

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Lesson 3 4 How to determine your chances to rank in Google.png

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You want to look for topics with high search traffic and low backlinks - so you can position yourself in the SERP

Keyword Difficulty

avg. number of links to a website (linking domains)

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:

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Why you can't ALWAYS trust keyword search volume for traffic estimations⁠

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How many keywords can you rank for with one page? (Ahrefs’ study of 3M searches)⁠

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How To Do Keyword Research for SEO⁠

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Long Tail Keywords: how to get TONS of traffic from ‘unpopular’ search queries⁠

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How Low-Volume Keyword Strategy Can Get You High-Value Clients [Case Study]⁠

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Long-Tail Keywords: The ‘Secret’ to Getting TONS of Search Traffic⁠

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On‐Page SEO: An Actionable Guide⁠

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4.1 - 4.5 Finding content ideas

Study your niche

niche forums

online communities

groups: facebook, reddit, slack, linkedin etc.

review sites

physical : magazines, newspapers, trade shows, white papers etc.

If any of the above is missing - create your own and ensure your content is on there first.

Generate Keyword Ideas -

Ahrefs Academy: Blogging for business⁠

: Keyword Research

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6 Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO⁠

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6 Keyword Research Tips to Find Untapped Opportunities⁠

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Google Keyword Unplanner - Clickstream Data to the Rescue⁠

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Google Throttles Keyword planner low spending ad words⁠

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Answer the Public -

Search listening tool for market, customer & content research - AnswerThePublic⁠

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Ubersuggest -

Ubersuggest's Free Keyword Tool, Generate More Suggestions⁠

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Soovle -

Soovle - Let the web help.⁠

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Google Keyword Planner

Ahrefs

Clickstream

Competitor Analysis

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How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis [Template Included]⁠

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study competitors,

find their best content,

beat them

use Ahrefs 'top pages' and 'competitor analysis'

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

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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:

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Lesson 5 1 What is “searcher intent” and how to match it.png

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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

⁠

How to Craft the Perfect SEO Title Tag (Our 4-Step Process)⁠

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On‐Page SEO: An Actionable Guide⁠

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This is the last 10% (for pros)

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More than Keywords: 7 Concepts of Advanced On-Page SEO⁠

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How many keywords can you rank for with one page? (Ahrefs’ study of 3M searches)⁠

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Audit existing content

Published articles likely already have some backlinks

Competitors probably don't bother updating content or optimising (you can beat them)

Past articles may be targeting the wrong keywords and need adjusting

Go through all your content and catagorise them into three groups:

Update

These articles already bring some traffic, but could do with an update

Refresh content etc.

Merge

having multiple articles on the same topic is nowhere near as good as 1 hard hitting piece that ranks #1

merge duplicates or use 301 redirects

Delete

any totally out of date articles that are pulling down your ranking

this (maybe) a ranking signal for google

⁠

A Simple SEO Strategy (The 'Middleman' Method)⁠

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How to Create SEO-Friendly URLs (Step-by-Step)⁠

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6.1 - 6.3 Creating great content that promotes itself

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r/bigseo - Rethinking Long Tail Keywords: how to get tons of traffic from ‘unpopular’ search queries⁠

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SEO Mythbusters: Top marketers share the most counterintuitive SEO truths⁠

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Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts — by Ryan Holiday⁠

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6 Keyword Research Tips to Find Untapped Opportunities⁠

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Quality of content determines your success. Think:

quality

uniqueness

authority

Quality

Learn to write well:

read copywriting and great authored books

google: "how to improve your writing"

Improve how your content looks:

the layout and design of your blog & website

quality images

short paragraphs

subheadings

quotes

lists

(look at other good blogs and blogging sites)

Headlines:

The headline is what's going to be shared and lure people to click in.

make sure you have at least 5 different headline ideas for each piece of content

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'

industry data

insights that people don't have yet (pull people into your world, educate them)

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.

⁠

Headline Hacks - A Cheat Sheet for Writing Blog Posts That Go Viral⁠

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How to Craft the Perfect SEO Title Tag (Our 4-Step Process)⁠

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8 Winning Headline Strategies And The Psychology Behind Them⁠

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10 years of professional blogging - what I've learned⁠

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How to Become a Marketing Manager (Advice From Those Who Made It)⁠

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The Content Marketing Handbook⁠

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Guest Post ROI: The Data Behind 273 Guest Posts Says It's No Good - BloggerJet⁠

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