5 Things to Do Before You Post Another Blog

Written by: Paige Jones

While we all know that having a blog is now essential to your content marketing, just simply writing a blog post doesn’t cut it anymore. Your blogs are a major asset to your digital marketing and SEO efforts, so we put together a list to make sure you’re getting the most out of your hard work. With just a few extra steps, your blogs will reach more readers and drive more potential clients to your advisor site! Here are 5 ways to perfect your blog before hitting “publish.” 💻

1. Optimize For Search Engines

Maintaining a good blog is hard work, period. If you put the time and effort into writing a blog post, you want as many people to see it as possible. Google and other search engines reward long-form content that is informational, relevant, timely, and otherwise helps searchers find the information they’re looking for. The first and most important step to converting potential clients is simply showing up in their online search results, and that possibility can be increased through SEO! Here’s what you need to check over:

Keywords : Include words that your potential clients will be searching for. The words should define what your blog post is about and say something about your firm. Put yourselves in the shoes of your prospects! If you’re having trouble, there are plenty of tools to help generate them for you.

Meta description : Compelling meta descriptions on your site can often be the determining factor if someone clicks on your site or not from the SERP (search engine results page), especially if you’re including keywords the searcher is looking for.

Header tags : An HTML/ header tag is a fragment of code that communicates to the web browser how to display content. Heading tags are a leading factor in SEO ranking and are predicted to be long-living influential factors to ranking in search engines . Using keywords in headers play a large role in what search engines understand your website and webpages consist of when deciding what information to show in search results. Learn how to completely optimize your headings with this article .

Updating your header tags and meta descriptions are not hard to implement yourself and if you are on the Twenty Over Ten platform, they don’t require a programmer either. The Twenty Over Ten platform makes it easy to change your header tags, meta descriptions, and more. With our in-line editor you can very easily change text from an h1 tag to body text. Check out our step-by-step tutorial to learn more about how to edit your header tags and meta descriptions.

2. Include Links

Linking to your own website pages, other blog posts, and to related, credible sources will elevate your reader’s experience and can lead them to more information. Whether you’re linking to internal or external content, the linked content must be both reputable and related to your blog.Pro tip: we suggest making all links open in new tabs so that the reader doesn’t get directed off your blog or website. This way, they can easily return to where they started their journey on your blog or website.

External links are linked to other sources, which can provide credibility to what you’re writing. Including statistics, studies and related articles from credible sources gives your blog authority and can even create partnerships with other publishers.

Internal links are linked to pages within your own site, such as other blog posts you’ve written. This can give the reader access to more information and can create more leads for your business, so they’re a win-win!

3. Make it Shareable

It’s a great feeling when your blog content is shared on social media. If a reader can share the content with just a single click, they’ll be much more likely to actually interact! Have recognizable social media icons or buttons at the bottom of the page to signal your readers to share it with their audiences. There are endless benefits to social sharing, but most importantly, this will generate more exposure to your firm and ultimately turn potential leads into clients.At Twenty Over Ten, we know how important social sharing is for reaching new clients, so we made it easy to enable these buttons on our platform. With the click of your mouse you can easily turn Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ sharing on or off in your page settings.Related: Try These 4 Tips for Blog ROI

4. Include Images and ALT Tags

There’s nothing less engaging than a blog post with absolutely no pictures. It’s no secret that images are one of the most engaging and important components of online marketing, but unless you’re willing to pay significant costs for access to a database, trying to find good quality, high-resolution images can be incredibly time-consuming. Check out our 10 go-to websites for free, high-quality photos to break up your content and provide visual interest. When choosing which photos to use, keep these tips in mind:

Choose photos or take your own photos that convey your firm’s brand and services

Strategically place your images throughout so that they support your content

Place your images to give visitors a visual break from your text

Ensure your images are relevant

Use only high-quality images

It’s difficult for search engines to “read” a photo, so that’s where alt tags come in. Google image search is the second-most used search platform after Google.com, and by including descriptions and tags, you can increase your chances of being seen in more image searches. The alt tags should describe what the picture is and should include keywords that clients will search for.Within the Twenty Over Ten platform we’ve made adding alt text to your images a cinch. Simply select the image you want to add your alt text to, click the “i” in your toolbar for alternative text and type in the content of your choice. For step-by-step instructions on how to add alt text to your Twenty Over Ten website click here.

5. Add a CTA

CTAs, or Calls-To-Action, tell the customer what step to take next and should be present on every page of your advisor site and every post on your blog. The CTA should be related to the topic of the blog and should lead the client to more information. For example, you wouldn’t want a “Download Now” button at the end of a blog about the importance of financial planning for women. Instead, include a button leading your audience to learn more about your financial planning servicesfor women. Including CTAs like this will help the reader know where to go next, and if done right, it will convert potential clients.