With more and more brands embracing the role of publishers, the contest for attention on your content keeps getting fiercer. The internet is practically overflowing with blogs, some wildly successful and others… not so much. What’s the secret sauce that propels a blog to stardom, captivating readers to the point that hundreds of thousands, even millions, religiously check in every month? More crucially, imagine the impact on your business if a million pairs of eyes were glued to your blog, eagerly sharing your content with others in your target audience.

I recently teamed up with Ginny Soskey from HubSpot Blog to deliver a webinar brimming with our top-notch business blogging advice. These aren’t just any tips; they’re the very strategies we use to collectively engage millions of readers on our blogs each month – the very same strategies we use to reach millions of combined readers to our blogs every month. You can put these practical blogging tips into action on your own website to expand your readership and ensure your blog aligns seamlessly with your business objectives. We’ve broken down this guide into four key parts:

• Part 1: Keyword Research Tips
• Part 2: Blog Management Tips
• Part 3: Blog Optimization Tips
• Part 4: Blog Promotion Tips Ready to dive in? Let’s go! >> 9 Free Blog Post Templates Guaranteed to Drive Traffic

Part 1: Why Keyword Research Is Crucial for Your Blog Strategy

I kicked off the webinar by spilling my secrets on leveraging innovative keyword research to tap into the burning topics your potential audience craves. Keyword research is like a treasure map, using tools and data to pinpoint the exact keywords people type into search engines when hunting for content like yours. Consider this the absolute bare minimum content strategy you need to get your blog on the map. If you’re new to the blogging scene and still finding your footing, the best approach is to create a list of keywords that will attract the right visitors to your site. This not only makes your blog content more discoverable but also guides your content types and themes. When you’re drawing a blank on what to blog about, keyword research steps in as your compass. Some folks get hung up on the idea that using keywords equates to writing for soulless Google bots instead of real humans. But here’s the catch: keyword research would be paramount for content marketing even if you couldn’t care less about organic search traffic. Of course, you should care, but even if Google vanished tomorrow, keyword research would still hold immense value. Why? Because keyword volume directly correlates with subject interest. A high volume of searches for a keyword indicates significant curiosity surrounding that topic. By writing about it, you’re not just capturing that potential search audience; you’re also ensuring your blog posts resonate more strongly when shared on social media, through your newsletter, and across other marketing channels. You’ll be crafting the kind of blog content people are genuinely hungry for! The most basic keyword research involves heading to a keyword tool, typing in a topic, and seeing what pops up. For instance, plugging “vintage perfume” into the nexus-security keyword suggestion tool yields a list of terms along with their relative popularity.

Head to the Free Keyword Tool

If this method works for you, keep rocking it. However, some people struggle to translate this type of keyword research into tangible content. One reason could be the lack of clarity surrounding search intent when examining an isolated keyword. Additionally, depending on your tool, you might end up with a slew of highly competitive, broad terms boasting high search volume. Ranking for such terms is an uphill battle because countless other sites are vying for the same spot. Conversely, you might stumble upon highly commercial keywords – ideal for ads or product pages but not necessarily a good fit for a blog. Let’s explore some more creative approaches to unearth keyword ideas that pack a punch from a content marketing perspective.

Craft a Powerful Content Strategy with Keyword Planner

Start by harnessing the AdWords Keyword Planner to uncover keyword topics organized by specific keywords. Although designed for AdWords advertisers seeking keyword groups to target with their PPC campaigns, bloggers can cleverly adapt it to brainstorm compelling blog topic ideas. Simply input a starting keyword topic as you normally would, but this time, zero in on the “Ad group ideas” tab – the first one in the results – where keywords are neatly clustered based on relevance:

Here, clicking on a keyword unveils all its related counterparts along with their competition level and average monthly search volume. This provides invaluable insight into the various angles people explore within a theme when seeking information. Moreover, analyzing groups of keywords offers a clearer picture of search intent than scrutinizing isolated terms. Consider the following example. The phrase “selling perfumes” could have multiple interpretations – perhaps users are looking for information on becoming perfume sellers or seeking places to buy perfumes. However, delving into the group reveals that many are actually on the hunt for lists of the best-selling perfumes. These insights empower you to shape a content strategy that aligns more closely with the specific information users are after.

These clusters are particularly useful for structuring long-form content like guides, as different keywords often suggest natural subcategories or subheadings. (More on this later!)

Using Keyword Planner for Competitive Blogging Inspiration

Here’s another nifty trick with Keyword Planner: borrow content ideas from other players in your niche. Before you panic, I’m not advocating plagiarism! Think of it as drawing inspiration. Begin by selecting a website you admire. Personally, I’m a big fan of the Buffer blog and their impressive “influence the influencers” strategy. By pasting their URL into Keyword Planner’s “your landing page” field, the tool magically conjures up keyword ideas based on the content Buffer is publishing.

Now, focus on either the “ad group ideas” or “keyword ideas” tab – whichever sparks your creative fire. Once you’ve landed on a keyword you’d like to target, take your competitive research a step further. Type it into Google and analyze the current occupants of the first page. If you aim to rank for that keyword and attract organic search clicks, your content needs to outshine the existing competition.

Pro Blogging Tip: Prioritize Long-Tail & Evergreen Keywords

Why the emphasis on long-tail keywords? These longer, more specific phrases typically have lower search volume but also face less competition. Established websites like HubSpot can likely snag a first-page spot for fairly competitive keywords where hundreds or even thousands of sites are vying for attention. However, if you’re not quite HubSpot yet, achieving that is a tall order. It’s not enough to simply craft exceptional content; you also need domain authority and a substantial backlink profile – assets that take years to cultivate. If you haven’t reached that level of influence, you’re better off targeting long-tail keywords where strong on-page optimization alone can propel you to the top. Another smart move is to focus on evergreen keywords. These are keywords with consistently steady search volume week after week, month after month.

They just keep on going, going, going… Case in point: one of our all-time highest-performing blog posts is titled “12 Ways to Find Anybody’s Personal Email Address.” This piece continues to drive traffic year after year because the advice remains relevant and people are still interested in the topic. It’s the perfect blend of long-tail and evergreen. Unlike trending keywords that experience a surge in popularity and then fade away, like “where to watch the World Cup,” evergreen keywords deliver consistent, ongoing traffic to your site, and that’s how you build a reliable traffic stream.

Tips & Tricks for Uncovering Long-Tail, Evergreen Keyword Ideas

Google Suggestions is a goldmine for evergreen, long-tail keywords. These are the helpful suggestions that appear in a list below the search box as you type.

These suggestions represent popular searches that begin with the words you’re typing. Essentially, Google is trying to anticipate your search based on the popular search terms others have used. It’s a fantastic way to witness real-life search queries in action. Another trick is to use an underscore to trigger suggestions for words that appear within a keyword phrase, like this:

Pretty neat, right? Google’s Related Searches, located at the bottom of the search results page, offer another creative avenue for keyword inspiration.

While Google suggestions reveal popular search queries starting with your typed words, related terms showcase other searches users might have tried after searching for your main keyword (in this case, “arcade games”) to refine their results. Expect to find synonyms, variations, and more specific keyword phrases. Here are a few more creative tactics for unearthing long-tail keywords:

• Keyword Referrals: Dig into your keyword referrals in Google Analytics (remember to focus on lower-volume keywords to uncover more specific long-tail terms) or Google Search Console.
• Q&A Sites: Explore sites like eHow, Yahoo Answers, and Quora for topic ideas. Questions make fantastic blog post keywords! For example, another one of our most popular posts is titled “How to Find Your Old Tweets.” Another answers the question “What are the most expensive keywords in AdWords?” These were both questions I had personally struggled to find satisfactory answers to, so I decided to address them myself! If you’re an expert in your field, you can likely create content that surpasses the quality found on these Q&A platforms where anyone can contribute.
• Wikipedia: Don’t underestimate the power of Wikipedia’s “table of contents” and the “See also” section at the bottom of each page – they’re treasure troves of keywords. In general, Wikipedia is an SEO role model, excelling in organization, internal linking, and other on-page optimization factors. BONUS TIP: Don’t shy away from experimenting with blog topic generators. You might stumble upon some hidden gems. Just remember to verify if a relevant keyword aligns with the topic you choose. Armed with your curated keyword list, you can now build out your content calendar for several weeks in advance (our editorial calendar template can help!). Remember, when you create content that aligns with what people are actively searching for, you’ve already got a built-in audience eagerly waiting to discover your expertise.

Part 2: Expert Blog Management Tips with Ginny Soskey

Now, let’s delve into the heart of your content creation process. While research and inspiration are essential, you need a streamlined process to transform them into reality. One of the most frequent questions we encounter is: how often should we be hitting that publish button?

HubSpot’s research reveals that businesses that blog are 13 times more likely to see a positive return on investment than those that don’t. We recommend aiming for at least two blog posts per week to reap the rewards of your efforts. If you can manage more, go for it! However, whether you’re publishing once a month or every hour, establishing and adhering to a consistent content process is paramount. The foundation of successful execution lies in meticulous planning, and that’s where an editorial calendar comes in. This valuable tool outlines your publishing schedule, including the day, time, topic, and the person responsible for crafting each post.

Creating an Editorial Calendar & Idea Repository

With a million other tasks demanding your attention, it’s easy to let blogging fall by the wayside. That’s why tracking your commitments is crucial. An editorial calendar also allows you to monitor results and demonstrate the value of your blogging efforts to your team. HubSpot offers a handy free, downloadable editorial calendar template to get you started. If Excel isn’t your cup of tea, explore other free alternatives like Google Calendar. The tool itself matters less than the commitment to using it consistently. In an ideal world, we’d never run out of blog post ideas. However, the reality is that maintaining a constant stream of fresh ideas can be challenging. You need a safety net.

HubSpot maintains a backlog of blog post ideas using Trello. As you can see above, they categorize these ideas, allowing them to easily select the type of post that best fits their editorial calendar on any given day. They have ideas backlogged for How-To posts, List posts, Random posts, and more. While conducting keyword research, make it a habit to jot down specific ideas in your backlog. If inspiration strikes during brainstorming sessions, use Trello cards to store links to research, notes for blog authors, and other relevant details.

Pro Blogging Tip: Inject Variety with Different Content Types

Variety is the spice of life, and blogging is no exception! While text-based content dominates the blogosphere, it’s also the most time-consuming to produce. It’s essential to explore other content types that resonate with your audience and require fewer resources. For instance, HubSpot’s audience loves a well-crafted infographic, so they feature one every week. When they come across a gem they want to share, they add it to their Trello backlog to avoid losing track. These posts are quick to assemble, and the visual information provides immense value to their readers. HubSpot has also curated a collection of content templates to make experimenting with new content types a breeze. You can easily download these six content templates free and use them to add some spice to your blog.

Tame Your Inbox for Inspiration & Productivity

As your content creation engine picks up speed, prepare for an avalanche of blog-related emails. Team members will have questions about their assigned posts, individuals and companies will pitch you ideas related to your chosen topics, and your overall email volume will skyrocket. Don’t let it overwhelm you.

Thankfully, most email providers offer sorting features and capabilities designed to simplify a blogger’s life. In the example above, we’re using Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) for email, but Outlook and other programs offer similar functionality. Gmail’s multiple inboxes help us triage emails as they arrive. You can sort incoming messages using color-coded inboxes and tackle them based on priority throughout the day. Before we move on, let’s quickly recap the pillars of expert blog management:

1. Create (and actually use!) an editorial calendar.
2. Maintain a backlog of blog content ideas to avoid ever facing the dreaded writer’s block.
3. Introduce variety by experimenting with different content types to keep your readers engaged and streamline your creation process.
4. Conquer email overload with organizational tools to boost productivity and stay on top of your blogging activities.

Part 3: Blog Optimization

Now, let’s unlock the power of blog content optimization – the art of strategically incorporating your keywords into your content to boost your chances of ranking higher and driving consistent organic traffic. Keyword prioritization is the first step in this optimization journey. When analyzing a cluster of related keywords, your main keyword should be the one commanding the highest traffic volume. In the cluster we examined earlier, “best selling perfumes” emerged as the frontrunner:

Your blog post’s URL and title are the two most important places for this keyword to shine. This sends a clear signal to Google about your content’s relevance to the searcher’s query. Here’s how: URL: yourbusiness.com/blog/best-selling-perfumes Title: Best Selling Perfumes of 2014

Pro Blogging Tip: Craft Irresistible, Optimized Headlines

A killer headline is an art form in itself. It can significantly impact how many people discover, click on, and devour your blog post. While including your main keyword is crucial, you can do much more to entice clicks and reads once you’ve checked that box. (Remember, your headline plays a pivotal role across all channels: SEO, email, social media, and more). Here are a few tips to elevate your headlines from bland to grand:

• Embrace the Power of Lists. You might be thinking, “Lists are so over!” But trust me, they’re not. Our top-performing articles from the past year all featured a number in their headlines!
• Spark Curiosity. Don’t lay all your cards on the table. Leave your readers wanting more, compelled to click to uncover the full story.
• Highlight Actionable Content. “5 Ways You Can Save $50 Today” sounds far more enticing than a vague title like “Managing Your Budget.” People want to know they’ll walk away with practical tips they can implement immediately.
• Speak Directly to Your Audience. For example, “5 Emergency Tools You Should Never Leave Home Without.” Discover even more headline writing secrets here.

Mastering the Art of Keyword-Optimized Blog Posts

Believe it or not, you can achieve excellent keyword optimization without resorting to dreaded “keyword stuffing.” If you’re writing with your target keyword in mind, it should flow naturally within the body text a few times. But don’t overlook these strategic spots:

• Subheadings
• Image file names and alt text
• Anchor text
• The meta description Here’s the best part: optimizing your page for search engines and formatting it for online readability often go hand in hand. Incorporating more images not only provides additional opportunities to leverage keyword variations but also breaks up text, making it more visually appealing (just ensure they’re relevant!). Similarly, subheadings, bullet points, and bold text enhance readability and serve as prime real estate for your keywords.

Optimizing Subheadings in Blog Content

Let’s zoom in on subheadings for a moment. Remember those long-tail, related keywords we gathered from Keyword Planner and the bottom of the search results page? They hold the key to structuring your content effectively. It’s a smart move to examine a group of related keywords and use them as the foundation for your blog post or guide’s outline. For example, take a look at this ad group (obtained by plugging in the Buffer blog URL!):

This could easily translate into the following outline: TITLE: Guide to Using Social Media for Business

1. Intro: How many people use social media daily? (Illustrate the market size and emphasize its value)
2. Who is using social media? (Explain why this audience is relevant to your business and target market)
3. What is social media used for? (Explore which social networks potential customers use to find products and services like yours, read reviews, gather tips, and more. How are businesses leveraging social media for fun and profit?)
4. How to use social media (Offer practical tips for using social media to market a business, promote a brand, generate leads, drive sales, etc.) Notice how those keywords seamlessly transform into subheadings and section titles? It’s like magic, but for content organization! We’ve found that strategically incorporating these related keywords into your content can significantly boost your rankings. It’s a strong indicator to Google that your content provides value to users and aligns with their search intent.

Pro Blogging Tip: Harness the Power of Internal Linking

Internal linking is another often-overlooked tactic with immense potential. Each time you publish a new blog post, challenge yourself to find at least five existing pages on your website to link back to it using relevant anchor text. The benefits of internal linking are numerous:

• Increased Engagement: People are more likely to linger on your site when you provide relevant pathways to explore other content that piques their interest. Consider adding links to related posts beneath each blog post and featuring your most popular content in a sidebar.
• Passive Link Building: When people link to your content, syndicate it, or even copy and paste a quote, they often leave those internal links intact! This transforms your internal links into valuable external links, boosting your SEO authority.
• Future Content Planning: If you find yourself repeatedly referencing a particular concept, consider dedicating an entire blog post to it. This allows you to link back to this new post from all those previous mentions. For example, we noticed that we frequently discussed the concept of target markets and target audiences, so we created a dedicated post defining the concept and explaining how to identify your own target audience.

Pro Blogging Tip: Build Momentum with Follow-Up Content

Expanding on the previous tip, you can amplify your content promotion efforts by creating follow-up articles to your most popular posts and linking back to the original piece.

This strategy is a fantastic way to build momentum, target keywords related to your original keyword, and establish your brand as a thought leader in your niche. For instance, if you published a blog post about why Helvetica is a poor font choice for signage and it gained significant traction, you could follow up with a post about the best fonts for signs. Think of these posts as sequels or spin-offs. By consistently implementing this tactic, you can effectively dominate your online space.

Don’t Neglect Post-Publish Optimization

While optimizing your post for organic search before hitting that publish button is ideal, don’t underestimate the power of post-publish optimization. Regularly check your rankings for your target keywords. Although tools exist for this purpose, you can also do it manually. Use an incognito browser window (to minimize personalized results), search for your target keyword, and see where your content lands. You’ll reap the most significant benefits by pushing content from the second page to the first, or from the bottom of the first page to the top. If your content isn’t where you want it to be, analyze what adjustments you can make:

• Does the keyword appear enough times?
• Can you incorporate more related keywords?
• Can you acquire more external links through targeted outreach?
• Can you better address the keyword’s search intent? (Are the top-ranking articles providing a more comprehensive answer than yours?)

More Blog Writing Tips

If you’re looking to sharpen your writing skills beyond keyword optimization, my colleague Dan recently shared 16 insightful tips to elevate your writing prowess.

Part 4: Drive Traffic to Your Awesome, Optimized Blog with Content Promotion

Beyond the realm of organic search, a plethora of strategies can optimize your blog posts for enhanced promotion and sharing. Here are Ginny’s top tips for blog content promotion, starting with social promotion optimization.

Every blog post on the HubSpot blog is carefully optimized for social sharing with prominent share buttons. Once you’ve cultivated a decent blog audience, display share counts on your buttons. This form of social proof demonstrates how many others have shared your content, lending credibility and encouraging further sharing. Studies show that people are more likely to “like” or reshare content that’s already proven popular. The example above also features a yellow box with a Click to Tweet link. Clicking this box allows readers to effortlessly tweet a pre-written message crafted by the blog’s author. This eliminates the need for copying, pasting, and even thinking of a compelling tweet-length quote, making it incredibly easy for people to share your content.

Add a CTA & Subscriber Sidebar to Cultivate a Loyal Audience

HubSpot optimizes for promotion and retention by incorporating two key elements into all their blog posts: a call-to-action (CTA) box and a subscriber sidebar. Strategically placed at the end of each post, the CTA box entices readers with something valuable – an ebook, a whitepaper, etc. Clicking the box redirects them to a landing page offering more insightful content.

While this does temporarily divert traffic away from your blog, if the content you offer is consistently high-quality, you’ll become their go-to resource the next time they’re seeking information. A subscriber bar is equally crucial. Although HubSpot features theirs in the sidebar, it can reside anywhere on your blog. Building a subscriber base provides you with a dedicated audience for each new post you publish. Both the CTA box and subscriber option play vital roles in cultivating this base. While some visitors will choose to subscribe directly, others might need an extra nudge in the form of valuable content offered in exchange for their email address. Either way, these elements help you build a loyal audience eager to consume your latest content.

Smarter Social Media Promotion

When it comes to social media promotion, start by focusing your efforts on the Big 3: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. While you might discover smaller, niche networks that drive decent traffic your way, covering the Big 3 is essential when you’re starting out. Your analytics will reveal where your efforts are best invested. For example, search marketers tend to congregate on Google+, making it a valuable network for us.

Optimizing your images and visual content is paramount for social media success. On Twitter, images accompanying your tweets appear automatically in users’ feeds, and we’ve found that at HubSpot, tweets with images generate 31% more visits. On Facebook, the image accompanying your link posts dominates the newsfeed. Opt for large, high-resolution, visually appealing images for maximum impact. Each social network has its own optimal image size and resolution, so ensure your images are optimized accordingly for every platform you use.

Content Promotion Through Email

HubSpot ensures that each new blog post is delivered straight to their subscribers’ inboxes:

Notice how these promotional emails are optimized for effortless social sharing. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for your readers to spread the word about your latest content. You can also incorporate a call to action encouraging them to share it with their colleagues via email. Even though these individuals are already part of your database, activating them as advocates and encouraging them to share your content with their networks can create a powerful domino effect.

Effective Paid Promotion for Blog Content

While many perceive inbound marketing as purely organic, excluding paid promotion, aligning paid strategies with your organic efforts can yield fantastic results:

• Social amplification is one effective paid content promotion tactic. You’ve already poured your heart and soul into creating exceptional content; now give it an extra boost by promoting it on Facebook or sponsoring a Tweet to help it gain traction. This allows you to reach a targeted audience beyond your immediate network, spanning multiple social media platforms, and potentially sparking a wave of organic shares.
• Outbrain is another paid tool worth exploring. It enables you to strategically place relevant blog posts on other publishers’ websites. While you won’t be featured on competitor sites, you will gain visibility on topically relevant platforms where readers are actively seeking content similar to yours.
• Content remarketing offers a third paid avenue. This strategy allows you to reconnect with past website visitors through paid ads that follow them as they navigate the web. By tagging visitors to your website, you can target them with personalized messages while they check their email, browse YouTube, conduct searches, and more. It’s a highly cost-effective method for converting individuals who’ve already expressed interest in your blog.

Promoting Your Blog Content on Your Own Website

How do you effectively guide your website visitors to your blog? Focus your internal promotion efforts on these four key areas:

1. The homepage
2. Related product pages
3. Subscriber page
4. Content downloads Feature a relevant blog post with a compelling call to action on your homepage. At the very least, ensure your main navigation menu includes a prominent link to your blog. You might assume that visitors landing on your product pages are already well-versed in your offerings and don’t require further education from your blog. After all, they’re already deeper down the sales funnel. However, the buyer’s journey isn’t always linear. Just because they’re browsing your product pages doesn’t mean they’re not receptive to more content. Explore natural opportunities to link back to specific blog posts or relevant sections within your blog from specific product pages. Create a dedicated landing page exclusively for your blog subscribers. This provides an excellent platform for promoting ongoing marketing campaigns and linking back to specific blog content. Remember that these landing pages also rank in Google, so ensure they feature unique, original content. Finally, leverage blog content at the end of your content download process. After a reader fills out a form and downloads your content (ebook, report, etc.), use the download page to encourage social sharing and promote other relevant content they might find valuable.

Building a 1 Million-Strong Blog Presence with HubSpot & nexus-security

Put the keyword research, content creation, blog optimization, and promotion tips from this guide into action to craft a winning blog strategy! But don’t stop there. Stay ahead of the curve by exploring the nexus-security Blog for the latest paid search and online marketing news and insights, and stay informed about current inbound marketing trends on the HubSpot Blog. REMINDER: Download this guide as a free PDF for easy reference.