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SEO for Blogs: How Outsourcing Can Save You Time and Boost Traffic
If you’re looking to increase your online traffic, optimizing your website through the help of a search engine optimization (SEO) company is a smart move. But what about your blogs? Can they really speak with authority about your industry and attract the right audience?
Kickoff Meeting: Getting Your Writer Off to a Good Start
These are understandable concerns but are much easier to resolve than most people think. A kickoff meeting with your writer can get your writer off to a good start. Come prepared to tell them about:
- Your origin story.
- Your ideal customer.
- Your competition.
- What sets your product apart.
- Your podcast, YouTube channel, or other media.
- Any blog topics you would like covered.
- Any topics to avoid.
- Preferred “voice” (casual, formal, humorous, sarcastic, etc.).
Expect to give feedback on the first few blogs to help your writer align with your voice. Investing a little time now can save you lots later. You’ll likely need to give less feedback over time with future blogs.
The Importance of Consistency in SEO
Consistency is key with search engines. If you want to rank high, you need a constant stream of content on your website. This showcases that you’re the authority in your industry. But few companies have the time to make that happen. An SEO company should help you with content, so new content is popping up on your website without you having to babysit the process.
A good writing team will research your target audience. They need to know what that audience is searching for online and what problems they need you to solve. Then, the team should outline topics in a content calendar. It’s crucial to take the time to research your target audience and outline these topics; otherwise, you’ll waste your time on content that will not rank and won’t attract the right audience.
Quality Content Is Key
Long gone are the days of ranking high on search engines with low-quality content stuffed on your website. Google algorithms have changed that. They now reward authority. This means they reward high-quality content for industry-related topics. A good blogging team can consistently generate value-added blogs that set you apart as a trustworthy thought leader in your industry.
To rank higher, your content should be high-quality and relevant to the industry you are operating in. You may know everything about the product or service you sell, but that’s only part of the battle. You also need to understand how to write about those products or services without boring your audience. This requires expertise in creating compelling content while incorporating keywords strategically but not excessively.
Outsourcing vs. Hiring Internally
Business owners may write blogs but struggle to be consistent. After all, they have a business to run. While an owner could be growing their company, they’re stuck at the computer doing something that someone else could do, hurting the bottom line. You could always hire someone internally to help with copywriting, but do you really want another person on payroll? By the time you bring in HR and deal with insurance, taxes, benefits, etc., it’s often cheaper to contract out.
You’ll likely find that outsourcing brings a higher ROI. If they’re a reputable SEO company such as blogginghelpline.com, they’ll send you regular reports showing progress and increases in visibility. Poor quality blogs can hurt that visibility, so the SEO agency will have plenty of incentive to write effective blogs to boost your search engine traffic.
Perfection vs. Progress
Winston Churchill knew that “perfection is the enemy of progress,” and so do SEO experts. If you’re holding back blogs to scrutinize every last comma, you’re going to bog down progress and hurt your online performance. Expect quality but don’t get so buried in the details that you sabotage momentum. To paraphrase, 90% and done drives traffic; perfect but incomplete kills it.
The Importance of Educational and Trust-Building Content
Blogs should be written to build trust with your target audience by providing something of value. They should answer readers’ questions and help them solve problems. A common mistake entrepreneurs make is wanting blogs to be strictly promotional. That’s great for Facebook ads and landing pages, but it will scare away blog readers and decrease your website traffic.
For instance, if you search Google for “reliable luxury watches” and click on a blog that pops up in the search results, you don’t want an ad. You want hard facts to help you make the best purchase across various watches. If the blog is a thinly veiled sales pitch for a specific watch, you’ll be annoyed and bounce off the page. Instead, if the blog contains helpful research showing the pros and cons of different watches, you’re probably going to stay on that page. You might even make the site your “go-to” source for watch-related questions because you trust this website.
Conclusion
People outsource lawn care, housekeeping, taxes, and oil changes all the time. It’s not because they can’t figure out how to do these things; it’s because they know that others have the tools and resources to do them well—and usually in less time. Blog writing is no exception. If you take the time to lock in a good SEO company with killer copywriters, you can free up your schedule and headspace to focus on your superpowers to scale your business.
For more information on SEO for blogs, check out reputable sites such as blogginghelpline.com or subscribe to newsletters from reputable sources such as Forbes Advisor.