If You’re Not Getting Value From Your Blog. Start Doing This!
Blogs.
The word almost sounds silly in isolation. And when you are talking to a client about their blog, it often can build levels of sheepishness.
This happens because clients are always asking things like:
- Do we need a blog?
- Should we condense our blog?
- Does blogging even work?
And as an agency you most likely unequivocally say “Yes”. Blog dos really matter.
However, more often than not, clients don’t have high performing blogs and even your own blog on the website isn’t performing well.
So let’s really dive into blogging and how to actually lock in on getting the full value.
What’s not working
I’m sure you already know what’s not working, but sometimes it’s good to just see things written out.
What’s not working is that you and your clients are publishing content. You may have even successfully committed to a consistent schedule where you are posting content regularly.
However, as months go by, it seems like all that time going back and forth on word usage and trying to find the right featured image just aren’t resulting in actual traffic.
You know the feeling.
Spending a meeting’s worth of time working with the client on a blog post, to maybe have 15 visits to the blog post?
It just doesn’t feel right.
The reasons for why this is happening are debatable and many, but let’s focus on the areas that I think are the main issues:
- It’s the Nature of Content – Not what you want to hear, but this is just how developing content is. Awesome content comes from a lot of misses and some of your content will just miss.
- Set it And Forget It – This is where most agencies are falling short on the blogs. They publish a piece and focus on the next posts.
Set it And Forget It
Blog posts can often be symbols of a little embarrassment. Agencies charge clients for some blog posts but looking at their traffic, it’s not bringing much.
So they focus their reporting and effort on something else that looks much bigger and better.
We’re no stranger to it either.
However, like any old adage, sometimes true value comes from the thing you are avoiding.
Where blog posts offer the most opportunity is analyzing beyond their traffic and seeing how they are performing on Google.
Oftentimes, blog posts that were never meant to be optimized for a certain keyword or even had any SEO in mind can start making some waves.
And this is where you can find a ton of value.
Review Past Posts for How They are Ranking
Oftentimes blog posts written years ago or ones that no one ever remembers putting together can start ranking for keywords your team never even thought of.
This is where you want to double down.
Blog posts that start to show rankings on the 2nd and 3rd page show that Google has recognized your blog posts and they have moved it up their lists.
This means that it was good enough to get that far.
What we need to do now is to keep working on that same post. Identify what keywords the post is ranking for and then meticulously optimize the post for those keywords.
Look at who is on the 1st page for those keywords. What patterns exist? Are there headings and sections those posts have that yours doesn’t? Are competing articles just plain longer?
This is when you get to work.
The results are showing you that you are close and that you just need to keep iterating and working.
Make it Part of Your Quarterly Workflow
Make it a habit to check every quarter, what new keywords may be popping up on the 2nd – 3rd page. As people say, Google’s always updating their algorithm. This is typically taken in a negative light.
However, also remember, it can be a positive as well.
An obscure post you have that has never pulled in any visitors can suddenly start ranking after an algorithm update.
These are beautiful opportunities where you can then make the most out of the post.
And finally, once you start doing this regularly, you will see traffic compound, as you continue to improve more and more posts and their traffic.