For improving your search engine ranking, blogging is the number one tool. Blogs are everywhere these days, but great blogs are very rare!
Sure, writing blog posts takes a little bit of time, but the rewards are well worth it. As a copywriter myself, I know to include an integrated blog on my copywriting website. The process of adding regular, keyword-rich content to my website every day helps move my website higher in the search engine rankings.
Since I started blogging my website is now performing very well for my main keywords; copywriter, freelance copywriter, website copywriter and SEO copywriter, and many other keywords.
So how have I done this?
Well, one of the main tactics I’ve used is to optimise each of my blog posts for the search engines, and here’s how you can do it, too…
1. An Irish blog should write content that people will want to read
This one sounds obvious, but many people make obvious mistakes.
When writing any blog post, it’s important that you focus on quality rather than quantity. If people don’t like what you’ve written and see no value in it, they won’t link to it. Backlinks are hugely important in SEO, because they essentially act as vote of confidence in your post. The more votes you get, the higher your website rises!
2. Use anchor text to link to other pages within your site
The more relevant you make your site to your main keywords, the higher it will rise in the search engines. To give you an example, if you’re targeting the term “certified nutritionist”, then every time you use that word in a blog post, try turning it into a link so that it directs the search engine spiders back to your home page. The more you do this, the more relevant your site becomes to the keyword “nutritionist”.
3. An Irish blog should use anchor text to link to external pages in your niche
External links are used to direct your readers to other websites, articles and blog posts that you like. This can be beneficial to the people you’re linking to, but it can also be beneficial to you, too. These outbound links can be used to develop relationships with people in your niche, and encourage them to link back to you in return. And when it comes to SEO, backlinks are like gold dust!
4. Top Irish bloggers need to think about titles
The more readers your blog post gets, the more potential backlinks you’ll receive. One way of achieving more readers is to think of a title that you think people will type into the Google search bar. To give you an example, lots of people type in “how to write a good article” (590 each month according to Google’s Keyword Tool), so you could make that the title of your blog post and aim to get it on page 1 of Google for that search term. You’ll get lots of readers if you do!
5. Top Irish bloggers need to post regularly
Google and the other search engines love frequently updated content, and as a result, they love blogs! If your website has an integrated blog that you update regularly, you’ll stand a much better chance of rising higher in the search engines. The more content you add, the more your site will be rewarded. But remember, make sure that you place an emphasis on quality!
If you utilise the above techniques, you’ll stand a great chance of pushing your website higher in the search engines. In turn this will attract more visitors to your site, and you’ll receive more customers for whatever product or service you’re selling.
Now, this brings us to another key area.
Is content really king for an Irish blog?
It’s been said many times before, but content really is king when it comes to the internet. The fact is, it’s much easier to get a site ranked highly in the search engines if good quality content is constantly being added to it. As a result, more and more people are adding integrated blogs to their websites.
And you should be, too!
But it’s not just the content that helps your ranking…
With an Irish blog, content is king, and backlinks are king
The fact is, adding good quality, relevant content to your website (which the search engines love), also enables you to boost the site’s ranking even further by adding internal and external links.
Backlink strategy for top Irish bloggers
Internal and external links explained…
An internal link is when someone mentions one of their keywords and then creates a clickable link out of it. The link then sends the reader (and the search engine spiders) through to your home page, or whichever page you choose. The result of this is that your site starts to become more and more relevant to those keywords, and your site rises higher in the search engines!
To give you an example, whenever I mention my keywords such as freelance copywriter or website copywriter, I turn them into links which direct people to the relevant page. I’ve optimised my home page for the term “freelance copywriter”, my website copywriting page for the term “website copywriter” and my SEO copywriting page for the keyword “SEO copywriter”.
The more and more I do this over time, and the more and more blog posts I write, the more relevant my site becomes to those particular keywords, and the higher it rises.
Top Irish bloggers marketing strategy
External links, meanwhile, can be just as effective. If you link out to high authority sites within your niche, they will often link back to you. The search engines will view this as a big vote of confidence in your site, and reward it accordingly, by pushing it higher in the search results.
As you can imagine, the more blog posts you write, the more internal and external links you can add to your blog. Over time, you’ll start to see your website climb higher and higher in the search engines, which will result in greater exposure for your products, and more money for your business!
Of course, in order to give your website a REAL BOOST, you need to create “backlinks”. This is very similar to internal links, but instead of the links being on your own site, they’re placed on other websites, such as article directories, other people’s blogs, forums, etc. And the more authority these sites have (higher Page Rank), the bigger the boost each backlink will give you!
An Irish blog needs hypnotic writing
Lately, I’ve been reading a book called “Hypnotic Writing”, by none other than copywriting legend Joe Vitale. Now, I’ve been writing sales letters and website content for years, but I’m a firm believer in not resting on my laurels! I mean, if I can learn anything else about copywriting that might allow me to make my clients even more money, then it’s my duty to follow it through, right?!
And if I’m going to learn from anyone, it’s Joe…
Now I’ve got to say, I’m enjoying the book a lot, and it’s certainly got me thinking about the power of hypnotic writing…
An Irish blog should incorporate psychology techniques
The fact is, certain words and phrases have the power to subconsciously persuade people to read a particular sentence, click on the order button without a second thought, and whip out their credit cards to complete a purchase…
And these words are correctly referred to as being “hypnotic”. Other people might refer to them as “trigger words”, but it’s essentially the same thing. They’re words that are used to compel your readers to take action…
The psychology of marketing
Now, a master copywriter like Joe Vitale is well known for his ability to skilfully weave these “trigger” words and hypnotic sentences into his copywriting to enhance response rates and increase sales of the product he’s promoting. Indeed, hypnotic sales phrases are a powerful tool in any copywriter’s arsenal and greatly help in boosting the overall conversion rate of a sales letter.
But the truth is, YOU CAN DO IT TOO…
Hypnotic trigger words and phrases are everywhere, and while reading this book, I started thinking about one particularly hypnotic word that I’ve seen being used many times in sales copy in recent years…
STOP!
Did that make you pause?
Well if it did, don’t be too surprised, because here’s a little secret…
If you insert the word ‘STOP’ at the beginning of a headline in your sales letter or at the start of a subject line in your email, you’ll notice that the majority of your readers and subscribers will do exactly that – they’ll stop when you ask them to stop, pause a while, and then continue reading the rest of your copy, because you’ve now got their ATTENTION!
“Stop” is perhaps one of the best examples of a subliminal (or hypnotic) trigger word, because it instantly grabs the attention of your reader and practically forces them to pay attention to an important section of the copy.
Now you’re probably wondering…
Why does this word work so well when used in sales letter writing?
Simple.
An Irish blog should use the psychology of marketing
Since our childhoods, we’ve all been conditioned to obey this command. Remember at school when it was drummed into us to “Stop, Look and Listen” when crossing the road?! It was a safety measure to ensure that children didn’t run out into the middle of the road when a car was coming…
Well, this safety measure has continued into adulthood, with large STOP signs being utilized on roads to control the flow of traffic and ensure that drivers don’t drive out when they shouldn’t. And because of this, whenever we happen to see this sign, we automatically pause. It’s a completely natural reaction and we don’t even question it, because it’s a direction we’ve followed since childhood.
And interestingly enough, your readers will have a similar reaction when they see the word ‘STOP!’ in your sales copy, and their attention will be totally focused on what you have to say. And the best way of capitalizing on this is by inserting a strong benefit or a powerful sub-headline that will encourage them to carry on reading your sales page, rather than click away and go elsewhere.
Click here for more on the psychology of marketing.
Of course, if this technique were to be utilized repeatedly, its effectiveness would naturally wear off at some point, but it’s still a great example of a hypnotic word that can be incorporated into your copywriting to keep your readers on the page for longer, and boost your overall conversion rate!
Check out this other piece on blog writing services and also on how to become a copywriter. and blog content writing.