You want to generate more traffic for your blog and you understand that the only way is to improve the content.
But you face with ONE major problem. How do you improve your content that will drive more traffic?
I’m happy that you asked because I’m going to share my case study with you in this article.
I decided to improve my content because I wanted more traffic and have better conversions. As an affiliate marketer, traffic is paramount for my success (and even yours). The more traffic I get, the higher chance for me to make money blogging.
I dive in deep and took time to understand what went wrong — and took massive actions to solve the problem.
The results?
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See the screenshots below which is taken directly from SEMrush. I use SEMrush because it is the best all-in-one monitoring tool for bloggers who want automated website improvement ideas. Get a free account here.
If you are finding for the best way to improve your content for search engine optimization, follow these steps and watch your traffic grow under 14 days.
Step 1: Produce MORE content
The first step I took was simple. I do something that every authority figure in the world doesn’t recommend — producing more content.
My previous content writing strategy involves publishing one or two articles (1,000 to 2,000 words) a week.
I decided to do once a day publication and it was heavy on me. I will be joking if I said that it was ‘okay.’ As a matter of fact, I burned out within the first week of doing it!
To my surprise, I coping up was easy. I stopped playing mobile games and spend two hours a day with content generation.
The results: More content, better search results, more readers and ultimately, excellent search engine ranking.
Step 2: Keyword research done right
Again, I see people using hours and hours of doing keyword research. I ought to be different. I spend around 30 minutes on keyword research every day.
Wait, what? Only 30 minutes?
Yes, you read that right.
1
Google Search
First, I go to Google to search for the topic that I’m interested to write on.
Do this: Collect a list of automatic search results that pops out and the titles of the top 10 articles in the SERP.
2
Google Keyword Planner
Head over to Google Keyword Planner and search for the seed keyword (seed keyword is the general keyword).
Do this: There should be a more than 1,000 searches in a month to have higher profits and for the topic to be on demand.
3
Quora
On Quora, search for each keywords you have collected. You can avoid using the whole sentence and use the main keywords only.
Do this: You are looking for questions that has over 1,000 views (the more, the merrier).
4
KWFinder
Use KWFinder (register for a free account here) and search for the top keywords you have gathered from Quora.
Do this: Search for keywords that has at least 500 searches in a month and under 45/100 in difficulty.
5
KWFinder Alternative: Long Tail Pro
If you like Long Tail Pro, sure — that is a great alternative to KWFinder. Here, you do the same thing which is to search for the top keywords you have gathered from Quora. Get a free trial using this link.
Do this: Search for keywords that has at least 500 searches in a month and under 45/100 in Target Keyword Competitiveness.
Step 3: Start crafting your content
You have the targeted keywords. The next step is to craft the content that search engines love.
Here are some guidelines on how to improve “website content” for SEO:
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Installing third party WordPress plugin such as Yoast SEO and All-In-One SEO Pack will help you further improve your content in SEO perspective.
Step 4: Improving the user experience (important)
You may have the best content but if your content is not interesting, you are not going to make the visitors stay on and read the article.
How long does users stay on a web page?
7 seconds. That’s exactly how long you have to impress your website visitors.
With advanced WordPress editor, you can focus on increasing the average session duration for your site.
I use Thrive Architect to build each blog post. This plugin allows me to create interesting elements within the article such as styled boxes, coloured checklists and many more.
While there are many other WordPress editors that you can use, I highly recommend Thrive Architect because it is fast and super effective to use. You can read the review or try the demo here.
Step 5: Record, publish and embed videos
Don’t just stop at writing blog great blog posts. I take it further by recording videos and embedding videos within the blog post.
Why?
When a reader stay on the blog and watch the video, it increases the duration of them staying on my blog. The longer they stay on my blog, the better search engine ranking I’ll get (thanks to RankBrain).
question
How long is the dwell time?
According to Brian Dean from Backlinko, the best dwell time (average session per user) is around 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
Now, stop right here for a moment.
Open up Google Analytics and check on your site’s stats by going to Google Analytics > Audience > Overview.
If your stats is under 3 minutes, it’s time to seriously improve your content.
See the above image. It is taken from one of my client’s site.
It certainly took me sometime to get her understand that she need to increase the average session duration before she can see bigger jump in traffic.
Step 6: Do not publish the content (yet)
Keep the content for at least a day and revisit the content for more improvement. Usually, 24 hours is more than enough to get the job done right.
Just trust me on this, would you?
Step 7: Add photos and images to the blog post
Now that your content is pretty much ready, add in photos and images where neccesary. I add at least 5 images on every blog post to keep the content interesting.
Plus, humans are often more attracted to images than words.
If you are using Thrive Architect, you can easily add images and photos through the drag and drop feature.
Step 8: Before publishing the content
This is the last step. Optimize your content for SEO to improve the ranking on search engines.
There are several ways to get this done correctly and fast.
1
Check density for main keyword
If you are using Yoast SEO or All In One SEO Pack plugin, you can easily check the keyword density. I recommend it to be under 2% for most cases.
2
Use related keywords/LSI keywords
You should add related keywords to your blog post. The fastest and easiest way is to use LSI Keyword Generator. Enter the main keyword and a list of related keywords will appear. Input some of the keywords into your blog posts (anywhere necessary and logical) is good SEO practise.
You should also use third party tools such as KWFinder and Long Tail Pro to search for low competition keywords to improve your content.
3
Use ALT-text
Last but not least, make sure that all your images has ALT-text for SEO purposes. ALT-text shouldn’t be long and should be under 7 words (my personal choice).
4
This Publish!
Yes, finally. Publish the content knowing that you have improved the content the right way.
Why should you improve your content?
Improving your content doesn’t only increases the web traffic for your blog, it helps you make sure that your audience is more engaged with the content. Overall, it will help you generate better leads and even higher revenue from sales (or affiliate sales like I do).
Are you using any website strategy plan to improve blog content? Let’s discuss further!
