“Among the many things I've learned from the eight-plus years I've been blogging, one thing in particular stands out: start writing SEO-friendly content from day one,” said Nicolas Martin, founder of Flea Market Insiders.
Martin adds: “Read and learn about SEO even before picking your blog's appearance or writing your first post. And then make your landing page, posts, images, taxonomies, permalinks and so on SEO-friendly. SEO may sound like an unnecessary thing to add to the pile of work bloggers already have to do for their blog, but if your goal is to stand out from the crowd and eventually make a living out of your blog, SEO is key. There's no shortcut, either. Forget about online SEO agencies that promise immediate results and focus instead on learning the basics of SEO.”
Digital marketing specialist Betsy McLeod has been professionally blogging for seven years. One strategy that works well for her involves continually optimizing old blog posts for the newest SEO practices. That approach, in addition to updating old posts in general, allowed her to increase company blog traffic by 375 percent.
She views this as a current trend, where high-performing bloggers provide a “last updated” date versus a “published on” date. Search engines are trying to make it easier for users to find all the information they need in one resource, so continually adding detail and length provides value, which can lead to a higher chance of ranking in results — and a higher chance of readers finding your blog in the first place.
“You can write the most fantastic things to share with the world, but if you don't have the proper SEO in place, no one will see your work but your mom,” said Natalie Tanner of The Educational Tourist. “Learning how to get my writing out in front of a wider audience has been really valuable. Improving SEO is time consuming, but I've found tools to help me do more in less time.”