Developing and maintaining a blog optimized for search engines is a great way to build inbound links, boost search engine rankings and drive qualified traffic to your website.

You’ve decided you should pursue a blog to achieve these ends and have chosen a platform to do it. Now what? You need to develop engaging content that will draw readers to your blog – the first step of which is to know who your audience is. Blogs are typically focused around a specific topic or industry, so determine what demographic(s) will be looking at your blog and go from there.

For example, a blog on incorporating a business online would be targeted towards entrepreneurs and other people interested in business formation and management.

After identifying your audience, it’s time to find things to write about. Blogs are about content – nobody is going to read your blog if the content isn’t interesting and unique. Avert this by first writing about topics that are of interest to you, injecting your own personality into the blog. Blogs are not only meant to inform but also entertain and provide the unique perspective of the blogger to their audience.

Vigilance though is key to finding good topics to write about – other blogs are a great source for ideas and there are many ways to find them – a simple search on Technorati for blogs similar to yours is a great place to start, not to mention a place your blog should be listed.

Google blog search is also a great tool and simply looking at other bloggers’ blogroll, ones listed on their blog, goes a long way to helping you find good content. Google Alerts is also a great way to find topics – simply subscribe with your list of keywords and Google will email you when they find a new webpage or news article containing your keywords.

CAUTION: Avoid simply filling your blog with trackback links and no real content of your own. Eventually, people will quit visiting your blog site since they won’t find any real value in it.

Titles of the blog posts themselves are arguably the most important component of your blog

The headline will most likely be the only thing that shows up in search engine results and blog aggregators – people will use the headline to determine if they are going to read the entire post so it needs to be compelling and interesting. As marketing guru Seth Grodin says:
You only get one chance to make a second impression

Search engine optimization firm SEO Advantage provides experienced blog copywriting services. Contact us today and see how a blog can help draw more qualified traffic to your site.

Check out part III of our article series on blogs at the search engine optimization Knowledge Center – choosing blog platforms and optimizing your posts for maximum exposure.