Setting up a blog is one thing. Making it work as hard as possible for your business is another. Here’s twenty five ways to attract more people to your blog and keep search engines happy:

1. use key words and phrases within your posts and post titles to make your blog search engine friendly. When search engines ‘know’ what your blog is about they can classify it accurately and make sure it pops up in front of people who search on your key terms. Need advice? WordPress and the other major blog platforms all provide blog SEO tutorials and guides. And Google’s keyword research tool is as good as any
2. take advantage of SEO-related plug-ins that do a lot of the hard work for you. I use an all-in-one SEO pack plug-in for WordPress
3. include images. They make such a difference to the way blog posts look, and people are more likely to read illustrated posts
4. vary the length of your posts to keep human visitors interested. Some short, some medium, some long
5. Tweet your posts on Twitter and promote them on Facebook, LinkedIn etcetera for an integrated approach and extra traffic
6.  make sure your blog post urls are simple and readable, not great long strings of letters, symbols and numbers. You can get information about how to create user friendly URLs via most popular blog platforms, and with some you can get it sorted in one click
7. put your blog on the same url as your business so all that lovely SEO juice benefits your site
8. check Google Analytics regularly to spot trends, peaks or troughs. You might find some subjects attract more interest than others, acting as valuable link bait
9. download a good spam filter so your blog doesn’t fill up with crappy spam comments
10. make sure your blog ‘pings’ out to the world every time you create a new post. Check out your back-end blog CMS to find out how to make it happen
11. include links to useful, entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting places
12. make your blog look as good as possible, while keeping it simple. Eye candy helps pull in readers!
13. be consistent. If you’re the only contributor, make sure you use the same tone of voice throughout your posts
14. add your blog address to your email communications, as part of your contact details
15. invite comments by actually asking people to interact, posing questions like, “What do you think?”and “What are your experiences?”
16. create blog titles that knock people’s socks off, make them want to read on and give you back-links
17. vary the subject matter to keep things interesting: Q&As, special offers, useful links, surveys, news and views, thought pieces, funny stuff, controversial stuff, product launches…
18. keep it soft sell. There’s nothing more boring than reading a hard sell blog full of excessive trumpet blowing
19. keep your eye on trending topics and react to breaking news as it breaks
20. allow guest blog posts from reliable sources
21. ask for contributions from people in your field you admire and respect
22. write about customers or business partners, encouraging them to link from their site to your blog for extra link oomph
23. blog regularly to keep search engine bots and spiders on their toes and get your blog re-indexed frequently
24. write in plain language and don’t be scared to express your personality. The theory of Likeonomics is huge these days and marketers everywhere are discovering the value of being human in a business context!
25. allow comments, but learn what’s spam and what isn’t. Once you get the hang of it it’s easy to distinguish genuine feedback from comment spam, which can devalue your blog in savvy readers’ eyes. Your blog’s spam filter plug-in will catch some of it, but not necessarily all of it

(Thanks to http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jaylopezs for the royalty-free image)

Overtly sales-focused blog content doesn’t put search engines off. But it can alienate human visitors. So you might as well please both parties and get the maximum marketing value out of blogging.

Human visitors come back time and time again if they like what you’re saying, and some will convert to customers.   

But most people don’t respond well to a full-on 100% hard sell. We prefer to be informed, entertained, stimulated, inspired, amused… even angered! The occasional post selling your services - or reaffirming their value - is fine. But keep it low key.

If you’re not sure if your blog’s focus is right, ask yourself how you’d feel if you’d just come across it for the first time. Or ask a friend for an objective opinion.  

As a freelance copywriter, now and again I spot patterns in the market. The latest? It looks like blogging is taking off… with a vengeance.

Why? There are probably several good reasons. Here’s my top six, just the tip of the iceberg.

• Google likes lively sites and a blog is a relatively simple way to update your website regularly
• focusing on key words and phrases in your blog helps ensure Google and co rank and rate your website accurately
• people like blogs too. A blog is a great way to drive traffic to your site. In other words, blogs work well for lead generation
• blog with authority and you’ll win the trust of new prospects as well as reinforcing your brand to existing customers – which boosts sales conversion
• a great blog can differentiate you from your competitors in a crowded sector 
• a freelance blogger is excellent value for money!

No time to blog? Hire a freelance copywriter to develop your blog for you. I write regular posts for several  clients who trust me enough to give me direct access to the innards of their blog without a qualm. The cost? £15 per 300-350 word post.

Want samples? Just head over to my website’s freelance copywriting portfolio page. Or request a free sample, absolutely no obligation. 

As a freelance copywriter working from home, my only company during the day is BBC Radio 4. A recent edition of The Food Programme illustrated just how powerful the blogosphere has become.

Food bloggers are taking the world by storm. They’re starting and ending trends. They’re creating new celebrities. And they’re making people fortunes.  

A week or so later another R4 programme covered food photographers, again venturing into the blogosphere to marvel at the online manifestation of peoples’ fascination with the subject.

I know for a fact that this blog helps keeps my website visible on Google. I also know it nets me a fair amount of business. How’s your blog performing?

Bloggers are already hugely influential across all sorts of sectors. Blogging is still a relatively new marketing medium and we don’t fully understand the long term benefits yet. And I don’t think blogging’s influence influence has peaked. Nowhere near. It’s powerful stuff.

If your blog is sad and neglected now’s a good time to give it a boost. As well as working a treat for SEO and delivering fresh regular content to your visitors, you might even end up a big cheese in the blogosphere.

Jump on the bandwagon! Just ask me for a quote for writing regular blog posts. 

In the olden days the first bloggers used their blogs – or ‘web logs’ – as simple online diaries.

It didn’t take long for people to discover that blogging is a superb way to update a site regularly and easily. And it soon became clear that blogs, used wisely, have very significant SEO benefits. 

But do you have to open your blog up to comments? And if you don’t, will it still deliver SEO juice?

If you disallow blog comments:

• your content will still have a significant positive effect on site visibility…
• … provided you include key words and phrases in your posts wisely and consistently
• fewer people will recommend your blog to friends and colleagues
• you’ll might also get fewer inbound links from other sites
• on the bright side, you’ll avoid aggressive feedback and comment spammers

If you allow blog comments:

• your content will have the same positive effect on site visibility, provided you write it with SEO in mind
• audience participation means you’ll probably get a lot more recommendations…
• … and reader numbers will increase faster
• you will probably also win more inbound links from people who enjoy your stuff
• on the down side, you may have to deal with aggressive feedback
• and you’ll need to watch out for comment spammers  

So says Technorati. Apparently a massive 95% of the blogs they surveyed hadn’t been updated in 120 days.

Which is understandable. Once the novelty wears off, a lot of businesses give up blogging because they’re simply too busy. It’s hard to keep a blog going if nobody at your place likes writing, or writes well enough. And people run out of ideas.

The thing is, a healthy blog is still one of the best ways to keep a website fresh, updated and exciting for search engines and visitors. And it is an extremely cost effective marketing / SEO medium.

Like many things, the more you put in the more you get out. One blog post a week will work harder than one a month. Three quality posts a week should soon win you some serious attention from search engines. Consistency is important, regularity is vital.

If you leave your blog unattended for 120 days, like most businesses, it won’t do a thing for you. If you make regular, frequent updates something you do as a matter of course it’ll soon bear fruit. And you’ll be several steps ahead of the 95% that languish in the doldrums.

Why bother? A well laid out blog post delivers your message powerfully and logically, and readers get the most out of it.  Here’s a few sensible blog post layout tips:

• Use a bold header to make it 100% clear where the post starts and what it is about. Think newspaper headlines
• Use bold subheads to separate your story into bite-sized, logical chunks. This makes it easy for readers to gauge whether they want to read the post in detail 
• Use short paragraphs. Long, dense paragraphs look daunting and can put people off as well as being hard to read on screen
• Use a relevant image to give your post immediate visual appeal 
• Use bullet points and lists for extra clarity and reader convenience
• Don’t be scared of space. Leaving plenty of space arond headers and paragraphs makes posts easier to read

Occasionally a news story will resonate with your business. So grasp the opportunity and tell people about it!

Putting your slant on a local, national or international news story will bring readers, responders, visitors and customers. Here’s an example.

You are a building firm. A local scandal has just surfaced. A rash of cowboy builders, insisting on cash up front, have disappeared leaving customers’ jobs unfinished. You write letters to your local papers, send out a press release, email your local radio station and write a blog post on your website called Top ten tips to avoid the cowboys.

The result? You get a letter printed. Another local paper prints your press release and uploads it to their website at the same time. And people searching for details about the story online run across your blog post.

Beautifully simple.

It’s common knowledge that posting regularly into a living, reacting blog encourages a loyal following.

Hm. I’m a fine one to talk. Some weeks I’m just too busy to write a post and other times I’m stuck for a subject.

Now and again I’m full of ideas and inspiration, and have a couple of hours spare to rattle off a post or two. So as far as regularity goes, I’m as crap as the next person.

A nifty WordPress function, however, makes life a bit easier for sporadic bloggers who should know better. It’s simple but elegant: when inspiration strikes, write like the wind. Stash as many posts as you can for a rainy day then drip feed them automatically into your blog, one or two a week.

I hate to quote a supermarket advert, but every little helps.

Quality blogging attracts all sorts of business benefits.

1. visibility – Blogging bigs up your visibility with search engines. Regular posts keep your site fresh. They encourage return visits by search engine bots. Your blog’s style, tone and content give readers a valuable insight into what it’s like to work with you.

2. credibility – Quality posts will boost your credibility within your markets and industry sector. When there’s a choice, people prefer to buy from businesses who know what they’re talking about. Blogging can help you become a ’thought leader’ in your field. And because the media like to talk to thought leaders, it can result in wide-ranging publicity.

3. flexibility - Blogging is instant. Meaning you can react to market news, views, threats, controversies and developments fast. And sneak one past your competitors! You don’t have to write loads. Just write something useful, informative, entertaining and relevant.

4. economy – Blogging’s cheap. Free templates let you set up a blog from scratch in a couple of hours. If you bolt your blog onto your existing site you won’t need to buy another domain. If you write it yourself, you won’t need to employ a writer.

5. competition - If your competitors aren’t blogging, you can pull steadily ahead. If they are, your blog will help you keep pace, differentiate and re-position your business, offers, services and products.

As always there are a few common sense caveats: 

• If you can’t write, don’t write! Poorly written stuff does more harm than good. Take on a copywriter: on average half an hour per quality post @ between £35 and £45 an hour
• Exercise common sense when deciding what to say and how to express it. Don’t say anything on your blog that you wouldn’t say to a customer
• Remain professional
• Keep at it. The benefits of blogging are neither magic nor instant – a blog takes a while to bed in 
• Be consistent in your attitudes and ideals. Otherwise you’ll scare people!